Children in Community
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” (Mark 10:13-14). We strongly believe to allow our kids to sit in community with us. Rather than focusing on setting them up in another room with entertainment, we try to have them to be part of the conversation.
The last time my family and I went to a restaurant, they didn’t take my kids in another room to be fed there, they allowed them to be on our table, and they might have given them a coloring book but allowed them to be part of our community at that restaurant.
Our tendency has always been to take the kids away to a separate room, and there are times when this is the best option but we notice that, as the disciples were in the process of keeping the kids out of community, Jesus intervened and said, “No let them come to me and sit with me.”
It’s up to a community to decide what will work best for the kids and the adults but we do encourage our communities to do the best they can to involve the kids. Just the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise kids.” That is somehow the goal, having our kids being able to watch how their parents interact and do life with other Christ’s followers.
We want our kids to grow up in a community of believers who love each other deeply and pray for each other and bless each other’s kids. We know that God is not a respecter of persons and he has and he is able to speak even through kids as well.