Attending an LCMS church...

[Proeliator]

for the first time. This actually will be our first visit to a Lutheran church ever. What kind of things are we most likely to expect? And how well should our 6 and 8 yr old children be able to handle the service?

 

[Studeclunker]

It depends upon which service you attend. Some churches have a praise service and the traditional liturgical service. Things are less formal and more tolerant of the many small distractions provided by small children in a praise service. If your children are very well behaved, then the traditional service is not a problem. I took all of mine to services from the very beginning. Then again, mine were very well behaved. Nevertheless, babies will be babies, and children sometimes need a time out. Sit towards the back so that there is no disruption for their little needs. I mean, after all, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! Especially when you're only six.


Some congregations don't like the little ones in the services. They almost always provide some kind of child care, or often, a children's service and Sunday School during the adult services. Make sure you call first. My wife and I found it better to be prepared and plan ahead whith children.


Most LCMS churches are more formal than the non-denom. chapels. The liturgical services are usually taken from a hymnal and everything should be spelt out in the bulletin. Use the time before services to mark your hymnal. In several churches I have attended, there were narrow cards with multi-coloured ribbons attached shoved into the spine sleeve, for this purpose. It makes things easier. Then again, it has become popular to print the whole service in the bulletin as well. This does make things easier for the visitors. My wife used to say she liked the Luthern services because one was always standing up and sitting down. This made easy not to fall asleep during the service (LOL).


After service is often a fellowship time where everyone meets and shares talk, coffee, doughnuts, and catch up with the week's news. My son used to joke that if the doughnut shops ever all shut down, the Luthern church would have to follow. Nobody would know what to do after service.(LOL)


I don't know where you are located, I'm in California. Maybe someone else will fill in on their areas.

 

[Proeliator]

Well, as I stated in another thread, I had called and talked to the church and they were very helpful in explaining the facilities they had for our 2 month old if needed. they only have 1 service, and according to the LCMS site their average attendance is 45 people, so I'm guessing it shouldn't be that much of a problem.

 

[LilLamb219]

It sounds like a small church...but that's certainly not a bad thing!

I'm glad they are child friendly! The church I attend is happy to have children at the service so they can hear God's Word.

 

[ctay]

I go to a small church which averaged about 55 last year when I started right after easter, to about 85 now, they don't have a nursery but there's a nursery room in the back if you need to take a little one back there for something and you still can hear the service.

 

[Studeclunker]

ctay, that's a great point! I'd forgotten about the 'cry room'.

Shadrach, some churches have a small room located right off the main chapel. Sometimes it has a window that permits the occupants to see the service, sometimes not. They always have speakers so that the people in there can hear everything going on. It's a great place for a parent when a little one is fussy.

In my experiance, with most Luthern churches the children are encouraged to attend services. Their small disruptions are largely tolerated.

Sorry, it's been, oh, eighteen years for me. My youngest rarely made a sound in service till he was four. Took after his mother.:o

 

[filosofer]

I always encouraged parents with small childrento sit in the front. Main reason? Kids like and need to see what is going on. By sitting in the back they cannot see - only someone's back or head even when sitting down. Children tend to be much better behaved in the front because they can see the liturgy in action.

In Christ's love,
filo

 

[Proeliator]

There is a little bit larger LCMS church near us as well, but it isn't as close, and would mean we would need to take the bus instead of just walking. They do have a contemporary service though, so we will check them out in the spring when it is nicer.

What might be the funniest part of this, is that I live in New York City. The Lutheran church has an average attendance of 45, and the non-denom down the street averages over 5000 people a Sunday. But wow, that soft fluffy theology of the non-denom's, honestly, makes me sick. The last time we went there we left in the middle of a service when a woman said she didn't need a boyfriend, because Jesus was her boyfriend.

 

[ctay]

Ours has the window, darkened but you can see out and watch too. My 6 yr old granddaughter goes to church with me whenever she comes stays with me, she doesn't go much when she's at home but she is well behaved and she calls the church I go to "Our church". Her mother probably would have a heart attack. LOL She's Baptist and doesn't care much for the Lutheran church.

 

[DaRev]

My church here had a "cry room" until we needed it for the confirmation class. (The Voter's voted to rent out our parish house which was where the classrooms were.) There is still a TV monitor in the room and so it can still be used to take a little one if need be. One thing I was able to get rid of was the toys! Cry Rooms should not be a toy room. Children should not be rewarded for misbehaving.

 

[LilLamb219]

One thing I was able to get rid of was the toys! Cry Rooms should not be a toy room. Children should not be rewarded for misbehaving.

Aww...toys aren't always used for rewards by some people, they can be quite comforting. I still have some of my old toys in fact and I love pulling them out to show my daughter...very comforting indeed

 

[Proeliator]

I can agree though, that at a certain age, toys should not be given when at church. And usually an age where toys would be much comfort, parents bring their own.

 

[Studeclunker]

Way back in the nifty fifties, when I was a tyke, my mum used to bring toys to keep us occupied. They stayed on that pew in the church. Back then, people used to pay to support their pew. So that became their place. Funny, I thought those toys belonged to the church, so I was always very careful when playing with them. Odd that a four or five year old would think that way. It's interesting that we have ways of affecting our children in ways that we're never aware of. Often the toys in the cry room are there not for the children, but to keep them occupied so that the adults with them can concentrate more on the service.

Shadrach, out here on the West Coast we have quite a few pastors that have become very wealthy with their 'feel good' theology. You might have heard of Robert Schuler? The man started out in a rented drive in theater. Now he's worth mega-millions. It pays to tell people what they want to hear. You'll find the churches of this world are far more popular than ones that deal with nasty subjects like original sin, or sin at all. Sloppy agape' is very popular.


Mt 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Mt 7:14
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

2ti 4:3
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

2ti 4:4
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Sound familliar?

 

[Studeclunker]

Sorry about taking up so much...

Olde English is so Norman that it's hard to understand. This might be a little clearer it's in the early edition of the New King James Version:

Matthew 7:13&14:

Enter by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Second Timothy 4:3&4

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Now, does all this sound familliar?

 

[ricg]

There is a little bit larger LCMS church near us as well, but it isn't as close, and would mean we would need to take the bus instead of just walking. They do have a contemporary service though, so we will check them out in the spring when it is nicer.

What might be the funniest part of this, is that I live in New York City. The Lutheran church has an average attendance of 45, and the non-denom down the street averages over 5000 people a Sunday. But wow, that soft fluffy theology of the non-denom's, honestly, makes me sick. The last time we went there we left in the middle of a service when a woman said she didn't need a boyfriend, because Jesus was her boyfriend.

I'm curious which congregation you attended. I attended and plan to return to a congregation in Bronxville when we come back to New York in July. I attended an Ash Wednesday service of a small congregation in Manhattan a couple of years back that seemed about that size, but they had a wonderful old church building.

 

[Proeliator]

I'm curious which congregation you attended. I attended and plan to return to a congregation in Bronxville when we come back to New York in July. I attended an Ash Wednesday service of a small congregation in Manhattan a couple of years back that seemed about that size, but they had a wonderful old church building.

http://www.forministry.com/USNYLUCMSEELCE

Thats the one we visited there. I'm right on the Queens/Brooklyn border so.

 

[synger]

I always encouraged parents with small childrento sit in the front. Main reason? Kids like and need to see what is going on. By sitting in the back they cannot see - only someone's back or head even when sitting down. Children tend to be much better behaved in the front because they can see the liturgy in action.

In Christ's love,
filo

I've started doing something similar. When she was a baby, we put Gem in the nursery, but now she sits with us in the service. We started by sitting up in the choir loft, since I sing with them. But the back pews are impossible for her to see from, and it was hard to have her sit still for the service when she is used to being the darling of the choir on rehearsal nights and having the run of the choir loft.

So a few months ago, I changed our practice. We sit downstairs with the rest of the congregation, and I go upstairs just to sing, then return to sit with her. This way she can see and hear better, and she doesn't get confused about the proper way to act during worship, as opposed to the freedom she has during choir rehearsals. We do not sit right in front, because I have to go upstairs once or twice each service and I don't want to be disruptive. But we haven't had to use the narthex pews (our version of the "Cry room", before you get into the sanctuary proper). And she knows that she needs to stay near me and not dance and run around.

 

[ricg]

http://www.forministry.com/USNYLUCMSEELCE

Thats the one we visited there. I'm right on the Queens/Brooklyn border so.

Looks like a very good congregation from the website, though I've never been there. Blessings to you, your family and the congregation.

 

[Proeliator]

Looks like a very good congregation from the website, though I've never been there. Blessings to you, your family and the congregation.

Yeah, we are going back this Sunday. If we are still comfortable, we will look into becoming members. If not there is another LCMS not too far down the road as well.

 

[DaRev]

http://www.forministry.com/USNYLUCMSEELCE

Thats the one we visited there. I'm right on the Queens/Brooklyn border so.

It looks like a wonderful congregation. Very formal and traditional. I need to visit there sometime.