For 42 years (and counting), Andrew Walker has been ministering to children and adults at St. Michael’s, Orlando, through his musical talents. When the pandemic moved much of that ministry online, he adapted and expanded his work in fresh ways.

“Good Night with Mr. Andrew” began when Walker’s longtime Angel Choir ministry was sidelined with the pandemic and resultant shutdown. Every week, he operates this online call for children from birth through first grade, teaching them Christian songs and even some fun childhood songs such as “The Wheels on the Bus.” Each session begins with the Lord’s Prayer, because, he said, “Kids need to know that.” After nearly two years, he has just completed Zoom session No. 86.

“I have as few as two or three to as many as five to seven families who participate each week,” he said.

Sessions end with prayer and a song Walker wrote based on the popular children’s classic Goodnight Moon.

“I actually set it to music,” he said. “Now this is only for our own private use. As a composer and a musician, I completely know about copyright rules. I found a real short prayer that kept the rhyming scheme of the last few sentences of Goodnight Moon, so I tacked it on to the end. We’ve been doing it weekly for 86 times and it still sounds fresh, which means I think I came up with something that kind of works. So we always end with that.”

Serving Children

Walker has an extensive background in music, and music for children in particular. The first choir he directed, at age 16, was a youth choir of 8- to 11-year-olds in the United Kingdom. In his early 20s, he taught himself to play guitar, which he feels was “one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself” and an essential skill for anyone leading children in worship.

“I’ve always had a heart for children and music and children’s singing, no matter what their age, and this is what I was able to do for young ones at St. Michael’s,” he said. “I love getting on the floor and doing action songs and being silly. It’s something I feel that God has called me to for as long as I can remember.”

It’s also a very special feeling when he hears from the families of the kids who participate that after the sessions, the children involved continue singing the songs throughout the week.

“It’s something that [parents] have told me the kids really look forward to,” he said.

Reaching Refugees

Through St. Michael’s member Basia Andraka-Christou and her family’s connection with Ukrainian refugees (see this story), St. Michael’s has a unique ministry opportunity. Walker built on that to expand his “Goodnight With Mr. Andrew” ministry across the globe.

Not only do Andraka-Christou’s two young children participate in “Good Night With Mr. Andrew,” but the 4-year-old Ukrainian twins staying in her family’s home in Bialystok, Poland, have now had that opportunity too.

“When I learned about the refugees, I asked, ‘Are there any children there?'” Walker said. “And so I suggested this.”

This spring, Walker hosted four special “Good Night With Mr. Andrew” Zoom sessions in Ukrainian for the twins, Mark and Margo, and their mother, Oksana. Andraka-Christou’s children sometimes sat in as well. Walker does not know the language, but he ran his presentations through the Duolingo app and prepared a script in Ukrainian to go along with the music.

“Musically, I love to sing things in their original languages,” Walker said. “And at St. Michael’s over the past several years, we’ve discovered three or four pieces that we sing in Russian.” The similarity of the two languages helped him with pronunciation. But by the fourth Zoom session, he realized the need to communicate in real time with the twins and their mother and decided to take a summer break.

He intends to continue his work in Duolingo to enhance his language skills. By fall, if the need for ministry to the refugee children continues, Walker will start the sessions back up again.

“We’ve essentially agreed with the two 4-year-olds that we’ve had a wonderful time in these four sessions,” Walker said. “Who knows what their church life was before? At least in those four sessions, I sang some songs about God. I mentioned Bozhe, the Ukrainian word for God. I don’t know how many times those kids had ever heard of him, but I think I heard a call to do something. I answered. … Whether it starts up again is completely dependent upon the war.

“If there are still refugees there in the fall, we’ll see if we can maybe find one or two more Ukrainian families who would enjoy something like this,” he added. “I’ll have improved my conversational Ukrainian, and we’ll see what God brings our way.”