Active praise and worship is a wonderful way to praise God. What I mean by active praise is singing praise and worship songs to God and incorporating appropriate physical activity such as clapping, lifting holy hands, waving banners or flags, and using appropriate hand motions such as those included with Christian children’s songs and Godly sign language. Adults and children alike get excited about worshiping God with active praise and worship.
At special times such as holidays and drama activities like skits and plays, objects can be used during praise and worship times. For example, during Christmas programs jingle bells or candles can be used for special effects. During one such time, our church put on a program in which we sang the song called “Carry the Light.”(1) Each of us carried a candle-shaped lamp with a clear Christmas tree light used to represent the flame. We marched around in the church sanctuary singing the song and carrying our lights. It was a great illustration about carrying the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the world.
In a segment of Children’s church I taught about Jesus being the light of the world. During this quarter each of the children were given a small flashlight to shine upward toward the ceiling during praise and worship time. We also turned off the lights in the room to increase the affect.
The flashlights were also used to present one object lesson each week, demonstrating the relationship and attributes of light and darkness. For example, we demonstrated that light shines in the darkness and that light exposes the darkness. We also taught the children about having the light of Jesus in their hearts. The children loved the object lessons and praise and worship time. For months afterwards, they kept asking me if they could use the flashlights again.
Objects and object lessons can be used to illustrate valuable Bible lessons and to create excitement and variety in the classroom. Any objects used to teach Bible must be appropriate for church use.
There are a variety of Children’s worship songs available and some of these even have hand motions the children can learn to use while singing the songs. Children love clapping and using hand motions during praise and worship.
Appropriate dance steps can also be used for praising and worshiping God. In 2 Samuel 6:13-23 David danced before the Lord. Psalm 149:3-4 KJV says, “Let them praise his name in the dance; let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.”
- “Carry the Light” lyrics by Twila Paris. See http://youtube.com/watch?v=1ZnZAtCUVAY
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