Church Training

At our church, there is no "sunday school hour", so the children just have "children's church" while the adults are in the service. While I appreciate this in some ways, I also feel like Eliana is missing out on some important training during the service. Sure, the sermon would be over her head at 5 years old, but I feel like she ought to be learning how to sit still, sing, and worship with us. So... for the past couple months I have been keeping Eliana in the service with me through the singing, announcements, offering, and prayer times, and then dismissing her to children's church for the sermon.

Sometimes she knows the songs and stands and sings with us. Other times she just wants to sit quietly while we sing, etc. I'm okay with that. I want her to see others worshiping God, and to know what it's like during "big people" church.

That being said, I also recognize that she is 5 and is not interested in the announcements, etc. I want her to learn how to sit quietly during a service, and that also means keeping her occupied. So with her Bible I also pack some sort of activity booklet for her to color while she's listening. Today she wanted to listen to the singing, not sing with us, so this is what she looked like:

From Instant Upload

She was quiet. She was still. She was engaged, and she occasionally stopped coloring, looked up, and focused on the words we were singing. I talked with her about some of the songs and what they meant. 

Then, she got some money to put in the offering plate as it went by. She put away her book and crayons, and we practiced closing our eyes and sitting still and quiet during prayer. Then she got to go back to children's church and join in with them. 

That's kind of how our Sundays at church go. What do you do with your kids during the church service? Does your church have a separate sunday school hour or do they combine sunday school with children's church?