6 Ways to Involve Children in Leading Worship

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We all love to see children in church; as worship ministry leaders, however, we often struggle to find ways to include them in the adult worship services. I know I do.

Jesus set children up as a model for believers when he said, “Don’t prevent [children] from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.”

Presently I am working with staff at my church to brainstorm ways of including children in worship. Here I am defining children as those in 8th grade or lower and, in particular, the youngest ones.

Involving children in worship can be challenging because:

  1. Every element in a service should be excellent, even if the people leading worship are only five years old.
  2. Children’s involvement in worship should be purposeful.
  3. Adults should be drawn to God through children, not just proud of their children’s performance.

A Positive Example

Here is an example from our church.  I am not sharing this to say we have it all figured out; rather, I want to share a moment that was very meaningful to all of us.  This idea was not mine; I am so grateful for other people and their creative ideas.

This past Sunday a 10 year old played a short piano arrangement of a hymn for the prelude to the Classic service. He played well and his parents taught him through the process that he only needs to think about playing for God rather than worrying about the 300+ people in the congregation. All of us were encouraged and inspired as we began worship.

This week people have continued to comment on how meaningful his playing was to them. Children can have a huge impact on worship.

The Why

Before deciding how to involve children in worship you must decide why you want to involve children in worship.

Here are some reasons for including children, although definitely not exhaustive:

  1. We are a family church, and we want our services to be multi-generational.
  2. God called us to be like little children in our faith.
  3. We want to train children how to worship and to lead worship.

The How

Once you have decided the “why,” you can set about deciding the “how.”

For example, if you decide you only want younger children to learn to worship rather than to lead worship, you might simply provide ways for children to participate in the services from the congregation rather than having them on stage leading worship. For me having children learn to worship is not enough; I want them to learn to lead worship.

Here are six ways  children can help lead worship:

  1. Play or sing during the prelude to the service. The environment is very positive and the pressure is minimal. NOTE: Audition the children so that the experience is positive for them and for the adults in the service.
  2. Lead motions to a song in the services and invite people in the service to join them. Motions and children can be a great tool in teaching adults to be free in worship. NOTE: A few well rehearsed children leading precise motions are often more effective than a large group of children doing decent motions.
  3. Sing a piece of music with the choir or worship band. NOTE: Plan well in advance for best results and minimal stress.
  4. Sing or play a special piece of music. NOTE: Plan even further in advance.
  5. Draw/paint/color images to fit the message for the day, then post them in the lobby and/or use them for the bulletin cover.  NOTE: Choose a topic that is easily illustrated: Daniel and the lions’ den, etc.
  6. Act in a drama sketch or production.  NOTE: Definitely audition them, but keep your expectations reasonable.  This is not Broadway!

These ideas are not original with me.  I would love to hear your ideas.

How do you involve children in worship?

The Side Effects of Impatience

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Today I am having a hard time figuring out what to write.  I have started several things and each one of them either needs time to settle and come together or simply needs to be thrown away.

Seems a lot like life.  When something isn’t clear I want to push through and make it clear.  Patience, however, is almost always more effective.

Impatience can have serious negative side effects:

  1. My writing may not be well focused.
  2. I may not feel peaceful about the result.
  3. I may miss important content.
  4. I may include suspect content.
  5. I may unintentionally damage relationships.

Patience, on the other hand, is always rewarded with:

  1. Peace.
  2. Clear meaning.
  3. Effective communication.
  4. Great results.

So instead of forcing something into cyberspace before it is ready, I am going to be patient.

Where in your life are you being impatient?  What would patience look like in that situation?

How Our Church Recruited Worship Volunteers, Part 4

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Your recruitment is only as good as your follow-up. You could recruit a million people, but if you do not have a follow-up plan you might as well have gone on a cruise. Follow-up turns a maybe into a somebody.

Recently I have been sharing how our church went about recruiting volunteers for the arts. I have written about The Plan, Why Technical Arts, and The Campaign. In this post I want to share our strategy for following up with interested people.

Here was my plan:

  1. We would call every interested person back within a week of the time they turned in the information request form.
  2. We would find out more about each person on the phone cal, their interests, and their experience.
  3. We would invite each person to First Step Weekend.

We had grand hopes, but our success was mixed.

We were able to follow-up with almost everyone within a week of receiving their information request form.

On First Step Weekend we scheduled time for people to audition musically and dramatically, share their art with our visual arts leader, and interview with our Director of Production (Technical Arts). Saturday morning from 9-12 was set apart for Musical, Visual, and Technical Arts, and the Dramatic Arts people scheduled an informal hang out and audition time Sunday evening.

Musically we had a few no-shows, but we also had two excellent auditions leading to very talented musicians joining the team in a month. Technically we only had one interested party.

Visual Arts had three artists come in to share their art with our leader, and they were three different generations. One watercolor artists was probably in her 70s, one painter was in his 40s or 50s, and the other painter was a teenager. Each of them had great stories to tell, and each had very different styles.

Sunday night the drama gathering was disappointing. Only two people showed up out of many interested people.

The weekend was definitely a mixed bag, but overall I feel very good about the campaign. In a week or so I plan to share one more installment cataloguing what we learned from this experience, but here are a few thoughts from the First Step Weekend experience.

  1. Even some success on the weekend means that the weekend idea is still good.
  2. Several of the no-shows shared viable excuses later and asked to re-schedule, which I am doing now.
  3. The lack of numbers in Technical Arts has to do with our overall effectiveness at recruiting for the Technical Arts. Very few people mentioned an interest in the first place.
  4. The lack of numbers at the drama gathering does not mean our efforts at recruiting people for drama was a failure. We had many interested people. Because of the campaign drama has a higher visibility in a church that has been largely ignorant of drama.

I will be digging into the successes and challenges of this campaign with my leaders soon, and I hope to have clearer answers to share with you then.

How would you evaluate a recruitment campaign?

Shunning Shame

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You and I have at least one thing in common: our lives both have themes that resurface from time to time. These themes are weaknesses, chinks in our armor, and the evil one loves to exploit them.

Two of my themes are guilt and shame.

In the last month or two I have experienced a new level of freedom from guilt and shame. Past issues are being aired out, experiences are being put into perspective, and God is at work in me. At times the process is scary, but I love it and I will be eternally grateful.

This morning in my devotions I read Psalm 25 and a particular verse stood out to me:

“No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame.” Psalm 25:3

Later on the psalmist reminds God:

“Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.” Psalm 25:20

When you and I put our hope, our trust, in God, Maker of heaven and earth and Redeemer of mankind, he gives us a “Get out of shame free” card. He loves us and cares for us, and as long as we place our hope in him we have no reason to feel shame from past failures and difficult experiences. He redeems those experiences and renews us.

So if you are feeling shame,

  1. Have you placed your hope in Christ, or are you trying to go it on your own?
  2. Have you asked Christ to redeem your past, or are you trying to ignore your past and your shame?
  3. Have you shared your shameful experiences with a safe friend or counselor?

We were not made to live in shame and guilt; God made us to be free. Once you taste freedom you will never want to go back.

What shame are you carrying around? What is holding you back from placing your hope in Christ and facing that shame?

How Our Church Recruited Worship Volunteers, Part 3

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Last week I shared with you The Plan for a wide scale recruitment campaign at our church encompassing four areas of the arts:

  • Dramatic
  • Musical
  • Technical
  • Visual

Today I want to share what actually happened.

Live in the Lobby – April 14, 2013 – Maurice Overholt and Bob Burke
Arts in Worship Information Table – April 14, 2013
Live in the Lobby – April 14, 2013 – John Heitala’s Traumpets
Live in the Lobby – April 14, 2013 – Men’s Group
Live in the Lobby – April 14, 2013

Week 1

I was curious and a little nervous going into the first Sunday, particularly because of the Live in the Lobby piece:

  • How would people react?
  • Would they be in a hurry and just brush past?
  • Would they complain about the lobby music feeling like cocktail hour?
  • Would anyone respond and sign up?

I was excited about the actual services because  we were presenting Painting Pictures of Egypt, by Sara Groves, and I had been able to do a cool design of the lyrics for projection. This song fit perfectly with my plan to have something special in the services in relation to the arts.

The services went wonderfully. People loved Painting Pictures of Egypt. The pastor giving the announcements set up Arts in Worship and Live in the Lobby wonderfully.

As soon as the first service was over I dodged out to the lobby to play. A bassist and I did some improv on worship songs as well as a little bluesy jazz. The response was warm and a good number of people seemed to be stopping by the information table.

Before the second service a trumpeter played solos and excerpts and we used that as the prelude music, simply keeping the doors to the lobby open right up to the beginning of the service. After the second service the men’s quartet started singing in the lobby. People crowded around for more than 20 minutes, soaking up the music and having a great time.

By the time the morning was over we had 15 responses ranging from children to adults, and many people had commented on how much they liked the Live in the Lobby concept. Needless to say, I was thrilled.

That week we divided up the responses between the leaders of the difference areas of the arts and contacted almost everyone. My assistant put together a spreadsheet with all of the information and we began tracking responses and interests. The majority of responses the first week were for Musical Arts, but we had a good number of Visual and Dramatic Arts responses as well.

Here is the Arts in Worship Information Request we asked people to fill out.

Week 2

Right up until the second Sunday the visual arts leader was fine tuning which artists would be displaying their art in our one-Sunday-only gallery. People had heard that someone was showing art and calls came in asking for the opportunity to participate. In the end we had five artists in the lobby: a photographer, 2 painters, 1 mixed medium artist, and 1 artist with painting and paper sculpture. Ages of the artists ranged from teenager to senior adult.

By the time the first service started they were all in place, sitting on stools or standing in front of their art, and our visual arts leader was actually working on a large painting. As people arrived they came right over to check the art and had a great time talking. Before and after both services people were milling around, asking questions, and enjoying the art.

The artists were greatly encouraged, and the people who saw the art, both children and adults, came away inspired and jazzed.

We had only three actual responses from artists, but we also had several verbal responses. We followed up on all of them and found out we have more artists at our church than we thought. Both I and our visual arts leader were overwhelmed by the experience that day.

We did not have a visual art element in the services that week, contrary to my plans, and we forgot to tell people to sign up for Arts in Worship, but the exposure in the lobby made up for it.

Week 3

The final week we focused on the Dramatic Arts.

In the services we once again encouraged artists to sign up, and we had a dramatic reading of a Scripture text from the Message translation.

For Live in the Lobby the Drama Team decided to do short scenes from their fall production of Old Testament Rewind, a Willow Creek ensemble script compressing the Old Testament into a humorous 45 minute experience. The portion of the lobby designated for Live in the Lobby was set up like a small stage use all of the props from the show.

We received a handful of responses that Sunday. The actors had some difficulty making themselves heard over the crowd noise in the lobby, but they had particular success walking around the lobby interacting with people while in character.

My Favorite Part

My favorite part of this whole experience so far has been the spiritual conversations and life stories that have been initiated through the discussion of the arts in worship.  People have been drawn back to the church.  Artists have been challenged to seek God more deeply.

While not everything went as well as we had hoped (later on I plan to share lessons we have learned from this process), the bar has been raised and there is an expectancy about the church.  I believe we are poised for a new expression of the arts at Covenant Life Church.

Later this week I will share the follow-up and First Step Weekend results with you, so stay tuned!

How Our Church Recruited Worship Volunteers, Part 2

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Yesterday I shared the plan we developed for a wide scale recruitment campaign at our church encompassing four areas of the arts:

  • Dramatic Arts
  • Musical Arts
  • Technical Arts
  • Visual Arts

Some of you may be thinking, “I know that artists do drama, create visual artwork, and perform musically, but technical artists?  What is that?”

Before we move on to what actually happened in the campaign, let’s unpack this issue briefly.  The names we give to people matter.

Most performing artists have the mindset that the “AV guys” (sound, lighting, projection) are glorified computer techies who like to dabble in geeky stuff like sound boards, wires, and gadgets and do not have a clue musically.  Those same “AV guys” often think that performing artists are whiny, finicky, uppity, difficult-to-please people.

Unfortunately, sometimes both are true, but that is not the complete picture.   Churches who stop there will end up with technical teams and artists who are always fighting for power and cutting each other down.

A Different Way

Followers of Christ are called to a different standard.  Jesus prayed that everyone would know we are Christians by our love, not our superiority, technical mastery, or any other prideful and sinful perspective of ourselves.  In that same vein I believe that Christian artists are called to a higher standard where we support and honor each other rather than fighting for supremacy.

Secondly, working on the technical team is a highly creative calling.

  1. Discerning musicians and sound professionals alike will quickly point out that a great sound man is also a good musician.  Mixing a great monitor mix or FOH mix takes not only technical savvy but also great ears and artistic sense.
  2. Lighting is by nature a creative activity.  The brightness, color, and focus of a light has great impact on the mood in a room.
  3. Running projection requires a sense of beat in order for the operator to change the slides at the proper time.
  4. Creating projection slides definitely requires a creative touch.
  5. Even working as a stage hand can be creative, from the way cabling is done (there IS a right way and a wrong way and the right way looks and works much better) to the layout of equipment on a stage.

Those on the technical team deserve to be treated as artists and not as second-class button pushers.  If you call your technical people artists, you are communicating several things to them:

  1. Your work is important.
  2. Quality matters.
  3. Think creatively, not mechanically.
  4. Behind-the-scenes workers are as important (if not more so) than those in the limelight.
  5. The computers, sound and lighting boards, and other equipment are instruments, not tools.
  6. Because you are working with instruments, treat them with care.

By referring to technical volunteers as artists just as we call actors and musicians and painters artists, our hope is to encourage unity rather than factions and creativity rather than rote service.   Time will tell, but I believe the end result will be greater unity and effectiveness, and a greater sense of calling among all of our artists.

What about your church?  Do your technical artists and performing artists work together well, or are they pitted against each other? 

How Our Church Recruited Worship Volunteers, Part 1

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Every recruitment campaign begins with a plan, even if that is a plan to “wing it.”  This past April I initiated a large scale arts recruitment campaign at our church.  I had been talking about this for months, but I finally got around to it in April.

Fortunately I had more than a plan to “wing it.”  Unfortunately I had been so busy that I had little time to get it done.  I am very grateful to the volunteers who helped make this campaign happen.

Over the next week I want to share the story with you:
  1. The Plan
  2. The Campaign
  3. The Lessons

I am learning tons from this process and I hope by looking over my shoulder you will discover ideas of what to do or what not to do.

The mission for this recruitment campaign was two-fold:
  1. Recruit more volunteers to serve in worship ministry
  2. Discover and enable as many artists as possible to use their gifts to glorify God and encourage others.

In order to do this I wanted to create an image, a brand, if you will, for the campaign itself.  I also wanted this brand to work well with the church so that I could use it again in the future and not have to always recreate the wheel.

I called the campaign Arts in Worship, encompassing Dramatic, Musical, Technical, and Visual arts.  I enlisted a friend of mine to help me design the logo and we ended up with this image:

Arts In Worship Graphic

We printed this out as a 6 foot long canvas banner.

In order to get the word out, we decided to do several things, one of which I had never done before:
  1. Announce the campaign in the services and project the banner.
  2. Place a big ad in the bulletin.
  3. Have a sign up table in the lobby under this beautiful banner.
  4. Have a series of live performances in the lobby called Live in the Lobby, one each week during the campaign.

This last one was new for me.  We do not have a huge lobby, but we do have an area that can be cleared out and adapted for various uses without disturbing the traffic patterns.  The plan was to highlight one of the areas in the arts each week.  Week 1 I invited musicians to play and sing live music before and after the services.  Week 2 I began working with a painter in the church to set up a gallery and have him painting live on Sunday morning.  Week 3 I invited the drama team to do something interactive with the people.

My goal for Live in the Lobby became threefold:

  1. To cement the call for artists into people’s minds as they enter and leave the auditorium.
  2. To draw attention to the place in the lobby where people can sign up for more information.
  3. To engage people in discussion about art as a part of worship.

I also wanted to do something extra related to the arts in the services each of those weeks.  Week 1 have a cool special song, week 2 incorporate the visual arts, and week 3 have a dramatic element in the services.

As my assistant and I recruited people to help with sign ups and Live in the Lobby performances, I even created guidelines so that volunteers would know what is expected of them.  This piece was a new one for me as well.

Here is what I wrote for those volunteer to be at the sign up table:
  1. Maintain a friendly demeanor.
  2. Direct interested individuals to the handouts we will provide.
  3. Share how you are involved in worship at CLC.
  4. Answer the questions you know and direct other questions to Maurice Overholt.
Here is what I wrote for Live in the Lobby performers:
  1. Maintain a friendly demeanor.
  2. Begin playing/painting/acting the moment the service ends.
  3. Play for 15 minutes.

I also wanted to have a social media presence during this time to keep the buzz going throughout the week.

That was the plan.  In my next post I will share what really happened, so stay tuned!