The last month has been an interesting one for our youth ministry. We had an awesome trip to Acquire The Fire, a weekend youth conference in KC, MO. We have seen the regrouping of our Young Adults portion of our Youth Ministry (for post-high school students). We have had a ton of visitors to our Wednesday night and Sunday programs. But probably the most visible change has been our reformatting of worship time on Wednesday nights.
We have de-emphasized our music and started a process of highlighting various other elements of worship - such as
prayer
sharing
needs
celebration
Scripture
In each of these areas we are wanting to offer continuing opportunities for students to participate and even lead in these areas on a weekly basis. While it is still a continuing process (I call it "the experiment") and there is still a long way to go, we are seeing students respond in amazing ways to this creative worship space. Listen to some of the things I've been hearing:
"This is the best thing that has ever happened to our Youth Ministry. It is no longer a force-feeding from the youth pastor. We students are now taking the responsibility to share."
"Thank you so much for inviting me to help plan and lead parts of the Wednesday service. It means so much that you believe in me."
After seeing another student share their testimony: "God is doing some amazing things in my life too. I really want to opportunity to share that with the group."
It is an awesome thing to see students more eager to pray with each other, go to the altar, write on a prayer wall, share their testimony of what God is doing in their life, than sing and socialize. I believe God is going to use this generation to change things and I believe that I am seeing the start of that revolution in the hearts of these teenagers right here in Buffalo, MO. Tell me, though, what are you seeing? Where is God taking you in this journey?
