Young families

At Highland Cathedral, there's a fairly good mix of ages and demographic. Their Sunday School is reasonably well attended, though they have commented it has had a bit of a dip in attendance. Yet, like many churches all over Scotland, there are few parents of young children.

As anyone who's had to deal with very young children knows, they need routine. Sundays can really mess up that routine, what with most services being at 11am. So, when couples become parents, they drift away from church, as it's not only difficult to get there (as getting a baby ready isn't quick!) and don't want to disrupt their child's routine.

So, they stop going to church. As time passes, it becomes more and more difficult to go back. And, potentially, both they and the child are 'lost' to the church.

That does make me wonder what the church can do to accommodate parents of young children, while still building up a community of people worshipping God. Too much one way or the other and either a church for just those young families is created (and is that really a church?) or it's a church just for the middle-aged and above. And how does the church keep the connection up with those families, in a friendly caring way? At the moment, I have lots of questions about this, though no solutions. Its definitely something I'd want to think and engage with, so even if parents drift away for the reasons I've looked at above, they still feel connected to and cared by the church, so they will come back.