The Morgan-Gurrs

Kay has recently opened up a discussion on twitter about the sort of songs children’s leaders choose to use in kids work.

As an introduction to what we are saying, we should tell you that Steve writes excellent songs, full of teaching/information that are usable with both church and non church kids (Mainly for 5 – 7 year olds and all age worship, but some for older kids too).

He recently received his royalty update and found that for use in church, his best selling song was one he wrote as what he calls a “throw away fun song” – no teaching, no theology – just a list of actions, with the only religious words being “…as we praise the Lord”.

We believe kids are capable of so much more, and the songs we choose for them to learn and sing should reflect this – many children love some of the adult praise songs and understand what they mean, so why not use good, solid teaching songs written for the age and stage of the children we work with?

Over the years we have heard other song writers say the same thing, as some kids albums seem to be happy to settle for songs that fit into the “I can shake this or that to make God smile” culture.

We understand the issues kids workers want to avoid, namely, making non Christian kids sing words they don’t believe – but is there an argument to be made that God understands this? He’s not going to strike them with lightening because they don’t believe the songs they are singing – after all, many adults do it every Sunday in our churches!

In a world where many adult Christians learn most of their theology from songs – it is true to say that many kids and teens do the same.

On a similar theme – how similar or different should our music with kids be? Should we be emulating music that often comes from an angst ridden gang culture, or should we be different?

Some good writers to look out for (Apart from Steve!): Trevor Ranger – new album out and brilliant! Dave Godfrey, Doug Horley and of course, the lovely Ishmael!

You could never call our work boring! The variety of what we do is vast – ranging from writing material, to teaching about puppets to foundation classes in schools, from taking all age services to talking to a local ladies meeting!
The last month has seen us doing a huge range of things.
The teaching theme for “Activate” (Formally “Hungarton week 1″!) is now settled, inspired in part by Krish Kandiah’s book ‘Route 66′. There’s still a way to go in planning the presentation, but we’re quite excited about it!
This week is a week of meetings – Kay was in London Yesterday for a ‘Churches for All’ partners meeting, and today is a Children Worldwide management meeting in Birmingham. On Thursday we’re going to see a prospective member in Cambridge!
Keep following the twitter updates.

I was talking to the parent of a child who is diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum a few weeks ago. I asked her what her hopes and dreams were for him. One of the things she highlighted was “being given the opportunity to serve”. This particular little boy is very intelligent, has an amazing understanding of theology, and can explain it. And in a way that probably only he and God can understand, he has a real faith.

It does seem that in our churches, children are rarely given the opportunity to serve their church families – but for those who have a disability or additional need, the chance to serve is even rarer.

The mum I was talking to said that she would love to see her little boy’s Sunday teachers give him the opportunity to give out the biscuits, pour the squash, put away the chairs. Yes, he would need a little help, but it would do his self esteem a lot of good.

Another parent I spoke to was the mum of a teenager, also diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum. She thought a little differently. He was struggling to maintain his faith journey. He had a good understanding of his Bible, but needed fellowship. It was a much longer conversation, but it ended up with me suggesting he would be able to not only attend a bible study designed for those with his special needs, but he was more than capable of leading it himself. This idea was obviously a step too far for his mum. But why?

Who decides who can serve in our church families? I myself have a disability, and will rarely say how things are for me. This is because I know there will be someone who will wrongly assume that I am unable to continue my ministry because of it. This is obviously NOT the case. The only thing that sometimes stands in my way are issues of physical access.

Churches are doing better when it comes to ramps, accessible toilets, and lifts. But another ‘step’ to accessibility could be giving both children and grown ups who have disabilities or additional needs the chance to serve. Yes it’s scary, but it will also be a blessing.