The six-year-old who throws herself down in a field of clover begging her mom to not mow the flowers. The three-year-old who serves a feast of saltines and goldfish on tiny, plastic, primary colored plates. The eight-year-old who Cannot. Stop. Flossing. (as in Dancing, not Dental).
Children’s minds and moves are quite different from adults’. They have fresh and simple ways of seeing, interpreting and reacting to the world. This all changes as they grow into more sophisticated and complex big people, but while they are little, it is beautiful and beneficial to pay attention to their perspective. They have an innocent and imaginative view of the world, and very unique ways of expressing themselves, especially when it comes to worship!
Children have an eye for wonder. And who is more wonder-FULL, than our God? Kids are natural worshippers, but they worship differently, in their own language.
Kids sing loud. They haven’t realized yet that you are supposed to sing quietly in church. They sing with all their heart – and sometimes all their volume!
Kids move a lot. They don’t know you are supposed to sit still in church. They are interactive and need to move pretty much all the time.
Kids smile. Children don’t have much of a filter. If they are happy, you will know it.
So, to accommodate this unique worship style, we create special worship spaces just for children. At Otter Creek we have: Kids Worship (K-2nd) and Preschool Praise (ages 3-5). This is where our kids learn Bible Stories on their own developmental level. Here they can sing loud and move around and be joyful. It is a beautiful thing to serve in these settings and watch the worship happen (and join in with them!) in an environment that is intentionally created for our little ones.
As children grow up, we teach them lots of things. One thing we teach them is our adult way to worship, but wouldn’t it be sweeter to let them teach us? What if we ALL sang loud and moved a little? What if we mature adults opened up our hearts a little more and let the love and joy pour out as we worship our holy and amazing creator God? What if…
When it comes to worship, maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to grow up. Perhaps we should hang on, just a little bit, to the heart of our inner child.
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
Dawn Crisler
Associate Children’s Minister
