Photo by Holly Sheridan Photography at Church of Hope

One of my favorite parts of VBS is the music. I may say goodbye to the decorations and theme when the week is over, but the songs stay with me and the ministry for months, sometimes years, afterward.

I've said before that I'm not a worship leader, but I've spent a lot of time leading worship in kidmin. VBS is no exception. One of the best things I've done to take our VBS to the next level is building a kids worship team.

My teams have never led live worship, but they get on stage and sing, move, and worship alongside me. They don't have microphones, but their energy helps pull the rest of the kids in, especially as everyone is learning brand-new songs for the first time.

No matter the size of your VBS, you can have a kids worship team. Their enthusiasm is contagious and can make the entire music portion of your week significantly better. Here's how to build one.

1. Start Practicing Early

Six to eight weeks before VBS, begin your team practices. Let your kids and parents know that anyone who wants to be on stage during VBS is welcome, but attendance at practices is required.

I typically hold weekly hour-long practices. The best time depends on your context, but for me, the hour before Wednesday night service worked well. Sunday mornings before or after service is another option. I tried squeezing it between two Sunday morning services once, and it was too chaotic with everything else going on.

Before you dive into the music, take a few minutes to talk about why we worship and what their role on stage actually means. Set expectations early. This isn't playtime or a chance to show off. Their job is to help other kids engage in worship. Also be clear about how many practices they need to attend to be on the team and when they're expected to arrive at VBS. Communicate those same expectations to parents, but don't skip telling the kids directly. It makes a difference.

During practice, focus on the theme song from your curriculum. Even if kids have heard some of the other songs before, the theme song is almost always new. At my VBS we sing it every night, sometimes two or three times. The kids need to really know it, so practice it early and often. As you get closer to VBS, layer in the other songs. By the time the first night arrives, your team should know every song and every motion without having to think about it.

2. Share the Music

Weekly practice is valuable, but an hour a week isn't enough for the songs to truly sink in. Knowing the moves is the baseline. You want the music in them so they can worship freely without mentally running through what comes next.

So share the music at home. Many publishers release their VBS music on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. Create a playlist and send it to parents so kids can listen throughout the week.

If the music isn't available on streaming platforms, you may need to purchase CDs or DVDs to distribute. I'll be honest: years ago I made copies of the CD and handed them out. I've since repented of that. The artists who create this music deserve to be compensated for their work, and copying CDs doesn't do that.

3. Give Incentives

Being on the worship team is a privilege, but it's also a responsibility. It's worth providing a couple of meaningful perks to recognize that.

My two go-to incentives are a copy of the music and a free t-shirt.

The music piece I've already covered. The shirt carries its own weight. In most years of my VBS, I've given shirts to volunteers but rarely to kids, and if I had them at all I usually sold them. That's what makes the worship team shirt feel special. These kids are wearing the same shirt as the adults, which sets them apart for the entire week. When I did sell shirts, having kids in them actually helped drive sales because other kids wanted what they were wearing. It wasn't unusual to see those shirts showing up for months after VBS ended.

These kids are volunteers just like your station and crew leaders. Whatever you do to appreciate your other volunteers, extend the same to them. They're contributing just as much.

4. Require Them to Show Up on Time

Nothing disrupts a worship set like kids running up to the stage mid-song. It's also a quick way to end up with kids on stage who aren't supposed to be there.

Part of being on the worship team means arriving when the rest of your volunteers do, or earlier. I hold a pre-service meeting 30 minutes before we start, and the worship team needs to be there. That's when I go over which songs we're singing and run through them quickly if there's time.

On the first night, if you haven't already, show them exactly where to stand and explain when they come up and when they sit back down. You don't want them clumped together behind you. Spread them across the stage and use the full space. During VBS, they sit with their crews, so the pre-service meeting also gives crew leaders a heads-up that one of their kids has permission to go on stage.

If a kid shows up late, I gently let them know they won't be leading worship that night. It stings a little, but unnecessary distractions hurt the experience for everyone.

5. Celebrate What They've Done

Throughout the week, be intentional about recognizing what your team is doing well. That which gets celebrated gets repeated. Call out good behavior in front of the group and watch the others fall in line quickly.

When VBS is over, celebrate them publicly. Thank them in front of the whole group or your volunteer team. They helped make your opening and closing segments better. They helped make the whole week better. Make sure they know it.

And here's a bonus: once VBS ends, you have a trained group of junior volunteers ready to serve. You could use this as a launching point to build out a kids worship team for Sunday mornings as well.

A kids worship team isn't essential, but it's one of the best additions you can make to your VBS. Their energy, engagement, and enthusiasm can transform what might otherwise feel like a room full of adults singing at kids into something genuinely exciting. Invest the time to recruit, train, and celebrate them well, and your worship time will be better for it.