From Ruby Berdan in Quezon City, Philippines
QUESTION:Worship for children?
"I'm in the process of developing the children's worship in our church. Do you have any thoughts regarding worship for children?"
RICK MUCHOW:
There are definitely differences between teaching children and adults about worship. Let's agree that worship is not a synonym for music. Music is a great and popular way to worship God. Children especially need to be taught the difference between a way to worship (music) and our lifestyle of worship. Fundamental teaching on the doctrine of worship is one of the most important topics and themes that we can ingrain into the lives of our congregation of children. Developing the habit of worship teaches our children to love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and moves them beyond just Sunday-go-to-church fulfilling Romans 12-1 which says, "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him." (The Message.)
Music is an excellent way to teach children the truths of God. It is one of the most effective ways for children or anyone to memorize Scripture. One of the traits of true worship is the expression of joy! Children are naturals at this. Like every person, they are created to be worshippers. We need to teach them the importance of the Biblical commands to put God first in all things and worship Him only.
The appropriate music style for children is dependent on their age or social group. Key groups are Preschoolers ages 0-4, Kindergarten through grade 2 ages 5-7, grades 3-5 ages 8-11, Jr. High, High School and finally College. For our discussion, we're looking at worship up to Jr. High. Those children will like a variety of music. They enjoy "silly" songs and can deeply relate to more mature themes such as "Here I Am To Worship" mixed in with "If You're Happy and You Know It." One of my personal favorites is the VeggieTales' song "Where Is My Hairbrush."
Each age group has specific song lists or catalogs that are age appropriate. In our area, Radio Disney is a great benchmark for music style to see what younger children are hearing, while older children respond very well to the guitar-driven songs of today. Younger children have shorter attention spans for singing making hand motions and body movement critical. My preference is to allow the children to sing rather than trying to force them. Encourage fun! With older children you can slow down the tempo but do so sparingly.
At Saddleback, we use video enhancement and music tracks for our accompaniment. Vocalists include one or more adult leaders as well as children as young as Jr. High age. The rule for leadership is to always use children who are older than the children they are leading. There are no peer leaders from the group. We will often include children from the audience on the platform as we lead, but they are not leaders. They are just different participants taken from the congregation.
Children's choirs are a great way to go deeper. We have the children's choirs come lead the adults 3-4 times/year. At Saddleback, we have several choirs that match the age ranges and social groups listed above.
Psalm 8: 1-2 (The Message)
GOD, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name. Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.
The worth of our children is so significant and powerful! They are the next generation of our church, but often we are so busy leading the adults who are asking to be led and fund the church, that we end up with our leftover energy going to the children. We as churches often train our younger ministers by putting them with the children. I wonder how our churches would grow if we put our best leaders' focus on teaching the children first… It could radically change the church of the future!
Additional Resources:
Saddleback's children's pastor is Craig Jutila and his resources can be found at www.empoweringkids.net. Craig is also a featured columnist in Entertaining Kids magazine. Pick up their Spring 2006 issue in March for their feature on Kids Worship. Ask at your local Christian store or go to www.entertainingkids.com.
Other Saddleback Favorites can be found at:
www.janaalayra.com
www.psalty.com
www.veggietales.com
www.tommynelson.com
These leading worship providers also have great resources for kids worship:
www.integritymusic.com
www.worshiptogether.com
www.maranathamusic.com
www.vineyardrecords.co.uk
www.vineyardmusic.com/usa
