I think everything my friend John Knight writes is important, but I really appreciated this little section in his article interacting with Mark Leach's piece...
"I know church can be hard, but if at all possible, show up. Attempting to ‘do’ church with a child with disabilities is complicated, sometimes frustrating, and even overwhelming. Yet the very presence of our families makes a difference! When Paul was really little and we returned to church, I watched one family from afar who have a child with Down syndrome. I never even approached them. Paul doesn’t have Down syndrome, but just knowing there was another dad walking around with a disabled child was a comfort. It was only recently that I had the chance to tell that dad the impact he had.
Our children matter, and people can see that when we show up with all our complications and embarrassing behaviors and strange noises. And by doing so we help plant different seeds in people’s minds."
'via Blog this'
Excellent. And, also, how about even just, "Bring your child to church with you"?
ReplyDeleteWhen our kids were little, I remember a couple expressing appreciation for our bringing them to worship in a church we were visting.
Others, had pointed us toward the child-care, but we were unwilling to frighten our children by dumping them off with strangers.
I grew up in a small town church where there was no child care. Children were, and still are, a part of Sunday worship, spanning four generations [not so long ago it was five].