children's Church

Oh Please Mark...stop!

Its a tool to teach children about the Lord. It not only allows for the parents to be able to sit and listen, and worship in the Church without being occupied with kids, but it allows the children to learn on their level and with other children. It teaches them on their level how to worship congregationaly.

You are deliberately trying to start a fight. You are not debating at all.

Sherrie

 

TerryHerrington,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I read your post correctly, you are equating Peter's reluctance to eat the meats God commanded him to eat with my reluctance to accept the idea of children's church.

If that is what you mean, you have equated children's church, which is at best a human tradition, with the commandments of God. The bottom line is, God did not command children's church and He knows all about children, their learning needs, and disciplinary problems.

"In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."


Mark Osgatharp

 

Mark 10:13-16 (KJV1873):
And they brought young children to him,
that he should touch them: and his disciples
rebuked those that brought them.
14 But when Jesus saw it,
he was much displeased,
and said unto them,
Suffer the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not: for of such is
the kingdom of God.
15 Verily I say unto you,
Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16 And he took them up in his arms,
put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

\o/ Jesus, Still #1 \o/

 

I wish you well on your endeaver.
This is a challenging opportunity for you
to serve God, your church, and the children
of your church. May God's blessings flow
on your new ministry and richly bless
Brother TurboMike, his family, and his ministry.
Amen.

Some 30 years ago i set up a rotating
group to minister in Children's Worship.
Oh, bad thought Some of the children
i taught back then will soon be grandparents.
Eek!

 

I don't know if any of you have use of a puppet. I have found a wonderful puppet ministry. I actually was looking at this for our junior church children. It is funny, yet teaches some wonderful lessons. You can incorporate so many things into it and with children you can just be so down to earth. It is totaly free to use and it goes by quarters. http://www.fishersofkids.com/ I hope this might be of some help to you.

Jesus Never Fails,
Mary

 

why is that the most important hour?? On what basis do you exalt worship above the other responsibilities of the church?

Furthermore, teh church is divided each week. Our church met separately from your church this week. Yet we are all one body because Christ only has one body.

Division can serve a good function, to enable worship intelligibly.

I never said they were members of Christ's body. I said it was the local body which most likely (and very clearly) is mixed. Paul recognizes this in 1 Cor 14.

Did you not read????????? I already answered this. YOu are beating a dead horse. They are not a separate body. They are a part of teh body of GBC. If a child desires to join, he joins GBC, not the children's church. Children's church is a ministry of GBC, just as a deaf church or a spanish church or a similar group might be.

We do so there is no problem here.

 

1. At my church, it isn't necessarily attention span that is a problem. Personally, I am an adult and I can't sit still long without sleeping or doing something. So I sit at the back and get up and down. I don't have a problem with children under first grade having a children's church, as you call it. I do have a problem not incorporating the first through fifth graders because they can participate and understand.

2. I am more challenged when I teach children than when I sit and listen in a SS class. Go figure.

3. I agree that you have to work where you are at, with what you have. More power to you.

 

Hey, Mark. Yes, it has been a while.

No, we don't really eat chicken while Raymond is preaching, though sometimes we want to, because he often is long winded.

 

Saggywoman: "I don't have a problem with children
under first grade having a children's church,
as you call it. I do have a problem not
incorporating the first through fifth graders
because they can participate and understand."

Amen, Sister Saggywoman!
I found this out the hard way. Thirty years
ago we had 4 year old thru 5th grade in
Children's worship. Today it is only the
pre-readers. Children's worship should definately be for the pre-readers.

Today the 4s and 5s and some early 6s participate
in half the song service, then they are
dismissed to another room for Children's worship.

Another thing to remember, is don't let the
new 4s come in until promotion day.
I'd get all the kids so what they are supposed
to do was figured out. Then the lazy nursery
worker would sent the new 4 over. Poor kid,
yanked out of a safe place they had figured
out and put into an environment where they
had no idea what was going one -- pretty tramatic,
eh?

 

Something or someone is going to grab a child's attention at their own level. Part of the problem of the non-changing, culture-ignoring churches of today is that they have allowed Nickolodean and Disney to become the attention-grabbers.

The church should be leading the way in communicating the unchanging message to children in a relevant fashion. For the church to be 30-50 years behind modern culture in their means of communicating to children is a disgrace. God is the God of creation and creativity. We have no excuse not to reach children on their level in a way that is relevant and effective.

 

I for 1 used to object to children's church. Often it was basically babysitting service etc. That is not cool. However, our church has just begun a childrens church, but the pastor and I were adamant that it would be used to teach the children how to conduct themselves in worship service, but with a message aimed at their level
.... It is great for the children, We have a message, song , prayer and other elements of worship just as is done in the adult service. I as the childrens minstry director, set up the scripture and curriculum. The kids are learning the word at a level they can understand. No use teaching algebra before the learner can put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4. We do not feed them.
Our mission statement is "to teach children how to worship and contribute to worship services" or some such.

 

Mike, my opinion is that, no matter how good the curriculum, children's church is based on a faulty concept of the idea of "church." I would not recommend it. If you have already determined without reservation to follow this concept, then my comments to you are irrelevant. But if you are still in the considering stage, perhaps you would consider these thoughts:
1. The nature of the New Testament church is a body of baptized believers. The children's church concept does not see children as believers or as unbelievers, but as children.
2. The teaching of the New Testament is that there are two categories of people, believers and unbelievers. The children's church concept approaches the children as "little believers in training."
3. The reason the New Testament church gathers is for the purpose of mutual edification of the body, a body of believers. The children's church concept does not address the fact that these children are not a part of the body.

 

Call it "Children's Worship" and all
those things go away.

Did anybody notice this topic is about
edifing TurboMike, not about slapping him
about with a wet fish

Romans 14:19 (nKJV):
Therefore let us pursue the things which make
for peace and the things by which one may edify
another.

1 Corinthians 10:23 (nKJV):
All things are lawful for me, but not all things
are helpful; all things are lawful for me,
but not all things edify.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (nKJV):
Therefore comfort each other and edify one another,
just as you also are doing.

Maybe we are supposed to provoke
one another to love and to good works;
not provoke them unto wrath

Hebrews 10:24 (KJV1873):
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

 

Perhaps we could call it "unbeliever's worship." I have no interest in quarreling over the name. I disagree with the concept.

The topic is about answering Mike's question. It was specifically about a particular curriculum (which practically none have addressed). I did look at the supplied link, and wanted to see if they had a philosophy of ministry, which I did not find. As far as edifying Mike, I believe that instructing in the truth is certainly a form of edifying. Wouldn't you agree? Just because we disagree on what is the correct instruction on this issue, surely we don't disagree that instruction is a way to edify!

 

AND SPEAKING OF THAT, it isn't only the "children" who are under sixth grade. There definitely is a culture of adult "children" who are a part of the mass media generation that many churches are missing because they fail to change the methodology.

 

What better way to teach children how to worship and contribute than to include them in the actual service?

 

ITA! This is how it is done in our church and for the same reasons. This post is not to debate, it is to state how things are done in my church.

We have teachers for each level..from the nursery to the adult congregation. There is no 'babysitting' service.

When they are old enough to leave the nursery, they go into 'Biddy Church' where the lessons are deeper, but still on their own level.

When the children get old enough to go into 'Junior Church', they are preached to and taught by our Associate Pastor, (who is also the Principle of our Christian School and has much experience with teen-agers).

I also agree that it teaches them how to properly conduct themselves in the adult worship service.

We also have a "Special Friends" class that is for people from half-way homes in our community. These people are mentally retarded.

We also have a "Reformers Unanimous" class. These people were sentenced, by a judge, to attend our church for a period of time instead of going to jail or a secular rehabilitive institution. 95% of them get saved and become active, Godly Christians in our church and their whole family soon follows and they have a much better life.

I see nothing wrong with different levels of teaching; just the opposite; it provides them with scriptural teachings they can understand.


Sue

 

that is a wonderful outreach Sue.

I believe if the kids aren't learning and are bored, then they are having their time wasted. Bored kids also cause the parents to be distracted. Distracted parents mean they are missing something. This way the parents can give full attention to the speaker, and the kids are being fed on their own level. Our kids are evangelizing their friends. That did not happen before we started. Of course I insist on the Gospel being presented each Sunday and the children are free to sit in the sanctuary for worship too. We do have our Sat night service which is the main service and everyone attends that. Sunday we have sunday school and sunday morning service which is more of a teaching session than a preaching session.

 

Speaking of irrelevant .....

Sorry couldn't resist.