LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME: FAMILY WORSHIP ON SUNDAY (AND THE OTHER SIX DAYS TOO), by Scott Aniol

A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance

by Steve West

 

Table of Contents

Introduction: Two Examples

Part One: A Little Bit of Doctrine, History, and Philosophy
Our Goal: The Discipline and Instruction of the Lord
From Integration to Segregation
Practice Makes Perfect
Do This in Remembrance of Me

Part Two: Tips for Parents, Pastors, and Parishioners
Tips for Worship in the Assembly
Tips for the Other Six Days

Part Three: Tools and Resources
Resource Recommendations
Tools from Tune My Heart
Religious Affections Catechism
Liturgies for Church and Home 

 

Summary

 

Introduction

The disciples were shocked that Jesus would welcome the little children rather than focus all of his attention on teaching their parents and other adults. Jesus’s attitude towards children was countercultural, and it is still foreign to many people today. The disciples were acting without malice, but they were still wrong. In today’s church culture, we unfortunately sometimes imitate them in our corporate worship and in our family worship. In trying to provide services segregated according to ages—and catering to what we think children or teens want—we have created a generation gap in the church and failed to teach our young people how to worship. Not only do children not worship with their parents on Sunday, very few worship with their parents in the home during the rest of the week. Scripture teaches that children are sinners and that they require instruction and correction. Children best grow into mature disciples when they learn to worship in an intergenerational environment. It is an error to segregate children from adults in worship, and it is also an error to minimize the importance of the church by overemphasizing the family. Family discipleship needs to take place in a local church context.

 

Part One: A Little Bit of Doctrine, History, and Philosophy

Every family needs a mission statement since every family should operate with an identified goal. Parents should raise their children according to the biblical mission. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 provides a model confession for us. We are to know God and believe true things about him; he is the only true, living God. We are to teach our children to honor God, love him, trust him, and obey him. The New Testament adds that we can only know God and be saved through Jesus Christ. Children need to be taught the core truths of the faith from childhood. They need to be taught obedience and that there are painful consequences when we sin. Crucially, we must not merely know things about God, we must know him personally and love him above everything else. Knowing, loving, and obeying God are at the heart of proper worship.

In Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Moses moves from the Shema to tell parents to diligently teach these truths to their children. Instruction is to be ongoing and daily, and it is to be intentional and planned. Parents are responsible for teaching their children, but they need the help of a Christian community where the older help to train up those who are younger. We should want children in our corporate worship services so that they are being influenced by mature Christian adults. If we were only trying to transmit information to our children, many methods might work, but we are leading them to know, obey, and love God. As a result, how we teach them matters. Scripture contains genres and forms to communicate the truth of God, and these forms are not arbitrary. Not every methodology is compatible with Scripture.

Deuteronomy 31:12-13 and Joshua 8:35 reveal that little ones were part of the groups that were gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When people gathered for worship, they did so in families, including their children. Paul’s epistles assumed that children would be present when the letters were read (which is why Paul addresses remarks to children in Ephesians and Colossians). Church history shows that the early church had children in the corporate worship services. The same is true in the Middle Ages, with the Reformers, and the Puritans. In the 19th Century, Sunday Schools eventually began to separate children from parents. Charles Finney’s revival methods encouraged segregation based on age since people could be convinced to receive Christ by strategic means. For Finney, since children are not on the same level as adults, they needed to have their own group. Schools also shifted to dividing up classes according to age, and this philosophy moved into the church. Today, children’s church often hinders spiritual growth by removing children from the regular worship service (even though advocates of children’s church are sincere). Scripture is clear that families are to worship and pray together, but this is often neglected in today’s churches. Families are contexts in which children can be taught to know, love, and obey God. Tragically, many parents shifted the training of their children to the “professionals” at the church. . . .

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