The Unexpected Benefits of Going to Church with a Baby

Around 4 months of age, going to church became so much easier. I truly wasn’t expecting it. Up until that point, I would wear Ransom during church and he would usually fall asleep around the second song, but he had started to be more alert and more aware of the world. He also started having more opinions, so wearing him wasn’t an option anymore.

As I was thinking through how I was going to handle a vocally opinionated baby during service, it hit me: THIS IS WHY CHURCHES HAVE NURSERIES. Being a first time mom, i’d never used a nursery before so i’d completely forgotten that free childcare on Sundays was at thing. Or maybe I’d just never realized the significance of the fact that churches offer free child care on Sundays.

I got Ransom all signed up with his sticker, and my matching sticker. I dropped him off with some nice older lady who was so happy to have a little baby in her arms, and I left. Then I went and got a cup of coffee, and then I sat down alone in service (being a Youth Director, the Viking is usually somewhere else on the church premises with the youths, so I mostly attend services alone).

I was sitting alone. No one was touching me. No one was crying. No one was hungry. And the best part — I got to drink that whole cup of coffee HOT, with zero interruptions.  Game changer.

I thought to myself “Omg, this is the grace of God, right here right now.” That lady in the nursery is getting her baby fix, and Im sitting here drinking this coffee hot and we’re all happy. PRAISE BABY JESUS. Im not gonna lie, that was the first time in my life that going to church truly felt like “self care” in the same way that taking a bubble bath is.

Im so much more consistent going to church now, and I look forward to church in a way I never have before. I appreciate those ladies in the nursery and the children’s volunteers in a much more poignant way. If you’ve ever thought about volunteering in the kids ministry at church, do it. And remember it’s not just a ministry to the kids, it’s a ministry to their parents. One hundred percent.

Also, if you are a mom and don’t go to church, you should think about it. NEVER underestimate free childcare. Think of the sermon as a “lecture on religion” if you have to and drink that coffee. Im not here to judge you, and neither is Jesus. Just sayin.

Anyway, I raise my hot cup of coffee to YOU nursery ladies. You make Sunday awesome.