One of the latest passions that God seems to be building in my heart is to develop an age appropriate worship experience for the children in our church. Interestingly enough the pieces of the puzzle seem to have fallen into place to make this a reality in the near future. It's worship for kids done by kids. I'm looking forward to what this could become...
In light of this I've been using my kids as guinea pigs, okay, maybe that's the wrong word, maybe not. I've bought some of what I think are great background trax for kids music. I've been playing it in the car all the time to see what kind of reaction it would get from my kids.
You have to understand, my kids have not been into the church thing. Especially when they were made to come into the sanctuary and have to wait there until they're dismissed into their classes. Lucas really doesn't like that part, as a result Sunday morning times before leaving home have not been fun times. "I don't like church", are words you don't really want to hear coming from your kids mouths as a pastor. Especially when they're only three and five.
Well, today I felt just a little of maybe what God feels when we praise him from the heart. Listening to Alexandra singing her heart out along with the tape at the top of her lungs made me "giddy" with excitement. I don't usually get "giddy". It was a neat realization.
If their reaction to the music is any indication of how other kids will react, I've got a lot of hope for what's to come. Most of our kids are not into praise music. I really hope to have the privilege of seeing that change.
Posted by ed | TrackBackinteresting what effect music has on children (reaching them). we have attended two different churches in Calgary ... in one, it is not uncommon, based on the music worship, for everyone to be dancing/clapping/jumping (including the children) and in the other the whole congregation is more subdued and the children can't wait to get out of the sanctuary and into Sunday school (mine included)
Posted by: Ian RutgersI know what you mean. God laid it on my heart earlier this year to start a service that is amid at elementary children and their parents. We started last month (and our next one is tomorrow). It's a lot of work and a good deal of stress, but we've done well. We had 30 children and 50+ adults at our first service.
You may want to take a look at some of the CDs produced by North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA. They have a family production called KidStuf and most of the material is great. We're using the family producation once a month in our church as part of our KidsQuest service.
You don't have to get the scripts and the curriculum to have access to the songs - in fact, some of the CDs are sold in Christian bookstores.
Anyhow, check out FamilyWise, the company that sells the CDs for the church. Just clink on the link that says store.
Good luck with your service!
Posted by: Jesse SmithThanks Jesse...it's funny that you mention all that, I was introduced to Kidstuff years ago at the Catalyst conference at NorthPoint. I was just there for it again this year and was able to purchase some of those CD's after Kidstuff.
We're not ready to do more than the music part of it and then dismiss the kids to our regular junior church, but I would love to see it become something that would impact our kids and families better, but that will take some time.
Thank you for your suggestions thought, and I pray God will continue to bless your services as well - may he grow the kids and the parents through this
God bless
Posted by: edThanks for your prayers Ed. Our child attendance this month was down, but we had more adults. We're also gaining workers each time we have the production.
I hope you have good luck with the songs. I've had the best responsed with Shout to the Lord! Kids (the first volume.
If you use a projector in your service, you may want to check out the DVD I just found this week. Integrity music has a DVD called Shout Praises! Kids. It's under $20 in most places on-line and has 9 songs. With the DVD you can put the words on the screen or not, use a split track and it's got great visuals for the kids. It also looks like all the songs are less than 3 min, which is about most kids attention span.
Posted by: Jesse Smith