ɫ��ɫ

A man warmly vocalizes a simple four-note melody: Oh-oh-oh-oh. Children’s voices echo in response. The call-and-response continues through phrases of four to seven syllables that express the verses of Psalm 139:23–24. After a few repetitions, the vocal and rhythmic pattern continues with words that amplify the text—“I need your protection; I need your direction”—before returning to the original lines. 

This song, “,” is easy for all ages to learn and sing and lingers in the hearts of those who hear or sing it. Oladipo Adedeji wrote and composed the song, and arranged it. “The composer is a Fuller Theological Seminary psychology doctoral student who has led worship at my church,” says Willmington, who directs , a Lilly Endowment grant project for ��ܱ������’s Brehm Center in Pasadena, California.  

Lilly Endowment’s (NCWPI) “encourages congregations to be more intentional in engaging in worship and prayer practices that more fully nurture the faith of all children as well as adults,” Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion, says on the Endowment's website. 

The tips below about writing text and music for children’s songs come from three Christian universities using their NCWPI grants to focus, in part, on children’s songs and songwriting for children. They are gathering different generations to write songs together; connecting, creating, and training leaders so all ages will sing and pray together; and teaching spiritual disciplines through songs that children can lead in worship with space for adults to chime in. 

Text Tips

Children can authentically encounter God  

advises songwriters to take seriously that children can have authentic encounters with God. “I wonder why so many kids’ songs are about creation and nature. That’s one way to connect with God, but faith is so much more complex than that,” says Perez, assistant director of the In Every Generation NCWPI grant at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, a hub of contemporary worship arts.  

“Children can grasp rich faith concepts,” Perez adds. “There’s an old adage something like, ‘If adults will be bored, then it’s not a good song for kids either. Poetry, at its best, opens up meaning rather than closing it down. A song like John Bell’s ‘ is relevant whether you’re worried about monsters under the bed or your parents getting divorced.”  

, a leader in theology and the arts, was once a touring musician, still plays music, and is the Belmont grant’s principal investigator. He often describes .  

, a church music expert at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is co-principal investigator of The Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies’ NCWPI grant, . “Our grant’s learning community participants come from urban, suburban, and rural churches and many denominations across Texas,” she says. “We are exploring how to include all children in the full liturgical life of the church, including children with disabilities. In essence, we are finding that the themes that build faith through music aren’t so different between various ages and abilities. 

“It is also true that church songs can be shared by everyone, and we see it in congregations that don’t segregate by age in worship. We can all learn from each other when we sing and pray together,” she adds. 

Start with a great text 

Songwriters often build on a musical idea before thinking about a text, Willmington notes, but especially for worship songs, he recommends “starting with a great text, and then thinking musically about expressing that text well. State a theme, and then amplify the text.” 

The Dunn Center chose “” as the theme song for its grant project because of its meaningful lyrics. “The first verse and chorus remind us that wonderful words of life and beauty teach us faith and duty,” Monterio says. “Being intentional about beauty and duty can help us choose or write song texts to transform young worshipers through music ministry. As with songs for adults, songs for children have to be both accessible and meaningful, so we need to be careful about the theology we communicate through songs.”  

Kirsten Shive is a children’s music educator, a writer, and with her husband, Josh, a worship leader at . She has participated in the Belmont grant’s . “When I write songs for kids,” she says, “I consider if the words we are singing are true and clear. Writing music for the church (and children) is part of discipleship. It’s a huge responsibility to be careful in making sure the lyrics we write align with scripture.” 

Consider setting scripture to song word-for-word 

“In 2019,” Shive says, “Josh and I released an album of word-for-word scripture songs called . We wrote these songs for the children in our church to help them memorize their monthly memory verses. When writing word-for-word scripture songs, it helps to make the melodies and rhythms singable, predictable, and repetitive.” 

, a singer-songwriter and creator of the Sing the Bible albums and the volumes, also participated in the In Every Generation project at Belmont. “It’s important to sing scripture because nothing helps us remember like music, he says. 

Use songwriting prompts 

Being asked to write a children’s worship song is often too broad a request, so before its intergenerational songwriting camps, Belmont’s In Every Generation project leaders sent passages of scripture to participants as prompts. “During the camps,” Perez says, “participants were assigned scripture verses and topics for various occasions—for one’s personal life or part of the liturgy—all around friendship.”  

Likewise, asked leaders of the Baylor NCWPI grant to submit songwriting prompts such as Bible verses, poems, visual art, and movement for the songwriting retreat he’d be leading. Flanigan is a melodist, music director at , founder of , and the theological artist in residence at Baylor University. 

Write songs intergenerationally with other musicians 

At an intergenerational songwriting camp through Belmont, Shive says, “one of my favorite co-writes was with , a seasoned professional songwriter, music industry leader, and Belmont professor, and , an amazingly talented vocalist, songwriter, and Belmont student. We had so much fun with our assignment to write a word-for-word scripture song for kids based on the relationship between Paul and Timothy. Since James knew I taught music to children, he encouraged us to make up VBS-style hand motions to help the other songwriters learn our song.” 

Music Tips

Don’t underestimate—or overestimate—what children can sing 

“I think that simple music can be great for children, but they also learn fast and love to learn and be challenged,” Shive says. “My preschool catechism class learned all four verses of ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’—and they can’t read. My elementary-aged kids memorized ‘Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.’”  

Willmington says, “It’s true that children can be trained to expand vocal range, phrase length, and rhythmic difficulty, but don’t overestimate what they can sing in worship. Sometimes a music minister listens to and loves a demo but fails to notice that only adults are singing the children’s songs. I created our grant project’s first album, , by myself so I could test whether certain song templates worked or not. We recorded children’s voices. We’re learning that kids like to hear other children’s voices sing songs that they themselves can learn.” 

Limit vocal range and rhythmic difficulty 

“Writing singable, interesting melodies is not always as easy as some think,” Willmington says. “A song’s accessibility for children depends in part on the context. A typical child’s comfort range is one octave, so I try to write within a basic C to C range. With training—say, in a church or school choir—a child’s range can expand. But if the song stays high for too long, the voice gets tired. 

“For songs to be accessible, choose reasonable phrase lengths of seven to eight beats. If it’s a fast song, then 10 seconds is a doable phrase length. Children singing choral anthems can be trained to stretch out phrase lengths. There are times when a little rhythmic difficulty is the best way to express the text. However, take care not to have too many tricky rhythms. Pick your moments and make sure to repeat any difficult rhythmic pattern throughout the song for continuity.” 

Shive has noticed that what works well for children also helps adults sing well. “Trying to keep the lowest note of a song no lower than A below middle C is helpful for children, but also for our congregation,” she says. “And if a song starts on a pickup note in a very syncopated melody, it can be hard for children to learn.” 

Not every song must be happy and clappy 

“Many people think that kids’ songs should always be upbeat,” Shive says, “but children also love to sing slow songs, even slow songs in minor keys. Choosing slower or minor-key songs is also good practice when choosing worship songs for adults. Songs of lament are so healthy for children to sing and to know they can cast all their cares on the Lord.” 

“Many people think that kids’ songs should always be upbeat,” Shive says, “but children also love to sing slow songs, even slow songs in minor keys."

The Baylor grant’s learning communities “have shared so many testimonies about how songs learned in childhood stay in people’s hearts,” Monteiro says. “They talk about the atmosphere of joy when all ages participate together in song. Yet not all children’s songs should be about jumping and clapping. When children sing about how Mary and Joseph could find no room in an inn, that’s sad—and the music should reflect that. Children also need songs about fears and doubts.” 

��ܱ������’s Kids grant project aims to nurture nine spiritual practices such as celebration, worship, and wisdom through five arts-based categories. “Spiritual practices by nature are not upbeat, “clap your hands”-type activities. I think we too often give kids songs with too much hype,” Willmington says. “We’re being purposely countercultural by creating a balance that includes quieter, more contemplative songs that often work well for a much-needed aspect of spiritual formation.” 

Include ways for adults to join children 

Blessings await adult worshipers who join their voices with children. “In intergenerational worship settings,” Monteiro says, “we can glean so much from people we talk with. We can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through them for the sake of God’s kingdom. And that’s not just true of adults. Children aren’t empty vessels. We can learn from them too.  

“Our learning community participants want to identify songs and curriculum so the church and Christian school music ministries can connect with parents and caregivers. We want to help them understand the potential and content of worship music for children.” 

Willmington explains, “I’m working with composers and arrangers from various cultures. We’re experimenting with songs where children are the primary leaders. We’re adding options for SATB scores, string quartets, and handbells so adults can go in and out of a song.” 

Remember the parents, caregivers, and teachers 

Staff for all three of these Lilly Endowment grant projects are pondering how to share songs that can be used in homes and schools as well as in churches. Willmington says he hopes the songs will “leak” between home, church, and school contexts. 

“At the annual ,” he says, “I learned how easy it can be to make a lyric video, then post a link to the video so church families can learn and use new children’s songs at home. This might work well with, say, a four-minute scripture song or a song of prayer or confession. You can do a call-and-response song where children’s voices lead and then adults immediately respond. Our Catholic friends have learned scripture through call-and-response refrains for generations.  

“Also, not many families still have CD players, so creating a CD might not be useful for everyone. But, as we did with our album, you can make songs available by digital download or little USB cards, memory sticks, or flash drives,” he says.