FROM COMBINED SERVICE TO FAMILY WORSHIP: BUILDING HIS MISSIONAL COMMUNITY TOGETHER

During last year’s Christmas Combined Service, I intentionally chose to worship in the annex hall. I wanted to experience what it felt like to worship together, yet at a distance - watching the service through a screen. There was a sense of togetherness, but also a subtle distance. While I gave thanks for the improved sound and visual system, the atmosphere was undeniably different from the sanctuary.

That morning, I also noticed several young parents bringing their children into the sanctuary. With no Sunday School during Combined Services, families with young children often face a difficult choice: the cry room or the main service. Realistically, our cry room cannot accommodate all our children if every family were to come. This observation stirred a deeper question in me - not just about space, but about how our worship includes the youngest among us.

These moments led me to reflect on whether our Combined Worship could become something more intentional - a Family Worship. Not simply placing children alongside adults, but thoughtfully shaping worship in ways that allow them to connect, participate, and encounter God. This would require adjustments and creativity, and it would not be easy. But I believe it is worth trying.

If children are expected to attend an early service, obediently or reluctantly, without meaningful engagement, we should not be surprised if, over time, they choose not to come at all. When their ways of learning and worshipping are overlooked, the risk is not just restlessness in the pews, but quiet disengagement from church life. Sadly, I know this is already happening.

During our Christmas Eve concert, I shared these concerns with a young parent. He responded, half serious, half-jokingly, “Why should we accommodate them? They should learn to worship in all circumstances.” I appreciated his heart for disciplining his children. His youngest child is only 3 years old. I genuinely admired and appreciated his desire to raise resilient, disciplined children. At the same time, I shared that as a church, our worship planning should also keep children in mind. Encouragingly, he expressed appreciation for that as well.

Building His missional community means more than gathering all ages in one place - it means welcoming each generation in ways they can truly participate and be formed. If we truly desire to build His missional community, then welcoming the young and the old into worship means shaping spaces where all can encounter God and be formed together as His people.

My prayer is that we will continue to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, discerning together what is good, acceptable, and perfect in God’s will. May God grant us wisdom as we seek to worship Him, not just as individuals, but as one family.

Building His Missional Community,

Pastor Forest