Tell me about church; Are children expected to behave as adults? Are they expected to sit still and be quiet?

Answer 1

At the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, our children learn in the same setting adults do (there's no "Sunday school classes" etc). The children are expected to sit still and listen to the best of their ability as their age permits. Babies will cry and children will fidget. But discerning parents will anticipate the moods and problems of their children and provide suitable distractions. At my Hall, parents of young kids will take their kids for a brief walk during the song and will bring a book or quiet toy for them to play with. We also make check lists for older children where they place a mark next to names or topics (like, make a tally under the word Jesus, Jehovah, Prayer, Bible every time it's said). Doing so helps them pay attention and provides some activity so they're not bored to tears lol.

Well taught male children who are capable and who WANT to can give Bible readings from the platform. I've heard of a 6 year old doing so. And they also participate in the school in other ways. We females have house holder parts which are more fun IMO :) It's where we are given a topic and then we write up what we would say in the situation using the Bible as our guide book. A talk I helped in the other week was "Displaying humility during a disagreement". It was fun and also sharpens our reasoning and Bible skills.

Answer 2

Well, any wise church would include within its service some type of program for kids. On Sundays, my church has a worship session where all the family is together. Then the kids go to what they call Kid's Church, where they have their own worship session, they sing or perform other arts, and have a bible lesson, while adults are hearing the sermon of the day. My church has made an effort to have groups of all ages attended to, but kids have special attention because we want to have a strong generation of believers growing up.

Do they misbehave a little during service, well, yeah but there are sisters that help out parents when necessary, to help them calm down or whatever. We don't expect them to behave like adults. We work so that they enjoy church, and want to come back.

Answer 3

It depends upon which church you attend. I was raised in a very strict Catholic household, and was expected to behave quietly and reverently in church. As soon as I was old enough to sit up straight, I was expected to absolutely behave myself in church and follow the service (in other words, behave like an adult). I was often quizzed about that the sermon. If I didn't behave, pay attention, and follow the Mass, there were very strong consequences. However, many churches have nurseries these days, and also "children's church", which features services and activities that are age-appropriate. I've attended some Protestant churches in which children were expected to behave like little adults, and some which had a wide array of activities for children. So once again, it depends upon which church you're talking about.

Answer 4

Sara, if you take your children into the sanctuary they are to be as quiet as possible. Most churches have bible school for little ones of all ages and they learn in a room away from their parents and the sanctuary. Once the service is over then you go and pick your child up and go on home. That is how most churches do it these days. If you are talking about a 7, 8, 9 year old, they are to respect the quietness of the sanctuary and the Pastor preaching. So the answer to your question is yes if they are of that age. If they are younger, let them go to bible school. I hope this has helped, Blessings

Answer 5

There is nothing in MY Bible which says we should sit still and be quiet.

My Bible says to "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord".

The first fifteen minutes or so of our service is singing and worship and all children are included in that.

Then the 2 to 5 or 6 year olds are dismissed to a special service in a separate area designed just for that age range.

15 minutes later the 6 or 7 to 11 year olds are dismssed to their own little service.

From about age 12 on up children remain in the adult service the whole time.

The church I was raised in as a child allowed children to attend the adult services, but they also had a "children's church" running downstairs in several different areas for different ages of children.

Usually children attended those services instead of the main adult worship service until they finished about 6th grade.

Starting in 7th grade they were required to attend the adult services for two years in preparation to be confirmed which typically occured in late May about the end of when a child would be completeing 8th grade.

In addition, at that church, 7th and 8th grade students were required to attend confirmation classes from 9 am til 10:30 am on Saturday mornings during the time regular school was in session, duing 7th and 8th grade.

Larger churches are able to have more special programs for children of specific ages.

Smaller churches don't have the man power to do it.

Pastor Art

Answer 6

As a child I remember sitting quiet in religious meetings and getting in trouble if I didn't .
Now I have started to attend the same religions meeting again and I am very impressed with the behavior of the children.
It is a pleasure to see well behaved children instead of these undisciplined kids that run wild ,some seem to think smacking kids , not letting them have their own way or teaching them to sit quietly in a study is cruel , but look at the behavior of young adults who our prisons are full of ,or dead kids from drugs or those who think it's OK to do what ever I want and who cares how it effects others.
You goody goody types who think people who control there kids behavior is wrong ,I lay many of the worlds social problems fairly and squarely at your feet
Spare the rod to the kid ,you ruin the adult.

Answer 7

My church is 3 hours long. The first hour everyone is together. We do expect our children (5,3&1) to do their best to be quiet, but they don't have to sit still. we let them color, sit on mom or dad's lap, play with quiet toys, have snacks, whatever. The next two hours are basically play time for the 3&1 year olds but they do have a short lesson and a singing time. The five year old goes to a class with the other kids born the same year as her for one hour and then goes with all kids 4-11 for one hour. They sing a lot of songs, do some activities, have a short lesson and usually color or do some type of small craft.

Answer 8

In my church there are 3 diff meetings. The first is Sacrament meeting where everyone is together and hear talks given by different members every week and the sacrament is passed. Children do sit thru this with their parents. Most parents bring books and coloring material for smaller children. Fussy children get taken outside of the sacrament hall and into the foyer where they can hear the talks thru a speaker system. This meeting lasts about an hour and 15 minutes.
The next meeting is sunday school. Kids under 18 are split into their sunday school classes according to age. Primary kids, under 12, are split by age and go to their classes for about 40 min and then go to a collective sunday school sharing time with all the kids split up into jr and sr primary. So for the first half the jr primary will be in sharing time and the sr primary will be in their classes and then the next half it switches. Sharing time is like singing songs and playing church games together. This totals their 3 hours of church.
The 12-18 yr olds for the 1st hour split into sunday school according to their ages then the last hour go into young men and young womans and split into 3 age groups and have one more lesson.
The adults the 2nd hour go to their sunday school classes, usually a few to choose from. The 3rd hour the woman go into relief society and the men go into priesthood.

Keep in mind that the members do all the callings so many of the men and women are actually teaching primary or sunday school classes and young men and womans classes. So Relief Society and Priesthood isnt necc that large.

3 hours total. 3 diff classes. Kids tend to get more fun and excitement than adults, lol. And more candy, too.

Oh kids 18 mos- 3 go into the nursery after the sacrament meeting the rest of the time. Under 18 mos stay with parents.


sounds complicated, lol, but it is actually extremely organized

Every member goes to church according to geographical locations. The boundaries of the ward are dictated by streets and cities. You are suppose to go to the ward, or church building and time of where you live.

Noone is paid in their positions, including the Bishop, or head of the ward, which works his full time job and his job as Bishop.

You always dress up for church. Guys usually in white shirts, nice pants and ties. Woman in skirts and dresses.


Every ward is suppose to follow a manual for sunday school and relief society and priesthood so that no matter what mormon church you go to around the world you should hear a similar lesson. But a lot of times schedules get thrown off so if you go to a diff ward one week then the next week at your ward you might end up hearing the same lesson.
Sacrament meetings are always diff talks because usually the Bishop or the counselors just tell the speaker what the topic is and let them choose the exact talk and write their own talks. A lot of times it will be a husband and a wife each giving a talk.

Answer 9

Children aren't supposed to behave like adults, but their parents should teach them to sit and at least try to listen part of the time. I think if kids run around in church it's not good. It's the place to worship God, not play tag.

Answer 10

first of all im not a christian im a Muslim

but in my perspective as a Muslim and also as a Human being

Sit still and be quiet doesnt mean that the children is expected to behave as adults..pluss sit still and be quiet is not adult's characeter

Sit still and be quiet(well in the right situation,ofcourse) such as in the mosque,church,infront of teachers in class,

Is indeed Very essentials and IT's NEEDED as a HUMAN being!