Christian parents: Don’t give up bringing your kids to church

Nancy Oliver wants you to forget perfection and know that your messy, faithful presence is shaping your children’s faith and blessing your whole church community

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I am mum to three children. Since they were born, we have taken them to church. We have taken them whether there was a creche/Sunday kids programme or not.

At one point in our lives, we had three children under the age of four. That’s a baby and two toddlers. I drove a double pushchair smeared with ice-cream which dispensed a trail of crumbs from the underneath basket. There were things living in there that I had no idea about. I also drove it at about 0.0000000001mph as, while at the wheel, I was also holding the hand of a toddler who walked like she was an Olympic figure skater. We would explode into the church and proceed to ooze over the entire front row.

If you want your children to be part of church, you have to do something about it, just like weaning and potty training

Many, many times I asked myself if it was worth it. As I sat there, breast feeding a baby and wiping apple out of my hair, with my toddlers screaming the house down, I asked it through gritted teeth. Many times, I walked home crying. Many times, I cried in the church toilets. And I say this to you not so you feel sorry for me, it was my choice to bring them, but so you can understand this …

Bringing children to church is hard

Because ……