Category: Children and Worship

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Have Babies Because It’s Dangerous

It’s a common observation by younger couples pursuing marriage or recently married. It happens often enough in the evangelical landscape to be addressed broadly. The general thesis is that this is a dangerous era to have children. The world is a crazy place with hipsters, Kamala Harris, and Harry Styles. I get the fear. I get the cultural grossness. I even get the skepticism of young parents. But let me tell you a thing or two.

Nothing is more joyful than populating the earth with children (Gen. 1:26-28). Nothing is more valuable than seeing these little arrows grow up to irritate leftists with their “Bible this” and “Bible that,” with their intrinsic sense of image-bearing dignity and intense distaste for worldliness.

Now, children can bring grief to their father and mother (Prov. 17:25), but when they seek the things of heaven, they make life a living hell to hell-bound elite parliamentarians.

This is not the most dangerous era of history to have children; this is actually the most productive age to have children. Nay, it is the most adventurous and God-honoring stage of history to have children. And to be really consistent, this is the kind of thing I would say if I were alive 100 years from now.

I would tell every newly married couple to plan wisely to have children and have them at a rate where the 1.9-average-a-year-climate-crisis-expert finds you repulsive. Greta Thunberg will probably not have kids because she thinks the world is in a crisis. She and her legacy will pass away like vapor (Eccl. 1:4), but your kids will take it from her and prove that the world’s crisis is only that which is divorced from Messiah Jesus.

This is the best season in history to have children. It is the most prominent with possibilities for the good to flourish. It is the most fruitful to build true worshipers.

Have babies. Sanctify them. And send them out to roar.

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Make Dangerous Children

It’s a common observation made by younger couples pursuing marriage or recently married. It happens often enough in the evangelical landscape that it needs to be addressed broadly. The general thesis is that this is a dangerous era to have children. The world is a crazy place with hipsters and Kamala Harris and Harry Styles. I get the fear. I get the cultural grossness. I even get the skepticism of young parents. But let me tell you a thing or two.

Nothing is more joyful than populating the earth with children (Gen. 1:26-28). There is nothing more valuable than seeing these little arrows grow up to irritate leftists with their “Bible this” and “Bible that,” with their intrinsic sense of image-bearing dignity and their intense distaste for worldliness.

Now, children can bring grief to their father and mother (Prov. 17:25), but when they seek the things of heaven, they make life a living hell to hell-bound elite parliamentarians.

This is not the most dangerous era of history to have children; this is actually the most productive age to have children. Nay, it is the most adventurous and God-honoring stage of history to have children. And to be really consistent, this is the kind of thing I would say if I were alive 100 years from now.

I would tell every newly married couple to plan wisely to have children and have them at a rate where the 1.9-average-a-year-climate-crisis-expert finds you repulsive. Greta Thunberg will probably not have kids because she thinks the world is in a crisis. She and her legacy will pass away like vapor (Eccl. 1:4), but your kids will take it from her and prove that the world’s crisis is only that which is divorced from Messiah Jesus.

This is the best season in history to have children. It is the most prominent with possibilities for the good to flourish. It is the most fruitful to build true worshipers.

Have babies. Sanctify them. And send them out to roar.

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Raising Daughter to Glorify

Dear friend,

You asked what general principle I’d give as a pastor on how to shepherd daughters. You noted my little book on fatherhood, where I mainly focused on training boys to be kings. But there is a different kind of texture when it comes to parenting girls that the book does not apply.

One central principle has been brewing in my mind over the last few years, and I want to lay a brief overview of it. The battle for the young lady is the need to embrace femininity in all its glory. After all, woman functions as the glory of man (I Cor. 11:7), and that biblical assessment shapes how fathers prepare their daughters. The woman is not the head of the man, and therefore, her role is fundamentally doxological. She exists to be glory before she glorifies.

Young ladies are not in need of exposure to the world or pep talks on how professional you can be in a man-saturated world; she is called to understand what glory means and how her presence can communicate that role in the life of her future husband and community. Fathers should not instruct young ladies in the art of the deal but in the art of glory. Therefore, she is formed first and foremost to bring glory to God as a future woman and to prepare herself to be a source and giver of glory to others.

But what is glory? The concept of δόξα (doxa) in Paul’s writing provides a clear relation between the glory a woman bestows as a result of the proper headship of a man. A woman cannot–in its pristine sense–bestow glory unless or until the man adequately understands his role as head. A thwarted version of headship belittles the woman’s glory-role. Thus, in its ordinary role, a father prepares his daughter to be a glory-bearer to her future husband.

A well-informed Christian father/man should know that when ungodly voices accuse us of patriarchalism because we believe in the priority of the home for our daughters or that we imprison our little girls with archaic ideals, we should rightly laugh. The reality is they don’t know just how powerful godly and principled women can be reigning from their headquarters.

The other false sense of daughter-raising we hear from unseemly voices is that we keep our daughters in a servile posture all their lives. But that is false in every conceivable way. We are not training daughters to never leave home; we are training daughters to be satisfied in the home so they can shine their glory outside to all who enter it.

If dads attempt to raise overly assertive/independent young ladies who despise the home and cherish the professional standards of the world, they will quickly realize that they are contributing to the rise of feminism and not femininity.

The mothers I know are not only feminine, but they are also glory-givers in their hospitality, kindness, and wisdom. Fathers must begin their principled training with their young daughters with that end in mind. Equip them to glorify the home and their husbands, and many other societal concerns fade. I know I have more to say about this in the future.

Epiphany cheers,

Pastor Uriesou Brito

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The Way of Young Men

A father called me once and asked me to meet with his 17-year-old son. He wanted me to give him thoughts on how he could better work on his son in the last year or two before his eldest went to college.

Now, a bit about this father. This patriarch was a good covenanter who brought this young man up from the font in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He made his share of mistakes, but he doggedly loved his son and there was no doubt his son knew his father loved him. The young lad watched and heard his father seeking forgiveness from God and repenting before his tribe.

I eagerly took the opportunity. When I met this young man at a local coffee shop, he greeted me, and after grabbing our coffees, he sat down and pulled out his little notebook. He carefully wrote down a series of questions he wanted to ask me. These questions ranged from the characteristics he sought in a wife to my thoughts on various theological subjects. We spent about two hours navigating a host of questions, and I actually learned quite a bit from his intellectual and curious mind.

I did not leave that morning thinking to myself, “I really hope he makes it!” Instead, I left tremendously invigorated by his demeanor and preparation for life. In fact, when I left that morning, I did not think I had met a pre-adult but rather a man whose manliness far exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees.

David sang that the sons of the righteous in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants (Ps. 144:12). These men will be steady and sustained by true religion, being humbled by “the mind of Golgotha” (Kuyper) rather than the entertainment values of religious naysayers.

In our day, however, the example above is viewed as some foreign case, a rare breed of young men. Why has this become the mood? Because Christian fathers have given over their young men to expectations of failure treating the entire navigational process as something neutral. “I tried to guide them, but they just got lost.” But this is surely not the nature of fatherhood in the Scriptures. Fatherhood trains the hands of men for battle (II Samuel 22), they don’t exist as bystanders throwing a book, meme, or adding some generic one-liners on random occasions.

The kinds of fathers that have left an imprint on their sons are the ones who lead in the way of wild repentance and intentionally train their sons to keep their eyes open to patterns of deceit and corruption and truth and purity. They instruct in these pattern-finding missions because they learned from a series of self-inflicted wounds in their own lives or because their own fathers trained them in these ways, but for them, the goal is clear: to send out these arrows with covenant advantages rather than a deficit.

The young man at 17 didn’t simply make a decision to think carefully about life and his future at a moment’s notice; he was trained to think carefully, and he was encouraged that such thinking would bear good fruit. He sought out rhythms of grace because fatherly grace had been poured out on him in millions of little moments.

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Liturgical Parenting

Dear friend,

I view parenting as a form of liturgical living. There is room for spontaneity, but ultimately parenting must be rooted in consistent self-giving, discipline, and joy.

First, self-giving means that parents learn that to father or to mother is necessarily to die; not to die physically, but to die sacrificially. I was once told by a father that he needed more “me” time, which meant time away from the children. I understand this father’s desire for some peace and quiet. Every parent does. But what “me” time communicates is a sense of independence that we lost the second that first cry bursts from the womb. Parenting is precisely giving up your independence for the sake of the weak.

Second, discipline refers to the necessary ability to apply some negative judgment whether through spanking or other methods. We know at times a simple conversation can elicit important data that frames the disposition of children towards obedience.

Children answer differently to discipline, so a parent needs to know well the personality of each child as well as be aware of their growth and how discipline changes with age. Yet, the liturgical principle is consistency. Coupled with that is the importance of constant affirmation of your child’s image-bearing status which is a positive application that goes side by side with discipline. Prior to Jesus’ mission to war with the devil in the wilderness (Matt. 4), he was first showered with loving words by his Father: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Finally, parental liturgy entails joy. A poet once wrote about her fondest memory being returning home after school to the smile of her mother. Joy moves the liturgy from glory to glory; grace to grace. A joyful liturgy in the home makes self-giving and discipline a richer parental experience and also accentuates the life and experiences of children. Every good liturgy requires smiles and hugs and kisses. If joy is missing, the first and second elements will become burdensome.

If you don’t know if these steps are applied faithfully (not perfectly), then you may need to sit with your oldest child or a friend who knows your family well and ask if he/she sees these elements applied in the home and which element requires more emphasis.

Liturgies are meant to be practiced, rehearsed, and exercised.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Brito

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The Case for Children in Worship, Part 6

We love our children! We love being with them when they wake up and we love their snuggles at night before bed. There are so many magical moments of parenting. But let the parent who speaks always smilingly of parenting throw the first stone! Don’t tell me you don’t long for that bedtime with fierce determination; don’t tell me you don’t long for some precious time with your spouse!? Don’t tell me you don’t long for conversations with big people for a change?

We shouldn’t feel guilty about this…no, not once. We pour our hearts into our little ones, but if sleep cycles didn’t exist, none of us would be a parent for longer than a week. In much of our conversation about parenting, we tend to fall into pious overload mode and treat parenting as if it were so easy that anyone could do it well with a little prep time and a few tips from our favorite parenting guru. But anyone putting on their reality glasses understands that parenting is much more complicated and that we need additional times when life isn’t a liturgy of diapers and breaking up squabbles and cleaning mushed green beans from the floor.

I have thus far encouraged parents to keep their squiggly bundle of energy with them during the entire service. Aren’t I asking for a little too much? Shouldn’t I be content with simply allowing parents to enjoy a precious 75-90 minutes of pure and uninterrupted bliss of worship without keeping them on their feet…again on the Lord’s Day?

I promise I am not a tyrant; I am a benevolent pastor who sees your woes because I am fairly self-aware of the work I do as a father and the double/triple work my wife does when I leave those doors to the office in the morning and the remarkable job a single mom does who doesn’t have that additional voice to harmonize her strategies.

So, the final argument essentially ponders why a parent would have to sacrifice fellowship time catching up with good friends for an additional hour of navigating the wants of tiny people who incidentally want a lot. The answer is that we need to view our worship service as fellowship with the Triune God who invites our little children to come unto Him. Ultimately, that is worship.

There are plenty of opportunities for more substantial fellowship that will require some sacrifice. Perhaps dad stays home a night or two while mom spends some time with friends and vice-versa. We should allow Sundays to function as a day where we fellowship in a unique way (in the context of worship), but build the rationale for fellowship in a more intimate way outside the Sunday environment.

As a pastor, I usually have 20-25 different conversations before and after worship, but most of them involve catching up, and if there is a need for something more intimate, a parishioner and I will come to an agreement about what day to meet and discuss certain matters. Similarly, Sunday should function not as a time to have real conversations that must exclude children, but it should be used as an opportunity to make plans to meet in a more favorable environment.

Again, children shouldn’t be a hindrance to such fellowship. Certain phases of life mean that our conversations take place in a particular way. I often say that parents fellowship on the basis of fragmented sentences. We have this unique opportunity to begin conversations and then continue them 10 minutes later after dealing with whatever “emergency” our children may have.

In sum, I firmly believe that none of these reasons should distract us from healthy community life, and in fact, children provide an abundance of opportunities for beautiful learning and growing together in grace in the context of worship and fellowship.

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The Case for Children in Worship, Part 5

What I have discovered as a father of five children under the age of 13 is that children have an enormous capacity for repetition. My little 4-year old would have us read him the same book seventy times seven. Chesterton opined about this when he wrote that “Children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.” I have nearly died many times, and my sweet wife is on her third resurrection.

Children like to do things again which means that for churches to invest in them, a congregational liturgy needs to keep in mind the repetitive nature of the faith. Israel’s history teaches us that repetitive faith is passed down to our children and our children’s children (Deut. 6).

Our children are not in need of novelty; they are not in need of more entertainment, they are in need of a substantive faith that pushes them further in their stories. It is okay for a 2-year-old to be singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” because God is holy and that child needs to sing truth even if he does not grasp the majestic purity of God’s wonder and grace. But again, do any of us truly grasp it?

When I hear a little one singing along to “Holy, Holy, Holy,” I am experiencing as a pastor and the same for parishioners, something sublime. Out of the mouth of babes and infants (Psalm 8:2), that child is declaring the deep praises of God. Why should he only need to express minimal truths outside the assembly and why should the assembly of grown-ups have that luxury alone? What makes the older disciples any more capable of expressing praises to God than the little ones? After all, Jesus rebuked his own disciples for operating on that basis (Mat. 18-19).

The third argument often used against the keeping of children in worship is that we need a more specific didactic focus for our children. In essence, keeping kids in worship with parents is a waste of time since they will get nothing or little out of it. “They are, after all, children, and lack the capacity to grasp the language of a worship service.” Therefore, there is a need for a more child-appropriate classroom setting. This is likely the more common argument and one based on concern for the learning process of children.

I will stress once again what has been stated before. The worship service is not a classroom; it is an experience in God’s story that runs through the Gospel narrative. Any worship service that reserves the Gospel story only for the sermon is missing the opportunity to accentuate God’s proclamation throughout. This leads to another common problem: we have often made the worship service into a competition in note-taking. However important the task of taking notes may be (and it can be helpful, especially for older kids), we need to be cautious not to equate taking notes or listening to a sermon as the worship service itself. I am all in favor of Christian education classes before or after worship where more in-depth training can take place, but here we are talking about the mandated act of worship which is not an act of mind only, but soul and body.

If worship becomes a classroom, it’s no wonder that we have allergic reactions to the idea that children should sit with us from beginning to end. The little children I know quickly embrace the repetitive nature of the Gloria Patri or the Doxology or the Sanctus or the Three-Fold Amen or throw in another aspect of church rhythms. They don’t complain, but they will often say, “Do it again!”

It is true that the difficulties increase if you are part of a congregation where the structure of worship changes from week to week, but it can be done because in every service there are repetitive elements, and those can be stressed and memorized easily.

The concern for instruction at the level of little children is only a concern if one views worship as secondary to the shaping of our children’s minds. But God has said again and again that worship is formational and there is no greater formative time in the life of a human than when he is small. We want our habits formed by rituals/habits no matter how complex initially, and the worship service provides not just ordinary rituals/habits, but holy formative acts that change and mold us into better humanity in Jesus Christ and our children should partake of this joy with us.

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The Case for Children in Worship, Part 4

I was interviewed yesterday on the topic of children in worship by a Christian radio station. It’s always good to know people are interested in discussing these critical subjects. One of the concerns that came up in the interview and was also brought up by a concerned commenter has to do with the exceptional cases. In other words, what about those who would suffer should a church policy be established that children should remain with their parents from the beginning to the end of the service?

I would immediately reply that I am under no illusion that such ideal would receive such a vast consensus. I am an optimist on ecclesiastical matters–the kind that keeps pressing an issue until they build a two-feet monument in honor of my perseverance a day or two after my death.

The other fact is that what we believe to be true, right and good does not mean we think that everyone must come onboard overnight. Let all those who suffered under the zeal of new Calvinists say amen: “Amen!” And I speak as a recovering irritant to my non-Calvinist friends. Mea Culpa!

That said, there are incremental ways to bring about a recovery of a view of worship that includes nursing infants and toddlers and teenagers on the same row, or preferably separated by an adult or three. When someone gives the example of a single mother of four who would panic or not even bother to come to worship because the local Church does not provide a nursery or a children’s worship program, I do have some additional caveats to add.

I do think this is a conversation that we need to have, which means that we begin with what we believe is true, and then we work our way down to the exceptional cases. We don’t build arguments based on the exceptions; otherwise, we would all be socialists. We think—at least most of us do—that Capitalism good, and then once we have established that principle, we work on how to best deal with those who have legitimate needs. But for the vast majority, the principle is that you work, and therefore you eat (II Thes. 3:10).

All this means that we need to be in some agreement as to our destination first. Then, we can begin to think carefully about what to do with the mega-church with 167 programs for little people. This also does not negate the hard work of teachers who seek to provide a carefully fitting message for kids ages 3-4. But I also want to be sure to say with all the courage I can muster that because there is good work being done, it does not mean that it is the right work to be done. Something can be a good deed applied to the wrong context. For instance, I can bring my wife flowers a day after our anniversary. It’s a good deed, but dangerously wrong timing.

We need to change the culture of the Church on this issue. And that means that some of you might need to make some changes (as I articulated in a previous post) at home, and in other places, if you really are convinced by what I have said thus far.

We want to encourage the single mom by pointing her to several other people who can come alongside her and help her in the process. I would suggest that if you are a single mom of four and the Church you attend has absolutely no interest in reconsidering their methods, and you—for various reasons—have no intention to leave, then you should continue to abide by the Church’s distinctives. If, however, your convictions become so strong as the days and months pass by that you can no longer tolerate that Church’s policy, then you need to take some more serious measures lest you become a burden to the leadership of the Church (Heb. 13:17).

As a final note, one observer noted out of concern that families that once were dependent on children’s Church have still not returned to worship because the vast majority of churches that have resumed their in-person services are not yet offering children’s programs out of safety concerns. Therefore, if you are still reading, the equation is: No children’s worship=no church participation.

My deeper question at this point is to ask why have churches inculcated a dependency on such things that are clearly not essential to the life of the Church in the Bible, or for that matter in the history of the Church. Consider that none of these children’s programs—however valuable—existed until about the 18th century and more formally until the late 19th century. All this means that the Church seemed to blossom for a very long time before these things, which indicates that we have become dependent on a system that is relatively new in the church scene. I propose we slowly but methodically begin to change this entire reasoning by having more difficult conversations about the nature of worship and the nature of children and their role in God’s assembly.

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On the Blessings of Children and Parenting in the Pew

The Bible and Children

I wanted to continue this series by offering a quick footnote to a biblical rationale for the importance of children in worship. It doesn’t seem necessary, since their cuteness speaks for itself, but it seems that establishing this foundation will set the stage for more difficult conversations later.

The Bible speaks of children over 1,100 times and in most cases as something to be desired (Ps. 128), other times in the context of sadness for not being able to bear (Gen.11:30), and other times as promises (Gen. 17), and then in the New Testament as those who are objects of wrath from tyrants (Mat. 2:13) and then later as recipients of Jesus’ love (Mat. 19). Sometimes they are a reason for grief (Gen. 4), but in most cases, they are signs of blessings (Ps. 102:28).

When I was a pastoral intern, I remember someone approaching me after a service and confessing that she simply couldn’t tolerate little children in worship because of their noises. “They were a distraction,” she said angrily. I often think this is the way many evangelicals view children: as distractions. They are distractions at home, so we find ways to entertain them rather than engage them. They are a distraction at church, so we find ways to keep them busy outside the gathered assembly. As we will note, there are other concerns in mind, but the evangelical church has unwittingly affirmed the premise that children are a distraction and something needs to be done about it during the worship service.

In the Gospels, the disciples rebuked our Lord because they believed that the children were a distraction to Jesus’ “real” ministry (Mat. 19:13). But Jesus rebuked the disciples and said his ministry is to draw little children to him and to build a kingdom through the faith of those little disciples.

The Fruitfulness of Parenting

Being a parent is one of the hardest tasks ever given to men. It is also one of the areas where the Spirit speaks most decisively in giving detailed instruction (Deut. 6). Idealistic parents quickly fall into reality that first week when they take their new-born home. I remember that scene when I pulled up the van, and my wife was carefully wheeled to the van where I picked up my little girl, and meticulously plugged her into the baby car seat. I never drove so slow and so tense in my life. I literally had this thought as I drove off: “I have a human being in the car that is fully dependent on me. I don’t know if I am ready!” But that child was entrusted to these parents, and since that is the case, we now have a distinct duty to train her in the education of God (Eph. 6:4).

Like anything we are called to steward and love, it will demand our soul. Children are a blessing from the Lord, which means that we need to view them as such. They are not vipers in diapers (to quote a famous author), they are worshipers in diapers, then they are worshipers who can potty on their own, sit on their own, sing on their own, raise their hands on their own, eat on their own, confess on their own, and then one day, produce a new cycle of worshipers in diapers.

When we send our children to another gathering away from Jesus’ central gathering in worship, we are creating a separate class within Jesus’ earthly kingdom. Even though our intentions may be pure, we may be thinking as the disciples did and thereby missing the opportunity for Jesus to place his hands upon them and bless them with His love (Mat. 19:15).

The journey is not meant to be easy, but like any faith-journey, it will be rewarding. I propose that keeping children in the worship service from beginning to the benediction is the most biblically satisfying and fruitful task you can embrace as a parent on the Lord’s Day.

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The Case for Children in Worship

The goal of this discussion is to foster conversation on a topic that is too neglected in evangelical churches. And speaking of evangelicals, I am one of those who proudly affirm the “evangel” and if the “icals” were a team I’d cheer them on as well. So, I am trying to speak from a place of wild familiarity.

I also don’t want to shame anyone into keeping their kids through the whole service when they haven’t thought carefully about it and are simply acting out of guilt. Guilt-based decisions have the durability of an ice cream cone left out in the Florida sun. Making decisions that are not common in various congregations (and in this case the majority) need to be done discerningly. One of my answers to people about children and schooling and other related subjects is that I love my children much more than your ideal scenario. In other words, if a Church practices something that I am not comfortable with regarding the nurture of my children, my children will always take precedence over the Church’s ideals.

For instance, if a Church has a suggested policy (if such policies are mandated we have a whole other problem) that children go to children’s church during “adult” worship” and you decide that it is best that your children stay, and you do it peacefully without causing a scene, the leaders of the church should understand. And if they get into a habit of making ugly faces at you every Sunday and sending you dissertations about how your child is only holy if he/she goes to that children’s church down the hall, then it may be time for you to have a more serious conversation as a family about how a) to continue dealing gracefully with such an uncomfortable situation, or b) how to properly inform the leaders that what they are doing is not kosher and needs to stop, or c) begin to discuss how to graciously and honorably leave that body.

So, it should be clear that this is not an attempt at revolution or causing havoc in a local congregation. What I am trying to do is to bring to your attention a different way to view children whether in the local Baptist or Presbyterian or “insert cool name” Church.

First Argument Against Children in Church

One of the more common arguments made against keeping children in Church–from beginning to end—is: “I can’t keep my children quiet during worship, therefore I don’t see the need to keep them with me.” The argument posits that the demands of disciplining and watching over little ones during the worship service ultimately do not bear any benefits.

This is a legitimate concern. You are in Church to worship on the Lord’s Day and the last thing you want is to add additional tasks to your time. After all, weren’t you just in the process of changing a diaper, disciplining, correcting, breaking up a fight right before Church? Why bring that whole business into the house of the Lord?

The first response is that there is no place you can go where some level of authority structure is not set into place. If you walk into the local Wal-Mart with your little one (s), you are still expected to navigate difficult scenarios. In other words, you cannot escape your authority. Whether a dad or mom, your authority needs to be exercised–always preferably lovingly–at all times and in all places.
The nurture and admonition of the Lord do not take a sabbath on the Sabbath (Lord’s Day), rather it should be accentuated.

There are two things that matter to the Christian: a) the worship of the Triune God, b) and how that worship fleshes itself out during the week.

The worship of God most powerfully manifested on the Lord’s Day proves to be the soberest opportunity you will have to train your little ones (we will discuss some practical steps down the line). Of course, you could let Sister Sally watch your little ones during Church, and I am certain she will be saying some nice things and even instructing your child well, but Sister Sally does not speak as an ordained minister; Sister Sally cannot speak on behalf of the Church, Sister Sally cannot do for your children what you can do, because while Sister Sally may have a general love for your child, only you (dad and mom) know the needs, understand the hearts, and see the week after week struggles of your child to properly train your child.

Remember, worship is not the academy, it’s not a classroom, it’s a living experience of the Triune God in a sacred space taking place by the power of the Spirit in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). Read that sentence three more times.

Yes, your child will struggle to stay quiet and he/she will be distracting; and yes, it will demand a little more of you each Sunday. And, you may miss that really great hymn/song while you are changing a diaper or Johnny throws a fit over something. But I can guarantee you that the more you do it the more you will begin to see little victories and with each little victory, you will discover that the joys of corporate worship are always more filling when you are together with your little ones during the worship of heaven. Like any glorious thing, the benefits come when you persevere in this holy task.