On Children in Church

My latest post is up on Grow Christians, a site for Episcopal families with children.

This is an initial post on having kids in church coming from my particular perspective: the single dad in the pew juggling two kids… That’s in no way intended to minimize the work and impact of Mother M on raising the girls up in the faith, rather, it reflects our usual Sunday morning reality: She’s working—I’m managing the girls.

I’ve got a few more posts outlined in my head that fit into what may become an occasional series, “Secrets of a Pew Whisperer.”

Here’s what I’d consider the key point of this first post:

[M and I] care about how our children believe, and the way that they inhabit, engage, and ultimately own a place in the worshiping community is an essential part of that. In our baptismal vows, we promise to share the Good News with others; as parents, our primary mission field is our own kids.

In the next set of thoughts, I’ll likely revisit one of my fundamental convictions about the character of the Episcopal Church and one of my real concerns with the continued relevance and vitality of the catholic movement within it: a lack of openness to children as full and welcome members of our communities and people with ministries to exercise among us.

1 thought on “On Children in Church

  1. Stephen W. Houghton

    Hello Derek, I thing that worries me the most is taking kids out of the congregation and segregating them in the children’s chapel or Sunday school. How are they going to get the worship service in the their bones if they don’t hear it every Sunday as kids? BTW that is also one of my objections to the 3 year lectionary. We have kids at church at most for about 15 years. Either we get the basic message in their heads then or we don’t. Given that many families don’t come to church every sunday, a three year lectionary is not consistent enough IMHO.

    I very much approve of your idea of a couples children as their mission field. The home church is, along with monastic comunities, the core of the church. I don’t know if you looked at Book VIII of by proposed BCP but you might like to check it out and comment. I won’t post a link this time as I don’t want to abuse your hospitaility

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