Our church is a little different than other churches. I know, I know. Most of you are saying "Duh!". But I don't just mean in dress and appearance. The general structure is different too. We have 5 ministers.Not a minister of music, a minster of education, etc. We actually have 5 ministers that take turns preaching. Also, our ministers are not paid. That's right! They don't want money (or the worry of it) to get in the way of their preaching. They want to be able to preach whatever the Lord lays on their heart and not have to worry about if that will effect their paycheck. (Not saying all paid ministers do worry about that kind of thing!)But, what I am thankful for today is that our church is what is called a family integrated church. A what? A family integrated church is a church where the children stay right with you the whole service. There is no children's church or baby daycare. This was a little hard to adjust to at first but I have seen the MAJOR blessing of this type of model. I appreciate the way our ministers handle it as well. The other Sunday in a service there were several babies fussing (more than normal) and he stopped, smiled and said "We normally don't have this many babies crying at the same time. Children, we are SO thankful you are here!" another example is when they are preaching they will explain things to the children. "Now, children, famine means...." ect. The children learn at an early age to sit through a service, oh, and by the way, our services are 3 hours long! I am so thankful to have my children sit with me and learn with me. Sometimes I don't think the children are paying attention but then when we get home Lilly will ask, "Mommy? What did he mean when he said...?"and it gives us a wonderful opportunity to discuss God's Word.
I also think it develops a sense of family worship. Everyone doesn't go their separate ways when we get to the church steps. We sit as a family, and worship, learn, praise, and pray together! It is a blessing for which I am very thankful!
Thanks for reading!
~A
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