Should Children and Adults Be Separated in Church?

This type of ministry structure was revolutionary at the time, but now many churches are promoting a counter-revolution: a shift from stratified, age-segregated ministry to intentional integration of children in the overall life of the congregation.

These ministries are radical not in their unusual methods or dramatic implementation, but in the foundational ways they are challenging the status quo regarding the purpose, philosophy, and programming of children's ministry. And in the process, they are transforming their worship communities.

Second Presbyterian Church Memphis, Tennessee

Like many churches its size, Second Presbyterian had what appeared to be a successful children's church program--so successful, in fact, that the program had expanded far beyond its original design of serving first through third graders during the sermon portion of the worship service. Led entirely by a talented and charismatic volunteer, the children's church program grew into a massive undertaking that removed children up to sixth grade from main worship service entirely.

Then the volunteer stepped down.

"We didn't know what to do," recalled Sandy Hazelwood, now director of children's ministry at the Second Presbyterian, "So we just said, 'We're not going to have children's church. You need to go to the worship service.'" Meanwhile, Hazelwood and senior pastor Sandy Wilson began to consider their options.

"Sandy was okay with continuing children's church if that was best, but he challenged us to look into the future and think about what we wanted to do," she explained. Hazelwood looked around and didn't like what she saw.

"Parents had gone hands-off with teaching their kids about worship," she said. "When kids came into the adult worship service in seventh grade, they were rowdy and unprepared for this type of worship." The children's church had actually become an impediment to their subsequent spiritual growth.

Because church leadership decided having children in the worship service would be better for their children's spiritual development, the temporary decision became final: children from first through sixth grades would attend the main worship service with their parents. But Hazelwood didn't stop there.

"We started to think about the younger kids," she said. "As leaders, we read a book titled Parenting in the Pew, by Robbie Castleman. We asked ourselves, How can we get our parents to do a better job of teaching their children how to worship?"

By that time, Hazelwood was having trouble finding enough volunteers to serve one Sunday per month in the preschool class. So the church decided to suspend the class for one summer and include three to five-year-olds in the main worship service as well. Wilson also began casting vision from the pulpit, emphasizing the need for children to learn and experience worship with their parents. The paradigm shift was in full swing.

Today, Second Presbyterian still offers a preschool class during the school year, but many parents choose to keep their children in the main worship service anyway.