Recently I remembered an extraordinary day 25 years ago. I call it the day the children prayed in church.

There was no junior church that day. The pianist was out of town, the song leader had a scheduling crunch, the children’s “preacher” had to work. So after Sunday school the third through sixth graders filed into the sanctuary. Some sat with their parents, some with a teacher. The parent helpers for junior church positioned themselves behind a row of boys.

The junior choir, previously scheduled to sing that day, stood in the choir loft, ready to offer their worship in song. The three who played the triangle, hand drum, and tamborine didn’t miss a beat.

Just before the sermon, the minister stood to lead in prayer. As he always did, he first told the congregation of some of the needs that day: the family flying to Africa to attend a missions conference, the beloved widow recovering from an extended illness, the injured police officer slowly regaining his strength but needing encouragement. Then he asked if there were other concerns.

That’s when it happened.

Katie leaned over the choir loft rail and reported that one of the sixth-grade girls, who had diabetes, had just been hospitalized. Then Ricky, seated with the row of boys, raised his hand. He wanted to praise God because one of the other boys was out of the hospital.

A man in the back asked for prayers for a new church plant. A woman asked for healing for someone who was ill. Then Chrissy, seated up front with her mother, suggested that we pray for her Sunday school teacher’s husband, who was facing serious surgery.

And then we prayed, adults and children together.

Memorable moments. Children had never participated in our services quite like that before.

Thinking back on that day emphasizes two lessons for me.

First, that children belong in the “adult worship service” more often than we sometimes allow. Children need to worship with adults at least part of the time–it’s one way the spirit of worship is “caught.’

Second, the impact of good training. The children who joined our service that day had been taught by example and through practice how to care about the needs of others and to ask God for his help. They did it each week in children’s worship. It could just as easily have been taught in their homes and reinforced at church.

We need to remember that our children and grandchildren are living now, not just getting ready to live. And that what they are taught–or not taught–affects their lives today as well as in the future.

“Let the children come to me,” Jesus said.

They did–and he blessed them.

A recommended book: The Lord’s Prayer, illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson (Zonderkidz, 2011)

DIANE