What is Intergenerational Worship?

Intergenerational worship means that every member of the visible church worships God together—including children. The visible church is a place of togetherness.

We see intergenerational worship in the Old Testament (e.g., Dt 31:11–13; Josh 8:35), the New Testament (e.g., Eph 6:1, where Paul expects that the children are present in the gathering for the reading of his letter), and throughout church history. This practice began to shift only in the late 1800s with the Sunday School movement. 

Benefits of Intergenerational Worship

Benefits For Children

• Children witness the love their parents have for God as they observe them singing His praises in reverent worship, listening to His Word, and partaking in His sacraments.
• Children learn “the way they should go” when they’re trained to participate in the worship gathering and given a robust theology to grow into.
• Children experience a sense of belonging to the whole body.
• The majority of children who are raised in the corporate worship gathering continue to attend the corporate worship gathering as adults.
  

Benefits For the Family

• Families that sit under the same teaching grow together as members of one body.
• Family units are strengthened as they spend precious time together in worship.
• Families have a foundation to build on during the week as parents and children sit under the same teaching. 
• Family worship and discipleship at home develops as parents are equipped for this responsibility.

​Benefits For the Whole Church Family

• The whole body of Christ is present together to worship God and hear the preaching of His Word.
• Lifelong relationships form between children and saints of all ages.
• Mentorship relationships, like those we see modelled in scripture, will occur naturally as children grow into adulthood knowing, loving, and respecting their elders in the church.
• Future generations will enjoy the fruit of the work that parents, church members, and leaders do today to return to the historical worship gathering seen in God’s word.

FAQ about Intergenerational Worship Gatherings

Haven’t people come to faith because of Jr. Church?
Certainly! However, this movement has generally led to parents relying on children’s ministries to disciple their children for them and generations of children missing out on the benefits of intergenerational worship, all contributing to the epidemic of young people leaving the faith.

Don’t children need age-appropriate Bible teaching?
Yes! When children receive regular age-appropriate bible teaching at home and perhaps also through various children’s ministries, Sunday morning gatherings can serve to disciple them in many other ways.

What about parents who don’t know how to train their children in the pew or to disciple them at home?
This practice provides deeper discipleship opportunities for the church to equip parents to disciple their children.

Aren’t children distracting?
Children are a blessing! And as children practice sitting in the service each week, they grow in their ability to sit quietly, and eventually, to listen and learn from all that is going on.

What if parents miss part of the sermon?
While the sermon is a means of discipleship, parents should be in the Word daily and can participate in other discipleship opportunities throughout the week, or even rewatch our sermons online. Worshipping together is paramount.

How can parents worship God if they are busy with their children?
Even when parents miss parts of the gathering, parenting is an act of worship. It sanctifies the parent and honours the Lord.​

Can children understand the sermon?
Children understand more than we think and ask great questions about words and practices they don’t understand. What they can’t understand, they will grow into, by God’s grace (just like adults!).
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Why should children join the gathering if they don’t understand the sermon?
Training children to sit attentively, sing praises, greet seniors, and ask questions are all a part of their discipleship.

Won’t children be bored in the gathering?
The same could be asked about those transitioning out of Jr. Church. However, by raising children in the worship gathering, no expectation takes root that church is focused on them.

Can children be expected to sit for the whole service?
Children can sit quietly for the length of a worship gathering, evidenced in the classroom setting and in church pews throughout history.

Don’t children need fellowship with other Christian children their age?
Yes! There are many ministries throughout the week that provide opportunity for this. Friendships can also develop outside of organized ministry or after the gathering.

Will visitors/newcomers be disappointed that we don’t offer Jr. Church?
The hope is that they will taste and see the goodness of intergenerational worship.

Intergenerational Worship Gatherings at MBC

What to Expect on Sunday Mornings at MBC
(The evening service is a more informal setting with a children’s space to the side.)

• Nursery is available for children aged 3 and under with play, crafts, and a devotional.
• Thematic worksheets are provided for children.
• The gathering is succinct and accessible, while remaining meaningful.
• We regularly sing a children’s song and include a small lesson or story for the children.
• The gathering is broadcasted in the nursery and foyer for nursing mothers, parents of children with special needs, or for parents who need to take a disruptive child out of the hall.

​Advice for Parents

• Pray with your children in the car that God would help them sit and listen.
• Pray that God will give you strength, patience, and grace on Sunday morning.
• Prepare yourself to miss some of the gathering, if needed.
• You will notice your child’s every fuss more than others will. Don’t worry!
• Grab a library book or a clipboard and pencil crayons on your way in.
• Read through the Sunday morning passage with your children in advance (shared in newsletter and website).
• Ask your children to listen for certain words or to write down their questions.
• Sit between your children, when possible, to separate them.
• Check out the resources for kids and parents in our library.
• Find good resources/catechisms for training your children at home.
• Make use of the Family Worship Tools on the children’s worksheet.
• Implement a regular family worship time at home.

Sources & Further Reading

Deuteronomy 31
11  when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  12  Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,  13  and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 6
6  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  7  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.  8  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  9  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Matthew 19:14
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  15  And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Joshua 8
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

Articles & Podcasts
The Gospel Coalition: Parents, Bring Your Children to Worship
Tabletalk Magazine: Training Children in Worship
The Sword & The Trowel Podcast: The Blessing and Beauty of Children in Gathered Worship
The Gospel Coalition: Why We Embrace Children in our Worship Service
Desiring God: Should Children Sit Through Big Church
Desiring God: The Family Together in God’s Presence
The Baptist Paper: Should You Have Children’s Worship During Your Sunday Service?

Books
Let the Children Worship, by Jason Helopoulos (2016)
Parenting in the Pew, by Robbie Fox Castleman (2002)
Family Driven Worship, by Voddie Baucham (2011)
The Duties of Parents, by J.C. Ryle (1860)
Why They Stay, by Steve Parr and Tom Crites (2015)