Things You'll Need:
- Worship and praise songs
- Bible
- Sermon
- Props for sermon (optional)
- Offering plates
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Step 1
Welcome the kids to the children's worship service by having puzzles, games, and other activities to keep them occupied until everyone shows up. Make the activities relevant to the sermon they will hear later on, so they can be thinking about what they already know about the subject matter of the sermon.
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Step 2
Start the service with prayer. It is a great way to start any church event, and shows children that prayer is very important because it is the first thing to do during the service. Encourage kids to participate by asking them to talk to God aloud after the leader has opened prayer time. Let children know they can ask God to heal a sick person, praise God because He is mighty, or even thank Him for something that is joyful. Do, however, discourage children from confessing sins aloud, as this is something to be kept between the child and God (and parents).
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Step 3
Move into the service with songs that praise God. You can either play a CD or watch a DVD that has praise songs with action, or you can invite people within the church to come and sing with the children while playing live instruments. Worship songs are plentiful, and Higher Praise has midi files and lyrics for younger children (link provided below), while Share Song has lyrics, MP3 files, and sheet music for older children who like today's worship songs played on the radio (link provided below).
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Step 4
Have a time of offering for the children. As this becomes a regular part of the worship service, be sure that the kids understand what it means to have an offering for God. Encourage kids to work around the house to earn money for offering, and not simply take money from parents for this purpose. Also let the kids in on how the money is used, such as for missions, church maintenance, or some other reason. It makes a child feel good to know he has participated in offering time, especially if he knows why he is doing it.
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Step 5
Conduct a sermon for the kids. This sermon can be centered around just about any Bible story or current biblical application to a child's life. Good resources for worship sermons can be found at Children Sermons (link provided below). Some churches will use object lessons where kids can use their senses to relate to a Bible story, while others use puppet skits, or just plain old storytelling with a discussion session at the end of the sermon. Try mixing things up with different ways of delivering a sermon to keep children interested every week.
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Step 6
End the worship service with a few more songs, preferably slow ones that put a child into a worship frame of mind. Lastly, end with a closing prayer before dismissing children.
