Jugglin'5 Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I am curious now, based on the comments on the other children in church threads, whether if you have your children in the main service is in any way correlated to whether or not one's church is relatively liturgical or not. Of course in one sense every church is liturgical to some degree, i.e. certain things are usually done at a certain time, but I think you know what I mean.:bigear: I realize some churches are borderline with regard to liturgy, but I'll leave that to your discretion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I'm a Presbyterian (PCA) that goes to a church that has one pretty liturgical service and one contemporary that has a medium liturgy. My children are with me no matter which service we attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaNY Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I could not answer the poll, because we go to a Messianic Synagogue, but yes, we keep children in the main worship service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 I could not answer the poll, because we go to a Messianic Synagogue, I'm a Presbyterian (PCA) that goes to a church that has one pretty liturgical service and one contemporary that has a medium liturgy I knew some of this might be a little messy and subjective, ;). What is liturgical to one might be very low church to another. I am totally ignorant of what is done in a messianic synagogue, Lisa. Would you say it swings more toward the ordered, repetitive (in a good way, of course), and traditional or spontaneous and contemporary? My curiosity is killing me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamturner Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I voted that I do keep my young children in church w/me but I don't do it from birth. I start training my kids in sitting through church when they are 2ish. I'm about to start my 2 year old but I just haven't yet. I think I started bringing them to church and then taking them back to nursery for the sermon when the other 3 were younger than 2 but I don't remember. Our current church has nursery for up to 3 yo and then 4-5 yo participate in worship until the sermon at which time they may be dismissed to children's church. I did not send mine to children's church and I wasn't the only one who didn't but most parents did. These days more and more families are opting to keep their 4-5 yo in the entire service rather than use children's church. Our church has sunday school before the worship service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TN Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We are also Presbyterian (PCA). Many in our church keep their kids in service from birth, although we do have nursery care through age 3. 4yo and up are in the service. I placed our church in the liturgical category because we include a lot of responsive readings, Apostle's Creed, the Lord's prayer, etc. Not as "high church" as a traditional Catholic Mass or Anglican service, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Dominion Heather Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Ok, I am Presbyterian, and I said that we are liturgical. I also said that we DO NOT keep our young kids with us, since we leave the two year old in the nursery and the six year old goes to children's church during the sermon. The eight year old stays with us. Our children's church is for kids up to first grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We are Catholic. Dd (8) has "sat" through Mass almost every week since birth. Not that she has alway sat still, and many times during the 2-5 years she sat with a mouthful of Cherrios or fruit snacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowWhite Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 There was no *obligatory* other. Our church is non-liturgical. However, only about half of the service is devoted to Sunday School. At the halfway point children rejoin their parents. For Sunday night and Wednesday night, children stay with their parents. I guess I will vote non-lit., children with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philothea Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We're Latin mass Catholics, my children go to every mass with us and are with us for the whole time. There isn't anywhere else for them to go, but it is expected to have them there so they can pray, learn about the mass, hear the chant, and prepare for their first Holy Communion. After this stage, each child is pretty much an "adult" in the church and would be there for the same reasons, though the prayers in their prayer books and missals might be a little more simplified. Of course, the Sunday obligation to assist at mass is not applicable to those caring for those who are elderly, in need or small children but that is a whole different subject, now isn't it? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 I placed our church in the liturgical category because we include a lot of responsive readings, Apostle's Creed, the Lord's prayer, etc. Not as "high church" as a traditional Catholic Mass or Anglican service, though. My church is like that as well and I consider us to be liturgical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted June 16, 2008 Author Share Posted June 16, 2008 There was no *obligatory* other. Our church is non-liturgical. However, only about half of the service is devoted to Sunday School. At the halfway point children rejoin their parents. For Sunday night and Wednesday night, children stay with their parents. I guess I will vote non-lit., children with. There are so many different permutations that I was afraid if I put "other", everyone would vote other, KWIM? So I figured everyone could just vote whatever they felt to be closest to their situation, even if it doesn't fit exactly. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We got to a non-liturgical church and we do keep our kids with us in the service. Our church does offer nursery and a children's church during the sermon, but our kids don't go. Our current pastor has always kept his children in the service, too, and some of our families do, and some don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Our guys participate in corporate worship at our non-denominational, relatively-non-liturgical chapel.:) The chapel was originally started many years ago as mission project by the Reformed churches in town, and the pastor went to seminary at Westminster. But we aren't specifically affiliated with a denomination. We do tend to follow a general order of worship, but I would not describe the service as liturgical. We're a little of everything, in some respects, singing contemporary music right alongside standards from the Trinity Hymnal. I'm going off on a tangent now, aren't I? Sorry!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We're PCA too. This weekend we visited a CRE church, where not only are the children expected to stay with their families, but they take communion too. We really enjoy this church! We don't belong because it's a three hour drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 We are also Presbyterian (PCA). Many in our church keep their kids in service from birth, although we do have nursery care through age 3. 4yo and up are in the service. I placed our church in the liturgical category because we include a lot of responsive readings, Apostle's Creed, the Lord's prayer, etc. Not as "high church" as a traditional Catholic Mass or Anglican service, though. This is us as well. We have kept each of our children in the service with us since their births. (Although, if I needed to nurse one of them, I would go to the cry room, if one was available, or sit outside or in the nursery.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 I don't know how to answer this question. We're LDS, and the main worship meeting is quiet and structured--is that what you mean? But it's not like a Mass, and there's no call and response. We have hymns, Communion, and then talks by members of the congregation instead of a sermon. It's a family service; it's expected that families will be together and everyone will attend, so there are babies and everything. After that, everyone splits up into classes, for Sunday School and so on. The kids all go to a children's meeting. Nursery is 18 mos-3 years (but it only happens in class time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill- OK Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 ...so I don't know how to answer, lol. The church we currently attend is associated with the Christian Church (like Church of Christ, in a sense), and is not liturgical. We observe Communion every Sunday, and I do believe that it's important for my children to be there to observe, even before they partake (I sincerely believe that witnessing others taking Communion and having it explained to them over and over again was instrumental in leading my two middle children to accept Christ as their savior). Just to muddy the waters a little, I'll repeat what I said in another thread on this subject; the one time we attended a church (PCA, sought out by us specifically due to theology and the fact that they did not have a Children's Church) that expected families to worship together...it was a disaster. The attitude we felt from the pulpit/leadership about the children staying in service was dramatically different from our philosophy and why we practice this. We left, and went to a Baptist church with the traditional "HEY KIDS!! COME TO CHILDREN'S CHURCH!!!" set up. We kept our kids with us most of the time, let them attend with the other kids occasionally, and it was fine. We've had experiences with churches where we felt that there was a 'pressure' (not mean or anything) to do things 'their' way, but it was never as uncomfortable as the things we heard at the church that shared our commitment to keeping our kids with us (although with a much different attitude*). We're fellowshipping with folks who don't share every little conviction we have...and we love them. Our kids go to Children's Church occasionally, and sit with us mostly. It's fine. *In case anyone's wondering, our belief about keeping our kids with us is one that's based on positive reasons, and isn't something we believe in enforcing punitively, with spanking, etc. I'm not trying to dis our former church, or anyone who believes similarly (I'm also not going to repeat the things that made us so uncomfortable that we left), just stating that it's not always as cut and dried as "Well, things would be easier if we went somewhere that practiced as we do". We don't leave churches lightly. It's more important to us that the attitude behind something (and this 'thing' in particular) be based on certain things, than simply having the practice in place. JMO. And said in a general conversational tone, lol. I also realize that not all PCA and/or Baptist churches are the same; this isn't meant to characterize whole denominations, I'm just speaking of the individual churches we've attended. (ETA: I realize that this is far more than the poll asked for, lol...I'm just thinking aloud--onscreen?--about the whole discussion and its various associated threads. Is this enough qualifying? Can anyone think of anything else I'm missing, lol? ;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 Another PCA member here - liturgical and children with parents (there is nursery and an optional "children's church" for 4-6 yo, but we don't use either.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 well, I voted liturgical and no. We actually do keep my oldest son with us, but that's because that's what he chooses to do. There is a children's worship service offered for kids up to 10, and the majority of the kids attend (though we've certainly never felt at all pressured to send DS) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in VA Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 that is not liturgical and almost all children attend the service with their parents. Most of the families are larger than average (we have 4 children, and we would be considered a small family at this church), and most children are homeschooled. I love having the entire family together. It is a big turn-off for me to be greeted at a church door and have an usher immediately direct me to a nursery or childrens' church. We've visited a few churches where it was obvious that children were not welcome inside the sanctuary and we never went back. We are moving to Japan in a couple of weeks, and the thing I am going to miss most about Northern VA is our church! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted June 17, 2008 Author Share Posted June 17, 2008 There sure are a lot of PCA'ers on the WTM boards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli in TN Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 There sure are a lot of PCA'ers on the WTM boards! Yeah. What's up with that? I find it kind of interesting that so many on here are PCA!! I wonder if that is a coincidence or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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