Our church is located in a small town and membership numbers are dwindling. I wish we had the problem of kids being loud! We only have one child in our congregation and he is my brothers boy- 16 months old. We did have a family that used to come once and a while and their 9 or 10 year old boy would leave during the sermon every sunday they were there to use the restroom. Drove me nuts! The thing that bothers me now is the people that come in late every sunday. Especially those that may only live a few blocks from the church. We live 40 minutes from the church and are always on time. And we have some that will leave right after communion, or others who are constantly looking at their watch because they have to hurry up to get home and lay on the couch to watch a ballgame.

We were always taught that being on time, being quiet, dressing decent etc., were to be done out of respect not only to God but to others in the church. Not all people were taught this and I'm sure all churches have these problems to some degree but i am happy that these people are at least making the effort to attend.

And, being a typical Lutheran Church, everyone sits toward the back of the sanctuary. The front 1/3 of the church is usually empty.