Approach to Worship

The first song my older brother learned on the guitar was "Romans 16:19." Our bedrooms were next to each other, and through the walls, I would hear the same chord in the chorus pounded out over and over again. I grew to despise that song. Moving on to college meant my supposed departure from hearing over and over again how the God of peace will soon crush Satan... And then I started working in Morning Star's Children's Ministries. The song I had learned almost 10 years before was alive and well. However, I didn't see much worship happening through it. I saw kids jumping off of chairs onto the floor to act out how God will crush Satan. I saw them creating devil horns and forgetting to put them away when they moved on to singing about being excellent at what is good. Sure it was a fun song. Sure the kids loved it. But was it sending the kind of message we want during worship?

I'm a whole-hearted, passionate supporter of active worship with kids. I love doing the motions (which I actually consider more like dance moves in some songs we do). I love seeing the kids have fun while messages of God's supernatural power, His love for them, and His desire for relationship get stuck in their heads. I love watching kids choose to stand during a slow song with their arms lifted heavenward. And I love hearing from parents that their kids are singing our worship songs throughout the week.

But I'm not a fan of the times when the words we use or the motions we do distract from the purpose behind praising our Savior. This is why we've been very careful in the selection of songs we use in Bridge 45. With a live band, it's tempting to select the songs that provoke the greatest response. But is it really a response if our kids are getting obsessed with acting like a devil or pretending to puke (from a song I love--Trading My Sorrows--somehow, trading our sickness turned into faking throwing up)? So we're careful with the songs we sing. We make sure they use words our kids can understand. That the concepts sung about aren't beyond their understanding. And we stick to themes that don't open the door to less-than-worshipful behavior.

We're teaching these kids to respond to the Creator of the Universe through music, to cry out to God in times of need, and we're engaging a heart of worship. I'm really excited about the large group teaching in six weeks. We'll be looking at what the Bible says about worship--how it is a part of our service in Bridge 45, but also should be a description of their daily lives. I love that even though we're not singing it, we're helping these kids to "be excellent at what is good, and innocent of evil."