You know your Konnect team is winning when you see a room full of Konnect kids pouring their hearts out by singing and dancing for God! Read on for tips and tricks to help you get there.

Watch This:
This video will give you useful tips for leading engaging, distraction-free worship in Konnect.

Check Out These Tips:
Set Expectations

• Let kids know where they need to be. Emcees, use your 30-second Worship Konnection to remind kids to stay with their small group leaders during worship.
• Wait to stand up. The worship teaching video will set the expectation that everyone stands during worship, and it will tell you when to stand up.
• Reinforce expectations. Work as a team to hold kids accountable to the expectations you set.
• Lead small. Small group leaders, prioritize your small group relationships by keeping your group together and worshiping as a team. When you see kids in your small group wandering off or becoming distracted, bring them back and help them to refocus on worship.
• Emcees, Coaches, and Techs: Keep an eye out for kids who get far from their small group or kids who are repeatedly ignoring redirection from their small group leader. Step in to help out.

Encourage Participation

• All leaders participate. When kids see all the leaders in the room modeling the right thing to do, it’s easier for them to value participation and follow along.
• Reward kids who participate. High five kids who are doing a great job participating, tell them they’re doing a good job, and, if your room allows it, send them to the front as a worship leader.
• Redirect distracting behaviors. Running, swinging other kids around, chatting, wandering, and rolling on the floor don’t count as participation. Respectfully remind kids in your small group to stay near you and focus on worshiping God instead of playing with each other.
• Encourage authentic worship—not forced participation. If a kid isn’t participating, ask them to try it out. Dance with them. Avoid punishing them or forcing them to participate—if they just want to stand there with their arms folded despite your encouragement, let them. Your encouragement over time may be the ticket to make them feel more comfortable.
• What if a kid won’t even stand up? Let the kid have the option to remain seated, but choose an out-of-the-way spot for them to sit so no one trips over them and gets hurt. Visit them from time to time to let them know you miss them and you’d love to have them by your side!

Be Prepared

• Don’t “wing it.” Visit www.leaders.life.church (Great job! You’re already here!) to watch videos of all of the Konnect worship motions. Practice them during the week so you can lead with consistency and excellence!
• Plan ahead for the right people to lead. The emcee isn’t automatically the worship leader. The leader in the room (Swerve or adult) who can quickly learn motions and model them well is! Know who that person is, and let them know ahead of time that they’re the worship leader so they can prepare.
• What if no one in my Konnect room is great at leading worship?
  • Let your LifeKids staff know so they can keep an eye out for a leader who is good at it and can assign them to your experience.
  • While you’re waiting for the right person, different leaders can lead through each song. Assign one song per week to each leader so there isn’t too much pressure on one leader.

Be Consistent With …

• Motions: Use the same worship motions that are shown on www.leaders.life.church. When you change up the motions, don’t know them well, or make up your own, the inconsistency can distract kids, decrease positive energy, and the whole group can lose focus.
• Kid Worship Leaders: It’s great to have kids help lead, but it can get chaotic if you don’t have a process to pick helpers. Decide with your Konnect team if you’re going to allow kids to help lead, then agree on a process to choose helpers so everyone is on the same page.
• Small Groups: Always keep small groups together during worship. If you let kids wander one week, then expect them to stay put the next, it is confusing for kids and leaders.
• Redirecting Behavior: If kids are running circles, trying to kick, hit, or climb walls, or are continually wandering, ask them to stop the behavior, stay with their small group leader, and let them know what they can do to participate appropriately. If you do this consistently, week after week, you will see these types of behavior decrease.
• Getting Feedback: If the only thing consistent about your worship time is chaos, ask for feedback from campus staff. Keep asking and consistently follow their suggestions until you see improvement.

Talk It Over:
Now that you’ve watched a video and read a few tips, help the info stick! Talk over these questions with your experience coach or a LifeKids staff member. Share what you’ve learned with other leaders in Konnect!

1. What do you think your Konnect team does well during worship?
2. What do you think your Konnect team can improve during worship?
3. What are your biggest challenges during worship? Ask an experienced leader or a staff member what their advice is to overcome the challenge.

A special thank you to Orange and the reThink Group for their ideas and research on their “lead small” philosophy referenced in this article.