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Advice on inquiring at my local parish with four young children
- By Call me Nic
- The Ancient Way - Eastern Orthodox
- 5 Replies
Hello all,
It's been a long time since I've posted anything on CF. The last time I was active on the site, I was a member of a Baptist church. Since then, things have changed for me in my faith and the Lord has led me in a new direction. That direction is to search out Orthodoxy. I want to visit my local parish with my family as an inquirer of the Church, which has been a couple years in the making if I'm being honest. A couple years ago, I made a friend from work that is Orthodox and had converted from a protestant denomination several years prior and when he invited me and my family, I visited the Parish he's apart of with my wife and three young children. For me, the Liturgy very much stood out and the way the worship occurred and was performed, it was very apparent to me that it is distinct and different from anything I had ever experienced before. There was a certain holiness to it that I had never before witnessed in my life, if that makes sense. The problem I had during that visit was that my children (which were four years old at the time), were very difficult to keep under control without disturbing the others during the service. It was one of the reasons my wife and I were ever hesitant to return, because we felt embarrassed and overwhelmed by that dynamic. The thing is that now I can't resist the fact that I've been called to return and inquire about the Church and having looked into the faith on my own since then, I've come to the conclusion that I have to pursue it - there are so many tenants and doctrines of the faith that have come to make complete sense to me. There are still a couple things I wrestle with doctrine wise, but ultimately, my wife and I have to visit and then meet with the father of the local parish where I live and start this path. The only problem is I'm anxious about visiting with my family. The last time we had only the three kids, but now we have four. The eldest three are 7, 6, and 6 years old, and the youngest is about 10 months. What are the common strategies for families such as mine that attend Liturgy? I don't ever want to be a disruption to the others during the service, and the strategy of coming late is not something that I would really prefer, especially being inquirers of the Church with the intention of starting down this path. Also, to be fair, now that the eldest three are older, they may behave better and more naturally, but I'm not sure since Liturgy tends to be way longer than any of the protestant services we have attended in the past. The parish I will be attending has a service that is about two and a half hours long.
From what I can tell the one that I will be attending is a smaller mission and so I'm not sure if they have a room dedicated for children that become angsty and bored or disruptive. Any advice, strategies or tips? My children will behave when we correct them, but only for so long since their attention spans are so short at that age. Having to continually correct them during the service is the part I'm particularly concerned about, even if I try to do it as quietly as possible.
Thank you in advance for your time and responses.
It's been a long time since I've posted anything on CF. The last time I was active on the site, I was a member of a Baptist church. Since then, things have changed for me in my faith and the Lord has led me in a new direction. That direction is to search out Orthodoxy. I want to visit my local parish with my family as an inquirer of the Church, which has been a couple years in the making if I'm being honest. A couple years ago, I made a friend from work that is Orthodox and had converted from a protestant denomination several years prior and when he invited me and my family, I visited the Parish he's apart of with my wife and three young children. For me, the Liturgy very much stood out and the way the worship occurred and was performed, it was very apparent to me that it is distinct and different from anything I had ever experienced before. There was a certain holiness to it that I had never before witnessed in my life, if that makes sense. The problem I had during that visit was that my children (which were four years old at the time), were very difficult to keep under control without disturbing the others during the service. It was one of the reasons my wife and I were ever hesitant to return, because we felt embarrassed and overwhelmed by that dynamic. The thing is that now I can't resist the fact that I've been called to return and inquire about the Church and having looked into the faith on my own since then, I've come to the conclusion that I have to pursue it - there are so many tenants and doctrines of the faith that have come to make complete sense to me. There are still a couple things I wrestle with doctrine wise, but ultimately, my wife and I have to visit and then meet with the father of the local parish where I live and start this path. The only problem is I'm anxious about visiting with my family. The last time we had only the three kids, but now we have four. The eldest three are 7, 6, and 6 years old, and the youngest is about 10 months. What are the common strategies for families such as mine that attend Liturgy? I don't ever want to be a disruption to the others during the service, and the strategy of coming late is not something that I would really prefer, especially being inquirers of the Church with the intention of starting down this path. Also, to be fair, now that the eldest three are older, they may behave better and more naturally, but I'm not sure since Liturgy tends to be way longer than any of the protestant services we have attended in the past. The parish I will be attending has a service that is about two and a half hours long.
From what I can tell the one that I will be attending is a smaller mission and so I'm not sure if they have a room dedicated for children that become angsty and bored or disruptive. Any advice, strategies or tips? My children will behave when we correct them, but only for so long since their attention spans are so short at that age. Having to continually correct them during the service is the part I'm particularly concerned about, even if I try to do it as quietly as possible.
Thank you in advance for your time and responses.
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