For children:

Have you ever counted the number of churches near your house? How many are there? Why do people go to different churches? There are many reasons.

Sometimes one church speaks a different language, so people want to be able to hear about God in a language they understand best. Or maybe one church is closer to their home and easier to get to. Sometimes people like the music or the pastor or the people. What do you like about your church? Have you ever gone to church somewhere else? What was different there? What was the same?

Churches have different ways of telling the story of God and Jesus' love for all people. It is just like an ice cream store, which has different ice cream flavors so no one gets stuck with a single flavor. When Jesus lived on earth, he had 12 friends, called apostles, who helped him share the story. Each apostle was different from the others and told the story in his own way. So, too, different churches tell God's story in different ways.

For Lutheran churches, the most important part of the story is that God loves us no matter what we do. We call this undeserved love "grace." Some Lutheran churches think grace is so important that they even make it a part of their name!

For parents:

The question of going to different churches arises for young people from their own families, where different members go to different churches. This may happen after a divorce, where a child alternates going to their mom's congregation and then dad's.

There was a time when going to different churches was the cause for condemnations among Christians. Although this may still happen today, it may be better to emphasize the things we hold in common ("telling the story of God and Jesus' love") and the distinctive gifts (for Lutherans, emphasizing God's grace).

Since young children think so concretely, they are more likely to notice concrete differences (the shape of the building, the loudness of the music, the look of the pastor and the like). The questions in the response above may help adults hear what most affects children.