Empowering the Next Gen: Student Led Worship
By: Chris Lombardo
As someone who served in the past on a student ministry staff discipling student worship leaders, I've witnessed the impact of worship in the lives of students. Now, leading STS Worship allows me to experience the joy of seeing these efforts come to fruition from the other side of things. Here are three ways for student pastors to create a healthy worship culture within their student ministry.
1. Creating Future Worship Leaders
Having students lead your worship times does so much more than just teaching musical skills or song leading. It is about teaching them to understand what worship really is. Allowing students to be in leadership in worship, yes, not only helps them craft their skills but also helps them take their walk with Christ seriously and make it personal to them.
While mentoring your students it is crucial to equip them with a true understanding of worship. This includes correct theology, practical aspects of leading on-and-off stage, and the importance of personal spiritual discipline. Doing this we are preparing them not just for moments of leading worship but to live the rest of their lives committed to working on their walk with Christ.
2. Creating Peer Encouragement
Students leading in worship (but really leading in any capacity) naturally creates a culture of peer encouragement. Seeing their friends lead worship inspires other students to explore and embrace their roles within the church. Having students lead other students in worship not only enhances the worship service but also encourages other student involvement. When students are serving it increases their buy-in level to church.
In my experience, student buy-in increases when their friends are involved in leading. This not only makes the worship setting more relatable but also creates a supportive atmosphere where students encourage and motivate one another. When students and people alike feel like they are a part of something it only strengthens their love for that entity.
3. Deepening the Faith
Encouraging worship to be a part of students’ daily lives aims to deepen their walk with Christ. Worship has the power to shift and change things. Worship helps us take things to the Lord. It helps us take our eyes off the things around us and shift them toward our Savior. By participating in and leading worship, students learn to make their faith an everyday part of their lives, strengthening their friendships, their school, work, families, and so much more.
Encourage students to think deeply about how their worship affects their personal lives. It is great when they talk about their own experiences and what they have learned—it really helps them understand their faith better and put it into practice. This kind of reflection is super useful for helping them make choices based on their faith as they deal with different situations in life.
By having these values in your student ministry, you will not only enrich the worship experience but also help create and establish a culture that is full of vibrant, engaged, and bought-in young believers. You have the privilege and responsibility to guide these young individuals towards a deeper relationship with Christ through worship. Let us commit to this mission with passion, with expectance of the great things God will do through the lives of your students. Let us move forward with the confidence that our efforts will prepare them to be future leaders who will continue to advance the Kingdom.