<p>My church is very racially diverse and shouting out does happen, but there is also direct communication between the pastors and the congregation. The wife of our pastoral team has a very, very heavy southern accent and sometimes she has to be asked to clarify mid-sermon. It’s all good.</p>
<p>I honestly do not remember any situations that stick out in my mind from all the experiences I have had with kids in church … including every Sunday as a kid when my 4 brothers & I sat in church (even on vacation!), and all the years my kids were in church with us. However, if I did experience a screaming baby problem in church, I would simply pray for those parents. 
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<p>sseamom, there’s no need to be snarky. (“I promise not to come to yours.”) I didn’t say there was anything <em>wrong</em> with praise teams and call or testifying out loud and so forth: just that it isn’t for me on a regular basis. </p>
<p>BTW, our services are known to include dance, including spontaneous dance by one woman. AFAIK everyone likes it. We have drumming services occasionally, we sing congregational rounds, we get up and light candles for joys and sorrows and share, we greet each other and newcomers, and so forth. As I said, the children are included at the beginning, often with a children’s story. Everyone is not sitting there in frozen silence.</p>
<p>You might enjoy visiting my church as a change of pace and a different view on spiritual matters. But you probably wouldn’t want to become a member if you are a committed theological Christian. I might enjoy visiting an African American church. But I wouldn’t become a member of it or any other Christian church because I don’t share the theology. I might enjoy the worship <em>style</em> at most Episcopalian churches, but I’m still not joining. The worship style is secondary. </p>
<p>At the church I grew up in, all it took to make a child stop crying or for its parent to take it out of the sanctuary was a stern look from one of the female ushers. </p>
<p>Actually, I am not a member anywhere. My D is. I am not only unaffiliated, but questioning. I do prefer my D’s church to one where everyone has to fall into a specific behavior and where kids aren’t welcome. </p>
<p>Lake, at D’s church if a youngster isn’t behaving, he or she is sent to sit with Nana. That’s worse than being taken out to the lobby. You don’t want Nana angry at you.</p>
<p>Having had a small child and a baby when my DH was deployed I sure looked forward to getting out and going to church on Sunday. My small child was very quiet and if he had a book to color he was happy. Baby was generally happy and if he fussed, I’d leave my older DS with friends and take the baby out until he calmed down. It was a military chapel, so everyone understood that there were spouses deployed and happy to help out or understand when we spouses brought the babies to church. </p>
<p>Of the people who think it normal to have children in church throughout the service, do your churches not provide religious education of an age-appropriate sort for the children? I was raised as a Catholic, and we had catechism on Thursday after school, and were expected to attend Mass on Sundays with our parents, or a special children’s mass when they were offered, but all of the mainline Protestant churches did the sunday school thing instead.</p>
<p>D’s church does Sunday school for the hour prior to services from roughly preschool through high school. Then they all go up to the service and meet their parents, on third Sundays, get ready for choir, dance, etc., if they are in one of the groups that helps with the youth-led service. The Sunday school is pretty loose-the kids are grouped in littles and olders, not by specific grade, and it’s not insisted upon. There is no nursery for babies, either.</p>