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I have a huge problem with children (not just mine) leaving the collective assembly of the saints. Now the woman and most churches certainly have good intentions—that I certainly do not deny—but this relatively new phenomenon of segregating the church population during the general proclamation of law and gospel is not the biblical or historical standard.

One could go one step further and argue that the disjunction of the Old and New Testaments and the undo emphasis on the New Testament might be one cause of this age-based segregation. As far as I can see, the entire Bible advocates that all of the believers, both young and old, should gather together for general worship: to pray, partake of the sacraments, and to hear the gospel.

Teach people to live out the gospel in all of their relationships

Teach people to shun gossip and slander, especially against leaders

Repeatedly commend the habit of making "charitable judgments.

The preacher must be a serious man; he must never give the impression that preaching is something light or superficial or trivial….What is happing [in the act of preaching] is that he is speaking to them from God, he is speaking to them about God, he is speaking about their condition, the state of their souls. He is telling them that they are, by nature, under the wrath of God–”the children of wrath even as others”–that the character of the life they’re living is offensive to God and under the judgment of God, and warning them of the dread eternal possibility that lies ahead of them. In any case the preacher, of all men, should realize the fleeting nature of life in this world. The men of the world are so immersed in its business and affairs, its pleasures and all is vain show, that the one thing they never stop to consider is the fleeting nature of life. All this means that the preacher should create and convey the impression of the seriousness of what is happening the moment he even appears in the pulpit. You remember the famous lines of Richard Baxter: “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.”…You remember what was said of the saintly Robert Murray McCheyne of Scotland in the last century. It is said that when he appeared in the pulpit, even before he had uttered a single word, people would begin to weep silently. Why? Because of this very element of seriousness. The very sight of the man gave the impression that he had come from the presence of God and that he was to deliver a message from God to them. That is what had such an effect upon the people even before he had opened his mouth. We forget this at our peril, and at great cost to our listeners.