YOUTH MINISTRIES OFFER OPTIONS

TEENAGE YEARS PIVOTAL TIME FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

By By Bettina Lehovec <a href="mailto:BLEHOVEC@NWAONL

Posted: November 28, 2009 at 3:12 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

ROGERS — Are you ready to rock?” “Yeah!” “We’re ready to rock for you!”

The words signal the start of the Summit, a youth-led service at Central United Methodist Church in Rogers. Each Wednesday night, teens come together to worship with their peers. They sway on the carpeted floor before a low stage, clapping in time to the strong back beat.

“If Christ is on our side, who can be against us?” they sing. “If Christ is on our side, we won’t be afraid.”

Blue and yellow spotlights illuminate the young musicians on stage. They deliver a couple of high energy songs before switching to a more devotional mode. The lead singer closes her eyes as she feels her way into the words. The mood changes to reflect the quiet pace.

Electric guitar player Nathan Aronowitz sets his instrumentaside to riff on the topics of death, “issues of the world” and personal responsibility. On his way home from a recent Wednesday nightservice, he saw a man collapsed on the sidewalk, Aronowitz relates. The 14-year-old urged his mother to turn around. By the time they got back to the scene, other people had arrived. Yet the thought of what could have happened burns in the boy’s mind.

“He could have been beaten. He could have been an elderly man who just fainted there,” Aronowitz says. “We don’t want to think bad things happen, (but they do). Even a fi ve-minute delay could be fatal.”

He encourages his peers to step forward when they see a need. “Issues. There are issues. We have to address the issues; we have to take action.” Making Faith One’s Own

The Summit service at Central United Methodist is one of many church programs geared toward youth. When done well, such ministries support young people in growing into a mature faith, said Dan Lambert, professor of youth ministries at John Brown University in Siloam Springs.

“The whole goal of youth ministry needs to be to help kids leave their parents’ faith and learn to adopt faith for themselves,” he said. “The whole purpose is to help kids understand who God is, so their faith can be their own, not dependent on parents or other community.”

That means helping teens examine the basics of their faith and understand why they believe as they do, Lambert said. It’s an excellent time to delve deeply into the teachings of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, which is packed with valuable life lessons, he added.

Service is another excellent way to help young people ground their faith, he said. “Kids learn through doing,” and service teaches them to focus on others rather than themselves.

Both small group and big group events are important, Lambert said. Many churches host concerts, convocations and lock-ins for youth. Some teenagers from area Catholic churches attended the National Catholic Youth Convention in Kansas City, Kan., last week. An anticipated highlight was a twohour Mass with 25,000 peers.

Worship services geared toward youth are a great way to engage young people in the language they understand, Lambert said. Such services typically include pop music, a youth-oriented message and a visual component such as video clips or a PowerPoint presentation.

Yet ultimately, the goal must be to help teens grow beyond those bells and whistles into a mature faith, Lambert said. Young people must transition from a focus on what they getfrom church to what they can give.

“(Youth services) do a good job getting kids in the door. The challenge is, how are those kids then discipled?” Small Groups Nurture Faith

Fellowship Bible Church in Rogers combines Sunday youth services with small group meetings throughout the week. Junior high and high school youth meet in same-sex groups of about 15 to share recreational activities, Bible study and discussion.

Small groups form the backbone of many youth programs, Lambert said. Ideally, adult leaders stay with the same group throughout their growing up years, providing a perspective kids often can’t hear from their parents.

“Parents can’t raise teenagers by themselves, because by their nature, teenagers push parents away,” he said.

Finley Robinson, a team leader with Fellowship Student Ministries, explained his church’s approach.

“The basic principle is hundreds of years old,” he said. “You take someone and spend your life with them. It’s spiritual mentoring, discipleship. ... It’s changing the world one life at a time.”

Mentors comprise all ages and all walks of life, he said. They offer a role model of what it looks like to live out their faith as parents, spouses, workers and community members. The rewards are great, he said.

“You can’t take stuff with you, but you can leave a legacy in your relationships with other people.”

As junior high students develop into more mature teenagers, they are given the opportunity to disciple students in the elementary age program. This allows students to experience both sides of the relationship modeled by the Apostle Paul and his protégé, Timothy.

“(The idea) is to be both the teacher and the student,” Robinson said. “That’s how you learn.”

At Central United Methodist, teens split into breakout Bible studies after the Summit service. Adult leaders tie Scripture to hands-on activities in art, music, sports and movies.

In the art room, for example, about a dozen teenage girls inked a favorite Bible verse on a hand-painted background. Other students watched “The Lion King” and discussed parallels with Christ.

An in-depth Bible study proved equally enthralling to a group of junior high and high school boys. The quintuplet debated the deeper meaning of Jesus’ transfi guration and how to apply those lessons to their lives.

“This is enjoyable,” said Nicholas Lisowski, 13. “It helps you understand more. It helps you take it in and learn deeper than before.”

The boys lauded the youth program at Central, likening it to a family that supports one another no matter what.

“You come to Wednesday Night Live and everything outside fades away,” Lisowski said. “You become more of who you are. It’s easier to understand kids your own age. You want to come. It’s enjoyable.

“(Church services geared for adults) are all basically the same thing,” he said. “You go to church. You listen. You leave. You don’t get anything out of it. Here, you go, you talk, you listen, you learn. It stays with you. You take it into your life.”

Teenagers are ripe for this journey of self-discovery, Lambert said.

“Adolescents are asking big life questions. The churches that are willing to help them answer them are the ones doing a really good job of bringing in lots of kids.”

Yet it’s a mistake to judge youth ministry solely by numbers, Lambert said. Eff ectiveness can only be measured years down the road, in the ways young adults live their faith in school, career, family and community.

Religion, Pages 10 on 11/28/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.