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SMALL-CHURCH YOUTH MINISTRY: Big Worship

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By Stephanie Caro
3/11/2009

I’ll admit it: Experiencing meaningful worship with a small youth group can be hard. Unless one of your teenagers is a future Chris Tomlin, the whole worship thing can feel awkward. So some youth workers just give up trying to incorporate a worship time into their regular group time and go back to playing Capture the Flag—throw in a few snacks and they call it a night

Experiencing meaningful worship with a small youth group can be hard. Unless one of your teenagers is a future Chris Tomlin, the whole worship thing can feel awkward.

It’s hard to compete with the glitz and glamour of worship in a larger group.

So don’t compete. Be who you are. Take what you have and create your own worship feel. Just don’t give up. Jesus said to worship him—he never mentioned anything about a quorum. There are things a smaller group can do for worship that larger groups can’t. Let me throw these ideas at you:

• Create an intimate worship space.
In my small church we have a large sanctuary—10 kids are lost in that type of setting. So to set the mood for worship, find ways to make larger spaces small. Use portable partitions or furniture or even large pillows to enclose your group in a circle. Change the lighting by using candles. Focus kids’ attention by setting up an altar table with imagery that ties into the night’s message. Another tip: Don’t worship in the same place you play games.

• Use current music, even if you don’t sing.
Every summer when I serve at a Group Workcamp (groupworkcamps.com), I can always pick out the smaller groups when the singing begins: They don’t know the songs everyone else seems to know. Singing is often the first worship practice sacrificed in a small group. So grab a few good worship CDs, or Napster your own mix. Start your kids off slowly—try playing the worship CDs in the background. In a few weeks you can move to joining in on a CD.

• Create (and do) the service together.
If your group isn’t used to worship experiences and you suddenly introduce them, it will go badly. Avoid that pothole by bringing them in from the beginning—get buy-in. Find and assign readings together. Ask kids to pick music that fits the environment. Teach them to find Scriptures that fit your topic. Involve everyone—it’s one of the advantages you have. As you go, you’re quietly teaching them about worship.

Believe me, these tips come from the worship school of “what in the world was I thinking?” I’ll never forget how upset I got the first time I whipped out my cool guitar at a new church...and the kids wouldn’t sing. What a knucklehead! Give my tips a try; then email me and let me know how it goes: theemqueen@aol.com.

Stephanie has been working with children, youth, and adults for more than 27 years. She’s on Group’s presenter team, and she’s a frequent contributor to both group and Rev! Magazines. She lives in Florida.

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After 8 years in the same church our worship has been a work in progress. We have moved from no music to iWorship to our own band that leads out. The best thing I can advise to anyone is to get people to buy in. It is amazing how the energy level and participation increases when youth and adult invloved with you get excited because they are an active part of what is going on.

Scott Loar 9:01:52am on 1/28/2010

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I believe that not having the numbers or musical talent to produce a 'worship' time or event can be a great advantage. Worship is so much more than music and when we have had that guitar player/band lead incredible worship music, we tend to get stuck there. Most years, we haven't had that type of music leader and have been forced (by our desire to worship Jesus Christ) to be very creative in leading worship and branched out into many forms of worship beyond singing. Don't get me wrong, I love to sing to the Lord in a group setting large or small. However, I also love to worship without music...with our lives, hearts, prayers, posture, silence, confession, artwork, illustrations, obedience, spiritual disciplines, etc.

yp343 1:01:15pm on 1/26/2010

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Isn't seeing youth get into worship just the best? God is so good! Thanks for letting me share in what you're doing as we partner together. I love my small in number but big in heart youth group!

Stephanie Caro 12:05:17pm on 5/19/2009

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These are GREAT ideas! I just started at my church a few months ago. We have tried a few things in our worhsip time, but I have found that in the last several weeks our worship has started to take off. Our students are starting to re-learn what worship is...and to do it with authenticity. It's very exciting. We've been doing something very simple as well. We've been worshipping to a popular song group's DVD and put the subtitles on so we can have the words on the TV. It's worked GREAT! Additionally, it's a LIVE DVD so my students not only get to see other people worshipping, but they get the feeling of being there, involved in something bigger than themselves.

Mike 10:03:33am on 3/18/2009

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Sometimes it's so hard to break from the "big-group-better-worship-experience" thinking. But I've personally never had a worship experience as intimate, as personal, and as wonderful as being in a small group of God-seekers. We weren't great singers, but just listening to everyone sing their heart out with total abandon was truly indescribable - some even testified sheepishly that they thought we were like the entire church singing! I think what's really important is to let them truly encounter God - and have them a taste of how awesome His love is, that they can't help but worship Him. ^^

CyanFox 8:03:08am on 3/18/2009

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