While we could undoubtedly come up with a long list of do’s and don’ts when teaching worship, this post will look at one important objective in each category.
Two Objectives When Teaching Worship
Do start to teach worship from the earliest age.
Sometimes churches will start training children to worship in “children’s church” so when they’re ready to go to “big people” church, they’re prepared. However, worshiping is so much more than what happens in a worship service. Worship is a heart response to our great and awesome God. Even infants and toddlers can begin to grasp a sense of awe. Imagine if we would use all those opportunities to direct their sense of wonder toward God! — “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” (Prov. 22:6)
Also Read: When to Start Learning About Worship
Don’t make it about the methodology, or means of worshiping, but rather God Himself.
While it can be helpful and necessary to teach ways we can worship God, we must always get beyond the means or act of worship to the Object of our worship — God Himself. He makes worship special, not the song, style, or method. When we keep God at the center of our worship, we don’t need everything to go according to our preferences to be able to worship. When the focus gets put more on methodology, worship tends to become more man-centered than God-centered.
We must emphasize worship as that which begins with an inward response. If we put too much emphasis on the external act, we could actually be encouraging hypocrisy in their lives. Then our students could be like those the prophet Isaiah spoke of and Jesus repeated as referring to the religious leaders of His day. — “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” (Isa. 29:13)
Teacher Training Resources:
Resources to Teach about Worship: