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[Worship] Re: Worship relevant for youth
From Mike Rimmer:
<<The youth in our church went off to a youth conference here in England and encountered a cool worship band who played songs by Delirious? Matt Redman, kevin prosch etc and came back fired up to worship but because the band at church is pretty tame (I play in the band!!) and the leader can't seem to snap out of the usual Integrity, Hosanna stream of songs, the youth seem very turned off.
I want to make it more relevant for them and for the students in the church who would enjoy this type of worship but it's a slow process. the youth want to take a Sunday service and play these new songs but the elders of our church don't want to start a youth thing because they don't want to marginalise them. I personally would love to see the mian worship group broaden out into material which will appeal to them.
Does anyone have any wisdom about how this can be achieved, especially when dealing with a very sensitive worship leader who sees any new suggestions as an undermining of his leadership??>>
I can't offer any experienced insight, but this is something I've been starting to think about as well. But I'm not in a hurry to force any kind of changes until I get a clear sense of direction from the Lord on it. I'm impressed with Matt Redman, and will probably introduce one or two of his songs in the near future. We don't have a youth band; well, we don't really have a band at all, which presents other challenges in selecting repertoire! [I could introduce a Deliriou5? song, but it would certainly not SOUND the same as it does on the CD, so would some of the youth be disappointed? Would they perceive it as lacking in integrity (a poor imitation), or rich in integrity (doing my best to do something relevant for them)???] We do "blended" worship, and have a "blended" team: pianist/pastor is 51, guitarist/music director is 35, three singers are 50-something woman, 40-something man, 14y/o girl; occasionally a 13y/o girl joins in with a violin; our organist is a 16y/o boy. We try to employ a wide range of styles and eras. [Yesterday's Pentecost service was rather eclectic, but that's a different post!]
Anyway... I don't know if there's a "right" way to introduce this (or any) new style of music. I do think there's some merit in the elders' desire to avoid marginalizing the youth. I know many others have youth bands, so they can work effectively if done for the right reasons, and pastored properly. But I'd be wary that it might create a dichotomy - and possibly a spirit of competition/exclusion - between the youth and the rest of the church. It could come across to the youth as "well, we don't really want to make this a regular part of our worship, but we'll indulge you for a special song or two (or maybe a whole service occasionally); it's not really worship, but if it will keep you in Sunday School, I guess we can put up with it." My own preference would be, as you suggest, for the regular worship team(s) to expand their repertoire (and integrate the young musicians as well.)
More philosophical stuff on this in a separate post...
Grace & Peace...
Paul LePine
Christ Church
Watertown, CT USA
860.636.0172
mailto:plepine@snet.net
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