Children

Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Luke 18:16-17

Children are part of God’s covenant community and we are always delighted to have them with us for worship on a Sunday morning. This has been the historic practice of the Christian church. In the time of the Old Testament, children were present when the people gathered to listen to preaching and teaching. In the new covenant, children are likewise considered as part of God’s church (see Training children in worship). As a result, we do not have any formal creche facilities since we would like to encourage whole families to be part of our worship service. We firmly believe that the preaching of God’s Word is a means by which God produces and strengthens faith in his people, even in the hearts of young children that do not comprehend everything they hear.
Normally, parents with small children sit at the back of the church in order to make it easier to temporarily leave the service as and when required.

We would recommend that parents purchase and read the following books, to stimulate your own thinking about how you can help your children to engage in public worship:
The nursery of the Holy Spirit: Welcoming children in worship (read a review of this book here)
Let the children worship
Parenting in the pew

We are still learning as a church how we can best help parents and what we can be doing to make sure that our worship service is as child-friendly as possible. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please do not hesitate to share them with one of our elders. Our minister has also produced a guide, ‘Teaching and training covenant children‘ which contains a detailed teaching plan for discipling children. Other resources for discipling and teaching children are available here.