Praise and Worship Help/Suggestions

helives25 · 06-18-2003, 04:06 PM

I've just "inherited" our church's Youth Group Praise Team. I'm a sophomore in high school, and this is the first time I've actually led a praise and worship team. I'm a little concerned because our youth group definitely struggled this past year when it came to concentrating on worshipping God. We've had your basic problems; people just standing but not worshipping, cliques talking amongst themselves while the band is playing and people are worshipping, etc... Suggestions on anything from how a room could be arranged (our youth room has couches, which may be part of the problem), to lighting, etc. is appreciated. If you have any tips, hints, or suggestions coming from your experiences are welcome. Any comforting words for myself and the group are also appreciated (I'm a little stressed out). Thanks for your concern, and please remember to pray for our group--and youth groups everywhere.

Psalm 62:1-2: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvaton; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

Ashleigh · 06-18-2003, 06:40 PM

Start off with some more up beat worship songs, with actions like lean on me and such then people can get all there energy out or maybe play a game or two before you do worship, when people start to wind down do some slower songs.

georgeo · 06-18-2003, 07:37 PM

you're in a rough situation.
the best advice i could ever give you is to pray. pray in your personal prayer time about worship.
pray with your worship team before you practice, pray right before you lead others.
pray that God will bring people's focus on Him and nothing else, and that people would fall in love with Him, and desire to worship Him.

i wouldn't dare tell you to dim lights or anything-i think once people worship, lights dimmed is good, because its easier to seperate from the world and focus on God, because you don't feel like you're so exposed, but maybe thats not a good for a group that is learning how to worship.

one last idea- talk about what worship means to you. you may have to think and pray about this awhile first, but talk about it, and then play a song that means alot to you.

In Christ,
David

JTH · 06-19-2003, 11:30 AM

I run into the same problems. I am an adult leading middle school age kids. I used to try to say funny things and such, but I got a lot of blank stares and I think it may have taken away from the worship. I've found it works best to let the Holy Spirit and the music lead. But of course we still have a long way to go. Every once in a while, the talking and stuff gets so bad during the slow songs, that I end up saying something to the kids about "you don't have to sing, but don't be a distraction to others". This usually helps, but I wouldn't want to say it too much, because then they would become deaf to it. Anyway, you are not alone. Keep praising God.

TheBassPlayer · 06-19-2003, 11:39 AM

well, our youth group has couches and lights dimmed and a computer projection and a stage and instruments and (almost) the works, BUT if your youth group isn't focused then all that stuff doesn't matter. I couldn't really tell you what to do except not to follow in thier ways. Try and start off your worship time with upbeat songs, (as someone already suggested) and if you or your youth pastor can, talk openly to your youth group about what whorship means and that if they are not here to worship God, then they shouldn't come. (I mean, don't say it in a rude way, you don't want to scare anyone off) but whatever works. Hope i helped.

ICallHimTurtle · 06-20-2003, 01:29 AM

I have a couple suggestions that helped when I started leading. It depends on your group, but here are the things that really helped:

Get rid of the couches. Or at least push them back against a wall, a good distance away from where you worship. They give kinda a chatty, relaxed format to hang out in, and while fellowship is awesome, there's a time and a place for it and it doesn't sound as if your group knows that just yet. Chairs or the floor work fine.

Ask some of the chattier people to help set up equipment, or even sing maybe? Find out if they play any instruments and invite them to play with you.. It makes them feel involved, like the group is thier own and they're needed. Heck, ask them to suggest a song, or photocopy music even. They're less likely to disrupt the worship time when they've had a hand in preparing for it.

Pick a song that means something to you, tell them that and why (I think someone already said this one). Invite one of your fellow students read scripture or to pray in between certain songs, like when you're transitioning from a fun-medium type song to a slow one. Quiets people down and prepares thier hearts for God to move, if He hasn't already.

Tchabu · 06-20-2003, 02:56 PM

At our church, on Sundays, we start off with a really upbeat, sometimes very loud song, designed to sort of wake the people up. After that, we pray and then go into another upbeat song, then a medium and finally one that's winding down and allows for a lot of reflection and intimacy.

At our youth group, we range in ages from 11 to 25, so it's a big spread, but we always have some sort of activity or discussion before we worship--for example, last time, we prayed for the people to come and fill the empty seats in our church and for salvations, other times we have had members of the band talk about crucial elements of worship and the attitude of your heart as you worship--I once told the group about Mary, who anointed Jesus's feet with oil and the sort of humility in her heart that made her such a perfect picture of worship. Sometimes we will all just lift our voices to God beforehand--this is so incredibly effective, because when you have all these people standing and shouting their thanks to God, it makes it seem pretty stupid to go from that to talking about something utterly meaningless--it also gets you pumped and excited to be there and to spend time in His presence.

Also, it helps if you ask everybody to stand and come up front to worship--actually offer and invite them to come and present themselves before God. And, if you phrase it like that, it becomes something more important than just standing there and singing songs--"Come present yourself before God and thank Him for everything He's given you."

Tell them what a privelege it is to worship--on one hand, there are millions of believers all over the world who cannot even sing worship songs aloud for fear of being caught and executed for following Christ. And, this may be of help to the worship team, in the Old Testament, nobody could lead worship unless they were born into the tribe of Levi--no matter how talented, no matter what the desire in your heart was, you weren't permitted to do it unless you were of this special, elect group that God had chosen and set apart. Don't think of your worship team as a band, think of it as a group of people chosen out of the whole church by God to lead the assembly into His presence. It's an awesome privelege.

I hope some of this helps, but, above all, pray for unity and a hunger and passion in your youth--pray that they get a revelation of God and a desire to serve Him like has never before been seen, and just be faithful, because if you seek His will, He will be faithful, too.

In His Grip,
Tchabu

in_his_grip · 06-20-2003, 03:10 PM

some very good advise there...i especially like what icallhimturtle said about inviting ppl to help set up/play/etc...very nice...

bossman · 07-05-2003, 09:05 PM

that is a tough job, very tough. I was part of a big youth group that really didn't seem to like worship. But it deffinatly helped when they had some of the leaders befriend some of the younger, or more talkative kids, and sit with them, also they had monitors, like adults kinda stationed around making sure kids weren't disrupting, but I'm not sure how much I liked that...

suntuoso · 07-19-2003, 04:03 PM

I think you should have your seats in a circular type thing , so every one is facing each other .
ya'll should have about 10 min. prayer time after
each meeting . Turn out the lights and pass a glow
stick or something . and when it gets in to each person they pray. I hope these tips help.

georgeo · 07-19-2003, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazydrummer123

I think you should have your seats in a circular type thing , so every one is facing each other .
ya'll should have about 10 min. prayer time after
each meeting . Turn out the lights and pass a glow
stick or something . and when it gets in to each person they pray. I hope these tips help.

that works really well with a group of people who are very comfortable worshiping and comfortable worshiping together, however, my personal experience with a cold footed worship group was that the circle made people nervous. i personally like the worship circle, but i wouldn't dare do it again with a group of people who aren't comfortable with worshiping in front of people.

i thought of another good idea- turn up the volume- if people can't hear themselves as loud as everything else, sometimes they feel more comfortable to sing, and this opens the door to worship.

Rock_Rhythm · 07-21-2003, 02:34 PM

I've been leading worship for almost 5 years now and that is almost always a problem. It seems like certain times of the year are worse than others, but you can get through it. Pay attention to what songs they sing along on. There is nothing wrong with playing the same set of songs for a few weeks in a row. If you get to the more reverent worship songs and you can see that no one is focused on God, talk to them about it. Maybe even play a song that speaks about the situation that they are in. The "Heart of Worship" is a good one for that situation. Tell everyone to make their chair an alter and kneel down and just listen to the song the first time you play it, then tell them to stand up and sing the song like a prayer. They will get the message.

helives25 · 07-30-2003, 12:56 AM

Hey Guys!
I started this thread, and I just want to really thank you guys for all of your great suggestions... they have all been thought about and put to heart, and I hope that we can put some of these suggestions into effect next year... Keep the suggestions coming you guys! They've all been great!

Thank You (and keep 'em comin'!),
Wesley
~Philippians 2:14-15