What is "worship" to our Youth?
In this day and age, how do we get our youth (or other church members,too) to feel this!
“For to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God.”
A quote from William Temple, who was a former Archbishop of Canterbury in England
I found this quote looking for ideas for a church service that our Youth would WANT to attend!
To me, worship is truly a lifestyle choice. You can't come once a week or even twice a week and expect to fall into worship. It is something that is done all the time. Whatever you're doing, it should be done 'with the Lord'. All week, we should be preparing for the next special time set aside for meeting with the Lord and others.
ReplyDeleteThat said, making it real on a personal level is the first step for those involved in leadership.
Love this Jeffrey! A daily walk with God, brings a desire to worship Him!
ReplyDeleteWhat if they are involved in the service. Telling a childrens story, leading in prayer, doing special music, even planning the church service. How would they want to do things? Put that ball in their corner. In this position I would think they would pray about it and be led by the spirit. Perhaps they would like a special speaker, periodically even monthly. Rob Snider is awesome and really connects with the young folks. Once a month we could do a youth/young adult Sabbath. Let it be their baby with our help to the extent that they want our help. These are gifted and talented young people who have alot to share. This would begin a stronger realtionship with the Father as they would be seeking His will. Allow the 20ish group to be a one on one mentor to the teens. Encouraging them, conversing with them and being there for them. God showed me a long time ago we don't need to entertain our youth we need to get them involved in service projects. Being a spiritual mentor is a service ministry. The more responsibility they have, the closer they will walk with the Lord.
ReplyDeleteJust got home from Pathfinder Bible camp. what a fantastic weekend. Sabbath we asked how many like going to church. At least 80% raised their hands. with further questions and conversation we learned that the churches these kids attend have the youth very involved in the service and have pastors that connect to the youth on their level. Involvement and being relevant to our kids seems to be one of the keys. Great points Connie and Jeffrey! It is lifestyle and we need to help them realize that change.
ReplyDeleteConnie, other than games Saturday night there was no entertainment and the feedback we got was very positive reviews. You are right, they want to learn and be involved!
thanks for the input!
I agree lyle. I know that as a teen one of the main things that kept me in line and kept me yearning to learn more about God was my Sunday School teacher (the same as your Sabbath School teacher). She pretty much was our Youth Leader also even though we didn't have an "organized" youth group. First off, she was very understanding and supportive and wasn't judgmental in the slightest. We all felt that no matter what we were dealing with as teens at home or school, we could come to her and talk to her. Even with times that we messed up big time we still felt we could come to her because she would be sympathetic and understanding. Instead of getting a lecture, we would get "everyone makes mistakes..now lets see what we can do now to make sure that you dont fall into that trap again". She based her lessons in Sunday School on topics that we were going through, things that pertained to us like peer pressure, drugs, sex, jealousy, etc and she would take the word of God and show us actual verses that talked about those things and explained it in our terms. She had a jar in her room and asked that everyone write down a topic that we would like to hear about and that we didnt have to write our names on it, fold it up and stick it in the jar and she would read these later and sometime in the near future she would teach on them. Also once a month she would ask for a volunteer to teach Sunday School and whoever got it would plan a Sunday School Lesson for the next month. I did this several times and it really got me into the word of God and really praying about what to teach and what to say. Outside of Sunday School we often planned events together, we would have slumber parties, we'd go bowling, etc so it wasnt like just a once a week thing. She was our friend and mentor. Many times I wrote her personal letters telling her my troubles and what I was going through at the time and no matter what I was going through or had did, she was there with a hug and sound advice. I never was into drugs or sex or anything like that and I honestly believe that its because of this close relationship we had with her that keep me like that. Through her teachings and her close relationship with us, we learned to understand the Bible more and think of Jesus as a dear friend who was always with us and who understood things we went through and wanted to help. We looked forward to and counted down the days until Church the next week and we found ourselves reading more and praying more. As a side note I am very interested in reading the discussion here because I have 3 children of my own and it would be such a blessing for them to have what I had growing up and see them want to learn more, to want to pray more..especially during those torturous teenage yrs:)
ReplyDeleteLyle I love these kids and young adults! I am so glad when the spirit leads us in the right direction. Carrie thanks for sharing! We can make a difference in the lives of the youth, we just have to show them that we care with Christ's love!
ReplyDeleteThis conversation itself is a blessing to me. Indeed the early years of our lives is the most difficult. We really need to connect with the youths as real sympathetic mentors.
ReplyDeleteAnn and I were with 115 youth, grades 7-12, last weekend. As they shared with us their views on worship we learned that most of this group (an easy 80%) liked their worship services. What they wanted was more involvement and making it relevant to them.
ReplyDeleteCarrie, Thank you for sharing. We want our church leaders to connect to our youth as your SS teacher did with you.
Ann was just reading that "we must be INTENTIONAL about connecting with them and asserting that the church is a home for ALL youth." (Barry Gane from the book "Loving them back, Leading them home")
I love it! Keep this going Lyle and Ann. Can you send a link to my FB? Did y'all create this blog? God bless!
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