Passing through the doors to where the middle school youth meet during church I saw girls laughing with one another, boys playing the interactive Nintendo Wii; to the right was like a little café where Italian sodas and perhaps even coffee could be purchased to raise money for the youth. The youth had what seemed to be an elaborate sound system and crew, 3 huge screens for videos or viewing the words to worship music. There was no shortage of places to make myself comfortable: barstool seats at a café style table, a gigantic beanbag to lounge on or, what I chose, just the traditional style chair at a round table. Fairly quickly I was recognized as a new face by one of the high school volunteer greeters. The young lady helped me to feel at home and welcomed.
The class of approximately 60 youth started off with some fun games. One in particular was to have 2 teams of 2 (boys vs. girls). Each youth of the same team put their head into one leg of the same pair of (new) pantyhose after stuffing each of their mouths with a whole banana. The goal was to strain the banana through the pantyhose and see which team could pass the most onto a plate. Yes, it was disgusting. But the kids were having fun. Another game (also boys vs. girls) was to get a football through a tire which was hanging from the high ceiling. The team to get the ball through was allotted portions of general earned youth funds to their team for youth projects. At least this was my understanding. With all the fun and silliness, I wasn’t sure how this would segue into valuable time focusing on Christ.
Next was worship time. The sound was cranked up and the band of adults an teens began to play. The music was loud! But the musicians were highly talented and the kids were excited. Many children toward the back of the room stood on chairs (I too was encouraged to stand on my chair by one of the young greeters). The songs chosen for the kids contained lyrics the kids could relate to in regard to impacting the world around them for Christ.
After a couple songs, one of the teens from the high school group came in to guest speak. I was very impressed by his message on overcoming giants and taking risks. In fact I was inspired to blog on it as a result.
When the message was concluded the band returned for a more subdued worship giving the kids time to reflect on God in a more intimate way. I was surprised to see many youth comfortable raising their hands in what appeared to be earnest servitude toward Christ. The kids seemed to leave in calmer spirits than they’d entered.
When I met my husband after the service I told him I wouldn’t mind having church with the youth every now and then. They revived in me an excitement and energy for life. I left pumped to serve Jesus as I’m certain many of the kids did as well.
Please visit these related blogs:
Reaching Infants, Toddlers and Preschools
Reaching Our Youth: High Schoolers