Raising a Worshipper

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6

Adia Peterson
Founder, KingdomFive! Student Ministries

When I was a kid my house was filled with worship. My mother worked nights at the hospital so when we were coming home from school, she was preparing to head out for work. This scene was common when I would go into the kitchen for an after-school snack: open bible on the table, flooded with her notes and underlines; and Hosanna, Integrity, Larnelle Harris or some other worship in the tape player. On Sunday mornings, I woke up to the sounds of breakfast cooking and my mom singing to her choir practice tracks in the background. Worship was a staple in our house. In service, what was the norm at home became our public practice. I believed as a child that to love God was to worship Him. I don't recall being told to sing or raise my hands in service; I observed from how my mom lived at home that worship was the way we expressed relationship and closeness with the Lord. It never occurred to me that worship was optional.  

Many parents ask me, how can I get my kids to understand the importance of worship? It's a valid question but I think it may be a little cart-before-horse. Worship is an outcome, a product. The importance of worship starts not with mechanics, such as learning not to be embarrassed to raise your hands or to sing in public; but rather with motive and purpose. Where there is genuine relationship, there is unprovoked and sincere worship. It is not taught as much as it is ignited and awakened by our love for God and our belief in who He is.

So how then, can you impart the significance of worship in your young one?  Begin by illustrating and demonstrating the importance of relationship. When they know Him, they will worship without being told. 
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Raising a Worshipper: Three Must-Do's

1. Teach and preach relationship, closeness and intimacy with God in your house. Think about how you would impart the importance of building strong relationships with each other, family members, friends. Use this same approach in teaching relationship with Christ. Help them understand daily communication through prayer and respect, reverence through worship. 
2. Demonstrate and illustrate daily. Your children will believe and rank importance based upon what they see you doing. they are looking at what you do 10 times more than what you say. They will build their core behaviors from what they observe you acting out in the everyday. 
3. Express worship in more than one way. Worship is more than a song; invest time in talking to your kids or students about how we show our respect for the Lord in teh way we live before Him; our habits, patterns, beliefs, behaviors. Worship is how we live before Him and how we honor Him in our day-to-day interactions.