I brought my twin 14 month old boys into the auditorium this past Sunday... boy was that a challenge. I felt like the preacher kept looking our way, but maybe that is because I'm married to him. I know I can't expect my twin toddlers to sit still for the hour long service, but I can start to train them to be a part of church. 

Children are capable of worship. Children only have about an hour in children’s Sunday school, an hour in children's church, and maybe an hour during midweek service to worship in church and be fed spiritually. Parents have the rest of the 160+ hours left in the week to train your child how to worship. Find ways to incorporate certain key aspects of Christian worship, such as Bible-reading, prayer, and song, into their daily routine We as parents need to train them. How do we help equip our children for worship in the church?

1. Plan ahead of time. Make sure your children get to bed at a good time. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, “children should sleep 9–12 hours per 24 hours between the ages of 6–12.” Make sure your children get up at a good time so you have enough time to get them fed, dressed, and ready to go — without rushing out the door or dragging out of bed. 

2. Set expectations for your child, and you as the parent. You can’t expect particular behavior if you don’t communicate those expectations to the kids. Make sure the kids know what you expect of them. When it's time to sing hymns, they can sing along. If the preacher is talking, then children should be listening. When it’s time to pray or if we have corporate prayer, encourage them to pray. As parents, we need to model the expectations. We need to be singing, praying, and listening along during the church service.  

3. If your child is having a hard time sitting still, practice at home. You can play a sermon, have them participate in a quiet activity, read a book aloud, but have them practice sitting in their chair. If they start to have a hard time sitting quietly during the service and they are becoming a distraction, take them to an area where they can be less of a distraction to other church congregants, but still set the expectation that they are to be quiet and be a part of the service. 

4. Be consistent. This means you and your spouse must be in agreement in how you are training your children. If you say you are going to give a consequence for unwanted behavior, then you need to follow through. My mother-in-law —who is a pastor's wife and mother to seven children — had a great method of disciplining her children during the service. If her children weren’t behaving like they knew they should, they would get a black pen mark on their hand. It was her silent way of saying, “You were warned, but you continued to misbehave. Now you’re going to get disciplined when we get home.” My husband can testify that they would straighten up immediately after receiving the "mark of doom."

Though my book, "Sometimes When I Go to Church," was written for children, I wrote this story with parents/ guardians in mind. I wanted to create a resource that could help children AND their parents to behave in church. 

I know I say this often, but as parents, we are to steward the children God has entrusted into our care. If you or someone you know could benefit from it, be sure to order a copy from Amazon.