Singing at trees....

[CCCYouthLeadVocal]

One of the main reasons I wanted to find a place like this was to talk about this subject.

I've been singing in my church's youth band for a couple of months now, so I may still be kind of new, but ever since i started and even before that our youth has stood motionless and staring. I assumed it was due to loss of PowerPoint for lyrics, nope that didn't fix anything. So I thought, "Maybe I'm not active enough on stage....nope, I've done everything short of jumping off the speakers and into the crowd. I've recieved some recent insight though, "Just remember who you are singing to, God. You are just leading the worship to God." A REVALATION! I'm not putting my heart into the song for God! So I ignored the forest of swaying texting trees, and moved my songs towards God. The only problem is as I look out into the crowd, I still see the blank staring faces of the motionless youth. I will admit that this is quite discourageing. I have to keep my mind focused towards God but this is very hard in this situation.

If you have any advice at all on ways to get a youth group more pumped during worship, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post here!

[renee]

glad to hear you are heading in the right direction with putting your focus on god. god moves and works in lives despite what we 'think' we observe during a service. keep your focus solely on him.

while i have not lead worship to a youth group alone a few things to consider...have you tried different types of songs? do they actually like the music you are singing? another key thing that i often notice is how is your band? do they play well together? do they help add variety to songs? is there unity among the worship team? are you authenic in your worship? are you singing on this team for the right reasons? examine your heart...and the heart of god...not sure this helps but maybe there are questions here you haven't asked yet and you can ponder.

[WorshipFocus]

It's probablly an issue of comfortability. Remember teens are more "Self Conscience" (especially girls) than any other people on the planet. No-one wants to do ANYTHING that will get them "made fun of" or make them appear different.

Honestly, what I have seen (with teens) is if a group of popular kids "get into it" then the rest will follow. Hopefully their hearts are into it and this will happen.

Pray

[Smitty]

Good responses thus far...I think worshipfocus nailed it though.

Smitty

[milepost13]

ditto WorshipFocus.

Having led worship for youth (groups, camps, etc.) many times, I'll also say that it has a whole lot to do with the maturity of the group as well. Our church had a youth band about 3 years ago...they were good, played great music, etc. but most of the students were just not into singing/worshipping with them. So, we decided to nix the band and refocus our time and energy into teaching the students about worship beyond music. Why try to lead a bunch of kids in musical worship when they didn't even understand what worship was really all about?

Fast-forward 2.5 years, and we're about to premiere a new youth band...we're pretty certain we'll have much better participation this time around.

Nate

[Viclyn]

I've noticed that our youth worship leaders do some really silly songs at the beginning where the kids do motions or make sound effects. I think it kind of breaks down the "terminal coolness." Then you get into more of a time of actual worship and they aren't so self-conscious. Hillsong United suggested the same thing when this exact question was posted to a few of their youth worship team leaders. They do the whole spirit fingers, or give the person next to you a back rub or... They say those kind of things help break down some of that which allows them to not feel so foolish when they loose their cool for the King.

Believe me, sometimes I see the same thing, and I lead adults. Maybe I'll try spirit fingers!http://www.theworshipcommunity.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[CCCYouthLeadVocal]

Thank you all. Your advice has been so very helpful. I've taken it all to heart. I'll put some of it to affect. I'll tell you how it goes today/updates with future sundays!
Thanks a million!

-Jordan

[g_favelle]

Also remember that some people don't worship by raising hands or moving about, but by simply singing the lyrics (possibly just in their heads).

One thing that you may need to do, check that you are doing songs they know. Every time we do a new song, everyone has to look blankly at the screen as they dont know the words or the intention of the song.