What is Worship? How do I help my kids worship?
As a kid, singing songs that you only hear a couple times a week in a room full of other strangers may seem intimidating and possibly confusing. Worship does not have to be this way! Worship has so much more meaning than just simply singing songs together on Sundays. In order to encourage your child to engage in worship it is important to explain the importance of worship and lead by example.
While the Bible has many examples of worship and praise being given to God (Verses such as Luke 4:8, Romans 12:1, & John 4:24), a proper definition of worship can be determined through these verses that describe worship. Dr. Tony Evans in the appendix of his study Bible defines worship as: “The recognition of God for who he is, what he has done, and what we are trusting him to do” and Dr. Evans goes even further to say that worship “recognizes and extolls how big he truly is” and “is to be the lifestyle of the believer” (Evans, p.1544, 2019). If we are called to worship, this means we are called to recognize who God is, what he has done, and what God will do. When it comes to explaining this to your kids, a great way to talk about worship is that we are singing and thanking God for everything he is, everything he has done, and everything he will do. Oftentimes the phrase “Praise and Worship” is discussed in the church. Whether you have heard this phrase or not, praise is essential to worship. The words we sing are meant to celebrate and thank God. This is praise, and even your child can be excited about praising God. Celebrating God with all of our hearts and truly being thankful for everything God has to offer is what worship is all about.
Now that we understand what worship is, and we can explain this to our children; how can we encourage worship in the home? The answer to this lies in setting an example and taking small steps towards creating a family worship environment. As far as setting an example, if your child attends church with you, make sure that they see you actively participating in worship. Do not shy away from that designated time at church, but also do not shy away from expanding on this time throughout the week. One way to do this is to listen to worship music outside of church. Listening to worship songs outside of church may seem weird at first, but just like every other genre of music, there are so many different Christian artists and styles of worship. Find songs that you enjoy listening to and singing along to. This will take worship and make it bigger than just 3 songs on a Sunday morning. Another small step you can take is praying as a family and with your child. Prayer is the way that we communicate with God and if we become more comfortable with talking to God, this will help us to feel more comfortable thanking God and praising him for what he has done. Praying as a family before meals and praying with your child before bed will help create an environment for worship in the home. Lastly, along the same lines of praying in the home, do not be afraid to read the Bible or talk about God’s word with your child. Learning about the Bible will allow your child to begin to understand and recognize the greatness and significance of God which is why we worship and give him praise.
Again, these changes do not all have to be made immediately and drastically. If your home is not used to incorporating these elements, think about which one would be the easiest to start doing and take steps to start creating that family worship environment. Worship is essential to our faith and that includes your child’s. I hope that this article helped you start thinking about worship in an easier and explainable way, and if you want any more information on this topic I have included some resources below. Thank you and God bless!
Additional Resources
What is Worship?:
How Can I Encourage Worship?:
https://kidsministry.lifeway.com/2014/04/25/4-ways-to-help-parents-incorporate-worship-in-the-home/
