Music is one of the most powerful influencers in the world. Music has the power to transport listeners to another place—it evokes deep emotion, celebration or mourning. Music can be a conduit of healing, comfort and peace. Music also has the ability to instill a value system, a message and a belief system in its listeners.
Growing up, my worldview was shaped by MTV and the radio. I learned about love, sexuality, male and female roles and morality through the power of music. This can be a scary thing, especially if you consider a child to be like a sponge, soaking up everything around. I ended up living a life that mirrored the music that I listened to. This resulted in a lot of pain in my life.
When I was introduced to worship music in my teen years, I felt, for the first time, moments of absolute freedom and peace. It was unexplainable and incredible at the same time. Worship music gave me a sense of freedom to dance and move without a care in the world. It was also through worship music that I received a lot of healing in my heart. Little did I know I was experiencing the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Years later, I gave my life to the Lord in the context of worship at the International House of Prayer. I truly believe that it was the constant influence of Spirit-led worship music that led to my radical conversion and birth as a worship leader.
Fast forward almost 11 years, and I am now a wife and mother of two and have the privilege of raising our children in the context of 24/7 worship.
Since they were in my womb, they have both been constantly in the midst of 24/7 worship and prayer. I remember singing on an intercession set at the prayer room and, as we were praying for the ending of abortion, my son would kick and move like crazy. It was such an awesome experience to have my kids responding to worship—even in the womb!
As they were born and began to grow in their awareness, songs were constantly in their mouths. I noticed that if they were feeling fussy, sick or fearful at night, turning on some worship music would often calm them right down or put them fast to sleep.
As a mother, I’ve always wanted to guard my children’s freedom to dance, sing, worship and express themselves without shame or fear of man. I believe it’s freedom of worship and expression that brings God so much glory and obliterates the enemy. In my efforts to keep them living in this vein of free worship, we as a family often have dance parties in our living room and designate worship times together.
I’ve also realized that the more my children see my husband and me worshipping in our own personal times or with each other, the more they get excited to do the same.
It brings me the greatest joy when I catch my son singing about the Holy Spirit or when he asks me about a lyric in one of the songs I’ve written. It’s an instant on-ramp into sharing about God’s heart!
I think that the most powerful thing we can do as parents is to create a context where worship is the norm, and where there is freedom to worship in your own way. Each child is so different. Some like to sing, some like to dance, some like to draw and paint. There is no limit to what worship can look like. It just takes recognizing how a child responds to worship and then cultivating their unique voice and expression. When children aren’t forced into a mold, the Holy Spirit has room to lead them personally. You will soon see that your children will begin to have their own beautiful and authentic encounters with Jesus. {eoa}
Christina Reynolds has been a soul/jazz songwriter and worship leader at the International House of Prayer of Kansas City for over 10 years. Christina has been featured on a number of albums and her debut album, Songs for the Journey, was released in July 2013 to international acclaim. Christina’s sophomore album, On the Other Side, was released in 2016. Christina is passionate about creating not only honest and moving music but also music that brings healing to the soul and gives glory to Jesus. Christina lives in Kansas City with her husband, C.J., and two children, Joshua and Nikki.
Janet Perez Eckles 
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