Some conversation with the rest of the staff has gotten me thinking about some of the pitfalls of the way that youth ministry is done. As clergy we were talking about how churches in our area are moving away from a ministry of convenience to a ministry that seeks depth. They have been doing this by eliminating or shifting weekend services so that there is a dedicated Sunday School hour. This allows everyone to participate in both worship and Christian education. We have seen a number of young people going to Sunday school while mom and dad are in worship. While this a convenient offering the kids then don’t know what it is to be in worship. When they are expected to make worship a central part of their faith life as they grow up they don’t know how to worship corporately.
There is a real benefit in having everyone together for worship and there being no break down in ages. It can make for a great well rounded understanding of the body of Christ and community. the hard part is that it demands worship to be a place where all can connect through music, message and other pieces of the service. This is truly a daunting task from week to week. Also, the congregation needs to be open to a variety of diversity within the worship experience knowing that one style will not fit everyone.
The other side is that you would have youth and children’s worship that would be in another part of the building at the same time and mom and dad worship or at another time. Yet here these kinds of worship tend to take on a very different face than “big Church” on Sunday mornings.
As youth workers we have to always keep an eye on how we are transitioning our young people into the next stages of their spiritual journey. How are we giving them the tools to find a church that they connect with and can find places to serve in College, as they begin a family and as they move into middle age. Part of the church drop off of high school grads is because we have failed to do an effective job of transition our youth. Another part is that the church finds it hard to communicate in a way that these young people understand too.
Worship and integration into the larger church body is a challenge that we have to be mindful of so that we are not just a successful youth ministry but we are a thriving church today and tomorrow. We shouldn’t be afraid to be all together in worship (at least once and a while), or invite our youth to take up positions of leadership just as our adults do.
We let our youth lead “big Church”, run the computers and sound board, preach, and serve, but I know we can do better.
How are you doing this?
Here is a book that is some good food for thought too. 🙂 thanks for reading
Four Views of Youth Ministry and the Church
