How-to-Guide on Praise and Worship for Children

This month we're focusing on various aspects of children's ministry, specifically where Praise and Worship is concerned. I have been in children's ministry leadership for 10 years and what I have found is that not everyone understands the benefits of praise and worship for children.

I can recall hearing a statistic stating that most churches nationally and internationally dedicate very little funds towards the children's and youth ministry's. That statistic is so amazing to me, because most people agree that children are our future, so how can we NOT contribute to the success of bringing up men and women for the Kingdom of God.

I have visited various children's ministries and found that while some simply gather various ages of children in one large room where they are left there to play with toys and games and draw on paper with no ministry time. While others had children divided up into the appropriate age groups and did have some praise and worship and ministry time, that overall the children's ministry was being run like a day care as oppose to a ministry.

Ministry and Day care are very different. Many day cares simply "watch" your children while you're at work. While a children's ministry should be just that, "ministering" to the hearts and minds of our children. Even baby's need ministry, whether it's you singing a worship song to them or reading a bible story to them. It's a seed that you are sowing into their spirits.

Then there are those folks that believe that children are just children and don't need ministry at all until they are at least 12 or 13. Yes, people actually believe that way. An acquaintance of mine called me last year and asked me what I was doing and at the time I was preparing my lesson for children's church and the subject matter was baptismal of the Holy Spirit. This acquaintance said, "why are you teaching children about the Holy Spirit"? I was so shocked by the question that it took me a couple of seconds to answer and I responded "Why not". She responded, "they are just kids and that's too deep for them".