TO
TEACH A GENERATION HOW TO WORSHIP: A CASE FOR CHILDREN IN CORPORATE WORSHIP
Nearly
every minister who is involved in the worship leadership in any capacity has or
will come across the issue of what to do with children during gatherings.
Various churches employ disparate measures with their children including but
not limited to having separate children’s worship services, having special
children’s messages during corporate worship, or simply allowing them to
worship with everyone else in the fellowship. In my years of encountering this
issue, my opinion has changed, for where I used to support separating children
from adults so as not to be a distraction, I now firmly and fully support
keeping kids in the worship space with adults. My reason for this shift lies in
this rhetorical question: how will children learn to worship if not from older
generations in their lives, especially their parents. I openly admit that not
everyone enjoys being around kids or is even good with kids; there is nothing
wrong with that so no one should make such people feel as though they are wrong
for their discomfort with children. Nonetheless, everyone in the body of Christ
is given the obligation to model proper worship to a younger generation. I
intend here then to make a case for keeping children in corporate worship
rather than separating them. In doing so, I will provide four foundations for
children in worship.
When a Congregation Is Seen, the Church Should Be Seen
There
are no age limitations in the body of Christ. Contained in the church are both
extremes of young and old and everything in the middle. A local church then
should be representative of such a truth. If one were to look across a
congregation from a platform on a given Sunday, what should be seen is the
entire church, not just adults. The situation should not seem as if the adults
of a local church are willing and ready to dismiss the children so that they
can move to bigger and better things. The body of Christ is not
compartmentalized but rather is one body; we are one church with “one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all
and in all.” (Eph 4:5-6)
Western society
tends to do a terrible job of representing the church of Jesus Christ because
we compartmentalize, e.g. the youth ministry seems to be separated from the
rest of the church; the children’s ministry seems to be separated and often in
an eager manner as if adults cannot wait to get rid of the children; and
seniors are often given the boot because they outgoing from this life.
Ironically, the two generations that need each other the most are the seniors
and the children. Why then do we separate and compartmentalize generations in
our churches? I am not referring to the practicality of having age-driven
ministries in churches. Nevertheless, there is a fine line between age-driven
ministries and (nearly) total separation. Even in an age-graded approach, ministries
should be derived from the local church, not a separate entity itself. Each
Christian in a local church is a member of the entire body and should be
treated and viewed as such.
Education Is Not a Government or Church
Responsibility but a Parental Responsibility; This Includes Worship Training
The
topic of children in worship crosses into not only theology for me but also
culture, for we live in a society that gladly passes the responsibility of
education to the government; yet, both biblically and constitutionally,
government is never given the responsibility of education.[1] Any time Scripture speaks
of training a child, the responsibility is always placed on the parents, not even
the church. It is a parental responsibility to make sure that a child becomes a
productive adult, which might surely look different depending on the context.
The Apostle
Paul instructs fathers to bring children up in the discipline and instruction
of the Lord (Eph 6:4). We are told that alien children who hear of the Lord
will know and fear him in Israel (Deut 31:12-13). The psalmist says that God
established a testimony in Jacob and established a law in Israel, which he
commanded fathers to teach their children (Ps 78:5). Moreover, Scripture speaks
of the joy that a parent has in knowing that their children walk in the ways of
the Lord (3 John 1:4).
The
responsibility to train, educate, and teach is given to the parents here, not
the government. A parent might seek a partner in education, e.g. a public or
private school; they should, however, assure themselves that they have a right
and good partner because the responsibility to educate their children falls on
them.
Too
often, parents pass their kids to schools or even to the church for their
education. Far more important than academic education is biblical education.
Parents should prioritize teaching their children the holy ways of God, which
is why a parent should not ground their kids from church gatherings.
This
concept is related to corporate worship because it is also a parental
responsibility to train children in worship practices. The primary example a
child should have of a worshiper of God is his or her parents. If we separate children
from their parents in worship, they will not experience that personal example
of how to worship modeled in their parents. God’s people should take their
responsibility of educating their children seriously and allow kids to learn to
worship alongside (not separated from) parents.
Family Worship Is the Biblical Model
Family
worship is the biblical model in two ways: 1) the church is a family of adopted
children of God, and 2) God has placed an important and strategic role on
parents to give spiritual direction in their children’s lives, which includes direction
in corporate worship. While I am not an advocate of infant baptism, many who
argue for it might reference Acts 8:12 or Acts 18:8 as evidence that entire
families were baptized together including children and perhaps infants. That
might be a stretch; yet, something I gather from these texts is the concept of
family worship. The responsibility of spiritual leadership has been placed on
parents; the greatest example of godliness a child should have is his or her
parents; and surely, the greatest example of worshipers of God a child should
have is his or her parents. Family worship then is the biblical model.
I
do not, however, imply a problem with singleness. In fact, Scripture teaches
that singleness is better (1 Cor 7:8). Not everyone is called to singleness so
there is nothing wrong with either. Nonetheless, the church ought not to
neglect the single person, for single men and women of God also have the responsibility
of modeling proper worship for younger generations. We do not know who is
watching us. While the ultimate task of godly leadership has been handed to
parents, single and married people alike should be model worshipers of Jesus
Christ. The church is truly one large family, transcendent through the ages and
comprised of many families and single believers. Family worship is the biblical
model.
The Gospel Should Not Be Dumbed Down
We
too often try to dumb down the gospel in a feeble effort to help people
understand it; this is especially true of how we often teach children. The gospel,
however, does not need to be dumbed down; nor, should it be. Someone recently
asked me if the gospel is simple or profound and convoluted; my answer was that
it is both. St. Jerome (347 AD – 420 AD) expressed, “The scriptures are shallow
enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough
for a theologian to swim in without ever touching the bottom.”[2] As people of God (and especially
ministers of God whether vocationally or not), we should not shoot for the
lowest common denominator, i.e. children can certainly understand the
simplicities of the gospel but will not understand the complexities of the
gospel if it is not given to them by the Holy Spirit through our teaching. If
we continue to compartmentalize and separate generations and thus prevent them
from worshiping together, we will continue to reap shallow and superficial
Christians. There is a reason Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” (Mark
10:14) He was not implying that we should dumb down the gospel; rather,
children should come to the gospel who is Jesus and all of it, not merely in part.
To accomplish this, all of God’s people should worship together.
Let Us Stop Seeking Entertainment and Start Seeking God in
Worship
I
believe that significant reason adults are often so eager to separate
themselves from children and youth in worship is an entertainment-minded
attitude, i.e. the attitude suggests, “Let us get rid of the children so that
we can move to real adult worship. What they do is their own business, but they
do not belong here with us.” Nevertheless (and often subconsciously), such an attitude
is founded on a desire to be served rather than to serve and to be entertained
rather than worship. When we realize that worship is work rather than
relaxation, our hearts, minds, and attitudes, should shift to seeking God’s
glory in the entire body of Christ. For that reason, let us be faithful
worshipers of God by fostering opportunities for the entire local church to
worship together. Do not dismiss any generation, young or old. When the church
worships God, the entire church should worship God, not merely a portion of the
local church. This is the case for children participating in corporate worship.
[1] I speak here of the US Constitution, for certainly,
many state constitutions discuss education as a governmental responsibility.
[2] “St. Jerome,” Quotable Quotes, Good Reads, accessed October 26, 2018, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/940101-the-scriptures-are-shallow-enough-for-a-babe-to-come.
