TOS Crew - Children In Church

I was able to review an advanced copy of Children In Church a resource that is offered by Hal and Melanie Young from Raising Real Men. I so appreciate their wisdom in raising boys.

And so I thought this would be a book I'd enjoy. Having our children with us through the entire church service is nothing new to us as it is something we have always done. But I thought it would be of interest to see if I could pick up any new tidbits of helpful information and maybe encourage others along the way.

Children In Church: Nurturing Hearts of Worship is written by Curt and Sandra Lovelace, a couple who have raised two girls and have served in many places around the world. They now minister to homeschoolers internationally.

Including children in corporate worship is a topic that can cause conflict. There are people on both sides of the issue. In this book Curt and Sandra biblically and lovingly explain why participation in worship should be multi-generational and encourage you along the way to search God's truth for yourselves to see how families worshiped together. The history of "children's ministry" that we see today is not mentioned in scripture and "is more modern in origin".  And the authors gently exhort those in the church to grow in understanding and obedience to God's Word.

Do you want to include your children in the church worship service but feel it is too much work? They aren't getting anything out of the sermon anyway, are they? And aren't the children distracting? How am I going to get anything out of the sermon if I have to entertain my children?

We are examples to our children in everything and that includes how to worship. I know how hard it can be to keep little ones quiet and from disrupting. We have gone through a few seasons of this and will begin yet again when "Zippy" is closer to two. Right now he is included in worship up until the sermon and then we use the nursery. We have had children screaming as we take them out. We have had the Pastor notice a child making a banging noise from the pulpit only to realize it was one of our children banging their foot against the side of the pew. This is not an overnight process. But the goal is to begin early to engage their mind on God's word.

Throughout the book the Lovelace's share stories of their own experiences in the churches they have ministered to and share insights they have gleaned as they bring you through the elements of worship and how to include your children in each part. A few of their ideas I recognized as we have used them with our own children. One was having the child pick out key words and count how many times the Pastor says it. I used to make charts for the boys and put the key words at the top and they tallied them up as they heard a word. They enjoyed seeing which word would "win". I like how they gave reasonable expectations and gave ideas for each age group so that you can change resources as the child matures.

Your church may offer children's church and obviously you make the choices necessary for your family and situation. The Lovelace's do not come across as condescending in any way but through every chapter exhort you to pray and seek God's Word for direction. There is much to ponder.

This book is not just for parents of young children but also for those in the church to come alongside and encourage those parents that do choose to have their children worship with them.

Children In Church, published by Great Waters Press, is available for preorder for $12 with free shipping by clicking HERE. You can also connect with them on their Facebook page.
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If you would like to know more check out reviews along with reviews of another new book by Raising Real Men, A Cry From Egypt, from the Crew by clicking below.

**Disclaimer: As a member of TOS Review Crew, I received a complimentary copy of this book to review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.