We marched into church with our little bundle of joy at 2 weeks old. I was a frazzled mom, not sure how this was all going to work out (and still needing to take it easy as I recovered). We spent a couple of Sundays in the cry room as I got used to being around a lot of people and figuring out when Ae was hungry. And then we started taking him into the sanctuary with us.
Now, over a year later, Ae doesn’t even know the nursery exists.
Granted, we usually head for the cry room (which has visual and audio access to the sermon!) around the time the pastor begins preaching for nursing and a nap, but Ae usually does well through the singing/offering time.
I can’t imagine not having him sit with us.
“But isn’t he a distraction?” He’s 15 months old. And training is a process. Yes, there are (many) times he is a distraction. Yes, I have spent more time feeding my son Cheerios than taking notes in the last year. But it’s part of the training process our family is pursuing.
At home, Ae just recently started bringing me a toy and sitting on my lap as he played with it. I have begun to incorporate this into our Sunday routine at church, packing along a few books for him to look at [and hoping he doesn’t decide to chuck them across the aisle…].
At our church, our BFG (Bible Fellowship Group – think “Sunday School”) meets after the worship service. So what do we do with Ae then? We bring him along! About half of the time, he’s asleep, so he just rests in my arms. We haven’t had many weeks of him awake since he started walking, so we’re still in the process of figuring out what to do with him for that. If he gets too fussy, one of us will walk out with him in the hallway.
So why? Why do we do this? God’s Word is a priority for our family – and this is one of the ways we prioritize it. By worshiping and learning together, we know exactly what Ae is being taught, we know he is hearing God’s Word being read, and we know he is learning to sit with Momma and Daddy. We do go to church to fellowship; we do not go to church to “play.” Our long term goal is to engage him in conversation on the way home and throughout the week based on whatever the pastor preached on.
I was thoroughly encouraged to find this series by Selina at The Bergey Bunch. She writes some excellent thoughts from a large-family-momma (and adoptive momma!) perspective on training your toddlers to sit with you through church. I bet you could glean something from her wisdom, too.
Your turn: Does/did your child(ren) go to nursery/children’s church? How did your family make that choice?
{photo courtesy of Rooster Corner}
