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March 2000 Table of Contents
Special Feature
Student Worship Today
By Michael John Clement, Worship Leader
Student worship in the year 2000 is not what student worship was in 1990. As I have traveled leading students over the last eight years, I have seen God move students from camp sing-a-longs that centered around how much we could scream or put hand motions to, to crying out from a broken heart, on their faces before a holy God. Students today are tired of "Pharaoh, Pharaoh!" They would rather sing about someone who is alive! They come to youth events in these days to worship. Most of us who are products of youth groups from the 70's and 80's remember youth events. Events such as camp where we were focused on recreation and track times, and then in the evenings there was an hour of spirituality; not to say there weren't incredible decisions and movements of God during that hour. Don't get me wrong, these are teenagers and there is always a time and place to have fun, and they do, but students today want to see realness in worship, with no bulletin or time restraints. They are learning that worship is not just the hour on Sunday when they show up at the big church with their Sunday best on. They are applying worship in every aspect of their lives, anything they can do that glorifies Him, not just singing. It is their prayer life, their time in the Word, the way they treat their parents, the way they are representing Christ at school. I see more students clueing in on true worship than I do adults because students are looking for a fresh touch from God, not set in tradition or rituals.
The wave of this next generation's worship is catching the eye of their parents slowly. Parents are seeing their student's passion for God, wondering why they don't have the same zeal in their own worship. Shouldn't it be them looking to us for the example? This isn't the old "hymns vs. contemporary choruses" issue. I am talking about students crying out to encounter God, every time they worship, corporately or privately.
Musically, style is not as important as you might think with students. Simplicity is the best option. What do I mean? Many youth ministers think they have to get as much on stage as they can to be louder and flashier in order to be more rocking to get their students' attention. This is not so. Start simple with an acoustic guitar or just a piano. You might say, "isn't that too much like our traditional service on Sunday's," not necessarily. It is easier for them to see the true, authentic heart of the leader without all the other distractions of eight musicians on stage. At the most I would have an acoustic, bass, and drums to start with. As the students gain the respect for the ones leading, then add different instruments and elements, but not to take away from what God is doing during worship. You might be asking yourself, "What about attracting lost kids?" Lost students are looking for the same thing, authenticity. They don't have to see four electric guitars on stage to think your group is cool.
In an effort to keep focused on authenticity, I will challenge you to stay fresh with your choice of songs. So many times I have to come to lead an event with a group and might ask some of the students what songs they know or want to sing during our time together. The first thing they say is, "Can we please NOT sing 'Lord, I Lift Your Name On High' or 'Shout To the Lord'; we have run those in the ground." These are two great songs that God has been so worshipped with and will be for a long time. However, we have to blend them in when the Spirit leads us to, not just put them in the song order every week or even every other week because we know the students will sing louder on those specific ones. This is the main reason why Chris Davis and I started Acoustic Groove. As we traveled, we were always being asked if we had tracks, other than our normal worship CD's, that ministries could worship with or use to teach their worship bands fresh songs. We were overwhelmed by the response that youth ministers and worship ministers gave us when we began at the beginning of 1998. We have just completed our second full year and are growing daily!
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