Kids Music Liturgy from Sojourn Community Church
Thoughtful corporate worship is rare. Thoughtful children’s worship even more so. If there’s a church to model, however, when it comes to cross-centered, thoughful children’s worship, Sojourn Community Church is it. Here is their description of the liturgy
twice a month your children get together with kids from other classes and take part in a mini-service modeled after the Big Church, with songs and liturgy and prayer and all. The idea is to introduce the kids to a typical Sojourn worship service so they’re ready when they leave the Sojourn Kids program, and also to get them thinking about how good and glorious and beautiful and true God and His gospel are.
Here are examples of their Kids Music Liturgy.
January 2010
This morning’s lesson is about God’s Amazing Grace! What is God’s grace? God’s grace is kindness and favor that you and I don’t deserve. Let’s repeat that again together: God’s grace is kindness and favor that you and I don’t deserve. Our first song is a Bible memory verse. So we are going to memorize a Bible verse by singing it. Some of you may remember it. The “address” is Ephesians 2:8 and 9.
Let’s say the verse together. Please repeat after me:
For by grace you have been saved through faith
and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God
not as a result of works
that no one should boast
Ephesians 2:8 and 9This verse is saying that we can be saved from God’s punishment by faith in Jesus. We cannot earn or work for God’s forgiveness– His forgiveness is a free gift to us when we trust in Him. And because it’s a free gift– we can’t brag about it– because we have done nothing to deserve it. Let’s sing this verse together.
Let’s pretend that you have been very mean to your brother. And your Daddy comes to you and says, “Because you have been mean to your brother, you have to sit in time-out. Plus, you can’t go to a Birthday party that has cake and presents for everybody.” You would feel sad, but you would deserve the punishment that your Dad has given you. Then, your brother, the one you were mean to, comes and says, “Daddy, I’ll sit in time-out and I’ll miss the birthday party so that he/she can go.” Now, your brother doesn’t deserve the punishment, but he is showing you GRACE. Grace is kindness and favor that you don’t deserve.
This story is not true. But Jesus is true. How much more amazing is God’s grace in Jesus! We have sinned against God and we deserve to be punished. Perfect Jesus who never did any thing wrong took our punishment for all of our sins when He died on the cross. That’s amazing grace! Let’s sing to God about His amazing grace!
Let’s learn another new song about God’s amazing grace, His undeserved kindness. This is a song called “You show me kindness.”
Jesus is a mighty, mighty Savior! He can save us from the punishment of our sins. Let’s sing to our mighty Savior!
4. “Mighty Mighty Savior,” words and music by Mark Altrogge. © Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI). Sovereign Grace Music, a division of Sovereign Grace Ministries. From Awesome God.
We are going to pray. Fold your hands and be still and talk to God. Let’s pray to God.Jesus, your grace is amazing! You have not treated us as we deserve. You have not punished us like we should be punished. You took our consequences and punishment on the cross. Thank you! We want to believe in you and turn to you to forgive us for our sins. We want to love you more each day. Help us to forgive each other like you forgive us. Amen.
February 2010
What do we celebrate in February? (Allow children to answer.) That’s right, we celebrate Valentine’s Day! Valentine’s Day is a chance to make or send cards to tell others that you love and appreciate them. It’s fun to get cards in the mail. Did you know that God has sent you a “love letter”? What is God’s love letter to you? (Allow children to answer.) The Bible! What is the Bible? The Bible is God’s written word.
Who wrote the Bible? (Teach the children this answer exactly. It is from their children’s catechism. Have them repeat it after you.) “Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.” You know we think about sending love letters and telling people we love them SOME times, but God thinks about you and loves you ALL the time. His love is the BIGGEST LOVE in the universe. Even while you were sleeping last night, God was loving you and thinking about you all night long. We are going to sing some songs this morning about God’s HUGE love for us. Let’s (STAND UP and) sing a love song to God!
Who loves you the most in the world? You might instantly think of your Mommy or Daddy, because they do love you so much. But God loves you even more than your parents. God made your parents, so their love is His gift to you too. Even though others let us down, God’s love is completely pure and never fails. How has God shown us that He loves us? (Allow children to answer.) God has shown us that He loves us in JESUS. God has shown us his love in that while we were still sinners, He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to take the punishment for our sin. We are going to sing this truth as a Bible memory verse.
Jesus told stories to teach us something. One time Jesus told this story. There was a shepherd who had 100 sheep. That’s a lot of sheep! He was counting them and realized one was missing. Does anybody know what the shepherd did? He left the 99 and went looking for the one missing sheep until he found it. What was Jesus teaching us? That we are like little sheep and God loves each and every one of us. You are like the missing 100th sheep. You are special to God and He wants you to come to Him and be close to Him. Let’s come to God this morning and sing about His Love.
The Bible says in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (NIV). The greatest love is laying down your life for someone else. That means to die for someone. Jesus has the greatest love because He died for our sins. We do not naturally love Jesus. Jesus first loved us. We do not love others like Jesus. We need Jesus to change us to love Him and to love others. We are going to sing about loving Jesus in our next song.
We are going to pray. Fold your hands and be still and talk to God. Let’s pray. “Jesus, you are wonderful! You’re love is amazing! We want to love you too. Help us to love each other like you love us. Thank you for coming to earth to save us from our sins! In Jesus name we pray. Amen.”
March 2010 (St. Patrick’s Day)
Does anybody know what fun day is coming up this month? I’ll give you a hint– you get pinched if you don’t wear green on this day. (Allow children to answer.) It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Do you know who Patrick was? Patrick was a real REAL (emphasize real — “this was a real story that happened a very long time ago”) little boy who has an amazing story! Patrick grew up about 1500 years ago in Britain. His parents were Christians, and he grew up learning about Jesus. But one day people invaded his town and kidnapped Patrick! They took him away to their own country, Ireland, and made him a slave! He was a shepherd for six years, until God led him to a boat that took him back home.
But the story doesn’t end there. When Patrick grew up, he had a dream that the people who kidnapped him were begging for his help. He could have been angry at them for what they did, but instead Patrick became a missionary, and moved to Ireland to tell the people there about Jesus!
Just like God was with Patrick even when he was scared, God is always with us and watching over us no matter what’s going on. Let’s STAND UP and sing “You Are Always With Me!”
Every day that Patrick was in Ireland working as a shepherd for the people who kidnapped him, he prayed to God. Patrick didn’t forget about God when he had a big problem. But even more importantly, God didn’t forget about Patrick! When you have a big problem, or when you feel sad, remember that God answers our prayers when we ask Him for help. He cares about our problems and He loves to help us!
We’re going to sing a new song today. It comes from Psalm 55:22.
(Take some time to go through the words and motions with the kids. There aren’t too many words to it.)
Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you
He will sustain you
He will never never never let the righteous fall
Let the righteous fall, no-o2. “Cast Your Cares (Psalm 55:22),” words from New International Version © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Music by Seeds Family Worship. From The Power of Encouragement.
God saved Patrick. God rescued him by getting him on the boat that took him back to his family. But God also saved Patrick in a bigger way: He sent Jesus to die on the cross, so that Patrick’s sins could be forgiven! When Patrick placed his faith in Jesus, He was rescued from the punishment of sin. He was saved from eternal death in hell. Jesus died to take away our sins. Let’s sing to Jesus and thank Him for loving us like that.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” When we hear the word “enemy,” we might think of some supervillain or bad guy in a cartoon or movie. But Jesus is saying we should love everyone, even when they are being unfair, or mean, or not doing what we want them to do. We naturally love our good friends, but we need God’s help to love our enemies. Patrick loved the people who kidnapped him! Jesus loved His enemies by dying on the cross for them. Let’s sing together and ask God to help us love everyone like He loves us.
We are going to pray. What is prayer? (Allow kids to respond.) Prayer is talking to God. Let’s be still and talk to God. Let’s pray.
“God, thank You so much for taking good care of us. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for us. Help us to remember You every day, to love everyone and to tell them about Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”Patrick told people that Jesus died on the cross. Now let’s go and tell our family and friends about what God has done for us in Jesus! Let’s tell them that they can be forgiven because Jesus died to take away sins!
5. “Go (Matthew 28:19),” words from New International Version © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Music by Seeds Family Worship. From The Power of Encouragement.
March 2010 (Palm Sunday)
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. Most classes are studying the Jesus’ Triumphal Entry (Luke 19:28-40) or Jesus’ Death (Matthew 26-27; Luke 22:63-23:56). Each class will keep in mind the day’s main theme—that Jesus is God’s King, sent to deliver his people from sin and death. Here is the cool part! Each child will receive a palm branch to take home after the service. And some classes (ages 4-grade 2) will be led in a “Hosanna” parade into the adult worship gathering. Kids will run down the aisles shouting Hosanna then gather at the front of the auditorium to help in singing this song with the gathered community! Then, they’ll gather upstairs with the entire children’s ministry for the following liturgy:
Leader 1: Welcome to Sojourn Kid’s Worship. This morning we are going to worship the Lord together as we celebrate Palm Sunday. Why is today called Palm Sunday? (Pause for answers.) More than 2000 years ago Jesus was greeted by crowds of people who were happy to see him coming into the city of Jerusalem. To show Jesus they were glad to see him, they waved palm branches in his honor and shouted praise to him. Listen as I read this story from the Bible, it’s from the book of John chapter 12 verses 12 to 14. Listen as I read God’s word:
12The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
The crowd shouted “Hosanna” to Jesus. Hosanna means
“Praise the God who saves!” Let’s sing to Jesus and wave our arms to Him singing “Hosanna!”
Hosanna in the Highest (Palm Sunday edition), Words & Music by Jeremy Quillo (c) 2010 Sojourn Music
Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, In the highest.
Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, In the highest.Look! The Lord is drawing near!
Let the children shout and sing!
Tell the world that Life is here,
Jesus Christ, our God, our King!Leader 2—read this portion with excitement:
We’re going to praise God by saying “HALLELUJAH!” Hallelujah means “Praise the Lord!” I will say something that is true about God and you will repeat after me: “HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD!” Listen to what I say and then respond with “HALLELUJAH!”
Leader 2: Jesus is God! Jesus is Lord!
Children: HALLELUJAH!
Leader 2: Jesus suffered and died on the cross for my sins!
Children: HALLELUJAH!
Leader 2: Jesus was in the tomb. He was dead in the grave for three days! Death could NOT keep Him dead!
Children: HALLELUJAH!
Leader 2: Jesus is alive! Jesus is risen! He rose from the dead!
Children: HALLELUJAH!
Leader 2: Jesus is the champion. Jesus is victorious. He is the winner!
Children: HALLELUJAH!
Leader 2: Now stand up and let’s shout: “JESUS IS ALIVE!”(Repeat several times. Optional: have children jump while chanting “Jesus is alive!”)
Leader 3: Romans 5:8 says: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” So how has God shown us He loves us? (Answer: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.) Yes! Let’s sing this verse together and remember that Christ died for us!
Intro to the next song involves saying the lyrics and doing the hand-motions:
(Raise arms and hands in praise and then cross arms over heart to say “love.”)
Leader 1: Holy God, in love, be – came
(Place fists on hips to stand like a man)
Perfect Man to bear my blame
(Stretch arms out to sides to look like cross.)
On the cross He took my sin
(Raise arms above head in praise.)
By His death I live again
These are the words and the lyrics for the next song we will sing to the Lord. Let’s sing to God together.
This song is less familiar to the children. Please sing it several times to teach it to them. Feel free to make the tempo a little quicker if that works better.
Leader 2: It is a gift to be able to pray to God. Let’s fold our hands quietly, close our eyes, and talk inside our hearts to God. God sees in our hearts and He hears us:
“Jesus, you deserve our praise! But Lord we are often like the crowds, quick to praise you and then to turn away from you. You died on the cross for our sins. Thank You, Jesus. We want to love you and follow you always. Amen.”
5. “Low in the Grave He Lay,” Words and Music by Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Jazz up this traditional hymn. Sing the verses very slowly and quietly. Then play the chorus “Up from the grave” with increased excitement moving the tempo faster and faster. For the motions: have the kids down on the floor crouched down singing the verses “Low in the grave He lay. . .” Then stand up slowly on “Up from the grave He arose. . .” You can jump up and down for the chorus and/or sing with your arms stretched upward for the final “He arose. . .” section.
April 2010 (Easter)
Singers introduce themselves.
Singer 1: This month we celebrate Easter! Why do we celebrate Easter? What is Easter? Allow children to answer: Jesus died on the cross. Jesus died for my sins. Jesus is risen from the dead. Fill in any part left out and encourage right answers. Gently correct wrong answers. Let’s start this morning by remembering the Easter story and saying, “HALLELUIA!”
Call and Response:
Singer 2: Hallelujah means, “Praise the Lord!” Say, “HALLELUIA!” (HALLELUIA)
Now say, “PRAISE THE LORD!” Listen to what I say and when I pause say, “HALLELUIA!”
Leader: Jesus is God! Jesus is Lord!
Children: HALLELUIA!
Leader: Jesus suffered and died on the cross for my sins!
Children: HALLELUIA!
Leader: Jesus was dead! But death could NOT keep Jesus!
Children: HALLELUIA!
Leader: Now Jesus is alive! Jesus is risen! He rose from the dead!
Children: HALLELUIA!
Leader: Jesus is the champion! Jesus is victorious! He is the winner!
Children: HALLELUIA!
Leader: Now stand up and let’s shout, “JESUS IS ALIVE!” (“JESUS IS ALIVE!”) Repeat several times.
Have children jump up and down chanting, “Jesus is alive!”Singer 2:
We are going to sing a song to help us memorize a Bible verse, Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” So how has God shown us He loves us? (Answer: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.) Yes! “God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Let’s sing this together!Guitarist: Jesus is risen! (Have kids answer again: ALLELUIA!) JESUS IS RISEN! (Have kids answer again: ALLELUIA!)
Singer 2: Let’s pray! Let’s fold our hands quietly, close our eyes, and talk inside our hearts to God. God sees in our hearts and He hears us: Jesus, You are the winner! Death did not win! You died on the cross for our sin. Thank You, Jesus. Jesus we want to love you and follow you all of our lives. Amen.”3. “Low in the Grave He Lay,” Words and Music by Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
(Traditional Hymn… but jazz up the refrain! Sing verses slow. Jazz up and sing the chorus VERY LIVELY! Make sure the kids do the motions. Have the kids down on the floor crouched down singing the verses, then stand up and jump up and down for the chorus, “Up from the grave He arose…” You may need to help teach them the song a bit the first time as they probably won’t know it. Then add in the motions. If they seem too bored, just do it all together and repeat as needed to learn it.)4. “His Love Will Last Forever,” Words and Music by Chandi Plummer © 2009 Chandi Plummer/Sojourn Music
Rock it out!
