Covenant Family Sundays
Is Family Sunday just a day when you have to endure your restless children as they sit through the entire service whispering and disturbing you and the people around them?
Yes, there is probably going to be some of that, depending on the ages of your kids. But Family Sunday is more than that.
The church is a body and has a child's place within it. While children's ministry has a purpose and provides a great opportunity to bring the gospel to kids at their maturity level, it's important that we remember to recognize that kids have a place in the church as a whole.
We at Covenant feel that Family Sunday is a good reminder to you as parents that you are the primary disciple-maker of your children. You have the opportunity to model worship for your kids as we do in the larger gathering.
We also believe it allows the church as a whole to identify our families and celebrate your children as part of our church. We often forget that about the children in our church because they’re tucked away in Kids Town.
Therefore, Family Sunday is a time to worship with your kids in the larger gathering.
Here's a good article by Valerie Ackermann about why kids should worship alongside the adults on Sunday morning. She reminds us that much is learned by little ones watching. They watch not only us as parents, but others as well. They see one example after another of people coming together to worship God. All this is missed if they aren’t allowed to be part of the bigger service.
Here are the reasons I came up with on why children should experience at least part of the service in the sanctuary with all other people.
- Children are part of the body of Christ, the group of believers gathered together, as much as the elderly, the disabled, the rich, the poor, the single, the married, the smart, and the slow. We all are part of one body. What it means to see Jesus through the ways that others can show us. You see, others show us parts of Jesus we don’t see for ourselves. It takes all of us. Otherwise, where do we stop the segregation? I get it for other events, but church is all of us. We are family.
- Can you imagine your children without a memory of you as a family in church? So much is learned by little ones watching. They watch not only us as parents, but others. They see one example after another of people coming together to worship God. All this is missed if they aren’t allowed to be part of the bigger service.
- They will live up to duplicate what they see. My son used to love seeing the guitar player and asked when he can go do that too. They see people serving. They feel part of what the adults are doing and like there is something important going on.
- It is important for all the older people, and teens, to see the children. To remember they are part of the church. To remember and see their value and need for people to serve in teaching them/ministering to them. They need to be seen, just like Jesus saw them. He saw them as important and made a way for them in the crowd. We must do the same. We need to see them for our own good as adults. To remember the next generation we are passing down our faith to. To remember to pray for them and their parents. And to be encouraged by their sweet voices in song, and sweet smiles at us over their dad’s shoulder as we stand to sing.
