My husband and I, and our little family at the time, once attended a church that purported to be family-centered. We found this a bit odd since the church was structured in such a way as to prevent families from seeing each other all Sunday morning, until it was time for them to leave together.
I think what we were really looking for was a "real family church", one that welcomed children without banishing them to age-segregated "children's church".
Now that we have a puppy, it would be easier for us if we could have brought her to church yesterday. Well, not really --- and I'm not ready for churches to become that family friendly!
Ya know what? There ARE churches out there that welcome pets! I saw them on the news once. 8-O
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with churches that want to minister to a child on their level? I wouldn't expect a 3 year old to get much out of an adult sermon.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been pastoring a small (very) struggling church for the past year and a half, and it has no young families attending currently. The presumed expectation of any visitor is that there would be ministry to children during at least the sermon, or nursery workers, and we don't have young children at this point (or workers to do it) - so we continue on without either of these "services".
ReplyDeleteI can understand the desire for children's ministry - and also understand the desire for a church to be family friendly with children in the service. Perhaps the two "camps" depend on who is able to actually control their child to remain quiet and respectful in a service? I grew up sitting in church next to parents. My children grew up with children's ministry - but were also able to sit in a service cooperatively. I've seen some children whose parents seem helpless to control them. I'm not sure I wouldn't want them in a "children's ministry" if the parent is unwilling to do the work of disciplining them, to be honest.
In response to the previous post - maybe the anonymous poster didn't have a blog and didn't realize he/she could leave her name at the end of the post?
Valerie in VA
We found family-friendly church through house church. We have been meeting with other believers from house to house for the last couple of years now.
ReplyDelete