Why it's important to have youth lead worship service - often!

Prior to my professional career of working in the church, I would never have thought it was a big deal to have youth lead service on a consistent basis. I grew up in a different denomination and church. At that church we did help usher once a month. There were other things in the life of the congregation that I was involved with that put me in leadership roles within that church. I was in the liturgical dance group that danced for most holiday services & at least once a quarter. I was an acolyte that carried the cross or candles down the isle. At 16 (when youth were considered official adult members) I became a challis barer. So I grew up very much in front of the church, but it wasn't actually leading every aspect of the service.

Fast forward many years to my time as the Director of Christian Education at a smaller church that was very children and youth focused I learned what it meant to really have a Youth Sunday. The youth sang as the choir, led the prayers, and read the scripture verses for the day. The only thing they didn't do was preach. Which after a few years in this position, they even preached as seniors after their mission trip each summer. They led Youth Sunday every second Sunday of the month! They only had about 2 months off a year.

Why so often you may ask. For many reasons: To learn about the entire service, every part. To become a contributing part of the larger community. Our yearly summer trip covenant asked them to be present & help led these services, among other things, to help create a consistent community. They partnered with each other & connected with different youth each month. It was also a service to the congregation that was helping to fund their trips. By being up front, they were not just teens whispering in the back of the church during service each week. They were names and faces that the entire congregation knew. It gave the congregation ownership of these children that they promised at baptism to help raise in the church and gave the youth ownership of the church and their church family.

How did it work? They practiced every Wednesday evening during the school year in the Youth Choir the first few years, some years attendance was better than others. The true time that they prepared was the day of. We got together about an hour or two before service, passed out parts & ran through the service. These kids have been watching older kids lead service their whole life & were ready (for the most part) when they arrived in 6th grade to start helping to lead. The older youth received the larger roles, like reading the scripture, while the younger ones shared one line call & response prayers to lead. Some were gifted in reading, some were not. Some preferred to sing, others not. They all did every part at some point and grew in their ownership of worship.

While there are many obvious benefits to these students leading 10 out of the 12 months of the year, the largest benefit I saw in these young adults was their confidence. When encouraged, by both adults & peers, to show up & to be in leadership roles they learned what it meant to be depended upon. When they were out of their comfort zones, but stood up & read in front of the congregation anyway, they gained confidence. They had an entire congregation that lined up to shake their hands & tell them what a great job they did. Seeing frightened 6th graders lead one line, responsive prayers turn into 12th graders that get disappointed when they aren't chosen to read the gospel each month is amazing.

The comfort we saw in the youth in their faith, the community that grew out of being together to lead & the feeling of belonging that was sensed by these youth shows why it's so important to give young people a real position within the church.