Children and the Church

From the blog "Real Live Preacher" which I have mentioned before. Gordon writes the following at the end of an amazing post and it just blew me away. Yes, I believe this is some fundamental truth. Too often we give lip service to it without realizing what fully living into it means:

Your church might meet in a cathedral that stuns the world with its beauty, but if children do not feel loved there, it is worth nothing. And your church might have 5000 members and its own television show, but if children don’t want to be there, it comes to nothing. Your church might be generous and give all of its money to feed the poor, but if you are not gentle and generous with the children on your own doorstep, it means nothing.

The challenge of meeting this standard is a stiff one. It means actually accepting our children as brothers and sisters in Christ. It means actually thinking about their needs, gifts and limitations. It means CHANGING some of what we do and/or how we do it on Sunday and other days. It means ending the divide between "real/big/main" church and youth ministry. It means extra noise and a bit more chaos during the service. It means explaining stuff some of us already know. I could go on and on but Gordon has distilled it pretty well.

Peace
JP