Graduate 2026/Dava Banner
If you are teaching your children at home, you are likely teaching children at church also. You can encourage the kids’ programs to grow deeper. Kids today need deeper!
A junior worship program should be intense. Kids are sponges; don’t lose an opportunity to saturate their lives with God! Do not shortchange the kids. They can grasp so much more than we give them credit for! Don’t make them wait years to hear deep biblical concepts. Another goal is to connect kids to other church members. Cement the church’s place in their lives and hearts.
Here is a thumbnail sketch for meaningful junior worship. This can be applied to church, home/family worship, or even a co-op setting.
Hymns—Old School Hymns
Whether by hymnal or on a big screen, sing every verse, every chorus exactly as written. Choose four hymns to repeat weekly for a month, then rotate to a new batch. Choose hymns with great theology. With words that need to be hidden in their hearts. These words will come to them in the future just when they need them most. Equip the kids with solid, reverent hymns. (Emphasize reverence!)
Parables
Jesus taught with parables for a reason—an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, easy to grasp, understand, apply, and retell. The moral of the story is so important! People of all ages will relate. Later, study themes might be from Psalms, Proverbs, Old Testament stories, the exodus, and minor prophets, preferably in the order they happened.
Bible Verse Songs
This is the best way to memorize scripture! Set the words to music! Repeat many times at church then the words and music will float through minds all week! There are many published sources for scripture songs, and you can write them yourself if you want. Many old tunes have passed into the public domain, so use those familiar tunes with Bible words. And please refer to the song by its scripture reference and not just by its title. Let’s all know when we are singing actual scripture! Old-time Sunday school songs are great for the nursery kids. Give older kids bigger goals.
Connect
This is so important and is rarely actually taught to kids. Keep the range of ages together! Help them grow the bond with older kids by welcoming younger kids. Have the oldest kids greet with cheerful smiles, hugs, high fives, and then escort the younger kids to their seats. Seat the youngest kids in the front so they can see the screen/teacher. The greeters can then sit on the ends of those front rows to meet any needs and encourage by enthusiastic example. One day, those same younger kids will be in the adult worship and hopefully still connected to the kids who once greeted them. Then they, in turn, become the welcomers. Every church needs welcomers!
Prayer!
The adult leading prayer time will pray for group and community concerns, missionaries, and church staff. It’s also a great time to teach/lead the Lord’s Prayer! But don’t open up for personal prayer requests.
A Gospel Moment
End with a good explanation of some part of the gospel message—sin, God’s law, God’s wrath, the shed blood of Christ, confession, repentance, surrender, saved by Grace, walking by faith, living a new life fully led by God, reading the Bible daily, and obeying what we read. Don’t assume it’s been said often enough.
We all know of special circumstances that might result in the service time going longer than usual. A table full of Bible verse word search puzzles, mazes, verse coloring sheets/crayons, scripture songs, etc., can quickly fill the time in a productive way. Sheets can be taken home if they wish. You can also use the extra time to read aloud a chapter of Scripture. Avoid singing solos, drama, or anything performance-related; this is not a time to focus on performance.
Your children are so teachable, so remember to teach depth. Lay that strong foundation! Don’t be timid! Their lives and futures depend on it!
If you want to keep your children in the adult worship service with you, they will grow and learn and worship along with you—always a great choice! It’s our honor to help build the strongest links!
Dava Banner has been married for forty-three years and has three fine sons. She and her family live on a small farm in Crouse.
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