From the Pipers on sitting together at church

Last week I came across this amazing article by John & Noel Piper on Families sitting together during a worship service. It goes through some great topics that parent’s may ask themselves before they attempt the task of keeping their children with them during the service. They address how it is NOT an excessive expectation, and that NOT everything goes over their heads. The Pipers discuss how sitting together as a family in a worship service can create a “sense of Awe” if parent’s are “going hard after God.” What really stuck out to me was the modeling that Piper talked about.

In the article John Piper says some things that make me think. If we taught children that only true happiness is found in Jesus, then when they see their parent’s head (along with the congregation) bowed in earnest prayer before communion, and that their faces are illuminated with joy during worship…maybe, just maybe, there’s something of deeper value to be found in the pews with parents than in the classroom of a Sunday school teacher.

“…The greatest stumbling block for children in worship is that their parents do not cherish the hour. Children can feel the difference between duty and delight. Therefore, the first and most important job of a parent is to fall in love with the worship of God. You can't impart what you don't possess….

…Children should see how Mom and Dad bow their heads in earnest prayer during the prelude and other non-directed times. They should see how Mom and Dad sing praise to God with joy in their faces, and how they listen hungrily to His Word. They should catch the spirit of their parents meeting the living God…

…A deep sense of the unknown and the mysterious can rise in the soul of a sensitive child in solemn worship—if his parents are going hard after God themselves. A deep moving of the magnificence of God can come to the young, tender heart through certain moments of great hymns or "loud silence" or authoritative preaching. These are of immeasurable value in the cultivation of a heart that fears and loves God…”

There are some really great practical ideas on dealing with younger children in a service, and even preparation leading up to the church service.

At least a little curious to read the article? Go here.

Please note: I myself am a Sunday school teacher. I agree that there will almost always be a need for Sunday school-for infants and toddlers especially. New families, new believers, unbelievers will come to the church the children of those families may not be able to sit still. It would be better for the parent’s to learn about Jesus and how he relates to parenting than for them to be distracted by their children. I humbly submit these are all beliefs that I’ve had no life experience to try this with. However, I do trust that people like the Pipers, David & Sally Michael, and tons of others speakers I’ve heard on the topic-who have had more years of experience in both parenting and Children’s Ministry. 

J.C. Ryle on Diligence in the Public Means of Grace

Recently I talked about some growing ideas of mine on what Children’s Ministry is. The more I read from God’s word, listen to wise speakers, and read books, I see God’s plan for families, I see that he has ordained the perfect place for children to grow in the fear of the Lord and to treasure Christ.

Right now I am loving this book called “The Duties of Parents” by J.C. Ryle. It’s a very short book (about 40 pages) and is loaded with a ton of truth in very simple chapters. It was written in 1860 so be prepared for lots of “fancied” this and “fancied” that. J  Concerning explaining children the benefit of going to church together as a family with God’s people he says:

“Tell them the duty and privilege of going to the house of God, and joining in the prayers of the congregation….Tell them of the importance of hearing the Word preached, and that it is God’s ordinance for converting, sanctifying, and building up the souls of men. Tell them how the Apostle Paul enjoins us not “to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and the manner of some is” (Heb 10:25); but to exhort one another, to stir one another up to it, and so much more as we see the day approaching…

“What I like to see is a whole family sitting together, old and young, side by side,-men, women, and children, serving God according to their households…

And just like there is reasoning today that children cannot understand what the Pastor, there was the same reasoning in 1860 as well…

“But there are some who say that it is useless to urge children to attend means of grace, because they cannot understand them. I would not have you listen to such reasoning. I find no such doctrine in the Old Testament. When Moses goes before Pharoh (Ex. 10:9), I observe he says, “We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; for must hold a feast unto the Lord.” When Joshua read the law (Josh 8: 35), I observe, “There was not a word which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with women and little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.”

“Samuel, in the days of his childhood, appears to have ministered unto the Lord some time before he really knew Him. “Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him” (1 Sam. 3:7)”

Well I’ll let J.C. Ryle finish off the post for me:

“Parents, comfort your minds with these examples. Be not cast down because your children see not the full value of the means of grace now. Only train them up to a habit of regular attendance. Set it before their minds as a high, holy, and solemn duty, and believe me, the day will very likely come when they will bless you for your deed.”

(In writing this post my only aim was 1 particular issue: Seeing the value in having your children in the service with you, explaining that to them, and being encouraged that even Samuel served the Lord not yet knowing him-and he became a priest! Going to church will not be the only way a child comes to know the Lord. This post is a small sub-point on a much larger topic which is the title of Ryle’s book “The Duties of a Parent” Get a free copy of the book here.)

Children's Ministry

Over the past few months I’ve really been having this overwhelming passion to share the gospel with children. As I’ve prayed God’s opened some doors. The teacher I work with, Amy, asked me to do the Bible Curriculum this year! Also, I’ve been learning more about the vision of the Children’s Ministry at my own church.

So what is Children’s Ministry? Is it Sunday School? Is it youth group?

Regrettably, I sometimes get this icky feeling that parents want Sunday school teachers and their children’s Christian Schools to teach them the Gospel and so I try to pray. “Lord, may no parent bring their child to us, thinking we will take care of their spiritual life.” That sort of thinking really scares me.

In relation to these thoughts, I’ve been skimming through this book called “Generation to Generation” by Wayne Rice. I’m going to some kind of seminar on it, so I thought I’d check it out beforehand. The beginning of it gave some really good things to think about. Here’s a few:

…According to a study conducted in 2007, 70% of young adult ages 23 to 30 say they stopped attending churches between the ages of 18 and 22…

..researcher Ed Stetzer noted: ‘There is no easy way to say it, but it must be said. Parents are not passing on a robust Christian faith and an accompanying commitment to the church…[We] have to ask the hard questions, ‘what is it about our faith commitment that does not find root in the lives of our children?”

…The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest, most comprehensive study on the religious and spiritual lives of American youth to date, was conducted by the University of North Carolina to determine who or what has the greatest influence on the formation of adolescent faith and values. Christian Smith, one of the study researchers, came to this conclusion: “Contrary to popular misguided cultural stereotypes and frequent parental misconceptions…the evidence clearly shows that the single most important social influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents.”

Some very interesting quotes there. If you were a Christian in high school, then you can totally relate to the first quote. All the people you thought were “on-fire” seemed not to be quite so on-fire anymore. Concerning the second quote: yes, clearly there’s something missing. Why has the faith of parents not taken root in children’s lives?  Another good question I would add is, “are children’s Sunday schools and Youth Groups really passing on that robust faith? Is it even their responsibility?” To the 3^rd quote I say, University of North Carolina is only echoing what Deuteronomy 6: 6-9 calls parents to do: teach The Word diligently.

So is Sunday School going to do the trick? No it simply won’t. Will Christian Schools or homeschooling do the trick? It won’t. Parents teaching God’s word to children diligently will keep a generation loving and treasuring Christ, the overflow of that will be a generation loving the Church.

So what’s children’s Ministry? Teaching children to love and treasure Christ? Nope. Teaching parents how to do that with their children is the key here- that is Children’s Ministry. After all, according the University of North Carolina they do have “single most important social influence” on their children ;) wink. wink.