Welcome to the World of a Pastor

also known as

Pastoral Theology Course Notes
Lesson Ten

Lesson One
Lesson Two
Lesson Three
Lesson Four
Lesson Five
Lesson Six
Lesson Seven
Lesson Eight
Lesson Nine
Lesson Ten
Lesson Eleven
Lesson Twelve
Lesson Thirteen
Lesson Fourteen
Lesson Fifteen
Lesson Sixteen
Lesson Seventeen
Lesson Eighteen
Lesson Nineteen
Lesson Twenty
Lesson Twenty-one
Lesson Twenty-two
Lesson Twenty-three
Lesson Twenty-four
Lesson Twenty-five
Lesson Twenty-six
Lesson Twenty-seven

What about Church Nurseries..

Several years ago, I went to my first "meeting" in which the church didn't provide a staffed nursery during the services. At the time, I felt that the meeting suffered from all the distractions caused by the babies crying and by their parents, who came in and out of the services. Up to that time, I had taken for granted that every church provided a staffed nursery during its services. I was very surprised to discover that, not only do some churches refuse to provide staffed nurseries for their churches, but they also feel that those who do provide them are somehow backslidden. One thing is certain--if you have babies at church, there will be a church nursery somewhere. It may be in a room designed to be a nursery or it may be in the sanctuary where the preaching and worship is going on; but there will be a nursery somewhere. Now, after many meetings and several years of observation, I want to make a few comments about the church nursery.

You don't have to look long to find problems with church nurseries. Staffing a church nursery is difficult at times. When you have a shortage of workers, the same people end up in the nursery all of the time. When the same people end up in the nursery all of the time, those people can grow bitter from being overworked and carnal from being out from under the Word of God. On top of that, touchy people (who usually won't work in the nursery), get "touched off" easily when it comes to their kids. Couple that with workers that are already tired of working in the nursery--and before you know it, you can have several church problems on your hands. But these problems can be overcome. Most churches have enough ladies to avoid anyone having to work in the nursery more than once a month. Pastor, you call a ladies' meeting and get the ladies to sign up to take a service! If you have a lot of babies, you will also have a lot of ladies, so get two ladies to be in the nursery for each service. But get a nursery.

Another problem with the nursery occurs when you provide the room and the workers, but a few ladies won't use it. I always marvel at ladies who will take their kids to a day care forty hours a week, but can't take the same kid to a church nursery for an hour. "Lady, the church nursery is healthier and safer." I realize that guilt over neglecting our kids is an issue in these types of situations. Care and patience is required for these instances. This can be overcome as well, with your bulletin and well-trained ushers. I also marvel at how babies are used by parents as shields when the preaching gets convicting. I've always thought it was kind of funny how babies needed to leave the service at certain times. Babies will be babies. Bottom line--Pastor, provide a nursery. Provide it for the special meetings. Ladies with babies would just as soon stay at home and watch their babies as they would go and disturb a church service or sit in a room by themselves. With some leadership, the benefits of a nursery far outweigh the problems.