In the past few years the practice known as Children’s Bible Hour or Children’s Church has become increasingly popular among churches of Christ.  This practice takes the young children and a few adults into another room for a Bible class or separate worship during the Sunday morning or evening worship of the church.  Those who promote this practice do so with the intention of teaching our children the Bible in a way that is more conducive to their learning.  Many of those who promote this practice affirm that the worship environment is not a proper place for a child to learn and it would be better for them and the rest of the congregation if they had their own time of study during the assembly.  The question each faithful child of God must ask himself is “Do the Scriptures authorize children’s Bible hour during the worship assembly?”

            To understand the importance of this subject we must be reminded of the need to have the authority of Scripture for all we say and do.  On the matter of authority for all we do Paul said, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17).  The Holy Spirit teaches us “not to go beyond what is written” in the Scriptures (1 Cor. 4:6).  To emphasize the importance of staying true to God’s word John said, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:18-19).  Even in what we might consider small matters, like the lighting of the incense during Old Testament worship, God is concerned with men and women doing only what He specified (Lev. 10:1-2).  With these principles of authority in mind, let us consider whether or not the practice of children’s Bible hour is acceptable to God.

Children’s Bible hour is not acceptable to God because it cannot be authorized by Scripture.  Remember, the Bible says we must have authority for everything we do (Col. 3:17; 1 Pet. 4:11).  With the denominational trends that are creeping into worship in some congregations, we need to look very carefully to the Scriptures for authority.  Where is the authority from God for children’s Bible hour?  There is no command authorizing children’s Bible hour.  A biblical example for it is not found anywhere in the New Testament.    And, one could not support a necessary inference authorizing this practice.  Thus, the strongest reason we should not be involved in children’s Bible hour is very simple—there is not one shred of Bible Authority for it!

Children’s Bible hour is not an acceptable practice because it violates clear principles set forth concerning the worship assembly.  When Christians come together to worship in the assembly we are taught to “all come together in one place”.  Concerning abuses of the Lord’s Supper, Paul stated that Christians should all come together in one place to partake of the communion (1 Cor.  11:20). There is no doubt that Paul’s teaching here applies to a specific act of worship, the Lord’s Supper.  However, is this principle confined only to the Lord’s Supper?  It seems that many people think it is.  Even those who have children’s Bible hour usually wait until after the Lord’s Supper to dismiss the kids.  Yet, Paul mentions this same principle in another instance which is not confined specifically to the Lord’s Supper but rather as a general principle for worship (1 Cor. 14:23).  In both instances, we learn not to divide the assembly during worship.  The practice of children’s Bible hour is an unscriptural division of the assembly that is not authorized in the Bible and is actually condemned by the teaching of God found in 1 Cor. 11:20 & 14:23.

Children’s Bible hour is an unscriptural practice because it causes some to violate the principle of not forsaking the assembly.  The Scripture commands us “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).  The unauthorized forsaking of the assembly by many, a few, or just one of the saints is a practice that is condemned by God and will cost people their souls if they don’t repent.  How then could any eldership or congregation approve of an action during worship that willfully causes some of the saints to forsake the assembly?  In every case of children’s Bible hour there must always be at least one saint who forsakes the assembly to teach the children.  Do we not see the clear problem here?  God says, “Don’t forsake the assembly”. Children’s Bible hour, by its very nature, causes some brethren to “forsake the assembly”.  This unauthorized practice is a clear violation of the command found in Hebrews 10:25.   Therefore, it cannot be approved by God.

Also, we need to realize that the practice of children’s Bible hour is flawed because the fundamental reason for having it is flawed.  The proponents of this practice suggest that children cannot learn as well in the worship assembly and would be better off in a Bible class situation.  How do we know children don’t learn as well from being in the worship assembly?  In fact, one could say the exact opposite is true.  Children learn immensely from being in the worship assembly and need that training to worship God effectively in the future.  From personal experience and the experience of watching multitudes of children we can know they do learn valuable lessons during the worship assembly.  Here are some things children learn in the worship assembly that helps train them to worship God correctly in the future:

1. Children learn respect and reverence for God when they are made to sit still and remain quiet during the worship assembly.  When children are disciplined for not listening and reprimanded for being disruptive during worship they are reinforced with one of the most vital lessons in the world—Worship of God is Extremely Important (Jn. 4:24; 1 Tim. 3:15)!  That principle is something that must be engrained in children’s minds at the earliest of ages (Eph. 6:4).

2. Children learn how to worship during the assembly.  Think about how much you learned about worship as a child by viewing the acts of worship in the assembly.  For example, a child learns respect for prayer by viewing his parents and other adults partake in this practice.  They learn the joy of singing by being a part of the assembly from a young age.  They learn the extreme reverence and thankfulness we should have during the Lord’s Supper by watching the reverent acts of multitudes of Christians during the Lord’s Supper.  When you take a child out of the assembly you are taking a valuable teaching tool about worship away from them.  

3. By being in the assembly children learn how important the “old paths” we have always stood upon are to God’s people.  At a very young age I can still remember soaking up gospel preaching and how that affected me as a child.  I learned about the one church, baptism for the remission of sins, the sin of denominationalism and the importance of scriptural worship because I was made to sit in the assembly and soak it in.  Research tells us that a person’s brain soaks more in at the younger ages than it does when we are older.  That being true, why would you not want your children to sit in the assembly and learn these great Bible lessons over and over again?

4. By being made to sit in the assembly and participate in worship children learn another vitally important lesson that so many are missing—worship is not about THEM!  At a young age I learned a priceless lesson: God and my parents were not concerned about me being entertained during worship.   Were there times where I would have liked to have gone in a back room and done something I deemed as more interesting?  Absolutely!  When that was not allowed did I learn a more important lesson?  You bet!  When children and all adults stay in the assembly they learn that worshipping God is not about them.  When they are allowed to depart from the worship assembly we are teaching them a horrible lesson—if you don’t like or enjoy the way things are done find an alternative!  It should also be noted that every time we see God’s people gathering together in one place to worship, it included the children being in the same assembly (Deuteronomy 31:11-13 “taph” meaning “little children”; Joel 2:15-17).

 All faithful Christians need to realize that children’s Bible hour only panders to a problem rather than dealing with it.  What is the problem?  Parents are not disciplining their children and teaching them how to act respectfully in worship.  Elders are not encouraging nor demanding that godly parents make their children behave in worship.  We are not doing enough preaching on God’s principles concerning child rearing and the serious nature of not heeding these teachings.  Godly grandmothers, grandfathers and older saints are looking the other way when it comes to child rearing.  Rather than dealing with the problem we pander to it by creating the unauthorized practice of children’s Bible hour. We say to ourselves “at least little Billy, who is as wild as a marsh hare, won’t be interrupting worship this morning.”  Do we not realize that “little Billy” is one day going to grow up to be a real hell-raiser because nobody ever disciplined him?  We push the problem under the rug and take the mindset of “out of sight out of mind.”  Yet, there is a day coming when these practices are going to haunt those in the church who allowed them.   Let us put a stop to them before that day ever arrives.    May we realize that the motivation for children’s Bible hour is flawed, the Scriptures do not authorize it, and it violates clear teachings of the Bible.  May God give us the courage to only do what He says and insist that our children do the same!