Should Your Church Have a Separate Children's Service?
John Piper believes it is essential that families worship together on Sunday in church instead of a separate children's service, while other pastors, including J.D. Greear, agree in part.
Reviving a long-held debate on how to do church, pastor and theologian John Piper argues in a desiringGod article that something powerful is transmitted when children behold their parents worshiping the Lord. So important is this, Piper says, that he and his wife wrote a lengthy letter to their church more than 20 years ago outlining why they should not have children's church or a mini-sermon for children at all, arguing that parents should start bringing their kids to service around the age of 4.
Just as children do not understand language when they are young, parents nevertheless immerse them in it hoping that they will grow up into joyful use of it, Piper contends. How much more important, then, is immersion in an atmosphere where kids see their parents encountering the glory of God in prayer and worship each Sunday, he poses.
