Here's her trick: lots of people like to sit in the back, and there are more seats up front. Not only were we mesmerized by the order of worship and what was going on, but the distractions coming from what was going on in the back of the sanctuary were gone, too. Also, we knew misbehaving wasn't an option up front because of how mortifying it would be if we did have to get taken out.

Sitting still is a great skill for school, too. There's playgrounds and other physical activities that can be a way to let out that pent-up energy.

Having said that, when there's no Children's program available, or even if there is, I'd appreciate it if the Pastor would put a parental warning on services where they're going to go into detail about, say, Sexual immorality-which isn't something I really want to explain to a 5 yr old who suddenly seems to absorb every single word.

FWIW, we also choose to go to the traditional service, in part because my daughter finds the praise band "too loud", and loves the organ and cantor of the traditional.

I personally would completely toss out the, “distracting to non-believers,” argument. While I’m not saying it’s bad for church services to be open and not excluding non-believers, the trend of explicitly catering to non-believers during services (usually at some detriment to mature believers) came about out of our own laziness and cowardice to do God’s will. Instead of service being a communion with believers to refresh and instruct for the week’s mission work, we just lump everything into Sunday and make our only mission to simply invite people to our “seeker-friendly” church.

And in many cases, too, the whole choice between big/little church is too respectful to the world and disrespectful to God. It doesn’t matter that you live in the suburbs, or that Timmy has a 1 PM select youth soccer match on every Sunday; it is not unreasonable to expect a commitment to faithful attendance at a regular worship service and pre/post-service education.

By all means, have a Sunday School, but don’t force it as an either-or with your main worship service.

As my Grandpa used to say about having his whole family in church, “We all came together, I guess I always figured we should all sit together”

http://www.uu.edu/audio/chapel/fall05/102605.wma

And where do you guys get this “teaching children to sit still” thing? Have you ever actually watched a group of ADULTS in church? We don’t sit still and concentrate either. We text, chat, leave to go to the bathroom, read the bulletin during the sermon, look around to see who didn’t make it to church today, etc.

Let’s face it, we are all just big babies who want things our own way.

However, this post on children in “big church” really got my attention. As a home school family we have debated over the years how our family would worship and what programs we would have our children involved with. We decided that we wanted all our family together for the worship service. We have noticed that it is becoming the trend in most churches for families to be separated for most of the church service, either by children’s church or some other program that is promoted as a way for parents to worship and learn without having to worry about their kids.

It seems to me that most parent’s excuse for wanting their kids seperated stems from their inability to impart loving discipline to their child. Yes, it is possible for your child to sit quietly for the service and even if it does become difficult for you, it is after all just a season of life. Parents, it is your task to train your child, not the program directors or youth ministers . As to those who say that the church service is not appropriate for children, I would reply that this is the problem with the modern church which doesn’t really address the needs of families and has become so feminized that most men/dads are bored silly as well as their kids.

Youth programs/Sunday school/children’s church do little more than entertain kids and do very little to develop them into authentic believers. Sunday schools and youth groups seem to be part of the growing problem whereby 70% of children raised in Christian homes walk away from Christianity by their first year of college (I think it is even earlier than this).

When kids can no longer be excused from the church service to attend the special “program” they find church is boring and not fun. Instead of teaching our kids to be self disciplined, we are contributing to the modern problem where most children and teens brains are so over stimulated by “fun” things that they can’t listen to a 20 minute sermon.

I think the church model should be more like this church: http://www.hofcc.org/ in Troutdale, Oregon that promotes family worship and trains fathers to be the spiritual head of the home.

Children don’t need to be little adults and sit like zombies during the service, there are some great ideas posted in other peoples comments that can help keep your child sitting quietly while observing their parents worshiping God. I think we are falling into the belief that parents can’t raise children without intervention from experts.

Verses such as “Don’t forsake the assembling together…” and Jesus chastising the disciples for not letting the “little ones to come unto me” (the disciples thought that the kiddies would get in the way and be too noisy etc.) seem to indicate to me that we should all be together to worship.