yeah these are my kids. all i can say is we always held the door open to being involved – they just had to want to play*
i really think it’s less about giving kids a musical kick-start, & more about letting them taste Spirit+truth worship. i ask God for wisdom to raise my kids to be worshipers. we’ve always worshiped together, & as they’ve grown we had them start taking lessons so they could jump in deeper (in terms of personal participation, not in terms of skill or performance).
it’s all about totally enjoying God in music, setting prayer to music, meditating on his Word with music – and having a great time doing it.
God showed me early on that my kids will only take hold of what’s real in me. & if there’s any religion/pretense, they get to see right thru that stuff. i don’t want it for myself, & i sure don’t want it for my kids. cathleen & i have worshiped together from before we were married, so our kids grew up seeing worship as how we live.
where we go to church, worship is about the Holy Spirit getting control over every part of the meeting. the music flows into spontaneous worship into prayer into the Word…with the goal of that all overflowing into our day-to-day lives. the kids are right in there with us, so they get it. my daughter goes out to the backyard & sings spontaneous songs to Jesus as loud as she can, just because it’s what she’s grown up with. why not?
never underestimate how much their little spirits can soak up. there is no such thing as too young to be involved in worship. saturate them in the overflow of your prayer and worship from the moment they’re born – they get ALL of it.
practically speaking, there are times where we tell them “we’re going to worship in the living room – go grab any instruments you want.” & there are times when it flows out awesome from the first note. there are also times where the kids want each other’s instruments or a different song or to go play legos, etc. basically kid versions of the same issues that you have to press thru in church sometimes* no worries – we’re all about pressing thru – we’re hooked on living in the tangible presence of God, so our kids will grow up hooked too >>
You said you’re hooked on living the tangible presence of God. I want to know what it looks like… What you’re talking about sounds wonderful but I’m not sure how to make it happen in my house.
Do you just sit around in your house making up your own music and words on the spot?
I have two very little ones and for some reason the older of the two is very resistant to me singing and playing guitar, and to any “adult” sounding worship music. I’m trying to figure out a way to bring musical worship into our house without it being a source of contention. I love spontaneous worship and I really desire to develop more in it, but when I try, it’s met with my child yelling “Don’t sing!” “I don’t like that music!”
It can be very frustrating.
It seems like the worshipper in me has grown dormant since I’ve had children because I no longer have any time alone to let myself be free before God. I don’t know if I even recognize His presence now. I can hardly stand to listen to any recorded praise and worship music out there because I can’t relate to it.
And do you know what the really crazy thing is? I’m a praise and worship leader at church. It was not by my choice – our praise and worship leaders left and I was kind of put in that position by default. It’s really weird, our pastors will talk about how thick the presence of God is in the room, and I won’t feel a thing, I don’t know what they’re talking about. I feel like I am left out of the loop.
Well, first – reality is everything. Not relating to most of the praise/worship music out there is totally understandable. It’s so rare to find recorded worship that really comes from a place of Spirit and truth. Praise is just prayer set to music; and most modern public praise stumbles into the same trap the Pharisees were caught in with their public prayers. People let themselves become performers – they learn the formulas, they look the part, they say the right words, and they sing to be heard and approved by men.
What’s crucial is that you and I don’t ever play that game. We can’t settle for any unreality in our relationship with God. We’ve got to have that deep place of intimacy with God in secret – or we really have nothing to give in public. If we will get real with God and cry out to him for real vital relationship, he will give it to us. If we are satisfied with any degree of playing “let’s pretend;” the best we can hope for is that people are polite enough to play along. And our kids will be the first to see through it – if kids can’t touch something, they let you know!
So what do I mean by the tangible presence of God? I mean you feel it physically. I just got home from church an hour and a half ago, and I still feel the glory of God we were all standing in 3 hours ago. I’ll go to sleep in that glory tonite, and I’m asking God that I get to wake up in it tomorrow.
If someone ministering says the presence of God is filling the room, they’re probably right. Sometimes people say that just because they’ve heard other people say it; but even then, isn’t church supposed to be the fullness of Him who fills all things? Right now God’s glory covers the whole earth like the waters cover the sea – let’s assume his glory fills his church way more than we know. We all desperately need to allow God to make us way more sensitive. And it doesn’t hurt to go seek out meetings where nobody even really needs to spell it out – the atmosphere is so charged with the presence of God you’d have to be mummified to miss out.
In your situation – I’d tell your pastors where you’re at, and ask them to pray for you. If the presence of God is truly available at your church, then God wants very much for you to be able to hook up with that. There is no such thing as a default hook up; the things of the Spirit, of the kingdom of God, are so indescribably valuable. Let your pastors know you can’t go on being a default worship leader – you absolutely have to connect, even if it means stepping down from being in front until true worship explodes inside you. I guarantee you both God and your pastors will very much respect your honesty, and true worship WILL explode inside you. Forget about “the show must go on.” Demand reality and you will have reality.
Oh yeah, for your kids – the answer is much simpler: You’re in charge. True worship going on in their home as they grow up is probably one of the most valuable things you can ever give them, even if they squawk a little about it now. The squawking must stop, not your worship >>
Thanks for your responses to my questions. I really needed to hear what you have to say. I could go on and on about this topic and ask you a million more things, but I will stop bugging you!
Are these your kids? Is it difficult to involve kids in your music? Will you talk about this subject some?
yeah these are my kids. all i can say is we always held the door open to being involved – they just had to want to play*
i really think it’s less about giving kids a musical kick-start, & more about letting them taste Spirit+truth worship. i ask God for wisdom to raise my kids to be worshipers. we’ve always worshiped together, & as they’ve grown we had them start taking lessons so they could jump in deeper (in terms of personal participation, not in terms of skill or performance).
it’s all about totally enjoying God in music, setting prayer to music, meditating on his Word with music – and having a great time doing it.
How did you involve them when they were very small?
God showed me early on that my kids will only take hold of what’s real in me. & if there’s any religion/pretense, they get to see right thru that stuff. i don’t want it for myself, & i sure don’t want it for my kids. cathleen & i have worshiped together from before we were married, so our kids grew up seeing worship as how we live.
where we go to church, worship is about the Holy Spirit getting control over every part of the meeting. the music flows into spontaneous worship into prayer into the Word…with the goal of that all overflowing into our day-to-day lives. the kids are right in there with us, so they get it. my daughter goes out to the backyard & sings spontaneous songs to Jesus as loud as she can, just because it’s what she’s grown up with. why not?
never underestimate how much their little spirits can soak up. there is no such thing as too young to be involved in worship. saturate them in the overflow of your prayer and worship from the moment they’re born – they get ALL of it.
practically speaking, there are times where we tell them “we’re going to worship in the living room – go grab any instruments you want.” & there are times when it flows out awesome from the first note. there are also times where the kids want each other’s instruments or a different song or to go play legos, etc. basically kid versions of the same issues that you have to press thru in church sometimes* no worries – we’re all about pressing thru – we’re hooked on living in the tangible presence of God, so our kids will grow up hooked too >>
You said you’re hooked on living the tangible presence of God. I want to know what it looks like… What you’re talking about sounds wonderful but I’m not sure how to make it happen in my house.
Do you just sit around in your house making up your own music and words on the spot?
I have two very little ones and for some reason the older of the two is very resistant to me singing and playing guitar, and to any “adult” sounding worship music. I’m trying to figure out a way to bring musical worship into our house without it being a source of contention. I love spontaneous worship and I really desire to develop more in it, but when I try, it’s met with my child yelling “Don’t sing!” “I don’t like that music!”
It can be very frustrating.
It seems like the worshipper in me has grown dormant since I’ve had children because I no longer have any time alone to let myself be free before God. I don’t know if I even recognize His presence now. I can hardly stand to listen to any recorded praise and worship music out there because I can’t relate to it.
And do you know what the really crazy thing is? I’m a praise and worship leader at church. It was not by my choice – our praise and worship leaders left and I was kind of put in that position by default. It’s really weird, our pastors will talk about how thick the presence of God is in the room, and I won’t feel a thing, I don’t know what they’re talking about. I feel like I am left out of the loop.
Well, first – reality is everything. Not relating to most of the praise/worship music out there is totally understandable. It’s so rare to find recorded worship that really comes from a place of Spirit and truth. Praise is just prayer set to music; and most modern public praise stumbles into the same trap the Pharisees were caught in with their public prayers. People let themselves become performers – they learn the formulas, they look the part, they say the right words, and they sing to be heard and approved by men.
What’s crucial is that you and I don’t ever play that game. We can’t settle for any unreality in our relationship with God. We’ve got to have that deep place of intimacy with God in secret – or we really have nothing to give in public. If we will get real with God and cry out to him for real vital relationship, he will give it to us. If we are satisfied with any degree of playing “let’s pretend;” the best we can hope for is that people are polite enough to play along. And our kids will be the first to see through it – if kids can’t touch something, they let you know!
So what do I mean by the tangible presence of God? I mean you feel it physically. I just got home from church an hour and a half ago, and I still feel the glory of God we were all standing in 3 hours ago. I’ll go to sleep in that glory tonite, and I’m asking God that I get to wake up in it tomorrow.
If someone ministering says the presence of God is filling the room, they’re probably right. Sometimes people say that just because they’ve heard other people say it; but even then, isn’t church supposed to be the fullness of Him who fills all things? Right now God’s glory covers the whole earth like the waters cover the sea – let’s assume his glory fills his church way more than we know. We all desperately need to allow God to make us way more sensitive. And it doesn’t hurt to go seek out meetings where nobody even really needs to spell it out – the atmosphere is so charged with the presence of God you’d have to be mummified to miss out.
In your situation – I’d tell your pastors where you’re at, and ask them to pray for you. If the presence of God is truly available at your church, then God wants very much for you to be able to hook up with that. There is no such thing as a default hook up; the things of the Spirit, of the kingdom of God, are so indescribably valuable. Let your pastors know you can’t go on being a default worship leader – you absolutely have to connect, even if it means stepping down from being in front until true worship explodes inside you. I guarantee you both God and your pastors will very much respect your honesty, and true worship WILL explode inside you. Forget about “the show must go on.” Demand reality and you will have reality.
Oh yeah, for your kids – the answer is much simpler: You’re in charge. True worship going on in their home as they grow up is probably one of the most valuable things you can ever give them, even if they squawk a little about it now. The squawking must stop, not your worship >>
Thanks for your responses to my questions. I really needed to hear what you have to say. I could go on and on about this topic and ask you a million more things, but I will stop bugging you!
no worries – if you have more questions, ask away.