Kids Praise & Worship

Does it really make a difference?
Yes, Psalm 8:2 says, “You have taught children and nursing infants to give you praise. They silence your enemies who were seeking revenge.” (NLT) It is a mandate from God for kids to worship. According to this scripture, if kids worship then God’s enemies become silent. This is so important that even Jesus mentioned it in Matt 21:16.

Getting it into “Big Church!”
So how do we get to the place where kids feel comfortable worshipping in the “big church”? How do we pull worship out of the classroom or children’s church?
What we have done in our kids prayer group is taught about the importance of their worship. We have them quote Psalm 8:2 and tell us what it means. We have told the kids that everyone has a different style of worship. We have encouraged them to try out different things in a safe environment that is nonjudgmental. When we use worship gestures it is not just the kids that are involved, the leaders are too.

Pick songs that are fun for the kids but that they will hear in a normal church setting. Pick songs that promote worship. Ask the kids if they have any thoughts about what some of the motions could be and then use them. Once you have a motion set for a word or a phrase use it every time in every song. You will be amazed at the results.

Using Body Language
The song we started with was “Lord You are Good.” It has very easy sign language that goes along with it and there are many words and phrases that are found in other songs. So every time we meet we would start with that song. We believe that our prayers are more effective because when the kids worship the Bible says the enemies have to be silent. When the Shekinah Kids group went to minister in children’s church, the Shekinah Kids taught the song and motions to the other children. This is a chorus that we sing often at our church. I was on the platform one night and had the privilege of seeing kids doing the motions they had been taught in big church. On a night that the choir sang this song, before service started I told the kids that the choir was singing that song and if they did the motions I would also do them on the platform. Not only did the kids take me up on that challenge but other people in the choir caught on and did them. Also the people in charge of our multimedia caught some kids in the act of worship and put them on the big screen.

Opportunity to Demonstrate & Lead
Our music director walked into the beginning of a Shekinah Kids class and noticed that we were doing worship and asked if the kids could do a special song on the fifth Sunday service. The kids agreed and were very excited about it. It was decided that we would do the song “Lord You are Good.” We included the kids from Monday night prayer and opened it up for any former Shekinah Kid. On the fifth Sunday we had 22 kids ages 7-15 helping lead in worship. There were technical difficulties with the DVD, but I believe that was only because the enemy did not want the kids to worship and the adults to understand why it was so important for them to worship. The musicians came in and sang the song live behind us and the whole church began to worship with the kids.

Examples of Impact
On our last kids prayer night that focused on praise we did 5 songs. Some slow, some fast. The thing that amazed me was the kids said their favorite songs were the slow ones and the kids stopped focusing so much on the motions and entered into pure worship straight from their hearts. The following Sunday night I noticed one of the boys on the front row doing motions to a song that we had never done in prayer before. But the song had phrases and words that were a part other songs and he was using those motions. I must say that made me smile and I am pretty sure that God was smiling too. Then the service slowed down and this same kid kept worshipping. Now maybe I was being sentimental but I started to cry and examine myself ….. was I giving myself over to worship freely like I keep telling the kids to? This child who was on the other side of the auditorium ministered to me. There is no way to describe that feeling; you have to experience that for yourself.

Give it Your Best Shot
And you can experience it! Kids love the fact that they can seal the Devils mouth. It may take some encouragement, but there are two things that help kids feel comfortable in worship. The first is to consistently practice worship. Every time you worship, use the song and the same motions until it is second nature to do the motions when you hear the song. Second is just to provide an environment where they feel safe to worship. That may mean you have to find a new spot to sit in church so that the kids can sit with you, but if that is what it will take for our kids to worship then it is worth it. Take it from someone who has been ministered to because of a child’s praise, any step out of my comfort zone has been worth it.