Things We Get Wrong, part 2… Children.

Wrong Thing #2. “Children are Annoying.”

Sure, some of you might be thinking: “That statement is neither wrong nor a myth…I see plenty of annoying kids throughout the week. Sometimes they are even my own.”

Okay. Point taken. As a youth and children’s minister for more than 12 years, I saw some children who were annoying, but that was usually because we adults had made some pretty dumb mistakes in modeling right behavior for them. Which might mean that we adults are pretty annoying and have shown our children how to do it well. Anyway…

What I actually mean to say about children being annoying is that we often get annoyed by children for the wrong things. Specifically, I am thinking about church. And this isn’t a new problem. Even the disciples thought that interacting with children was “beneath” Jesus, who obviously was so important that He didn’t have time to spend with bratty kids. Of course, Jesus straightened the disciples out on that issue quickly!

And so we come to church, and we find ourselves getting frustrated with small ones in our church services, ending up with an attitude very similar to the disciples.

Parents bring their child to church, and the child turns a bit fussy in the worship service. So we have these infants and toddlers in service… the ones who might cry during a prayer or talk a bit loud such that we can’t hear all that the preacher is saying or they are squirmy and distracting. And so we get a bit annoyed.

At the very same time, those same parents are worrying and fretting over the fact that their child is disrupting the service in some way. They are trying all the tricks in their “parenting bag” to get them to stop. At that point, some of these parents wonder why they even came to church that day. They are so very apologetic to others around them. Often they even come and apologize to me after service, thinking that I must have been distracted or frustrated with them.

But the truth is that if we stop and think about what it means – that these parents have thought that church is so important that they have gotten up early, struggled through waking up their children, getting them fed, getting them dressed, having to change them into another outfit because the first one just got messed up with milk and cereal, now packing them all in the car, and then bringing them to church where they can hear about God…

These parents are so serious about getting their children to a place where they can learn about Jesus. When we realize this, then we should celebrate the fact that we hear crying in our sanctuary, we should pride ourselves on the fact that our church has committed parents, we should be filled with joy that we get to see a new generation for Christ being raised in front of our eyes.

So, thank you parents for bringing your fussy children to church. They are not annoying. They are a great reminder to us that God is at work in your life and you want Him at work in their precious lives!

We can get things wrong and be just like the disciples if we don’t think deeply about what is taking place in our own sanctuary and church. And parents, also know that when your child is being a distraction, it is usually because the children’s minister is making faces at them and just having an overall great time antagonizing them from two rows back. I know I always enjoyed doing so! (just ask Gail Carr, Angela Gill, or Trent & Shannon Favre!)

In fact, I still get a few occasions to do so as a pastor! (just ask the Russell’s, Liggett’s, James’, McGee’s, Thomas’, Wagner’s, etc. ect.!)

Keep bringing your children to church. If you don’t, I’ll get annoyed.