****CHILDREN'S HYMNS

In his book, “Confronting Contemporary Christian Music,” Dr. H. T. Spence warns, “If we teach our children only by choruses without giving equal weight to the strong, meaty hymns of the faith, we may be spiritually damaging their generation.” 

Much of what we believe is either taught or supported by the songs we sing.  So, it is important that we teach and sing songs that contain correct doctrine. 

What would you think if, one Sunday morning, your music pastor or worship leader had selected only children’s songs for the entire service?

Well, that’s what I did for our church today and you might be surprised at the content.  All these hymns were originally written for children.  But there is nothing here, that resembles what we have come to expect from modern children’s music.  When we teach songs like “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” we not only fill our children’s heads with nonsense, we imply that they are too immature for the worship service and should be in Children’s Church where they will be taught at their own level.

Here are the brief introductory statements for the six children’s hymns that are God-centered and rich in doctrinal truth.

STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD

James Montgomery was the Christian journalist who was imprisoned, twice, in the Castle of York, for speaking out against the oppressive government in England in the late 1700s.

In 1824, he wrote this children’s hymn for the anniversary celebration of the Red Hill Wesleyan Sunday School.

The text was based on Neh. 9:5: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD is a call for God’s people to stand with courage and to boldly speak up and proclaim our faith regardless of the political climate. 

  

I SING THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD

Isaac Watts wrote over 600 hymns.  He is known as the Father of Modern Hymnody and, like most writers of children’s hymns in earlier generations, he wrote good, substantive, and doctrinally sound words that accomplish what, I believe, Paul intended when he instructed the Church to, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”  Col. 3:16

One of his favorite projects was a collection of songs that he wrote and compiled all together in a hymnbook just for kids.  I SING THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD, is the most famous of all his children’s hymns and it is one of the greatest hymns of our faith.

NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD

Is it possible to be thankful during extremely hard times?  Martin Rinkart was. He was the German pastor who led his community through the Thirty Years War in the 1600s, and then through a great plague, and then through another invasion where the governors impose unbearable taxation on the people.  In one year, nearly 8000 of his parishioners died.

Yet his spirit was never broken.  In the middle of those terrible times of calamities and incredible losses, he wrote a table grace for his own unclothed and undernourished children to use while praising God for all His blessings. 

NOW THANK WE ALL, OUR GOD has become one of our most loved Thanksgiving hymns.

MAY THE MIND OF CHRIST, MY SAVIOR

This children’s song was written by Kate Wilkinson after meditating on Phil. 2:5. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

To have the mind of Christ is to think His thoughts; to keep His commands; to do His will; to submit to His authority.  The song is a prayer that asks God to help us add these various aspects of the will of Christ to our lives.

There are six stanzas that were intended as daily devotional reminders; one for each day of the week leading up to Sunday.

SAVIOR, LIKE A SHEPHERD, LEAD US

We don’t know, for sure, who wrote the words to this hymn but it has been attributed to Dorothy Thrupp. 

It was originally written for children and it first appeared in a children’s hymnal that she compiled in 1836.

In some ways, it is reminiscent of Psalm 23.  SAVIOR, LIKE A SHEPHERD, LEAD US reveals how needy and dependent we are on our Good Shepherd. 

He loves us, He receives us, He cares for us, He leads us, and He protects us.

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!  GIVE THANKS TO THE RISEN LORD

This children’s praise song has a simple, easy to sing, melody.   It was intended to be sung responsively, by an adult on each of the five stanzas and by the children on the chorus.

In all its simplicity, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!  GIVE THANKS TO THE RISEN LORD, is a profound proclamation of the Gospel.  In just a few short lines, it proclaims that Jesus is Lord; He is the King of all creation.  He died on the cross for our sins; we were raised together with Him in newness of life as He rose, triumphantly, from the grave.  He is our Savior.  And He is worthy of our thanks and our praise.