Youth led services

As the lone pastor of a small church, I double as the youth pastor for all of the teens in our congregation.  In addition to ministering to their needs as youth, I also have a vision for the youth as fully functioning, self-sacrificing members of the church community.

To that end, I've gotten into coordinating 'youth-led worship services.'  These differ from ‘youth services,’ where the music and message are meant to cater to the preferences of youth; ‘youth-led services’ put the youth in charge of the whole service, giving them the responsibility of balancing worship in a way that will make it meaningful for all members of the church of all ages.

Here's the process that I follow; maybe it will be useful to you in your context.

1. Prepare for worship as usual, but prepare more choices than you need.  For me, this means studying the preaching text, establishing a 'worship idea' (a one sentence statement of what the text teaches us about God) and then choosing songs, prayers, calls to worship, etc. that would help us to explore, develop and respond to the worship idea.  Just choose three times more options than you usually would.  I also gave the youth three new songs ahead of the time and we chose a new song that we would then introduce to the congregation.  Services with youth involved are a nice way to introduce new music – the youth then have meaningful input into your repertoire and the older folks tend to be extra gracious.

2. Meet with your youth (at least a month out) and talk with them about the corporate implications of worship.  I develop for them the flow of 1Corinthians 14 – ‘everyone brings something; let all things be done for building up’ (v. 26) - then work out the implications - as we plan the service, we need to think not just about what songs we like but what combination of worship responses will make worship meaningful for the whole congregation.

3.  Study the preaching text with them, then lead them to the 'worship idea.'  Once you are confident that the youth have a good understanding of what your text reveals about God, His character and saving action, present to them the pool of choices you have already prepared (I give each youth their own package of lyrics and readings).  Ask them which songs and readings will help us together respond to who God is, as revealed in the preaching text.  This can be time consuming; most recently, I sang through a verse and chorus of each song to make sure they knew it, then everyone picked their top four songs.  We went through and chose the most popular.  This gave rise to a nice teachable moment - we discovered that the most popular choices were all less than ten years old; when there was a tie for the last song (two newer tunes and a hymn), I stepped in to remind the youth that to meaningfully engage the whole congregation, we should really include at least one hymn - so a very traditional ‘Be Thou my vision’ became the final response song for our service.

4.  At this point, it’s important to point out the various gifts that God gives each them and then invite youth to consider how they might use those gifts for the congregation’s benefit.  This could involve being a part of the music or drama, doing readings, taking pictures for the lyric slides, creating a video, crafting visual art - give your youth the opportunity to serve according to the gifts God has given them.  One of the youth pulled a handout from their Bible that they had recently used in Youth Sunday school, so a part of that became a reading and handout for the whole congregation to benefit from.

5.  From there, begin practicing for the service.  You'll need to give your youth more time to prepare than you would your usual worship team.  Give them extra time to practice so that they feel confident leading the congregation in worship.  On the plus side, you can remind that they are not performing, but helping the congregation to engage with God. 

6. When the big day comes, you'll need to be there early to run through the whole service with the youth.  One of the best spontaneous moments for me was when one of the grandparents came just as we prayed pre-service and he prayed for the youth – a great opportunity for multi-generational interaction.

For me, youth led services have been a great way to minister to youth, to encourage them to work together, and to appreciate the part they can play in serving God.  The service will likely be less polished than usual, but what it lacks in finesse, it will more than make up for in heart.  Many of the older believers will appreciate seeing the youth involved and leading them in worship and it’s a real encouragement to me when youth look me right in the eye to say thank you for organizing them and building into them.  Above all, it gives the whole church a great chance to apply the self-sacrificial posture that we are called to adopt in worship. 

Youth led worship services will continue to be an important part of our church’s ministry; I'm considering now doing 'Seniors-led services' too.  It might be very fulfilling for them to raise their voices and plan a service as our modern culture rushes forward, but it will also give me a chance to say ‘OK, that's lots of great hymns, but to build up everybody, remember, we need something from the past ten years too!’

What arms-crossed guy is thinking

Ok.  We're here. I can't believe what a fuss those kids made getting out of the house.  Sometimes I wonder if it's really worth getting here in time for all the music; I'd be just as happy being here for the sermon - feed me and get me outta here.  Oh well, I know my wife likes it when we're here on time.  Although I could do without the fashion police routine - just because my pants hang on a hanger all week doesn't necessarily mean that I HAVE to iron them, does it?

 I wonder who's leaving worship this morning?  I hope it's... oh no, its her.  I know she means well but oh man, her intros are always SOO long.  Focus!  No rabbit trails.  Just write something out and read it!  I must be getting old.  I remember when we used to read Scripture at the beginning of the service?  Wow.  She's still going. Really long this morning.  I hope the sermon’s not too long. 

 OK, here we go.  Singing.  Is it just me or is it quiet in here?  Why is the sound system turned down so low this morning?  I hate hearing myself sing.  Awkward.  At least it's not like last week.  It was so loud; funny though seeing everybody cranking down their hearing aids at the same time. 

 Uh-oh.  High note.  Here we go.  Ugh.  I can't believe they expect people to sing that high.  I mean, the congregation just goes quiet right then every time.  Well, except for the granny warblers.  Ok, second time through the chorus, still can't hit that high note.  Having my mouth open like this make me want to yawn.  Huh, at least it's not just me - the pastors sipping his water too. That's funny.

 Prayer time.  Oh right, that guy always prays.  "Father, we just thank You Jesus for...". Do these people even listen to themselves as they pray?  I mean, we don't have to say God or Jesus at the beginning and end of every phrase.  I should try that with my wife sometime - 'honey, I just want to thank you dear for making such a good supper tonight love.  And dear, I want you to know... '. Gotta focus... 'Mr. Sanders, I just want to thank you for employing me sir and giving me a job Mr. Sanders and always coming through with a paycheck Mr. Sanders.'.  LOL.  Wait, can I LOL myself?  I’ll have to ask my kids.

 Singing again.  Although, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to sing.  It’s just him singing – he’s got a good voice so maybe this is a solo?  Looking around.  Some people are singing.  Some people are just looking confused.  Well, approaching critical mass.  And, ok.  Now I think I better sing.  Oh but this song drives me crazy.  I thought I recognized it.  Who decides what we sing anyways?   I get that we have an intimate relationship with God but this is going a little too far.  I just don't think that I can feel honest about singing those words to God. 

 ***

 You know the guy.  The guy with his arms crossed, staring at you as you lead worship, sometimes singing.  This is my guess at what he might be thinking, although, I sincerely hope that he wasn’t thinking all of those things on any given Sunday.  And really, there are some maturity issues within that running monologue that need to be addressed.  ‘Feed me and get me outta here?’  ‘I hope it’s so and so leading worship?’  Those ideas really flow from a self-centred view of worship – I come to get out of it what I want.  That misses out of the 1 Corinthians 14 truth that the worship service is about everyone being built up as God is glorified and maybe that’s an issue needs to be addressed by church teaching.

 Admittedly though, this guy makes some good points.  While trying to be a little funny and for sure over dramatic to make the point, I tried to maintain the assumption that this guy was a faithful, born-again believer, or at least someone open to the faith who sincerely (whether or not his macho appearance would communicate it) desired to have a meaningful meeting with God.  And he’s right – if we as worship leaders forget the ‘everyone being built up as God is glorified’ part, we risk alienating the people we are meant to lead. 

 ‘Everyone being built up as God is glorified’ means that we need to be intentional about helping our congregation to worship, helping them to see what’s happening and what’s happening next.  Focused calls to worship, good volume level, singable keys, prayer both with the mind and with the spirit, clear indicators when to sit and stand and sing; these things will help people to approach God meaningfully no matter what their background or personality. 

 And hopefully with prayer and teaching and intentional effort to serve the congregation, you’ll see that guy’s arms go from across his chest, into the air to praise our gracious God, who deserves our absolute and unobstructed worship.

Keeping the passion

If you are involved in worship leading week after week, year in, year out, it’s easy to start to do things by rote.  The constant grind of preparing and meeting a deadline every Sunday can start to blunt the reality of what we are doing – we lead God’s people into His presence – God! – the holy, righteous Creator and Judge of the universe who by all accounts should have destroyed us, His enemies, but who gave His only Son, to die in our place, so that we might become beloved children.  God deserves to be our heart’s sole desire.  God is worthy of our passionate adoration.  Here are three quick prompts to help us keep our passion for God.

1. Do it for Him.

Leaving aside the fact that we are by design obligated to honour God – we are after all “…a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness” (1 Peter 2:5)[1] – we need only contemplate those excellencies in order to rekindle our passion for God.  Think about the God we serve:

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Mat 6:8 NIV)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us…  For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! (Rom 5:8-10 NIV).

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb 4:15-16 NIV)

 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1Pe 1:18-19 NIV)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1Jo 3:1 NIV)

And that doesn’t even broach the Old Testament!  If you find your passion for God waning, take some time to work these truths about God into Your heart.  Remind yourself of the vast majesty and greatness and compassion of our God and do it for Him.

2. Do it for them.

As you look out at the congregation on a Sunday morning, what do you see?  The arms crossed guy?  The grumpy one that always complains about the volume level?  The teen you saw drinking at the park on Saturday? 

What does God see?  He sees His chosen people, holy and dearly loved (Col 3:12).  He sees His Church, whom Christ loved and gave Himself up for, to cleanse and make radiant (Eph 5:25-27).  Sure, this gathering is not perfect, but not even Paul could claim that (Phil 3:13).  And frankly, God knows that – when He looks at His Church He knows that He loves us and has made us holy and is calling us grow in holiness (Romans 1:7, 1 Cor 1:2). 

These are God’s people before us and we are given the privilege of stewarding them, of leading them.  I sometimes think of Jesus in this regard, looking on His people with compassion as sheep without a shepherd (Matt 9:36). 

We who are worship leaders have been given a tremendously privileged opportunity – God has called us to help His people, whom He redeemed at great personal cost, to express their thanks and devotion to Him.  If you find your passion for leading worship waning, remember who these people are, and the price God paid to redeem them and do it for them.

3. Do it for you.

I admit that I struggled with this one.  If I am called to worship as a living sacrifice, my job is not to ‘worship for me’; my job is to die.  But this is about maintaining passion for God and leading people to praise Him, so let me put it this way.  If you spend a lot of time conscientiously thinking about how to best build up the Body as God is glorified, you will probably end up using a number of resources in worship that you may or may not love deeply: a song or music style that you don’t personally identify with but that you know another segment of your congregation will embrace, an historical prayer that speaks to an experience of life unknown to you at this point, a video that your drummer raved about; a good worship leader doesn’t just use resources he or she likes, but elements that will help the whole church, in all its God-given variety, to worship meaningfully. 

That being said, make sure to invest time outside of corporate worship in worship forms that ‘speak your heart language.’  Engage with God with songs and readings and nature walks (or whatever) that stir your heart.  For me, this means varied practices like reading from 19th century hymnals or listening to/meditating along with a band like ‘Worth dying for’ (think Hillsong United meets Linkin Park).  In those practices, I often feel my vigor for God renewed.  Would I incorporate that into corporate worship?  Maybe yes, maybe no, but that’s okay.  ‘Doing it for me’ reminds me that God has in His infinite wisdom knit me together with my unique preferences and gifts, according to His purposes, so I have individual personal value – I am a child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made.  And that truth should drive each of us to use the unique character that God has given each of us to serve His Kingdom, so yes – do it for you.

Our God deserves our passionate adoration and He deserves servants who will serve Him passionately.  Do it for Him.  Do it for them.  Do it for you.

[1] Luke 17:7-10 demonstrates this point even more bluntly.