Featured Children's church, Sunday School and nurseries

To the best of my knowledge, save for the nursery, the programs are focused on discipeling the youngsters at an age-appropriate level. We had one sister who pastored the 5 to 7-year-old S/S class for over 30 years. I worked in Junior Church and can say the attendees got Bible Truth at a level they could understand. Mind you at around 11 years they moved into the main service.

 

On the other hand, I've ministered to emigre Russian Evangelical Christian-Baptist churches. The brethren get along quite nicely with all ages in the Sunday services. Crying babies are taken to the mothers' room as needed. Otherwise, the hand of discipline is applied to the seat of knowledge.

 

The EC-B are able to have all ages in the Sunday services because there is more "scheduled movement" in their service. See Below:

1. Traditionally, Evangelical Christian Baptists follow what we in the States would think of as a Plymouth Brethren style of service.
2. A typical Sunday (morning or evening) service goes something like this:

a. the Pastor or his designee calls the service to order and gives the Invocation.
b. a choir number
c. congregational hymn
d. the first preacher (the Pastor or the man in charge of the service has previously designated which of the preachers in the church will be speaking at a given service and in what order) speaks usually for 10-15 minutes. This message is usually a Call to Worship or Prayer
e. congregational prayer (three maybe four men or women lead in prayer from their places in the meeting hall, with the preacher closing). This is a time of Thanksgiving for the God's provision in the last week. The preacher closes with a prayer for God s blessing on the coming service.
f. a congregational hymn
g. a senior choir number or
h. a children's choir or
i. a recitation of Christian poetry by an individual or group
j. the second preacher speaks (see d. above). This preacher brings a strong Bible Message for 20-25 minutes.
k. repeat f-i.
l. the third preacher speaks (usually this is senior pastor). This man ties the two previous speakers together. (Or he may launch off on his own message.)
m. see e. above​

n. congregational hymn and offering
o. greetings from various churches
p. prayer requests are taken and final prayer +/-two hours later.

 

I wouldn't disagree with any of that. I'm just agnostic about nurseries and children's church because I suspect part of philosophical disagreement might be rooted in the fact that I never went to children's church and have no memory of nurseries.

My earliest recollections of attending church are of sitting beside a friendly deacon who always had gum and a pencil and paper. I didn't necessarily learn much Scripture, but I did learn how I supposed to act in services. Now, I was not a restless child and was easily entertained. I've spent a good deal of supposedly sermon time as a child (and adult) reading the indexes of hymnals — by author, by tune, by meter ...

Aside from his misogyny, Anderson has an almost point: Most teachers have inadequate preparation for biblical teaching. I can count on one hand the number of teachers I've had who had a good grasp on doctrine. On the other hand, all of them have had a love for Christ, compassion for the "students" and a willingness to serve. I leave it to you to decide which is more important.

A fault in Anderson's analysis, to my mind, is that the pastor is to be the ONLY teacher for the congregation (that's my assumption, anyway). If you want a church to survive, you must train teachers who are competent and give them freedom to exercise their gifts. If they are into serious error, step in. If you want to pitch a fit about a craft that shows Jesus with long hair ...

 

How so? I can see the standard Anglo-American Baptist service being boring for an eight-year-old. However, in an EC-B service, there's sitting, standing (for the congregational singing), kneeling (during corporate prayer). Little Sasha or Marika could also find themselves up front as part of the children's choir or as part of a family ensemble. In one church, the pastor regularly calls all the 4-12-year-olds up to sing a well known Gospel song. Not to mention nobody minds if you have to go use the facilities.