I am grateful to Paul for his work to lead the celebration last Saturday.
From work with his own teenage group he proposed some of the requirements that they had asked for in worship that they want.
Freedom of expression (individuality within boundaries. Resent imposition of ‘tradition’)
Informality (formality often focusing on tradition, takes focus away from God)
Modern music (music integral part of youth culture today, greater opportunity for expression)
Short delivery (not short attention-span, but quicker at assimilating information.)
Variety (loud music / silence, singing / prayer, Bible reading / drama, teaching / dance)
Movement (passive in front of TV & PC! Active often in different way today, creative)
Relevancy (youth have very different issues to those of adults)
Timing (greater choice & opportunity. Parents’ dilemma - Keep Sunday Special. Why not Sat evening, Tue evening?)
Venue (Many churches inappropriate) Parish church in community, experience from the GATHERING highlighted many communities.
I am particularly grateful for some useful insights that I had come across. Especially the question of short attention spans, often given as a criticism of youth cultures, but this is the result of different rates of taking information in, and different learning styles in schools.
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