Articles

WHAT SHOULD CHILDREN SING?

When he was working out how to write stories for children, C.S. Lewis was guided by what he liked himself. Songs are the same. Sing what you like, what you enjoy singing, the songs that are good for your spiritual well-being. At the heart of encouraging your kids to sing is having a heart for singing the songs yourself.

TEN PRACTICAL IDEAS

1. Use All the Help and Opportunities You Can Get

Sing as you go around your home. Stream the songs from Sunday during breakfast, or over your smartphone during the bedtime routine. If your kids are learning to play instruments, get hymn sheet music. Ask your children what songs they enjoy singing in church and sing them at home. We are not saying that your home should sound as though Maria Von Trapp took up residence there. But aim to have truth being sung in the spaces where life takes place. Keith’s family regularly sang the blessing before a meal, and we now do the same with our kids. For example, Calvin’s Doxology, “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow,” which is a wonderful Trinitarian lyric for kids to sing.

Thoughts from District Apostle Kolb...

Recently during a divine service, the strains of a well-known, rarely heard hymn—yet that day played by the orchestra—moved over me. My thoughts were fixed on the final line of the first verse:

      Here on the earth, I'm pent, can but a stranger be?
      Yet nightly pitch my moving tent, Lord, always nearer Thee...

The lyricist expresses the state of being "pent," meaning to be confined or repressed as a normal condition of being a stranger. Because of this, the person described lives a transient life here ("moving tent"), a dynamic lifestyle evolving and transforming by, not only longing, but always actively advancing closer to the Lord.

From the Jan. 28, 2022 Partnering with Parents Communication

In part 1 of this series, we talked about how to incorporate God naturally into your everyday family life. Remember – you are your child’s most significant spiritual guide! Do your best not to miss opportunities to teach about God.

Here are nine additional, simple ways to bring Jesus into your child’s daily routine: 

From the Jan. 14, 2022 Partnering with Parents Communication

The best way to incorporate God into everyday life is, first and foremost, to model it for your children. If you talk about God every day, your kids will hear and see that. If you live in awe of Him, they will too. This kind of routine talk involves talking about God and the things He created that your kids may not pay attention to—people, creation, music and animals, for example.

From the Summer 2021 Vision Newsletter

Worship is one’s expression to another of their worth, value, or benefit to them. As Christians, we use this word in reference to God, our Father and Creator, our Savior and Redeemer, our Helper and Comforter. Naturally, we understand that God doesn’t need our worship, however, worship is necessary for us and for the development of our relationship with God.

From the Summer 2021 Vision Newsletter

Worship is one’s expression to another of their worth, value, or benefit to them. As Christians, we use this word in reference to God, our Father and Creator, our Savior and Redeemer, our Helper and Comforter. Naturally, we understand that God doesn’t need our worship, however, worship is necessary for us and for the development of our relationship with God.

The resources and materials below come from Keith and Kristyn Getty's book, Sing! - How Music Transforms Your Life, Family, and Church, used for our small group discussions in the fall of 2019. 

The Sing! Teachings and Takeaways document includes highlighted teachings from the book that could be used by worship leaders during worship, for music/worship team meetings, or for personal moments of reflection and introspection. The graphics package contains slides with quotes from the book that can be displayed on screens either before or after the divine service experience. Finally, the facilitator guides provided in the fall of 2019 can also be found below, including the bonus facilitator guides. The latter would be especially useful for minister and music/worship team meetings. 

It is our hope and prayer that these resources will be a blessing to you, and help re-inspire singing and worship in your congregation.

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Here are some final thoughts and ideas as we strive to help our congregations better express their worship unto God through singing:

Play supportively

How can we implement family worship in our home?

• First, discuss your intent to start this spiritual discipline in the home, and take some time to teach the value and importance of it to your family.
• Select days/times of the week that would work best for your family, and then guard these times!
  • Unless worship is codified in a family’s schedule, it will likely be supplanted by life’s busyness. Remember—family worship needs to be a priority—as for me and my house, we will serve (or worship) the Lord! If you cannot find time for 10-15 minutes of family worship, please be encouraged to take an honest look at your schedule.
• Start small and realistically, and build from there. Having family worship a couple times each week would be ideal, but once a week is better than not at all. An ideal time for family worship might be Saturday evenings, so that everyone is better prepared for Sunday. Another ideal time for family worship might be Sunday afternoon or evening. Not only does this help keep the Sabbath day holy, it also provides wonderful opportunities to discuss the message from the service in our family circles. A weekday evening can also work just fine, of course. Find what works best for you and your family, and then do your best to be regular and consistent.
  
  

What is family worship? 

• Family worship is a time set aside by a family unit to worship God together in the home. In these moments of worship, we become more aware of who God is and all that He’s done.
• Family worship generally includes three fundamental elements: scripture, prayer, and song (read, pray, sing). You don’t need to include all three elements each time, nor do they need to occur in any order. The point is to find intentional, quality time to read God’s word, pray, and sing together.
• Family worship can be short and simple. A good average time for family worship would be 10-15 minutes, especially if younger children are involved. If the children are a bit older and the conversation goes a little deeper, then perhaps the time is extended. There is no official time expectation or requirement when it comes to family worship.
• Family worship isn’t necessarily just for families with children. All Christians are called and commanded to worship. Ultimately, family worship can involve anyone who lives in the home. This may include grandparents, extended family members, friends, etc.
• Family worship can be facilitated by the head of the household (parent or guardian), or whomever in the home feels most comfortable leading it. If two parents are involved, it could be that both parents facilitate family worship together. 

Why is family worship important? Why does it matter, and why should it be prioritized?
(After all, life is busy, and parenthood is already hard!)

The goal with this brief article is to create awareness when it comes to the use of YouTube videos within the divine service experience.

Please note that it is illegal to include YouTube videos (music or otherwise) in religious services, without direct permission from the copyright owner(s).

The following is taken directly from CCLI's website:

YouTube’s terms of service specifies that content on the site should only be accessed for “personal, non-commercial use” except where “YouTube or the respective licensors [the copyright owner] of the content” has given “prior written consent.”

Additionally, no licenses currently exist that cover this type of YouTube-specific use, including CCLI. Just because a congregation has a CCLI license does not mean that they can use these videos without permission.

If you are currently including YouTube videos within the divine service experience, please refrain from doing so moving forward. Where possible, all service music should be live, with the possible exception of those congregations that are lacking accompanists. Where this is the case, please be encouraged to use the accompaniment tracks available on Music Companion (https://www.musiccompanion.org/resources/accompaniment-tracks-lead-sheets).

Thank you in advance for your understanding and compliance.

Continuing our series on helping congregations sing, here are some practical thoughts and ideas when it comes to song selection, introducing new songs, and musical decision-making:

Select songs strategically and purposefully

Here are some final thoughts and ideas as we strive to help our congregations better express their worship unto God through singing:

Play supportively

Continuing our series on helping congregations sing, here are some practical thoughts and ideas when it comes to song selection, introducing new songs, and musical decision-making:

Select songs strategically and purposefully

 “Though maybe misunderstood, regularly a bone of contention, and often under-practiced, congregational singing is one of the greatest and most beautiful tools we have been given to declare God’s “excellences,” strengthening His Church and sharing His glory with the world.”
from Keith and Kristyn Getty’s Sing! book

This quote perfectly sums up both the beauty and the challenges of congregational singing. Truly, there is great power and beauty in a congregation that sings together with confidence and energy. Most of the time, however, this is something that may not come naturally—it should be taught, practiced, and inspired. As those involved in music and worship, we have a holy responsibility to help our congregations express their worship to our eternal Father by singing better together. What are some ways that we can do this and how can we fulfill this calling?

 “Though maybe misunderstood, regularly a bone of contention, and often under-practiced, congregational singing is one of the greatest and most beautiful tools we have been given to declare God’s “excellences,” strengthening His Church and sharing His glory with the world.”
from Keith and Kristyn Getty’s Sing! book

This quote perfectly sums up both the beauty and the challenges of congregational singing. Truly, there is great power and beauty in a congregation that sings together with confidence and energy. Most of the time, however, this is something that may not come naturally—it should be taught, practiced, and inspired. As those involved in music and worship, we have a holy responsibility to help our congregations express their worship to our eternal Father by singing better together. What are some ways that we can do this and how can we fulfill this calling?

This time that we live in has often been referred to as “the age of spectacle,” which seems very fitting given that our world offers us a feast of new multimedia on a consistent basis. Popular entertainment is now everywhere, and it never stops. Like no century before us, we are submerged into media. This digital, eye and image-focused reality poses significant challenges for parents, church leaders, pastors, youth leaders—anyone facing the inundation of media competing for the attention of the people that we love and are trying to serve. So how do we lead deeper into the faith those who are easily distracted and influenced by the spectacle?

This time that we live in has often been referred to as “the age of spectacle,” which seems very fitting given that our world offers us a feast of new multimedia on a consistent basis. Popular entertainment is now everywhere, and it never stops. Like no century before us, we are submerged into media. This digital, eye and image-focused reality poses significant challenges for parents, church leaders, pastors, youth leaders—anyone facing the inundation of media competing for the attention of the people that we love and are trying to serve. So how do we lead deeper into the faith those who are easily distracted and influenced by the spectacle?

Written by and posted with permission from several of our members, the music below can be downloaded and used in divine services or for moments of personal worship and devotion. Please note, however, that these songs may not be recorded or distributed without permission from the individual copyright holders. For more information, or to seek permission for recording or distribution, please email Music_Worship@NAC-USA.org.

The accompaniment tracks and lead sheets below have been created and made available to support congregational singing. We realize that some congregations do not have a regular accompanist, so it is our hope that these resources will be especially helpful to these congregations. They can also be used to support choir and solo singing.

The accompaniment tracks can be downloaded and played by connecting a device to external speakers, or by utilizing an existing speaker system. Many of the piano accompaniment tracks include introductions and interludes between verses, so the purpose of the lead sheets is to help the congregation follow along. They can be downloaded, printed, and distributed to the congregation where needed and/or used by the person leading the congregation in song. Note that guitar chords are also provided for a few of the hymns. All of these resources are also included on the individual hymn pages under Resources/Music/NAC Hymnal.

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When we first launched the new Music Companion website, we included an article on the site that provided important information regarding CCLI (“Christian Copyright Licensing International”). Since then, many of our congregations have requested and obtained a CCLI copyright license. In fact, almost 60 congregations in the USA district now have this license.

There has been some question, however, over whether or not each congregation that currently has a license actually needs the license. Given this, we wanted to take a moment to clarify the reasons why a CCLI copyright license would be needed.

Our children and youth are both the present and the future. The Lord Jesus made the importance of children clear when He brought a child into the midst of His disciples and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:1-5).

Christ shows us here that we need to see our children as important today, not only ten, twenty, or thirty years from now.

Who is CCLI?

CCLI stands for "Christian Copyright Licensing International," and is an organization that enables real-time access to licensed Christian music and media while easing the burden of administration in the many complex issues related to copyright. They provide churches, organizations, and schools with the resources for rehearsing, performing and displaying the most inspiring audio and video, while at the same time, simplifying the costly administrative work involved in copyright licensing. In doing so, they honor the artists, labels, and studios who create and own this work by ensuring fair use receives fair compensation.

CCLI helps churches such as ours honor copyright law and the creative people who author these valuable works.

What does the CCLI license cover?