Published on: 16/09/2025
I wonder how you hear God’s voice? Do you hear him through the words in the Bible? Through the preacher on Sunday morning? Through the beauty of creation? Through your thoughts and prayers? Maybe you hear God speak in sung worship, in a conversation with a friend or in the everyday happenings of your day?
God has been reminding me lately that he speaks in many ways, including through the voices of children and young people. Think about the last time you heard God speak through a child.
I’ve been leading worship in my church with a couple of guitarists over the last few months. One of them has just turned 17 and I wonder if I just heard God through him!
We were practicing some songs for a few weeks’ time, and he suggested that before going into the chorus of a particular song for the last time, we should hold the previous chord for 4 bars, allowing it to build before a crescendo into the chorus at full strength. ‘This is not a good idea for many reasons’ was my first thought! It will trip people up in the song, it will draw attention to us rather than God, it will feel like a gimmick… it would make us look like we were showing off and ‘performing’ rather than leading worship…
But I stopped myself from shooting his idea down, and we practiced it through. It did feel fun to play, it did build the worship from ‘safe’ to ‘exciting’… it made us both smile and it remains to be seen what impact it will have on our congregation in a few weeks’ time!
It didn’t stop there. He suggested another unexpected twist in the next song… another build before a key-changed chorus with an Ab Bb C chord finish bringing harmonic tension before the final resolution. We practiced it through. It took the song to another level… from predictable to anthemic… from safe to bold… from middle of the road to edge of the seat. Is this the kind of transformation our worship needs? Or should I have brought the wisdom of my experience and maturity to his out-of-the-box ideas? Was this a time for me to help him learn about worship, or for him to teach me something I have forgotten?
I have decided to go with him. I wonder if God is speaking through him to the church. I realise the power I have in my role. I could turn off his voice by shooting down his ideas and replacing them with safer ones of my own.
Maybe his musical ideas will stir things up in church in a few weeks. We may get negative comments. We may get some encouragement.
If we can keep our focus on God, on our worship, on leading… we might just encourage some in the congregation to leave the comfort of their own worship and join us in bold, unpredictable and unexpected worship? Maybe we will all hear the unexpected voice of God because a young person spoke up and we listened?
This week’s Blog post was written by Mike North, Children and Young People’s Adviser