A new year is upon us—what will it mean for your kids’ worship services? Will it be more of the same? Or will it be an opportunity to go deeper in worship than you’ve ever gone before? The choices you make this year will shape how your kids understand worship for years to come.

So before we get too far into a new year and just start repeating the same comfortable habits, there are three powerful questions that can help shake us out of our collective ruts and pave the way for something new. These aren’t programmatic questions—they’re formational ones.

Set aside a few minutes today to answer these three questions about your most recent service:

What did my kids experience in worship on Sunday?

We spend most of our time viewing the worship experience from our vantage point as leaders. But take a moment to put yourself in the position of your kids. In your mind’s eye, envision the experience from beginning to end. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?

What did my kids learn about worship on Sunday?

All of us who work in kids’ ministry know this truth: you are always teaching something, whether you mean to or not. So what did your kids learn about worship last week from your worship service? Every detail of your service is teaching something.

Did they learn that worship is watching something on a screen? Or that worship is something we participate in?

Did they learn that worship only requires minimal preparation and forethought? Or that God is worthy of our best?

What kind of worshipers is my service forming?

This is the natural follow-up to the previous question. The things our kids learn from us are shaping who they become. So what kind of worshipers is your children’s ministry forming?

Do your kids expect God to speak, move, and act? Or do they worship a distant deity?

Do your kids think worship consists of a couple songs on Sunday? Or do they see worship as a life lived in loving response to God?

Why are these questions so important? Because childhood is the most critical period of faith development—and Scripture and research alike affirm that what children experience now shapes what they believe later. How a child learns to worship may be the single biggest factor in shaping their faith into adulthood.

Our kids are not sitting on the bench waiting to get into the game. They are in the big leagues! They are forming real beliefs, real habits, and a real theology of God—right now.

Don’t let this year be another year of same-old, same-old. Let this be the year that transforms your kids’ worship service.

If these questions are stirring something in you, I explore them more fully in the book Kids Worship: Awakening the Church of Today and the companion Leading Kids in Worship Masterclass.

About the Author

David Ray

David Ray is a pastor, worship leader, artist, and songwriter from Houston, Texas. He and his wife, Jess, are the creators of Doorpost Songs, a series of songs and resources designed to awaken a new generation of worshipers. Dave and Jess are the parents of three kids, and they love getting to serve churches and families across the nation.