When we get to church we sometimes just want to pass off our kids to the Sunday School teachers and go focus on our faith. But, if your church allows children in worship you have an incredible spiritual opportunity for your family! You can disciple your kids in “big church” and do more than just try to keep them quiet or from being a distraction to you or others.
Whether your church includes children every week, once a month, or on 5th Sundays, here are 3 ways you can disciple your kids in a worship service:
Teach and Practice the Music at Home
Most of my kids are not old enough to read yet, so I have to be intentional to teach them the music we sing as a congregation. I have learned from experience that just exposing the music to my kids at home or in the car is not enough for them to be able to sing along at church.
When my kids don’t know the songs and can’t read the lyrics, I lose them. So, I have started to ask our pastor to include me in his set list email that he sends to the worship team. Then, my kids and I learn and practice the songs throughout the week. When Sunday morning comes around, we worship together more purposefully.
Explain the Parts of Worship to Disciple Your Kids
Relevancy and comprehension lead to less distraction and more engagement. When we tell our kids what we are doing during worship and why we are doing it, we invite them to participate in their own developmentally appropriate way.
We show our children that we believe they are capable and allowed to worship offering them the opportunity to understand what is going on in worship. It can be as simple as a quick whisper in their ear, “We are receiving the offering. This means we all have an opportunity to give back to God a bit of what he has given to us.”
It doesn’t need to be complicated or in-depth, just a simple here is what we are doing and here is why.
Provide a Thoughtful and Intentional Worship Bag
Even if your church provides coloring pages, you may want to pack your own worship tool belt to help engage your kiddos during service. Our kids can move from keeping busy to being engaged and open to the Holy Spirit if we are thoughtful and intentional about what we provide during worship.
If you aren’t sure what a worship bag is, stay tuned. My next blog post will give you all the details and a workshop is available for purchase here. Until then, here are 5 things that I believe should be included in every worship bag:
Want Help?
If you would like some support on how to make this work for your family, sign up for a free consult with me. I would love to walk you through this and any other family discipleship areas you may be struggling with.
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I love learning the songs ahead of time that would be helpful for some adults too.
Absolutely! It helps me, too.