Warning – Crèche in Progress

Helping under 5s connect with God through worship.

Powerful Praise

In a crèche programme at our church, there was chaos all around. It was one of those days when it felt like everyone was crying or misbehaving. The leaders had done everything they could think of to calm things down, without success, and they had moved now into survival mode waiting for the session to end and praying that the preacher would not over run.

In the middle of the cacophony of noise, one two-year-old stood in the middle of the room and started to speak. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus loves us every day. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus loves us every week.” Then she knelt down, and sang a new song to God. By the time she had finished the whole room was calm. Her praise had changed the atmosphere.

Can our youngest children really connect with God in such a spiritually significant way?

It’s Biblical

This is exactly what the Psalmist refers to in Psalm 8:2 says “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants God has ordained strength to silence the foe and the avenger.” Jesus quotes this verse using the word praise, instead of strength. In other words when young children praise God, it is not cute, it is powerful. Something about the purity of praise from the youngest of children silences the powers of darkness.

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus used a small child as a visual aid to show that the kingdom of God belongs to people who can be like the children. The Greek word used for children in this passage is paidon – commonly used to talk about a young child, under the age of seven. It is these young children, not peri-pubescent pre-teens, that Jesus blessed in Luke 18:16. (Of course he wants to bless the peri-pubescents too, but that’s not the focus of this verse.) Luke 18:15 talks about the babies that Jesus is calling to him. For those of you who love a bit of Greek, that’s the word brephos, meaning infants or children still in the womb.

God wants these children to be in his presence and one of the most significant ways we can enter God’s presence is in praise and worship (Psalm 100:4). The simple act of coming into the presence of God, through praise, changes us.

Children in God’s Presence

Many expectant parents tell of how they have noticed the baby in the womb move around in a specific way in response to the presence of God in a meeting or during a worship time at home. One time we were in a service where prayer was offered for anyone who wanted to be filled with God. I went forward with my 9-month-old baby for prayer. Those praying prayed for me to be filled and for my baby to grow to know God.

For some reason this prayer annoyed me. Sure, I wanted my baby to know God, but I wanted more than that for them. I wanted them to be filled with God too, and not just at some time in the future, but now! After all that was the reason we went forward. As I sat in my seat, feeling annoyed, I decided to pray for my baby myself. “Lord, fill my son,” I cried.

At that very moment he began to laugh. It soon became clear that this was God filling him. He reached over and touched the lady sat next to us and she was instantly overcome by God’s presence as the Holy Spirit filled her. The two ladies who sat behind us were in shock as they saw what happened.

On another occasion I was busy washing up in our kitchen. Suddenly I became very aware of God’s presence in the room. This was not a normal occurrence during the washing up. As I turned around I saw my son knelt on the floor worshipping God. His worship had made God’s presence more tangible in the room.

Several parents told us how their babies were significantly affected by a worship event we ran for the under 5s. They had all noticed two things: “After the meeting my baby spent the rest of the day giggling.” These babies had been filled with God.

So, how can we help our youngest children to move beyond singing songs and help them to

connect with God in worship?

Practical Worship Tips

1.     Have a Routine

Young children love routine. If they know that you start with play time before moving to sit on a mat and hear about Jesus, before long they will mostly come to the mat to be a part of things. To begin with you may feel like you are herding goats as you gather the children to sit on the mat. Every time you turn around to get one of the children another one has wandered off! But don’t give up.

We suggest having one person leading whose job it is to keep going, even if there is only one child in front of them, while other adults encourage the rest of the group to join in. The children will soon learn the routine, feel secure because of it and enjoy taking part.

Use the same songs over and over and over again. As the children learn them they will be able to join in. Some songs help children learn Bible verses, or a theological truth about God.

These songs are great for teaching, but make sure you also include songs that express praise, worship and adoration to God. This will give them an opportunity to worship God with their singing.

2.     Join in the Worship

A group of children are looking eagerly at you. Meanwhile, you have one eye on the clock (to see how much time is left), one eye on the door (to see who is coming in and check no one is leaving), and one eye on the child who looks like they are about to cry. That’s three out of two eyes used up already! At the same time, you are trying to be enthusiastic so that the children will join in, but not too excited in case the youngest ones are scared by your burst of exuberance. An eighteen-month-old is clinging to your leg as if there is about to be an earthquake and just as you are finally about to start a two-year-old, timing their exclamation to perfection, cries: “I need a wee.” All of this while singing a worship song to the tune of a nursery rhyme.

I admit this atmosphere is not as conducive for worship as a Hillsong conference, but if we are simply going through the motions of singing and not really worshipping God with the song then how can we expect the children around us to engage in worship? I have to physically remind myself to put my focus on God and actively engage in worshipping Him myself when leading younger children. As I start to worship they do too … mostly. And even if they stand there with their mouths hanging open they have been brought into an atmosphere of worship.

Enjoy the wonder of worshipping God with simple songs and before long this will become your favourite worship session in the church.

3.     Expect God to move

At one family camp we were involved with, the under 5s would come each day very restless. The room was filled with crying as young children were dropped off. However, as soon as we started the worship time, God’s peace would move over the venue. One day the children engaged in worship for half an hour, well beyond the natural attention span of the babies and toddlers who were with us.

We had prayed in advance asking God to come and meet with the children, and He did. Our times of preparation before the crèche begins are crucial. Prayer is not simply the bookends of a crèche meeting, it is the channel through which God can come and pour his blessing on the children. When we pray, God moves.

One of the exercises we recommend crèche leaders to do, as part of our training course, is to reflect at the end of session on what God was doing. Sometimes this will be obvious: a child who joins in for the first time, a testimony from a parent of how they have slept well since you prayed the previous week. Other times you will need to think a bit more: the way one child calmed after worship, the facial expression of one girl who was worshipping God with all her heart.

4.     Opportunities to Respond

Finally, we encourage you to give the children opportunities to respond in worship to Jesus. This could be a time for them to pray and thank God in their own words – you can give them a model of prayer which they complete: “Thank you God for …”. It could be an opportunity for them to blow a kiss to Jesus (and then catch one from Him). It could be a chance for them to listen to God or it could be a creative activity that you do together. Responding to God beyond the time of sung worship allows the children to find their own ways to connect with God and express their adoration to Him.

After all God is worthy of all the praise from all of creation and he has ordained for praise to come from the mouths of babes and nursing infants. With such powerful praise going on, our crèche programmes should come with a warning.

Olly Goldenberg is the director of Children Can. Through this ministry they seek to revive the next generation and connect generations together around the world. He is author of many books, including The Josiah Generation and Jesus, Your Baby and You. He has also released two music albums, including I love Jesus and produced Early Steps with Jesus a six-part training course for crèche leaders.