November 2007
Music In our Sunday Club	Show Menu

Jacqueline Mullen

St Thomas's Church, Mount Merrion has a Sunday Club for those aged three years and upwards; the oldest members are in the early years of secondary school. With such an age range, we have four groups, from the little ones who have a Bible story and a craft, to Bible Study for the senior members. Music within that context would seem to be difficult to choose but is, in fact, a great source of enjoyment for all concerned.

Each time we meet (about twice a month during the morning service) we all form a circle for prayer and singing. The normal pattern is to sing a greeting in the form of a Christian song to any who have birthdays around the time of our meeting. Then we will sing something that we know well followed by whatever we are currently learning. This part of Sunday Club is allocated approximately ten minutes.

Choice of material

With such a wide age range it might appear difficult to find material to suit everyone but that is not the point from which we start. We have two main goals; to nurture a love of worship through singing to God and to teach Scriptural truths through song.

Worship songs/hymns are plentiful so care is needed when making choices. In this regard we have sung songs with plenty of vigorous actions, clapping etc. and ones that are quiet and reflective. Each session (September to June) we have a theme, a recent one being “the fruit of the Spirit”. In order to easily teach the attributes of the Holy Spirit we found the refrain of a song which listed them and used that to help the children remember. Similarly we have taught them the books of the Bible to music, not easy with all those long names. This took an entire session to learn. We nearly came unstuck with the Minor Prophets at the end of the Old Testament and what a relief it was to reach the New Testament and be able to sing confidently “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John”!

The other element with such young non-reading children being involved is that we do not use material with excess words. The words must be simple, meaningful, easily explained and clear. We are conscious that these songs will travel home to be sung later to demonstrate what happened that morning at Sunday Club

Resources

We have a keyboard and currently have two people who are able play it. The church bought a Yamaha Clavinova a few years ago to replace a piano. With the Sunday Club in mind, a sophisticated model was chosen with percussion and many different voices. This gives us the ability to record an accompaniment complete with drumbeats, and at the touch of a button the machine seems to play itself thus freeing the operator to join in the singing with the children at the front. Apart from these, and most importantly, we have our voices. Each new item taught is first sung to the children and then taught bit by bit without any accompaniment.

Difficult rhythms are said together to enable everyone to learn them. Sometimes we clap the rhythm together. Above all, it must be fun. We do not ask the children to learn the words of anything as it becomes reminiscent of school. The words are assimilated by repetition of the songs.

Effects

While the above might seem lovely for the children involved, they have a part to play in the life of our church. Each and every item learned is brought to the body of the church, usually during a family service. The children sing as a group and then the congregation must join them. In this way new material suitable for use in family and other services has found its way into our worship as a congregation. It is an almost foolproof way to teach the adults because they are extremely supportive of everything the Sunday Club do and will make every effort to encourage the children. Actions have to be treated with care as we found that some of the older members were becoming embarrassed by being asked to do actions in church. An option is to ask a child from the middle age group to lead the younger ones in action songs.

We have taught a simple Alleluia, sung a capella, and at times have taught something that has deeply touched the hearts of those present. Songs written for children can be extremely profound. Those pieces which would be too difficult for the assembly to grasp easily are carefully incorporated into the worship so that applause is not encouraged. The children do not form a choir, nor are they performing, they are exercising their ministry as fellow worshippers within the family of the church.

Finally, our theme for the coming session is the mountains of the Old Testament and their significance to the people of God. I suspect that song is as yet unwritten ……………

Jacqueline Mullen is a music teacher and Sunday Club leader at St Thomas’s Church. She is a member of the Church Music Committee and is currently pursuing a Worship & Sacred Music certificate course under the auspices of the RSCM and the University of Wales, Bangor.

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