YOUTH: Worship Education

Think about what teenagers know about worship.  They think it's boring unless the music is cool.  But hey, they're kids.  Anything they don't want to be doing at any given moment is described as boring.  In our desperate attempt to engage kids in worship we've allowed them to think worship is all about the music and how worship makes them feel.  Many of our youth may never experience liturgical worship.  As a result they think it's bad, boring, unnecessary, and meaningless when they finally do experience it.  I'm not saying one or the other worship style is right or wrong but either way the kids need to be educated as to appropriate Lutheran worship.

Please keep in mind that I personally believe that worship doesn't HAVE to come from the hymnal but it should still contain all the appropriate elements.  When our youth start making comments and decisions regarding worship they should be informed as to what they're actually talking about.  Given that, I started teaching the youth more about worship and created these documents using the listed resources.  You may get the books and create your own study or use my outline.

Documents

• Worship Bible Study Outline
• Worship Table of Parts
• Worship Rhythm and Planning Worksheet

Resources

• Meaningful Worship from CPH (Explains the meaning and importance of Lutheran Worship. It goes into much more detail than I did in my outline and includes discussion questions. I'm not sure of the quality of the discussion questions.)
• Gathered Guests from CPH, 2nd edition (This book gives the biblical and theological answer to the question 'Why do we worship?' from a traditionally Lutheran perspective.)
• Liturgy Explanation from The Lutheran Hymnal
• Reflections on Contemporary Worship from the LCMS commission on worship
• 10 Reasons Why We Use the Liturgy by the Rev. William Cwirla (posted at Higher Things)