Worshiping as a family on Sunday’s

Church. Around a screen. With little people moving, jumping, asking questions. It’s very different from what a typical Sunday at Mountain View looks like. Your family’s engagement and time with God is the most important thing, and I want you to realize that worshiping with kids is a beautiful mess. That’s the good news – it’s a beautiful mess! Because it is a beautiful mess, there is no right or wrong way to do church with your little people!

Up until recently, we have carefully crafted a worship experience and teaching time that is targeted towards your child and their age group. It’s time that has been meticulously planned to engage every single kid. Now, all of that has been upended and we find ourselves trying to worship and learn in a new environment. As we enter into a season of having church with our families, I want you to know this:

During weekly Sunday morning worship your kids:

• Walk around when they should be sitting and sit when they should be active.
• Wait to go to the bathroom until we dive into the lesson.
• Focus on their friends when it’s time to focus on the leader or on God.
• Request longer free-time and hold onto toys when we get started.
• Tell stories that are really important to them, but that have nothing to do with what we are talking about, usually at the most inopportune time.
• Ask about snacks approximately 100 times before we eat it…even if we eat it first thing.

During weekly Sunday morning worship your kids also:

• See other people engaging in worship, and engage in worship themselves.
• Ask questions about Jesus and the Bible.
• Be incredibly vulnerable with their lives, their insecurities, their experiences and seek input from Godly sources.
• Actively engage in the experience (want to serve snacks, read the memory verse, help lead worship, etc.).
• Listen and learn while drawing, writing, building, and moving around.
• Have incredible responses when asked to share how they see God working in the world around them. Seriously, I am humbled regularly by the faith of our kids.
• Pray for one another.
• Engage with God – both in learning about him, and worshiping Him.

The experience or worshiping as a family may look differently than what you expect. It really is a beautiful mess. And, that’s okay. Your kids may tell stories that don’t connect with the passage you are talking about. That is also okay. Your kids may need a snack to keep them going. Again, it’s okay. There may be cars and legos and other toys. It’s okay, sometimes fidgeting with toys actually helps kids pay attention. Your kids are listening. They are watching. And they will remember what the atmosphere of your home was like when you all worshiped and learned together around a screen. Your Sunday service doesn’t have to look perfect, or be interruption free. Our kids aren’t an interruption. They are engaging and interacting with the Lord, and it is such a privilege to get to worship and engage with the Lord together.

Your family’s Sunday morning worship experience will look different for many reasons. I’m asking and praying that God would meet you in your homes and guide you as you do the important work of coming to him as a family. God has always intended worship to be continuous and passed down in this way.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Moses shared these words from God with the Israelites while they wandered in the wilderness between a home left behind and a promised future home. Those parents and leaders had their worlds upended too. Their day to day changed drastically as they left what they had known in Egypt and wandered. We’ve left what we know for a season. And, just like God was present in the wilderness with his people, He is present in our current home-bound state. He has equipped you, as the parents of your amazing kids, to lead them in worship and seeking God. My prayer for you is that you can lean into the words of God and his guidance during our Sunday services and during the week, and that you and yours will enjoy this sweet season of worshiping and growing together. I will be doing the same with my family, as we worship him together in our different spaces.

May you comprehend the depth of Christ’s love for you,
Sarah

Additional Resources:

• A Guide to Doing Online Church with your Kids
• Input from Parents: Tips for @ Home Worship with Kids
• We have a new facebook page so that we can connect during this time. Check it out here!