LISA UPDIKE | GUEST

They are everywhere in our church. Probably yours too. Running in the lobby. Dropping Cheerios on the carpet. Hiding under the bulletin table. They are adorable. Energetic. Messy. Noisy. And a valued part of the covenant community that will not be ignored. Who are they? Our children!

The Bible tells us that children are a blessing from God. Their chubby-cheeked, smiling faces melt our hearts. Of course, we love our children—most of the time—however; if we are honest, I think many of us have felt frustrated with the general commotion that accompanies them. Trying to listen to the sermon with a wiggly whispering seven-year-old behind you in the pew is downright distracting.

The Call to Welcome Children

Yet Scripture makes it abundantly clear that our attitude toward children is to be two-fold. First, we are to welcome them into the worship of Jesus. We read in three out of the four gospels that Jesus commanded His disciples to let the little children come to him. (Matt. 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16). Essentially, Jesus was declaring that children are to be welcomed and even valued. “For such is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14) is a bold statement. We are wise to take notice.

Likewise, children are to be discipled, trained, and taught by the preceding generation. We all know that parents are to train their children. We’ve read the passage from Deuteronomy 6:7-9 many times.

 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 But go back just a couple of verses to 6:4 and notice that this passage starts with the words “Hear, O Israel.” It’s addressing all of God’s people! That means every believer is responsible for training the next generation. Every. Single. One of us.

Welcoming children and training them requires entering into a relationship. Especially if you are going to do this as you “walk by the way, lying down, when you rise” kind of thing. And you know what? A relationship starts very simply with this: hospitality.

What a beautiful word! Hospitality. It’s friendly, generous, and warm. It says, “You are accepted as you are. You are valued. You are welcome here.” So, let’s chat a little bit about how we extend hospitality to the children in our midst so that we might love and train them well, extending the invitation of the gospel to the next generation.

Hospitality Toward Children

Hospitality to children (and even adults) is first a disposition of the heart. It honors another individual over oneself. With children, that might mean inconveniencing yourself by squatting down to their level to have a conversation where you can look them in the eye. It might mean greeting them with the same warmth as you do your adult friends. It certainly means getting to know the children’s names. This can be daunting if you are in a larger church, but make the effort anyway. When a child is known, he or she develops a sense of belonging, and part of being known is being called by name.

Often, the hardest part of a Sunday morning for a child is during the worship service. Imagine the impact we could have on our children by extending hospitality to them right in the service! Smile at the children near you. Tell them you are glad that they are there. Use phrases like, “If you were not here, we would be missing part of our church family,” and “Sunday is the best day of the week, and sharing it with you makes it even better!”  Feeling brave? Ask the parents near you if one of the children could sit next to you. Parents often sit as bookends in an effort to keep their children from disrupting others. But think what a blessing it would be for you to offer to help one of the children in the service. As they sit beside you, you can whisper to them the meaning of big words. You can give them a “thumbs up” when they sing out. Keep a pen and a little notebook in your purse to hand to them during the sermon.

As I stated earlier, hospitality is a condition of the heart where you honor others above yourself. The significance of this loving disposition when expressed towards children cannot be underestimated. When you love a child, you influence that child’s present as well as that child’s future. Simply by extending hospitality, you strengthen the church of today and tomorrow.

Yes, our covenant children are everywhere. Let’s welcome them in!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash