Should little children sit through big church?

That was a question we addressed in episode 919, and it is now the second most listened

to episode in the history of our podcast, presently at over 300,000 blaze.

Amazing.

It raised a number of follow-up questions in the inbox, like this one from Ryan.

Pastor John, I'm a teaching elder at our church in another pastor and my wife and myself

have been wrestling with the idea of sermon content when children are present.

We share the value of having children in church with their family, but we cringe at

the thought of dealing with homosexuality or abortion or bestiality with children present.

How should one striving to rightly divide the word consider a child's innocence as they

prepare and present a sermon?

Should there be any difference shown to a family trying to be mindful of what those little

years here and what to be prudent to provide an alternative for families when those topics

are covered?

What would you do as a pastor?

My bottom line answer, and I'll give the bottom line and I'll back up to why, my bottom

line answer is that sometimes a church needs to hear a sermon that deals with such graphic

and explicit detail concerning a kind of human depravity that arrangements should be made

for the parents to be notified that such a sermon is coming so that they can decide

whether they want their children present and I think the leaders of the ministry to children

probably will want to discern whether special alternatives that morning should be made

for the children or not.

...