A series of Articles written by the Author of this program Dan Wheeler that brings us to a new level. 'On their level' from how the children should be looked at in worship. Children are like sponges they absorb everything they come into contact with. How about Me? How should children be part of our worship community? If we dont Train them in the ways, how will they learn to become part of our adult worship? Childrens church or sunday school is great, but our children should they not take an active part of adult worship? In my life some of the greatest teaching I have recieved have been through children. We must make a difference but must become as children and go down to their level, that is why I wrote this series 'On Their Level' for the Lord says we must become as children? We worship as adults in "grown up church" should we not just be children and worship The Lord as children do, with the heart of a child, simple, open, from our hearts as a child. We must work together and not expect the children to come to the level of adults but rather the adults come to the level of a child. After all that is what Jesus told us.
To better understand where children should go to worship, here there, upstairs downstairs we must first understand what worship is all about.Worship- One of the reasons God created the human race was so He could reveal Himself to His creatures. In turn God wanted us to recognize Him and respond to Him in fellowship. He placed in the human heart the need to worship Him.
Who is the church?
In our virtual library here on this site our dictionrary discribes the church as this: Church-Belonging to the Lord. From the Greek word kyriakon. In Gal 1:2 the church is described as the body of Christ, or assembly. In Eph 1:23 refers to true believers united spiritually to Christ similar to the way parts of a physical body are united to its head. This body of Christ is called the temple of the Holy Spirit and "a spiritual house. (1st Peter 2:5) The church should not be referred to as "the new Israel." The church, the body of Christ, began on the Day of Pentecost and will maintain a distinctive identity throughout eternity. So then is not our children part of our family in our church worship or is worship just something that is just for the adults? It seems in the Bible we are told to train our children in the ways. What are these ways? Children should be made to feel part of the community of believers in our commond worship together. Children learn by Hearing, seeing, touching,smelling, tasting just as I incorporate the STS method in the Keyboards for Christ Program. Children are more likely to perceive their world through their senses than adults. Hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting could all invoke a learning experience in a child. The simple act of holding a hymnal or pointing to the words as you sing together as a family could be a powerful learning experience. Children learn can learn about prayer through how we pray as a church, about praising God through how we praise God, about God's answers to prayer by our testimonies, what better way to teach our children then by are own examples of how we as adults praise and worship God. Worship should be something that everyone experiences in a church, whether they are children, teenagers, or adults. Could it be that our worship services are designed to facilitate the thinking of adults only ultimately neglecting the needs of both children and teens? Shouldn't our worship services be designed specifically to lead the “family” in worship and not the individual? To teach our children about UNITY, I am the church, we are the church together? Yet it seems as if we are splitting the family up by pulling children out, segregating the youth (offering nothing for them) and speaking only to the adults. Sunday school is an age graded program designed specifically to reach certain age groups. Corporate worship should be designed to reach all age groups as we all come together for celebration and worship. Should worship ever be an exclusive act? If not then shouldn't we be doing all that we can to ensure our worship services represent and reach at least some aspect of all of its members, children, youth, young adults, median adults, and older adults? For I can see a child in a room somewhere asking WHAT ABOUT ME? Let us get back to the heart of worship and that is all about Jesus Christ, and his words were to his disciples "Suffer the children to come unto me" We are the church together!
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