Leading Broadly Graded Worship 

I’ve been leading large group worship in my church for the past few years. Leading a large group of kids sounds intimidating and well, sometimes, can be. Here are a few strategies that I’ve learned leading a large group of varied aged kids.

1. Know your kids. Each group of kids is completely different and that may change from week to week. One of the first things you want to do when you begin leading large group is become familiar with the temperaments and unique personalities that make up your class. Knowing this will give you strategies for keeping good order.

2. Be prepared. Once you know the personalities of the kids in your group, you will want to make sure that you are completely prepared. If you know your material well that will give you a chance to deal with any other issues that crop up with some of those personalities.

3. Don’t go it alone. Have plans to staff your worship with as many volunteers as possible. Having other volunteers, many of whom can serve just as crowd control, will greatly improve your teaching time.

4. Have fun. Enjoy the time you get to teach boys and girls. If you are having fun while teaching that will spill over into the teaching experience and will not only benefit you, but also the boys and girls you are teaching. Having fun will be much easier when you have done the first three things suggested before.

Large group worship is one of the best times you can have and is very rewarding. Keep teaching and have fun.

Tim Pollard teaches 3rd-6th graders Explore the Bible: Kids Worship on Sunday nights at his church. He’s passionate about helping kids dig deep into Scripture, which he pursues through his daily work as leader of the Explore the Bible: Kids team. Tim lives with his wife and daughters in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.