train a child - Luke

This past Monday at our elementary, after-school program I had a small glimpse of what our future may hold.

Ron, Chandy and I have had several discussions about how awesome it would be to have a worship time with our youth. We dream of starting our Thursday night Bible study with a 20-30 minute worship time. But, we have to deal with the reality that these kids have no idea what worship looks like. There are so many elements to worship that we know and have learned over the years that these kids haven't been exposed to. Alot of us take for granted our church-going upbringing. Regardless of what congregation, denomination or location we have attended in the past, we have learned, on one level or another, what "happens" during worship. Even with the upbringing that I was given there were certain modes of expression, action and qualities to worship that I wasn't exposed to until my post high-school/post college career. These kids have NO idea. (On top of all this, they don't know any songs, which is changing.)

What these kids know is they have to uphold their hard appearance, their cool reputation and at all costs retain all levels of respect from the other kids. As most of us know, with worship, there is a level of vulnerability. You have to put yourself aside. A primary action during worship is humbling oneself or making ourselves less so that we can give God praise as the #1 that He is. So, I say all of this just to show why we have struggled in the past with implementing a time of worship with our youth.

This past Christmas our elementary kids, under the guidance of Chandy, preformed a Christmas program. They dressed in costumes, ranging from a wise man to baby Jesus, sang 2-3 songs, read the birth of Jesus and two of the girls from the neighborhood put on a singing/dancing performance of a lifetime. This Easter the kids will be doing something similar. Over the last 3-4 weeks during the elementary, after-school time the kids have been practicing. Following a grueling 30 minute homework period and a small snack the kids gather around in a circle and practice for their upcoming performance by singing. The kids will be singing the chorus of "Savior, He Can Move the Mountains", with a worship group on Easter Sunday. Chandy started off by singing the first couple lines of the song to the kids and they would repeat her. After several weeks of practice the kids have the song down to a T.

This past Monday, after the kids proved they could sing the song in its' entirety, Chandy played a cd for the kids to listen and sing along with. The song was lead by a worship group performing the song they had been practicing. It was chilling. It was so cool to be able to sit there and imagine 5-10 years down the road when these kids are 11-17 years old and we are having a time of worship with them. There we were in the middle of Rock Island with 25 children singing a worship song. I tried to imagine our older kids doing the exact same thing and it was just really hard to imagine. Not to say that I am writing the older kids off for ever having a time of worship (let me add that some of our youth did experience a time of worship at a camp we attended last summer), but that it is so much more difficult to teach and train the kids once they pass a certain age or maturity level (revolutionary thought by me, huh?) What an incredible insight God had and gave us before we even existed...

Proverbs 22:6 -
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

It is going to be an awesome experience the day we are able to have a time of worship lead by our youth.

Everyone needs compassion
Love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

Chorus: Kids part
Savior, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever, Author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Bridge:
Shine your light
And let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory of the risen King, Jesus