like they truly belong, the sky is the limit!
[ Yancy ] You share about raising worshippers from an apprenticing mindset. Unpack that concept.
[ David ] Here I owe a debt to John Mark Comer’ s book, Practicing the Way, but the core of the apprenticeship model is this: discipleship is not something I know, but something I do. So we don’ t want to be“ knowers” who teach others to know. We want to be doers who teach others to do.
If we want to teach kids to worship, our primary goal is not to impart knowledge, but rather to give them opportunities to do— to practice, to engage, to experience. Based on what we see in Scripture as well as some great research from Lifeway and Barna, I believe we’ re most effective when we apprentice our kids in four core worship actions: read God’ s Word, pray, sing, and serve.
[ Yancy ] I know your heart longs to see leaders focus their efforts to make space for kids to become the worshipers God created them to be. Tell us about that?
[ David ]“ Making space” is a great way to put it, because it does require intentionally clearing out some space so that our effort can be redirected. Throughout his letters, Paul talks about himself as a spiritual“ father” to the people of the many churches he helped to start. His greatest goal is for Christ to be formed in them. In fact, he’ ll say things like,“ You are our glory and joy,” and call them his“ crown.”
But so many of us are pursuing other glory and other crowns. I would love to see us recapture the heart of Paul— that our crown would be the kids who fell in love with Jesus because we followed his call to serve.
[ Yancy ] You provide some tools to inventory and become self-aware of what we are doing to lead kids in worship. What’ s something everyone should do to assess where they are and dream about what they can cultivate in the new year?
[ David ] I think one of the best places to start is simply by putting yourself in the position of a child who comes to your church and asking,“ What is my worship experience like?” You may not know the answer— which is instructive in itself. Mentally take yourself through the whole experience and then ask this:“ What did I learn about worship from this experience?”
[ Yancy ] What’ s a favorite memory of leading kids in worship? How did it change you as a leader?
[ David ] My favorite memories are the times I’ ve watched kids“ get it.” If we’ re leading worship at a camp, for instance, we often can see in real time the development of a heart of worship in a child. You can watch a child go from timid and unsure to singing their heart out, closing their eyes, lifting their hands, all over the course of a few days. By the last day we’ ll see kids putting their arms around each other’ s shoulders, swaying together to the music, worshiping in complete freedom. It’ s a beautiful thing!
[ Yancy ] Kids are the easiest age group to lead in worship in my opinion, why do we need to care about the formation of helping and
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