If you are reading this article, then I am assuming that you are a member of The Shepherd’s Church, and you are wondering what our position on this topic is. If that is not the case for you, then I am glad you have joined us for an important discussion that will impact your church, wherever that is, as it is currently impacting our church here in Chelmsford, MA.

For the last three months, Derrick and I have been exploring the Bible to see what it says about children gathering with their parents in corporate worship. Now, do not get me wrong, we know full well what our evangelical subculture has taught us. You go to church and the first thing you do, before grabbing your coffee is dump the kids off at kids church. We sign them in, get our printed tags, and they are shuffled off to a high energy kids area where they will have lots of fun and socialization (with some Bible peppered in). For our part, we - their parents - will get a well deserved break one hour every Sunday while we listen to the sermon without distraction.

My question for all of us to consider is whether that is Biblical? Does the Bible command or allow for us to separate from our children? Or, does the Bible capture a wholly different vision entirely? Let us explore this together:

3 QUESTIONS WE MUST ANSWER FROM SCRIPTURE

QUESTION 1: According to the Bible, is God uniquely present when His people gather for worship?.

If this can be demonstrated, then all of His people should be regularly present when the church gathers. For if the Lord has chosen to give Himself to His church in a special way, in a way that is not available to us at other times or other venues, then it would behoove us all to be there regularly, joyfully, and expectantly.

QUESTION 2: Are Children Biblically included among God’s people?

This second question follows logically from the first. If God is especially present in our gatherings, we should all want to be there. And if it can be established that children were never separated out from their parents, but always included among the community, then we can reasonably expect that the children should be included. To deprive a child of being in communion with their God, for any reason not established in Scripture, would be inconsistent and out of step with who God called His Church to be and why we are called to exist.

QUESTION 3: Therefore, what must we do, as a church, moving forward?

If the above two questions may be answered from scripture, that God is uniquely present when we gather as a community, and children were always included in Biblical community, then the most faithful practice for any Biblically-minded church would be to empower all of God’s people to be fully present when the community gathers. This would mean promoting participation in the gathering, limiting anything that would exclude someone from the gathering, and never beginning a practice of remove some of our people from the gathering.

Most simply, we must never impede any of God’s people from being in God’s presence if the above case may be established. This especially means our children. 

IS GOD UNIQUELY PRESENT WHEN HIS PEOPLE GATHER?

God’s Old Testament Presence 

The Bible begins with God sharing His presence with 2 gathered people (Gn. 2), who were expected to have children that also gathered with them in the presence of God. After sin, God made promises to restore fellowship with His people, not just the adults, but also whole families (Gen 12:1-3). And, He began to demonstrate His commitment to sharing His presence, all throughout the Old Covenant.

For instance, God dwelled in the midst of His gathered people (Ex. 25:8). He dwelled with them for their benefit, which meant that He shared His presence in ways that uniquely blessed them (Ex. 29:45). He shared His presence with them so that they would know Him (Ex. 29:46), be accepted by Him (Lev. 26:11), and also sanctified by Him (Lev. 21:8). I think it can be proven, from these Scriptures alone that God’s presence, with His people, communicates unique blessings upon them.

His presence reminds them that they are His covenant people (Ex. 33:14-15; Dt.7:6-7), even while reminding the world that God’s people are distinct and set apart from the ways of the world (Num. 14:14). His shared presence causes His people great joy (Ps. 16:11), rest, (Ex. 33:14), increased intimate knowledge of Him (Dt. 31:12-13), and protection from Him (Nu 16).

Further, His presence requires their participation with Him (Dt. 16:16), their preparation when coming in (Nu 5:1-5), because God is holy and requires His gathered people to also be holy (Lv. 11:44-45;  19:2; 20:26; Dt. 23:14).

In the Old Testament, certain days were set aside as especially holy, because God was intending to bless His people with more of His presence, goodness, and blessings on those days. These days are listed in Scripture as the Sabbath (Lv. 23:3), the Passover (Ex. 12:16; Lv 23:5), the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Lv 23:6-8), the feast of First Fruits (Lv. 23:9-14), the Pentecost (Lv 23:15-21), The feast of Trumpets (Lv 23:23-25), the Day of Atonement (Lv. 16; 23:26-32), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lv 23:33-44). The point is that the ordinary way God dwelled with His people in the Old Testament was also accompanied with extraordinary and special days where His presence was uniquely present and more sacred. All of those sacred days were rigidly required, because the benefit was too great to allow anyone to miss it.

Those who were excluded from the gatherings, were cast out for extraordinary reasons of unholiness, such as emasculated men (Dt. 23:1), those of illegitimate birth, all the way to the tenth generation (Dt. 23:2), specific kinds of foreigners to the third or tenth generation (Dt. 23:3-8), and various other examples that made up the minority of Biblical community (Dt. 23).

At this point it would be good to mention specifically, that no child was ever separated out from the Biblical community for any reason. The people understood that God had covenanted to dwell with His people in a general way, which all members of the family benefitted from, and also in specific and sacred ways, which all families members were required to attend.

Thus, there is no meaningful understanding of the Jewish religion, or any accurate view of the Old Covenant faith, without comprehending that the unique presence of God was dwelling among the unique people of God who were required to participate in His presence through sacred and holy gatherings. So… What about the New Testament? Does that continue? Yes it does!

God’s New Testament Presence 

The New Testament begins just like the Old Testament did in the Garden of Eden. Jesus, as God, shares His presence (Jn 1:14) with the first 2 people who are gathered around Him (Jn 1:35-37), with the expectation that their group would be fruitful and multiply in number. Jesus, like God, promises His people would always experience His presence (Mt. 28:20) as a continuation of the promises of God that were made to Abraham (Gal. 3).

While we wait on our Lord to return, Jesus has committed to dwelling with His chosen people, the Church, in various ways. First, He accomplished this through His incarnate earthly ministry (Jn 1:14) where He came and tabernacled among His people. Today, he is still accomplishing this in a general way, through His indwelling Spirit (John 16:7). And like the Old Testament people, God set apart a sacred day, where His presence will be uniquely manifest for our blessings (Mt. 18:20; Mt. 28:18-20).

Like God did in the Old Testament, His presence is a proof to His Church that we are His people, and a proof to the nations that we have been set apart as holy (1 Co. 14:23-25). And, like the Old Testament, exclusion from the gathering was serious and reserved only for special cases (e.g. a continual refusal to repent of known sin (Mt. 18:15-20) or a grievous sin that brought shame upon the entire community.) Again, it must be noted that there is no Old or New Testament passage that demonstrates children were excluded when God’s people gathered in the Church. (see Mt. 19:14; Ac 2:38-39)

Being in His presence, during the sacred gatherings (as was true in the Old Testament), brought great blessings to the people of God. His presence was uniquely available to His people when they gathered (Eph. 2:21-22; Mt. 18:20; 1 Co 5:4), when they performed baptisms and discipleship (Mt. 28:18-20), as the Word was preached (1 Corinthians 2:4), and when the supper was administered (1 Corinthians 11:27-32). Essentially, every facet of the gathered church was blanketed with God’s unique divine presence that could not be replicated in any other environment.

So much so that His presence could be sensed by unbelievers during the gathering (1 Co 14:23-25). His real and tangible presence would be present with us as we gather (Mt. 18:20). And even our own souls would be caught up to heaven with Him when we gather (Eph. 2:6). We obtain real spiritual communion with His Spirit when we gather (1 Co. 5:4). And we experience real divine transformation in our gatherings (2 Co. 3:18).

The clear and simple testimony of both testaments is that God provides more of His presence and more of His grace to His people when they gather in corporate worship. He is “with us” in a unique way that cannot be replicated. And therefore, all of God’s people must not neglect to join Him in our gatherings (Hb 10:24-25).

Next, we will consider whether children are a part of God’s people and whether they should expect to join with us to receive His special, sacred, presence.

ARE CHILDREN INCLUDED AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE?

Old Testament Witness

The first people on earth to know God was a family. The Bible begins with husband and wife, who were given a mandate to begin having children immediately, who would share that space together and worship God (Gn. 1:28). Therefore, God made the world a suitable place for children to worship Him, with the expectation that they would be included in the worship of Him!

After humanity fell into sin, God promised redemption would eventually come to all the families on earth (Gn 12:1-2). Apparently, God could not envision a redemptive scenario that did not include children. He proved this by including them in the most personal and intimate ceremonies (Gn 17:7, 9-14) and required that parents treat them like full members in the community, teaching them to obey as if they were already believers (Dt. 6:1-7). 

Children were so central to the cultural DNA of Israel, that they were discipled alongside adults when the law was taught (Dt. 4:9). They participated alongside their parents in the Old Covenant faith (Exodus 23:14-17). And were required to be present with their parents during sacred gatherings (Dt. 16:16). Even the prophets, while speaking under the Spirit’s guidance and inspiration, fully expected that future generations of adults and children would be included by and taught by the incarnate God through the ministry of His Son (Is 54:13).

The Old Testament people viewed their children as covenantal participants right along with them. They discipled them in the Word as if they were covenant members. They engaged in corporate worship with their parents as if they were believers. They received the blessing of sacred assemblies with their parents as if they were believers. And, they were included in the future promise of blessings that would culminate in the coming messiah.

There is no viable record or scant inference of any child ever being excluded from any aspect of the Old Covenant worship. There is not only no record, there is no expectation that anyone would have ever considered that a good idea. Thus, it is more than exceedingly clear from the Old Testament, that children were joyfully accepted into adult gatherings and expected to be there as well. But what about the New Testament? Does it nullify or change things? No it doesn’t!

New Testament Witness (The Argument From Silence)

When you come to the New Testament, there is admittedly less evidence. And some might incorrectly see this as a reversal of thousands of years of revelation history. But let us remember, if the New Testament does not overturn or change an Old Testament command, especially one of such immense importance, then there is good evidence that God wanted it to continue.

In this regard, there is not a single New Testament prohibition restricting childhood participation in the church gathering. There is also not a single positive commandment that would cause us to remove our children or infants from service in order to teach them separately. This is a very important point.

This point becomes even stronger, when considering that the New Testament church was entirely constructed of converted Jews during her most consequential and formative years. For at least the first two decades of the church, the overwhelming majority of Christians were Jewish converts who grew up in a world where children were always included and treated as full covenant members. Thus, one can reasonably assume that their children were included in Christian worship, especially since their God had not specifically commanded them otherwise. 

New Testament Witness (The Argument From Scripture)

In the New Testament, parents had the expectation that their children would be blessed by Jesus if they were brought to Him (Mt. 19:13-15). We know from the Gospels that He did not differentiate between children and their believing parents. Instead, He announced that they too belonged to the Kingdom (Mk. 10:13-16).

As believers in Christ we know that God elects His people before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5). He chooses them before birth (Gal. 1:15). He elects them before they do anything good (2 Tim 1:9) or before they make a profession of faith (Ac 13:48). He reaches down and regenerates them while they are ignorant and long before they reach any level of maturity (Jn. 6:44). And, we know that Scripture calls us children, babes, and infants without ever hinting that these things should separate us. So at the very last, we know that membership in the covenant community of God is not established by professions or maturity but by the mercy of God alone (Ro 9:16). A God, who came in the flesh and joyfully welcomed children.

Take a human example. We do not wait for a child to grow up, before we begin speaking to them English. We speak to them when they are born. Months and months go by before anything seems to happen. And then in a moment, they begin reciprocating, using grunts at first, then single words, followed by simple sentences. We know it works because all humans at all times have learned this way. The great English poets and playwrights all had mothers and fathers who did not withhold the language from them, even when they were too ignorant to understand it.

The same is true in the church. How will we expect our children to understand the things of God and to begin speaking His Word, if every time they come we remove them and separate them out?

This is also inconsistent with the way we naturally treat them, especially as it relates to Scripture. For instance, the New Testament expects we will be discipling our children in the faith (Eph. 6:4), teaching them not to despise their youth (1 Tim 4:12), and growing to understand holy Scripture (2 Tim 3:14-16). We get the sense that children should be brought to the gathering so that they may sing the praises that God has foreordained for them to sing alongside their parents (Mt. 21:15-16). And, as the day of Christ continually draws near, we as parents must train our kids not to neglect the gathering of Jesus’ church for additional programs or high impact ministries - as is the habit of some inside evangelicalism - (See Hb. 10:24-25).

Perhaps the best evidence that children were included is Ephesians 6:1, where Paul addresses children in the congregation directly. The only way this could happen, in a letter that was publicly read in the gathering, is if Paul intended on children being there to hear it. This, along with everything above provides a strong case that children were included in the gathering and expected to be treated just like their believing parents.

Therefore, since it has been firmly established, that elect children obtain their status from God before any perceived level of maturity, and since it has been established that parents are to treat their children as if they are elect until the Lord reveals otherwise, and further since there is no prohibition from God towards infant and child inclusion in the gatherings in any passage of the New Testament passages, along with the clear evidence they were included in Ephesians 6, then it behooves us to treat our children as any other believer who needs to be present in the gathering. We treat them as though they will be blessed by the gathering, discipled by the gathering, and like us, must not neglect the gathering. 

HOW MUST WE CONDUCT OURSELVES MOVING FORWARD?

Since the Scriptures have sufficiently shown that God is uniquely present with us when we gather for corporate worship, and since it has also been proven that this unique manifestation of His presence is essential for the believer, then it must follow that all of His people should be regularly present when the church gathers in person. Knowing what we now know from Scripture, there is no justification available to remove any Christian, or deny any visible member of the community the opportunity to commune with the living God in corporate worship, for any reason (Except in cases of church discipline as outlined in Scripture). Therefore, we shall make no rule or create no hindrance that discourages or disallows any of God’s people from experiencing His awesome and wondrous presence that is uniquely available to His people when they gather.

Since the Scriptures also sufficiently testify that children are covenantally included among the people of God, then it must follow that they ought be treated like their parents and provided a seat in our gathering. We understand that children (as is also true for adults) are not yet capable of fully realizing or comprehending all that is happening around them in worship. So, as a church, we commit to be patient with our children, and others children, as they observe us in worship, learn in worship, and grow in worship. As The Shepherd’s Church continues to disciple parents, preach the Word, sing in worship, gather for communion, and baptize members, we will see a community of people who are growing in the grace of God, learning to love, cherish, and revel in the unique gift that God has bestowed upon us as we gather. His presence!!

Therefore, the most reasonable and Biblical thing we could do, is to encourage and empower all of God’s people to be fully present during our corporate gatherings. This will include encouraging our adults to revere the Lord’s day, to joyfully and committedly participate in our gatherings (as often as is possible), and to promote a culture that encourages and welcomes infant and child participation in our gatherings. 

We are resolved to be a church where ALL God’s people are welcome. From the tallest to the smallest. The oldest to the youngest. The mature to the babe. May the Lord bless our people as we seek to be faithful to His Word!

-Kendall