Kathleen Chapman. Teaching Kids Authentic Worship.. Baker. 2005.

Kathleen Chapman began researching how to get children to stay with the church for life. She began to suspect that “worship” might be the glue that keeps people attending church. As part of her search for the “glue” that would keep children at church, she began asking people across the country four questions: “1. What is worship? 2. How do you worship God? 3. Why do you worship God. 4. When do you worship God? [Page 20]” After talking to at least 500 youth, she was startled that they weren’t able to explain what worship is all about.

Teaching Kids Authentic Worship is the result of her research. After studying the scriptures (in Hebrew and Greek), she wrote the following statements: “True worship is adoring God alone without ever mentioning yourself. [page 31]”

“Worship is one-directional. Worship is focusing on God and giving all glory to Him only, alone, singularly, totally—just Him. [Page 32]”

The author broke this book into 3 sections: The what, how, and why of worship. I’ve already mentioned some of her main points for the “what” of worship. Next, we need to learn the “how” of worship. This includes learning the language used in Church (salvation, worship, names of God, etc.), how to focus on God for worship, building a familiarity with God, and developing a plan to lead the children (or adults) into true worship.

Chapman points out the many benefits of true worship in the “why” section. She talks about being blessed after worshipping God. We are healed by worshipping because it gets our eyes off our problems and onto God. Worshipping God gives us power to live our life as He wants us to. Worshipping provides spiritual protection – we aren’t turned away by false doctrines. Peace comes from truly worshipping God. Children that learn to truly worship God will want to stay sexually pure as teenagers and young adults because they are truly connected to God and His desires.

If you’re a parent, grandparent, youth leader, or parent, you may be thinking, just how do I introduce true worship to the youth (and adults) in my congregation. The book concludes by providing you with suggestions for 52 weeks of worshipful moments.

Recommendation

I called my pastor BEFORE writing this review because I want him to read this book. Worship is lacking in most churches today. We may think we are worshipping when giving our offering or pray or listen to a sermon. Unfortunately, most people are waiting to see what they will get from the service. The focus is on what it does for us – not on what it does for God.

I’ve seen something in this book that I can’t quite put into words right now. It makes me want to develop a daily practice of worshipping God – not praying for my needs or the needs of my family or friends; not giving more money to the church, or putting in more effort to accomplish the work of the church. It makes me want to spend more time worshipping God and letting the splendor of His majesty dim my own needs, wants, concerns, or problems. If worship can do this for one person, I can’t help but wonder what would happen to a church that truly learned to worship Him? I would like to find out! How about you?

Copyrighted by Diana Pederson, 2005-2009