One of the wonderful things we have discovered in our simple churches is how much we learn from children. We want our children to see themselves as just as much part of church as anyone else. Each church works differently with children but in every way we value them and embrace them.
We learn so much from having children around....
16-month-old Will, with bald-looking round head, comes running in to his mom with a whine and a scowl. She picks him up. Holds him for a moment. Feeds him a bite of a muffin. His countenance changes, he is satisfied, his needs are met and he runs out of the room with a smile and a skip. He's so easy to please. We see in this how much God wants to meet every need we have. We are reminded to turn everything over to Him and remain childlike in our daily-life faith.
Moriah comes in and tells her mom that she has a song to sing for us. We don't know what to expect but she has the charm of a bubbly 7-year-old and we encourage her to sing. She says she doesn't know what it means but proceeds to sing a beautifully simple song about God sending rain in our midst. We all know exactly what it means and we are moved to worship by it.
Hannah is about Moriah's age but very shy. She always sits properly and politely and says little. But on this particular morning she whispers to her mom that she wants to read a Scripture out loud. What a surprise! She reads to us a moving passage from the book of Job, jumps down when she's done and runs out of the room. But we have heard the word of the Lord. We had no doubts about it.
We try to pay attention everytime a baby cries and every time a child speaks. Not that our gatherings focus only on children, we have a great deal of time that's "adult." But God is at work through each and every person... It's so rewarding to learn how to tune into our children and their spiritual contributions whether intended or not.
