Sunday Sermons and Your Littles

One of my favorite new songs is "Sunday Sermons" by Anne Wilson. In the first verse, she remembers sitting on the third-row pew as a seven-year-old girl when the Gospel became real to her. The lessons she learned at church laid a foundation for a lifetime of faith that would see her through the hard times she would encounter later in life. In the refrain she sings. "The devil gonna try to take me out of that church, but you can't take the church out of me."

I can't think of a better way to prepare our children for a world that is increasingly scary and evil than to take them to a good, Bible-believing church. The more they can be exposed to the rich truths found in God's Word, the more they will be able to resist the difficult temptations of the teenage years.

When Should Children Begin Sitting Through Church

That is a terrific question. Many churches offer extensive programming for children. Perhaps the children come in for the first part of the service, then they leave the adult service and go to a different room for a message on their level. As long as they are being taught God's Word, that's great. But Children's Church mustn't be a glorified play time; it must have substance. The benefit for parents is that they can focus on the sermon without being distracted by their kids.

Other churches have a children's sermon before the adult sermon where the pastor shares the theme of his sermon through an appropriate illustration for children. After church, the entire family can talk together about the sermon and what they learned. Parents do need to teach their children how to behave during the sermon. Having quiet activities to keep them occupied if they get bored can help. However, some children will be happy just to cuddle with Mom or Dad while the pastor is preaching.

Some churches discourage parents from bringing preschoolers into worship, while other churches welcome them and the chaos they sometimes bring. However, by the time a child can read, there is a real benefit in participating in the entire worship service. You can gift your child an Early Readers' Bible so that they can follow along with the Scripture reading. This NKJV Bible includes the full text of the Scriptures but has many kid-friendly features. Your child will love being able to imitate you as you follow along in your own Bible.

Sunday Sermons Aren't Enough

Helping your child learn to love sitting through church is wonderful. At the same time, an important key to discipleship is the day-to-day interactions within your family. If your life at home doesn't match your words on Sunday, instead of drawing them to the Savior's love, you might end up pushing them away from it. Many children who have grown up going to church every time the doors were open end up rejecting church later in life We have to ask ourselves why that is.

As I have observed families over the years, including my own, I have learned much about what it means to disciple your children for Christ. Although my husband is a pastor, and we served as missionaries for a time, we didn't always do a great job of discipling our own precious treasures. When Sunday morning is filled with frustration and tears, nobody is in the mood for worship. The more you can do to make Sunday morning stress-free, the better.

Over the years, I finally learned to prepare for Sunday morning on Saturday. Playing worship music on Sunday morning also helps create a calm atmosphere so that everybody is ready to worship when you get to church.

I grew up in a home where appearance was more important than almost anything. There was a lot of pressure to always look perfect to everyone else, even when things in the home were tumultuous. In my early years of parenting, I followed that unhealthy pattern with my children. I mistakenly thought that the preacher's kids had to be perfect, or our congregation would judge us. The truth is that every family has moments when life is far from ideal. Children misbehave and make bad decisions. Our discipline needs to be focused on discipling thieir hearts, not on what other people will think.

Ephesians 6:4 admonishes parents not to exasperate their children, but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Your role as a nurturer is critical in the process of discipling your children's hearts. Think about the kindness of God towards you, and then show that same kindness to your kids. Parents who nurture their children both at home and in the church setting will find that their children are more responsive to the Gospel message.

What have you done to help nurture your child's love for worshipping the Lord? Please leave your top suggestions in the comments.