3 Reasons Why Your Children Need Church

I once heard the story of a pastor who was preaching to his church about Christ loving the little children. At one point in his message he said the very familiar phrase, “Children are the future of our church!” When the service was over, the pastor stood at the door, greeting everyone as they left. A little old lady walked up to him and said, “Pastor, I disagree with what you said.” The pastor, very nervous, asked, “What did you disagree with?”
 

The little lady smiled and said, “Children are not the future of our church, they are the church right now!”

The truth is, children are not par of some far off future that the church has, children are an integral part of the ministry today. I find that churches that lack the laughter of small children are often very sad places.

Why should you be serious about bringing your children to church? Here are a few reasons why:

It shows them where your priorities lie

When I was growing up there was no question what we were going to do on Sunday. To take it a step further, there was no question about what we were doing on Wednesday night. We were going to be at church. Why? Because church was seen as important in our home. My parents also took us to church when we were on vacation. We would try to find a good church in the area and we would attend on Sundays. If we couldn’t find a good church where we were vacationing, my dad would preach and we would have church in our hotel room. It was never a question, growing up, what was important to my family. It has been said, “What you sow in emphasis, you reap in reward,” in fact, that phrase comes from the passage from the Bible that says, “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7)”. Taking our children, consistently, to church every Sunday shows how important we see it to be, and that importance that you place on church will eventually carry over into your children’s decision making.

It reinforces what you are teaching them at home

It must be said that it is not the church’s job to raise your children. That is the job of the parent. The primary place for your children to learn Biblical principle is at home. Biblical principles are taught, modeled, and demonstrated in the home. The church does not take the place of the Biblical upbringing of the home, it serves as a reinforcement of the upbringing of the home. This reinforcement adds validation to what you are teaching your children as a parent. As parents, we all have had the experience of our children having a hard time listening to us, but then they will listen very easily to someone else. Sometimes it just takes a different voice, saying the same exact thing, to get a truth into your child’s heart. The best ally that you have in raising your children is the church, it would be foolish not to use it!

It provides opportunities to fellowship

When your children grow up, they will likely spend a majority of their time around unsaved and unchurched people. That is one reason why church is so important for adults: We are being bombarded by the world all week long, it is great to pull aside on a Sunday (and Wednesday night) and experience the rest that comes with Christian fellowship. Our children need to get into the practice of fellowshipping with other Christians now. This may not sound incredibly important, but it absolutely is. Why? Because the people you are most comfortable with will end up becoming the people you spend time with; and the people you spend time with will end up being the person you become. If your child is more comfortable spending time with unsaved people rather than saved people, they will end up becoming like those unsaved people. Transversely, if you foster your children’s relationships within the church and around saved people, they will end up being more like those people. The type of people your children spend time with it very important.

Your children need the church, and the church needs your children! Let us be a help to you in raising this next generation for Christ!