FORUM
Join the conversation with worshippers across the globe
Leading worship with a mainly non-christian congregation
Started by Jamie Bennett on 22 October 2008 - 10:10pm
| 22 October 2008 - 10:10pm | |
 |
Hi, in my churches outreach youth club, we are starting to have small, 2-3 songs, worship sets. I think it's going to be really good, as God works in awesome ways through worship. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to actually lead worship in an environment of young (11-16 year olds), rowdy (try to cause as much trouble as possible) non christian teens? I don't want it to seem like a gig to them, yet I don't want it to seem like it's got to be solemn, everyone standing still etc.....so yer, any advice would be greatly appreciated :) |
A few things you could try that I've done before...
1. I often make compilation 'youth work' cds for background music in youth clubs I've run. I try to put some christian music in amongst all the secular music. The benefit of this is that they subconsciously learn songs so that when you introduce them in a worship setting they won't seem as alien to them.
2. Try to pick songs which have simple lyrics the young people can understand and identify without having knowledge of the gospel. Repeat the song choices each week so that they have an opportunity to learn them. That way they have a door to engage and join in.
3. It's good to have people who explain why we worship, why we sing songs. It's something the young people in our youth group have been asking: Why do Christians sing songs together in church?
4. Go for it in worship and play for 'an audience of one'. If young people who you have earned trust and respect with see you all worshipping God with passion, they are more likely to join with you doing that. It might take a while if it is something they are not used to. If your teens are likely to use the opportunity to cause trouble, it helps to have other leaders to supervise the young people so it's something the worship leader/team don't have to worry about.
I also know something that has worked well in the past is to provide opportunities for them to go along to larger worship events aimed at specifically for that age group that have a mixture of Christians and non-christians. I know in Edinburgh we have Powerpoint (http://powerpointedinburgh.wordpress.com) and in Aberdeen and Inverness they have something called 'Souled Out' (http://www.souledout.org.uk). I know these events are run very well so that they are fun as well as being worshipful more than they are 'gigs'.
this is all just off the top of my head just now, so I hope some of that might be useful to you.
http://brunettekoala.wordpress.com
that's great, thanks for the advice. I think the point you made about it being for the audience of one is good, cos as they see us worshipping they will really start asking questions, which is good!
good luck with this jamie, sounds very challenging!
for me trying to get teens to sing is hard. even christian ones!! it might be that they just dont sing. many teens dont even sing at soul survivor! be encouraged tho but it might take time for anything to happen with them. maybe playing some dvds of hillsong might help them see the 'worship' idea you are trying to convey and being on a big scale might challenge them to think.
i also think i would encourage you to remember that worship isnt just singing. you could for example encourage the young people to go and wash some peoples cars for free in your local area as an act of worship for the local community?
God bless,
gav.
we did the worship set last night and it actually went really well! even the kids that are normally trouble makers got into it which is awesome as they normally try to cut themselves off during the "meeting" part of the night. We did Happy Day straight into Dance, then I'm a Friend of God (Whoa). I think we are going to be doing it more often now as it went well.
thanks for the advice Gav. the dvd's sound like a good idea, I think we may have shown a few in the past but I think it's definately worth doing it again. and also encouraging worship in other ways, one of the main youth leaders spends a lot of time with the youth of that area and they have done things like washing cars etc, we could do like a whole evening on worship...
But to anyone thinking about adding a worship time into their youth meetings, I would say its worthwhile. It definately worked for my church.
Jamie
I'm really encouraged to hear it went really well!! That's fantastic.
I'm also really glad to hear about encouraging worship in other ways too. That's so important. We've done that with youth groups and student groups. We used to have an annual event called "Just Do It" where people would split into groups doing variety of things from helping to feed homeless downtown, prayer walks, visiting elderly in residential homes, car washes, gardening, litter picking...worked really well. We also have done 24-7 prayer which worked really well too.
http://brunettekoala.wordpress.com