There are no doubt things going on in the church that might not be ideal for children of certain ages. We should protect our youngsters, for example, from committee meetings that don't follow an agenda or that don't include follow up with action items after the meeting.
It seems that most warnings, though, should only be included for inside communication with the church family.
I say that because I just received an invitation to an event at a church in town that includes the warning that the event deals with mature subject matter and strongly recommends children under 9 shouldn't attend.
That seems like a strange place to start a relationship. "Let the little children come to me... unless they are younger than nine and might hear about people they loved are in hell because they made poor choices."
It doesn't seem to ring true.
There are some trainings and some conversations in our churches that children aren't ready for yet and we all understand that.
But it just seems like when we are sending a message to people that we don't know, we should start with something everyone should hear.
God loves you.
Maybe in fact that is a good place to start and to stay.
