Aminta Palmer believes youth have the power to change the church. She first realized that, she said, after watching her own teen-agers worship.
"I'm just a mother of two kids whose passion is worship," Palmer said. "I've seen God working in them, working in their friends, and I'm convinced He's using today's youth to reach out to more people. Worship is powerful."
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About WorshipTogether WorshipTogether.com is a resource for church leaders, worship leaders and teams, musicians, singers and songwriters. WorshipTogether hosts conferences and events around the world, attended by all age groups. Well-known worship leaders, including Matt Redman, David Ruis, Stuart Townend, Charlie Hall, Tim Hughes and Chris Tomlin regularly lead conference sessions. The next WorshipTogether conference is scheduled for Nov. 15-17 in Eastbourne, United Kingdom. The conference was recorded and available on an MP3 CD-ROM for $109, available from Conference Media Group. Audiocassettes also are available. Tips from worship conference leaders: -- While he has no set formula for congregational songs, Tim Hughes ("Here I Am to Worship") said songs should be "singable" and something to which everyone can worship. "You may have to make things a bit more simple to make it accessible to all," Hughes said. "Too simple, though, can make it mundane." -- Stuart Townend ("How Deep the Father's Love" and "In Christ Alone") cautioned worship leaders to pay attention to a song's words. "There always has to be a time to feed the mind; be leery of those that don't have that," Townend said. "We need to get into the meaning of what we're saying; dig and draw things out just like a preacher would do. Let (the congregation) know what phrases mean." -- Good congregational songs are those which many people can connect with, not just musical people, said David Ruis ("You are Worthy of My Praise"). Worship involves more than talented musicians or perfect musical performances, he said. "We're not just trying to hit it out of the park in worship services on Sunday," Ruis said. |
"These are kids from different churches, all of whom are looking to take something back to their congregations, their communities," Palmer said. "They're going back bolder, with more a sense of purpose."
Nearly 1,400 pastors, worship leaders and church volunteers attended the WorshipTogether conference Oct. 17-19, where they discussed everything from sound systems and crafting congregational worship songs to introducing change in a church's worship time.
Change generated the most interest. Like the young worship leaders Palmer brought to the conference, attendees wanted to know how to lead worship in a changing culture.
"Change is here to stay," said Mike Pilavachi, pastor of Soul Survivor, a youth outreach ministry based in Orange County, Calif. "As pastors and worship leaders, we have to remember not to do things for the sake of change, but to be obedient (to God)."
Churches must find a balance between content and emotion during worship services, Pilavachi said.
"I don't think we realize how much the church has been hijacked by the ‘consumer' mentality around us," he said. "We're in danger of turning the Almighty into an ‘allmatey' -- a mate."
Worship is about more than the music, Pilavachi said. A few years ago, Pilavachi's congregation had lost sight of what true worship is, caught up instead in great music, he said. Matt Redmon, recognized as Christian music's leading worship song writer, was the church's worship leader.
"We got to a point where we cut back on instruments to focus on what we were bringing to the throne," Pilavachi said. "It was only then when we really learned what God was calling us to do."
Redmon's song "Coming Back to the Heart of Worship" was written during that time.
Relationships and relevance
Of the worship leaders Rita Springer has met while on the road touring, 80 percent mirror what they've seen rather than worshiping out of their personal experiences with God, she said.
People often ask Springer, a worship leader and Christian recording artist, what makes a good worship leader.
"It's from that resource (God) that we lead," Springer said. "We're used to building programs and not relationships. As a worship leader, you have to make the congregation jealous for the relationship you have with Jesus."
Cultural relevance is also key, Pilavachi said. He urged worship leaders to help pastors realize there is a distinction between values and cultural expression. People from various cultures can have the same values, and the church has a responsibility to reach out to all cultures, he said.
"Jesus was relevant to His culture, and so should we be," Pilavachi said. "Don't do church today in a ‘50s culture, a ‘60s culture or worst of all, a Christian ghetto culture that no one understands."
