05/07/2026
Just a taste of family life at UBC...
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Dear Church Family,
One of the great joys of serving and worshiping together at UpRiver Bible Church is the sound of covenant life filling the sanctuary week after week.
Tiny voices. Little whispers. Restless feet. Babies crying. Toddlers asking questions. Children singing before they can fully read the words on the page.
To many modern churches, these sounds are often viewed as distractions to be minimized. But the Scriptures teach us to hear them differently.
Recently, I read an article by Pastor Uri Brito that beautifully captured this truth, and I wanted to share it with you in full because it expresses something I believe many of us already feel deep in our bones every Lord’s Day:
“I suspect we have 200+ children under the age of 12 in our congregation, and among those, probably around 100 under the age of 3, which means that between our two services, there is lively discourse from all four corners of our sanctuary.
This past Lord’s Day worship was filled with the sound of a host of them making joyful noises. Some folks hear that and think ‘distraction.’ The Bible hears that and thinks ‘warfare.’
James B. Jordan once observed that children in worship are not interruptions to the liturgy, but part of the liturgy itself. They are covenantal participants in the praise of God. Their voices matter because God delights to use weak things to shame the strong. I think it was also Jim who once stated that every time a child cries in church, a demon loses its wings.
Psalm 8 is not sentimental about children. It is militant:
‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger’ (Ps. 8:2, NKJV).
The praises of children are one of God’s chosen weapons against the kingdom of darkness. The worship space is a sanctified nursery, and that space is not a neutral zone. It is an armory. The squeals, whispers, cries, and little amens are reminders that the Church is alive and that God's covenant promises continue from generation to generation.
For... us..., a church with no children is far more frightening than a church with noisy children. In fact, I'd be more uncomfortable preaching in a silent building. Children's sounds have become my background music for each sermon.
The modern world prefers sterile silence. The Kingdom of God sounds more like a family meal. It sounds like inheritance. It sounds like future generations learning, however imperfectly, to join the song of the saints.
So yes, there was an angelic host of little ones making noise throughout worship this past Sunday. And every one of those noises was a small declaration that the enemies of God will not inherit the earth. The little ones are already learning to psalm before they can fully speak. The foe and avenger should be deeply troubled.”
I could not agree more.
Brothers and sisters, every Lord’s Day at UpRiver Bible Church, we are surrounded by visible reminders of God’s covenant faithfulness from generation to generation. We do not gather as isolated individuals. We gather as households. As fathers and mothers. As sons and daughters. As nursing infants, covenant children, and gray-haired saints worshiping side-by-side before the throne of Christ.
And what a joy it is.
The noise of children in worship is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of life.
It means there are fathers bringing their families to worship. It means mothers are laboring faithfully week after week. It means babies are being born into Christian homes. It means covenant promises are being declared over another generation. It means the Church is not dying. It means the gospel is bearing fruit.
Frankly, I would far rather hear the occasional cry of a baby than the cold silence of a barren and aging church that has forgotten the blessing of children.
So to the young mothers who worry that their little ones are too noisy: thank you for being here. Your labor is not unnoticed.
To the fathers training sons and daughters to sit under the Word of God: do not grow weary.
To the older saints: your patience, smiles, encouragement, and support toward young families matter more than you know.
And to all of us together: let us rejoice in the sound of covenant succession. Let us thank God that our sanctuary is filled with children learning, however imperfectly, to join the praises of the saints.
May the sounds of little voices continue to echo through our congregation for generations to come.
“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” — Acts 2:39
Grace and peace,
Pastor Brian
