With Christmas and New Year’s Day fast approaching, many churches take a break from their Sunday school and youth group ministries. This means that children who are normally in their own Sunday morning programming will be sitting in church with you! Gulp.
Have no fear! Christians have worshipped with all ages together from the time of the early church in the New Testament all the way through the mid-20th century. In fact, if you grew up in a church going family you may have attended church with your parents…and lived to tell about it.
Here are some important questions on this issue:
Does the Bible have anything to say about kids worshipping with their parents?
What are some practical ways we can help our kids get the most out of church?
What would it look like for a church to have multi-generational fellowship and multi-generational discipleship?
These are some of the questions I seek to answer in this message, “ALL TOGETHER CHURCH.” You can stream or DOWNLOAD it for free. I hope that you listen, pass it on, and share your thoughts and responses with me.
– Rob Rienow
P.S. Learn more about uniting churches and families for the Gospel HERE.
Listen to “All Together Church”…
Thank you for posting this sermon! Our church has recently been going through a transition of what to do with the children in services. This sermon has been shared with many and helped our church in Alsip, Illinois.
By His Grace and for His Glory,
Jennifer Dowdy
ps. For some reason the sermon stops spontaneously during the running time and has to be restarted.
Jennifer, thanks for the kind note! Sorry about the tech issues. Since your church is on this journey please allow me to send you two copies of “Limited Church Unlimited Kingdom” as a gift. This book develops the multi-generational vision in a much more thorough way. Just email rob@visionaryfam.com with the best address for where to send the books.
Rob, thanks for this message. Our church is making the change to a family, intergenerational church in 2015. The practical ideas are great. Blessings, Kirk
Thanks Kirk! It is a blessing (and really challenging) to build real relationships across the generations…but it is so worth it!
Rob, We have always considered ourselves part of a family friendly church where kids are not only welcomed in the service, but encouraged to be in the service with their family. We have children’s messages during the service and keep our kiddos in the service throughout the worship time.
I appreciated your teaching on the Biblical and historical background to including children in worship as well as the helpful tips on welcoming, engaging and getting to know everyone in the church including the children.
Do you have any advice for pastors and worship teams/planners on ways we can make our service even more engaging and child-friendly so that everyone who attends can be engaged throughout the worship time?
Ben, great to hear from you! Thanks for the encouragement. Here is a link to an article that has some additional practical suggestions for connecting kids/teens in your worship service. I hope it is helpful.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ns2jn6urtknckvx/k%20magazine%20jul%20aug%20kids%20in%20church.docx?dl=0
I hope we can keep in touch!
Do you have a copy of Limited Church Unlimited Kingdom? If not, email me your address and I will send you a copy. Rob@visionaryfam.com