An excerpt from one of my favourite KidMin blogs :
“In today’s culture, worship has once again become associated to “music at church.” As we see the progression of worship in scripture we see it attached to the tabernacle and then later, to the temple. Very often, we see that when someone worshiped, they fell down. We see Jesus change the game a little bit in the conversation with the woman at the well in the gospel of John, chapter 4. He simply points out that people will begin to worship God differently. We see this emphasized in Romans 12 when Paul equates the sacrifice or offering of self as the act of worship. Have we gone back to attaching worship to a place…a style…a certain sound?
In other words, the act of worshiping God should not be limited to style, tempo, location, volume, and so on. Do we force our own style or tastes on kids in the area of worship? I’m not talking about doctrine here. By all means, kid leaders must ensure that the lyrics are truthful and God-centered. I’m talking about the other things that we often equate with what is appropriate worship for children.
Are we allowing children to make worship a regular part of their lives by allowing them to worship Him in spirit and in truth? Are we teaching them that worship and the music associated with it should extend into their everyday lives? Are you using music that is similar in style to what they might listen to at home or with their parents? (Again, this is not about lyrics.) If you don’t make an effort to connect with kids on a cultural level, you may limit their ability to extend what happens at church into their everyday lives. We want them to be ambassadors for Jesus, not defenders of a culturally disconnected church.” –Jeffrey Reed, Lifeway Kids (check out the link for more).
An interesting point of view! Michelle Anthony puts it another way: are we giving out kids time to “be with Jesus“? Time for them to “hear from Jesus”? Are we giving them a chance to hear from the Holy Spirit, or just keeping them entertained with funny lyrics and entertaining actions? Our time of worship in our kids church services is not restricted to the music we play, but are we giving kids a chance to truly worship God when we play our music? If you would like some helpful resources and information on worship for kids – particularly worship music, then check out these links:
There are tonnes more! Email qbkids@qb.com.au for more information on helping your kids and families worship God together 🙂