Not long ago, one of the Scripture readings that we heard in worship included Jesus' words about welcoming or receiving a child: "He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." (Mark 9:36-37) "Receives" is perhaps a better word than "welcomes," because it is the word we would use for welcoming a very important person - and that is Jesus' point.

                             That is why we do what we do here, at Clarion Free Methodist: we have children with us in the service. This is not "second best," something that we do until there are more kids or more teachers or whatever. No. It is the best. The Sunday School movement - a recent one as history goes - has done many good things, but the role it has played in taking children out of the regular service is not one of them. A real family has all ages; so does a real church family.

                             This insight is one that house churches are discovering out of necessity. One recent post from a house-church site comments:

                             "Jesus never, ever said: 'Suffer the little children to be packed away in the nursery.' Can you imagine the children being led to Children's Church during the Sermon on the Mount?

                             The Scripture doesn't say much, if anything, on handling children when believers gathered. But I can't imagine that the believers back then didn't have children. I imagine nothing was ever said, because the early Christians didn't make such a big deal about the issue. The churches were in the home, families lived in homes, children lived in families, and therefore, children met with the church in the home. And despite the Scriptural silence on kids and church, I can guarantee one thing: there weren't any Sunday Schools and Children's Churches."

                             Read more of this article, "House Church and the Children," by Dan Trotter here

                             The idea of a separate, "age-appropriate" experience for children during church is a recent one, as church life goes. And yet, as this approach has become more and more popular, fewer and fewer teens have made the transition to adult church life. Maybe it's time for a back-to-the-future approach: having children in the service. They need something of their own to do (here, they light candles and play rhythm instruments and are just learning to be a choir). We, the grown-ups, need to explain sometimes what is going on (and we also keep things moving). Once in a while a bit of "shush"ing is needed, but not very often. The result is, as the ads say, "priceless:" to share our spiritual lives together, young and old -- how great is that!