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The Value of Praise and Worship in Youth Ministry  by Ian Anderson

There is nothing more absolutely amazing, more incredibly wonderful, more awe-inspiring, encouraging, refreshing, and fulfilling than God.   But I didn’t learn that from anyone telling me.   I had to experience God for myself.  And so does anyone else that wants to really know who He is.   But just like playing an instrument or learning to ride a skateboard or bike, we may see people do it all the time, but when it comes time to do it ourselves, we find that our worship is something that needs to be developed and practiced.

The crazy thing about it is that we were made to worship Him.  When we give ourselves to God in praise and worship, however that looks for each person or for each situation, we’re fulfilling our purpose as His creation!  But it’s never that simple when it comes time to do that on a Wednesday or Sunday night, or whenever your youth group is. Teenagers today are pulled at from every angle to do this, be that, buy this, think this way, live this way, and don’t let anyone else tell you different.   That’s why it’s so vital that for the 2 hours that they’re in church every week, we show them a God who’s real and loves them and is calling them to a higher living. 

For many of those kids, this is the first time they’re expected to really praise God on their own.  For the ones graduating from Sunday school into youth, hopefully they’ve already learned a decent amount of biblical foundations and didn’t just participate in glorified baby-sitting.  But for most of the kids, either whose parents made them start going to youth group when they were old enough or who maybe even came along at the invite of a friend, this is going to be the most foundational time that we have to try and teach them what the Bible says, who God is, and how to serve Him with the rest of our lives.  

And that’s where worship comes in.  In our times of praise and worship, when we’re our most vulnerable before Him, He can change us in ways that well-planned, even God breathed sermons, human videos, small groups, and whatever else simply can’t.  Those things are all great, important, and have their place, but when we’re fixed on God in worship, He can do amazing things that change who we are in an instant.  We need to have meaningful times of significant, God-reaching praise and worship and set the example for these kids to train them up in what it means to be a worshipping people.  Let’s continue to pray that God would show us how to make these things happen and use us in bringing a dying generation back to life.

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