Kidco Labs - Resources - Powerful Praise and Worship for Children

POWERFUL PRAISE AND WORSHIP

Worship God with all your body, mind, heart and soul and the children will learn to do the same.
by David Goebelbecker, Kidco Labs

Kids love music and God desires our heartfelt praise and committed worship. There really couldn't be a more a more dynamic mix when you combine the two. The key to helping children understand the i importance of praise and worship is simple. They just need to do it.

Praise lifts up our eyes and our emotions to focus on God. These fast songs make us forget the challenges of the day and about any problems we have, as we get lost in the music. And, once all the burdens of life have been whisked away, worship leads us into His presence and before His throne in heaven. Both praise and worship work together, and it is difficult to have one without the other.

No one is too old or too young to experience true praise and worship. It is something we can do wherever we are—at church or at home, in the car, or alone in our rooms. We just need to learn how to lead ourselves to the place where worship becomes as natural as breathing.

Here are some tips that can help you plan to make your praise and worship time with the children as powerful as possible and help them start to experience its fullness.

1 – SELECT THE RIGHT LEADER

Although everyone is able praise and worship God, not everyone is a worship leader. You need to select someone that exudes enthusiasm, passion and a zeal for worship. He or she should also be very personable and LOVES to sing, dance and jump around. It takes more than just playing CD or DVD to get children excited about worship. It needs to be an event that they can't wait for. With the right person leading, it can become one of their favorite times in class and something they continue doing long after service is over.

2 – CHOOSE THE RIGHT MUSIC

The great thing about music is that there are so many styles to choose from. For children, they need music that is tailored to their needs. There are some very good children's worship CD's and DVD's available that offer selections of both praise and worship songs. Choose ones that offer a good variety of tempo, style, and content. This will allow you more options later when creating worship sets that tie into your weekly message or theme.

3 – KNOW THE FLOW

In any worship set for children, we have found that 3 songs are just enough. You should start with one fast, high-energy praise song so the children can jump, dance and interact. It should be a fun song to helps them get their focus on why each of them is in church. Follow this song with a selection of a moderate tempo to start to slow things down, and lastly, add a slow, intimate worship song. During this time, you will want to encourage the children to close their eyes and forget about everyone else around them. You may also tell them that they can kneel where they are or raise their hands, if they'd like.

4 – LEAD WITH THE WORDS

If you are doing new songs, it is helpful at times to review the words before you sing them. You can do this through reciting the chorus without music beforehand or during the song, tell the children what to sing next. The worship leader should know the songs well enough that they sing without looking at the screen.

While leading, make sure to sing loud, clear and maintain eye contact with the group. Smile at children that are doing well and use your eyes and expressions to encourage others to do the same.

5 – ADD HAND GESTURES AND MOVEMENTS

For the faster praise songs and some of the moderate praise/worship songs, you may choose to add movement or hand gestures. It's easy. Think about the words of the song, then come up with gestures to mimic or accent what you are singing. You could use some sign language type motions as well. It's a lot of fun and looks good when everyone does it all together.

6 – HAVE FUN!

This is the key! You cannot lead people where they don't want to go. So, if you are leading with passion, excitement and fun, then who wouldn't want to go there? The children will follow your example and your lead. If you are having fun, then they are sure to do the same.


	Making Worship Personal To help you select the right music that is best suited to your ministry needs, we have supplied links to various resources along with a brief summary of how it can be used with ministry. We found some a little easier to use than others. Once you've made a selection, we recommend that you shop around via the Internet for the best prices. Most of these are available for $20 or less. Click here for links to Worship Resources >>