"Heer, ’n kleine kinderbende sing sy loflied tot u eer!"

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore how singing in a religious singing assembly once a week contributes to the spiritual wellbeing of a group of learners from a primary school in Potchefstroom. Creative applications of music as a school activity that supports the spiritual wellbeing of the learners are explored. The literature study describes childhood spirituality in a Christian context through an awareness of spirituality, the nurturing of spirituality through group singing, the role of cognition and the relationship between individuality and spirituality. Data collection involved multiple sources of information through observations and interviews. Through informal discussions with learners and my own observations whilst accompanying religious singing assemblies, data was analysed to compare learners’ experiences with the relevant literature. Seven aspects related to spirituality in childhood through religious singing were identified: prayer, creativity, praise and worship, emotion, joy, expression and connectedness.