The Church We Don't See

Every week we go to church. We greet each other, We stand and sing together, We listen intently to the messege, We share a cuppa,cake and good conversation, Then we go home after another awesome day at church.
But What are we missing in that picture? The kids. There is a whole different church life going on for the little people, and it has nothing to do with what us adults are doing.
Below is a picture that really touched me yesterday. And it started me thinking about "The secret life of church kids", so i took a closer look.
Below is Charlotte [nearly 3]. Her Dad, Colin, is the worship leader. Yesterday Charlotte was snuggling with her mum, Merrilyn, while we sang the worship songs. What touched me was that Charlotte was not singing, but mouthing every single word that was being sung. For her age, i thought that was quite remarkable! I know her dad is the worship leader, so she hears the songs ALL the time. But 2yo's have a hard time trying to remember every word of "Twinkle twinkle little star", never mind full worship songs!
So even though we just try to keep our kids in line so we can enjoy the singing without too much interuption, Charlotte has shown me that our children are being influenced by the music a lot more than we give them credit for!

Kids Church

Below is my 7yo son, Jason. The kids church leader, Kathryn, was talking about Moses & the burning bush. Jason was multi-tasking. Here he is with his head under the couch cover, picking his nose & eating it, so know one could see. [gross i know. Why am i even admitting he's mine? lol] He spent most of the lesson under there. Then when the kids had to draw something to do with Moses, Jason started panicking because he didn't even know who Moses was!
Maybe we should be aware of what the kids are learning about in kids church, so we can continue the lessons at home during every day activities? That way, the bible lessons will be deeper ingrained.

I don't know what this poor guys name is [Something beginning with "J"], but he fell asleep as soon as he got into kids church, and slept through the noise untill the end! Why can't i sleep through all that noise?? lol

Below is Charlotte, Naomi, and Dawn. They were colouring in while the church service was going on. Even though they were busy, the word was still getting through to them. And that has to be a great bonus!

At the rate Charlotte's going, she'll be preaching in 5 years anyway! :o)

I took these pictures in one day. But i'm going to keep a very close eye on our children, and how church effects them. And even how they effect church. Because their church experience is not what we see. It's nothing to do with the adults at all. And that's intoresting :o)