PRETEEN LESSON ON WORSHIP

Do you remember the first time you prayed out loud in front of your friends? or sang in church?

For some people, it’s not a big deal.

For others, it’s an experience that takes a lot of courage.

When we worship God, it’s a personal time of reflection and gratefulness for all He’s done.

Use this lesson to teach preteens that how you express your worship is between you and God.

– Nick Diliberto

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Exclusive Preteen Curriculum: Get one year of new and exclusive preteen ministry curriculum designed to help 4th-6th graders explore their faith and wholeheartedly follow Jesus.

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Ok, now here’s the lesson on worship.

PRETEEN MINISTRY LESSON ON WORSHIP

Bible: Psalm 150:1-6

Bottom Line: Worship is between you and God.

OPENING GAME: SING YOUR HEART OUT

SUPPLIES

• Mic and speaker
• Playlist of random popular music (Worship, Pop, Country, etc.)
• Stopwatch

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

Divide preteens into two groups, boys vs. girls will work well.

Each team will look over the playlist one at a time and choose a song.

Once they choose a song, they will “perform” the song for the opposing team.

The opposite team will try and guess the song by listening to it.

Here’s the Catch: Only give the opposing team 20-30 seconds of the song to listen to.

For every song they guess correctly, they get one point.

After all of the songs have been performed, tally the points for each team.

The winning team gets to choose a song from the list for the losing team to sing from the stage.

TEACH

Say: That was so much fun… I mean who doesn’t like a good old-fashioned music battle?

But I really loved it when the losing team had to sing to the winning team.

It can be difficult to stand in front of a whole group of people and sing a song.

Especially, when those people are your friends.

For some of you, even singing in a group of people on Sundays at church can be tough because singing is kind of a personal thing.

There have been times I have looked around and I can see that some of you want to sing out but something is holding you back.

I want to let you in on a little secret… some adults have a hard time singing in front of other adults.

Say: Why do think it can be so hard for some people to sing during times of worship?

Give students an opportunity to respond.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about singing in church.

So, if it is so hard to sing then why is singing and worshiping together important?

Allow students a couple of minutes to respond.

When we have a relationship with God, we naturally begin to worship Him.

God provides for us, He protects us, walks with us, and guides us.

God is so involved in our lives, from the simple things to the most difficult things.

And, in return, we worship and love Him.

When we allow ourselves to truly worship Him it doesn’t have to be forced – it flows naturally.

So, now we know why we worship God, so the next question is, “how do we worship God?”

The Bible gives us many great examples of how we should worship and I want us to read one of those examples together.

Read Psalm 105:1-6.

Praise the Lord!

       Praise God in his sanctuary;

       praise him in his mighty heaven!

       Praise him for his mighty works;

       praise his unequaled greatness!

       Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;

       praise him with the lyre and harp!

       Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;

       praise him with strings and flutes!

       Praise him with a clash of cymbals;

       praise him with loud clanging cymbals.

       Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

       Praise the Lord!

Those verses told us quite a bit about worship, but music is just a small part of worshiping God.

We can worship Him through prayer, through giving, through serving, or anything that we do to show God we love Him.

But, for some people, the singing part can be the hardest.

These verses have something in common besides just the theme of music – they are also very loud musical instruments.

I believe that God intended for us to see that he wants us to worship Him loudly and boldly.

When we do that it can bring attention to us or people may look at us.

So, if all of us are worshiping Him loudly and boldly it doesn’t matter how we sound or look.

We only need to think about who we are worshiping.

And this brings us to our bottom line: “Worship is between you and God.”

God knows us better than anyone else and he knows that we worry about what others think of us.

But when we worship Him, he wants us to only worry about loving Him.

So, worship is just between you and Him.

Today, before small group time we are going to worship God… but in a little bit of a different way.

We have set up a couple of worship experiences for everyone.

There is a little music involved but don’t worry… you don’t have to sing if you don’t want to.

Each of these stations is designed for you to have some time to worship God, but just between you and Him.

WORSHIP STATIONS

STATION 1

This station is designed for preteens to have some time for preteens to see God’s beauty in all things.

Even during the times of their lives that are tough, we can still worship Him.

SUPPLIES

• Sharpie markers
• Strips of colorful construction paper
• Music playing on a loop: “Kaleidoscope” by Urban Rescue
• Print out lyrics of the song
• Large cork board and colorful push pins

STATION SET-UP

On a whiteboard write the following directions:

• Listen to the song.
• Read the lyrics and think about what they mean to you.
• Take a strip of paper and marker.
• Write something you are struggling with in life.
• Pin it to the cork board.
• Step back and see how awesome the beauty is in all the colors on the board.
• Take some time and talk to God about how awesome He is even in hard times.

Next, instruct preteens to take a copy of the music lyrics and find a place to sit alone and listen to the song.

When they are ready, they will take a strip of the paper and marker and write out something they are struggling with, in their life.

When they are ready, they will pin it to the cork board and then take some time to talk with God.

Reflect on this: Even in hard times, God is so awesome and we can see the beauty in this world.

Have a leader ready to help preteens walk through these steps.

STATION 2

The purpose of this station is to help preteens understand that worship is so much more than singing.

SUPPLIES

• Bibles
• List of the following verses:
  • John 4:24
  • Psalms 95:6
  • John 4:23
  • Luke 4:8
  • Hebrews 12:28
  • 1^st Chronicles 16:29
• Pieces of card stock paper
• Art supplies

STATION SET-UP

Preteens will get a Bible and look up some or all of the verses.

Reflect on some of what the verses are saying and then create a picture or art project of what they mean to them.

Make sure they write the verses on their art.

When they are finished, they will find a leader to pray over the pictures with them.

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why do people worry about what others think?
2. What do you think of when you hear the word worship?
3. Why is it hard or difficult for some people to sing during worship?
4. What are some other ways you can worship God?
5. Do you think you are capable of worshipping God boldly and loudly?
6. How does it make you feel to know that worship is just between you and God?
7. What do you want to remember from today’s lesson?
8. What did the Worship Stations teach you about worshiping God?
9. What is the most creative thing you have ever seen someone do to worship God?
10. Do you have a talent that you could use to worship God? How?

End lesson.

Looking for preteen ministry curriculum? Check out our…

Exclusive Preteen Curriculum: Get one year of new and exclusive preteen ministry curriculum designed to help 4th-6th graders explore their faith and wholeheartedly follow Jesus.

Here’s a quick video about what makes our preteen curriculum unique: