Worship Musician Magazine February 2023 | Page 45

KIDS WORSHIP
GIVING KIDS A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF WORSHIP ( PART 1 ) | Yancy
We have a lot of spiritually malnourished Christians in the area of worship . You may question that statement saying that “ worship ” happens in your services . You ’ ve given the minutes and slots of the planning sheet for it . But far too often we don ’ t talk about the why behind the songs we ’ re singing . We aren ’ t leading people from a place of invitation , inviting them to boldly approach the throne . We are checking boxes and providing fluff but far too often those efforts equate to a plate of only skittles or your favorite dessert . We all know that a balanced diet is important when it comes to nourishing our bodies for health and growth . The same is true in the spiritual . Finding the perfect kids ’ song that will make the whole VBS move and twirl to the right two times isn ’ t the end goal . It can serve a purpose . It can even be a win . But that song is just one type of food . It ’ s one ingredient in a bigger landscape of nutrition . The different types of songs we sing , whether they be varying tempos or even the subject matter from praise and celebration to worship and adoration . Each one is a needed and necessary ingredient to our offering of praise . We need to curate our worship sets with the same care and intentionality that a chef takes when it comes to crafting the meal he prepares .
Even in the kid ’ s ministry space there are a lot of people singing songs of worship . The list is much shorter of those that are discipling kids in worship . What are you teaching them ? Hosea 4:6 tells us , “ My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge .” What are you teaching about worship ? What knowledge and understanding have you provided ? What are the scriptures they can learn from and better understand the why for this time ? Do they comprehend the purpose and why their contribution matters ? I really believe this is something that is lacking far too often . Not only with kids but with students and even adult worship services . We model and we go through the motions , but scripture
tells us “ without vision and knowledge , people perish .” I want to help those I lead thrive and grow .
Every week as you lead your time of worship be sure to teach something about the “ what , why , where , when and how ” of worship . Here ’ s some ways to do that :
SHARE SCRIPTURE . Psalms is a great place to start to look for a scripture that instructs action . It ’ s like finding the verb within the sentence . So often a passage from Psalms is going to provide instruction of how to participate . I often will hop on a Bible website and search a couple keywords from a song we are doing to find a scripture I can share to connect the dots .
PERSONAL TESTIMONY AND REVELATION . There are times as I ’ m preparing God drops something in my spirit that I know I ’ m supposed to share or say . I think often it ’ s for a specific person and even a few . I certainly have had some light bulb moments over the years where I comprehend a lyric in a song in a greater way . Those become teaching moments . I know it helps many from the group connect to what we are doing and why in a greater way .
WHAT A SONG IS ABOUT . Unpacking the message or a glimpse into why it was written . Look online . Is there a story behind why the songwriter wrote the song ? Many hymns have a great story attached and modern worship songs do too . Maybe you ’ re introducing the song and just talking through some of the lyrics of the verse or chorus could make someone connect to the song better than they would if you just sang it .
INVITE THEM TO TAKE PART . A game-changing question to ask as a worship leader is : What ’ s your invitation ? Don ’ t just do the song or say “ it ’ s time for us to worship ”. Be specific and invite them into it . That may be with action . It could be with a verbal response or a specific action or posture . But many will not take part in something that they don ’ t understand . Your invitation can provide them the “ how ” they need to take action .
PRAY ABOUT WHERE YOUR KIDS ARE AT . Ask God for the wisdom you need of how to lead your group so that every week you are leading them in steps to develop their passion for worshipping the Lord .
I do believe we will give an account for how we discipled those we get to lead in worship . Let ’ s keep on running this race together . I have much more to share on helping your kids gain a biblical definition of worship . We ’ ll continue this next time .
© 2023 Yancy Ministries , Inc .
Yancy Yancy is a worship leader and songwriter for kids that travels the globe doing family concerts and training worship leaders . Every week her songs are used in thousands of churches around the world . Her Dove Award winning music is all the things kids love and everything adults value . Her newest “ Little Praise Party ” album is “ Out of This World ”. Yancy has a passion to serve the Church which is why she created “ Heartbeat ”, a curriculum to teach kids the heart of worship . She recently authored the book “ Sweet Sound : The Power of Discipling Kids in Worship ”. She lives with her husband and sons in Nashville , TN .
YancyMinistries . com
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