What do I do when my kid thinks church is boring?
A podcast conversation with The Center For Faith and Children
This week, The Center for Faith and Children dropped their latest episode of their excellent ‘The Child In Our Midst’ podcast, where I got to collaborate with Lindsey Goetz and Ahyuwani Akanet in a conversation about kids being bored in church.
This is a pain point for all of those who are either parents, leaders, or invested adults in the church. We long for our children to love Jesus and love his church. We know the value of the church for ourselves and the importance of the church for the ongoing formation of faith. The church as God’s gathered people is (as Calvin writes) the “bosom [in which] God is pleased to gather his sons, not only that they may be nourished by her help and ministry as long as they are infants and children, but also that they may be guided by her motherly care until they mature and at last reach the goal of faith”.1
So, we are rightly concerned when the children in our midst express that they are bored at church. There is the fear that finding church boring may lead to finding faith boring, and therefore finding Jesus boring.
What are we to do?
In this episode, Lindsey, Ahyuwani and I discuss some of the underlying assumptions of this question:
What is it about our churches that are ‘boring’?
Should the church always be exciting and interesting?
What is our moral aversion towards boredom?
What can we do in our gatherings to offset boredom?
What can we do in the community of God’s people at the local level that helps kids sit in the boredom, while still holding onto faith and their sense of belonging to the church?
Listen along in your favourite podcasting app, or click on the Spotify link below. And while you’re at it, make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear all the other episodes and hot questions that come up in children’s ministry and the church.
Lastly, you’ll hear that we recorded this episode on the day of my book release in February. If you want to read more about the theology of children, the church, and how we can best raise disciples of Jesus amongst our youngest brothers and sisters, then make sure you grab a copy of The Child in God’s Church at Youthworks Media, Amazon, or wherever quality Christian books are sold.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Faith, IV.I.i.