Parents:
Cherry Hills values children! However, our worship services are not designed for younger children, especially late-infant to early-elementary children. We strive to offer an excellent, safe environment for all children (infant to 5th grade), where they can grow spiritually. This allows you as parents (and those seated near you) to worship without distraction. If a young child remains with you, please sit near an exit and take talking or fussy children to the cry room promptly.
I need some help processing my frustration with this being printed on the opening flap of their bulletin. I'm visiting the church, sitting in the sanctuary with my family (3 children that the service is NOT DESIGNED FOR), and read this welcome (was posted right after "Welcome to Cherry Hills"). Help Me Process.
14 comments:
i'll only add to your frustration (sorry): HOW RUDE. not visitor or family-friendly! that would turn me off.
especially for visiting families - like you just want to send your kids off to three different Sunday Schools/nursery where they'll freak out or feel alone (like I used to when my folks were looking for a new church) in a strange place! they could have positioned that differently, made a discreet announcement about the cry-room, or something. whew. i'm fired up now.
of course, ask me about this before i had kids, and i might have given you a different answer. :-) you know there's always that parent who lets their baby scream and scream and scream for 10 minutes (not you!) before deciding they've interrupted service enough , and everyone around them is fuming.
okay. i can't stop myself here. you've fueled my fire.
people are distracted by EVERYTHING!! if it's not a kid that's making a little noise, it's the person in front of you that is wearing a patterned skirt that makes your eyes spin; or perhaps you can't stop watching the guy down the row that's nodding off here or there. the thing is: the church is made of all ages!!
and here comes my personal rant (i do not think all people should think this way: just how i see it)...we go to WORSHIP in song, in offering, AND in the hearing of the Word. they are all apart of worshipping together! so we worship through song, worship through giving, & worship through receiving the Word. i want my kids to be there with me, knowing what it is to worship with the church (recall: members of all ages, faculties, & abilities to comprehend). let's not get started on "singles" groups...because the discussion could go there...quickly.
lucky for you my kids want breakfast.
word! our church here started a service last year where families participate together....getting closer to the 'real' thing. i mean, the early church didn't have sunday school or 'childrens' church!
i need a Tums now.
Okay, Lindsay said what I was going to say - where did those early church families shoo their children off to so the adults could worship "in peace?" Aarrgghh!
You just opened up the can, Caron. I have major struggles with that and I wouldn't be going back to that church again...
what's a family to do!? we have given up hope for exegesis. seems like we're content to find something that isn't unbiblical & that's it. we've been living here for a year, settled on a church for 8 or 9 months...but finally realized that we couldn't just keep going just because we know the people & they are sort of friendly. little was compelling there.
i have trouble thinking about returning to that church because i feel like it's kind of hostile towards small souls...like: "don't worship here"..."go worship there".
kind of opposite of christ's teaching.
someone, anyone, who can explain it differently..please do. i like getting all sides...and i don't think i'm infallible. i just know how i want my kids to grow up: worshiping god, together with their parents & other saints. all ages.
one in christ.
don't give up hope, caron! we thought we had settled on a church here not long after we moved, only to realize that it wasn't really for us, then to another, then another, then another.....and then we finally just found the one for us in sept. 06. after being here 2 1/2 years. now - we did have a kid in between there and that slowed down our search a little bit, but we are SO glad we found this church when we did - and they LOVE families. i just wish we would have found them sooner. it's the one reason we are sad to leave here.
that 'welcome' reminds me of the disciples turning the children away...and Jesus reminding them to 'forbid them not'.
Caron-- Let me say I HEAR YOU. That does not send a welcoming message to me either. And, I agree, that is not the way I would have a church be either. But, since you wanted some other input...xcv
My church in Ames, Iowa-- was so awesome. After I attended for several years, I ended up working there for a while before I moved to O. Anyway, the teaching was so good and both of the head pastors and their families became great friends of mine-- one in particular was very much an "older brother/father" to me and played a huge part in Kyle and I hooking up. Anyway, both have wonderful families. I've heard one of them, after a trip to Africa, has decided to adopt two boys from an orphanage... anyway, I've heard recently that they've decided to print a similar thing in their bulletin. I don't know why and I don't know the motivation behind it, but I can vouch for the character of the pastors and the teaching in the church... But, I wonder myself, if we moved back to Ames if we would go there-- I don't like the message that policy communicates and I don't know how I feel about going to a mega-church (which is almost what that one has become...)
hey! we went to a church in Ames for awhile, cheryl! it just got to be too far to drive with a little one. hard to get involved. name it, if you dare. i'm curious...
bogus. don't go back. and leave some dog poop at the door. hehe.
sure! Cornerstone.
good points, chicas. i sent them an email. just said that i think their welcome to visitors may be better received if the note about taking kids out of the service didn't seem like a caution or a "KEEP OUT".
ironically, while i was write said email, a woman called and said she wanted to bring a cherry pie to our house as a "thank you" for visiting. :) i thought about putting some WARRANT on so when she arrived "cherry pie" was playing. juvenile.
a cherry pie from Cherry Hills? man. maybe i'm in a cynical mood (and i do love cherry pie), but that's corny!
Cornerstone! that's where we went for awhile last year! it was nice - just too far away for us with a little one. when we were there, anyway, i did see a lot of families sitting together. right when we were leaving they started up a Wednesday night service where when encouraged families with kids to attend together.
another take i would have on that message in the bulletin is that their "theology" of worship may be that worship only has to do with the sermon and if they can't hear the sermon, then they haven't worshipped. i didn't say it was a biblical theology, i just said that i think there are a lot of people who have that functional theology of worship.
it comes across to me that they want you to fit into their mold and they aren't very welcoming if you are different. whether that is true in actuality remains to be seen. some churches convey one thing in their worship service and another in their sunday school.
on another note, don't be discouraged if it takes awhile to find a church where you fit. you aren't going to fit in just any old church...you already know that. our daughter and husband visited numerous churches and tried one for quite awhile b/f finally giving up on it. then they found out a new one was starting and they LOVE it. they joined when the church organized in march and they have loved it.
in the meantime, you are changing, the local church situation is changing, pastors are changing. you will find the right fit soon. it may not be perfect. it definitely won't be like the last church you LOVED, but it will be a place where you can grow in community. keep on praying. it will happen...and you will be changed in the process as well:)
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