Practical Suggestions For Children In Worship

This article presents dozens of practical suggestions for encouraging and teaching children to worship and for including children in regular worship life of the community. These suggestions pertain to every aspect of the worship experience, including the worship environment, music, prayers, and gestures. General Areas of Concern Any program of worship education will need to have several areas of focus. The content of worship can be taught to children in some manner regardless of age. The preschooler experiencing the season of Advent for the first time can feel the sense of expectation, sing some of the songs, and learn the names of the major characters in the Advent drama. Each time Advent is approached thereafter, new layers of understanding and participation can be added. We as Christians never outgrow our potential for perceiving new meaning during the Advent/Christmas season. The same is true for other worship concepts. First, let us look at some of the content areas of worship…