25 Ways for Youth to Participate in Worship
Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about ways for children to participate in worship.
Not sit in the pews with a children's bulletin and a pack of crayons, but actively participate in meaningful ways.
It's important to create a welcoming and inviting space for all who come to worship and plan experiences that include children and youth, as well as adults.
This creates a worship environment that is inviting, inclusive, intergenerational, and inspiring. (For more about each of these points, read this post).
Youth participation in worship should not be limited to Youth Sunday.
From serving as a worship leader to helping serve Communion, bringing Scripture readings to life, or contributing to music ministry, many middle and high school students are capable of participating in and contributing to worship—often, they just need to be asked.
Here are 25 ways for youth to actively participate in worship:
25 Practical Ideas for Engaging Youth in Worship
1. Sing an anthem
2. Play a bell choir piece
3. Sing a combined anthem with adults and/or children
4. Have youth choir sing a hymn verse (or descant) by themselves
5. Play a bell processional (bonus points if you play and walk in at the same time!)
6. Play an instrumental hymn descant
7. Play an instrumental solo with a choral anthem
8. Sing a solo or duet
9. Play an instrumental solo
10. Serve as an acolyte
11. Serve as a worship leader
12. Run or assist with sound
13. Present drama to depict scripture reading
14. Carry in banners during the opening hymn
15. Write creed or prayer (as an individual or as a group) and lead congregation
16. Share mission moment
17. Play in an instrumental ensemble (maybe intergenerational)
18. Play in the praise band
19. Sing with the praise team
20. Teach congregation a new hymn or praise chorus
21. Create visuals or art to accompany scripture readings (projected on a screen)
22. Design banners, posters, or bulletin covers
23. Lead children's time
24. Participate in Holy Week service by helping remove items from the sanctuary (paraments, candles, Bible, flowers, etc.)
25. Participate in and help lead worship on Scout Sunday (some ideas here)
I’d love to hear from you:
How do you include youth in worship in your church?
Read more:
50 Favorite Anthems for Youth Choirs
25 Ways for Children to Participate in Worship
Planning Worship With Teens
Tips for Working with Middle School Youth Choirs
Voice change occurs in all voices, and it’s important to find ways to encourage and support your singers throughout the process (and keep them singing).
As a middle or high school choir director, you need to know what to look for, how to evaluate your singers, and how to support and encourage them throughout the process.
Considered one of the leading authorities on this topic, Cooksey outlined five stages of vocal change and transformation in the adolescent male voice:
Have you ever attended a choral reading session?
Often, these are presented by music publishers at conferences, clinics, and professional development workshops. Sometimes, clinicians curate their own reading sessions with some of their favorite works. It’s a great way to learn about new repertoire and choose music for the year ahead.
Fall is here, which means the return of Georgia football (Go Dawgs!), puffer vests, and apple everything (sorry, PSL).
It also means lots of repertoire planning and rehearsing for Christmas programs, musicals, and holiday concerts.
I recognize that some of you are in positions where you may be programming a holiday concert or program, whether that's a school or community setting or an interfaith musical celebration with area churches. If you're looking for choral music that touches on various Winter holidays and celebrations, I hope the list of anthems below is helpful to you.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year - back-to-school season, that is!
Even though I’m not a student anymore, as a teacher, I love the fresh-start feeling that comes with a new academic year (including new school supplies!).
And the same is true in church settings when choir and ensembles start back up.
But getting back into that weekly rehearsal routine after a long summer hiatus can be challenging, and making sure you’re prepared and ready for that first week back can be a daunting task, particularly if you procrastinated on some of those things on your summer to-do list:
Warm-ups for choirs are like stretches for athletes: they help prepare the muscles and engage the mind for focused, active work.
But more than simply warming up the voice and preparing to sing, choral warm-ups are a practical way to prepare and introduce new musical skills and concepts before singing them in the context of a piece of music.
This not only saves you time in rehearsal, but it also creates a more cohesive learning experience for your choir members.
As a youth choir director, you know what it’s like to balance the responsibilities of being a teacher and a friend, a spiritual leader and confidant.
You know the challenges and rewards of building community and creating a safe, supportive environment where all can be seen and heard and valued.
But how do you approach musical growth and development at this age? How do you handle the unpredictability of changing voices? In the age of smartphones and short attention spans, how do you keep them focused and engaged during rehearsals?
Here are a few helpful tips for working with 9th-12th grade singers:
There’s something special about an intergenerational choir: the coming together of people of all ages and walks of life to share music and lift their voices in song. It sends a message of unity and inclusivity and I think it gives us a little glimpse of what heaven might be like, singing in the angel choir.
Intergenerational choirs are a great way to celebrate something special in the life of the church - an anniversary or special service. The easiest way to create this experience is to combine groups you already have. There are a number of ways to do this.
Whew! Take a breath.
It’s that time of year again. We are rushing to get music learned, behavior modified, costumes made, lines learned, food prepared, and everything cleaned. Rushing to the manger, with a little chaos, a lot of excitement, and, hopefully, the right spirit.
This is the time of year that we do a lot of outreach (especially in the “assisted living” department), so I want to share with you an idea that we found to be fun and surprisingly rewarding.
Hi friends!
Today, I'm featuring a dear friend and church musician extraordinaire, Janis Maxwell. Janis is Director of Youth Music Ministry and Organist at Athens First United Methodist in Athens, GA (Go Dawgs!). When it comes to youth choir and youth ministry, she is a wealth of knowledge and creative ideas and I know you'll love what she has to share.
Have a topic you'd like her to write about in the future? Leave a comment at the end of this post! - Ashley
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We are pretty traditional in my current church setting, and we “do” youth choir pretty much the same way churches have “done” youth choir for the past thirty years. We rehearse on Sundays, sing in worship, sing in the community, and take a summer choir tour. Just typing this out makes me feel in need of a makeover!
This year we shook things up a bit with a Mystery Destination Choir Tour. I don’t know who came up with this idea, but I have several friends who have tried it and loved it, so this year it was my turn. The kids were not thrilled. Actually, they were really good sports about it, but I have discovered that they are not used to the idea of Surprise.
"When we sing a hymn, we are singing history." - Paul Lusher (source)
Hymn-singing is a tradition that spans the centuries, uniting us with believers in the past, present, and future. But I believe hymns are more than historical relics. Here are three primary things I think we can learn from hymns still today:
Church Heritage
There's so much history and tradition embedded in hymns. We carry on a piece of that legacy when we come together for worship and sing the same hymns that others have sung for hundreds of years. And at the same time, we're preserving important parts of music history: "Much of the musical heritage of the church is encountered in hymnology: such forms as plainsong, chorale, psalm tune, and gospel hymn." - Hanna Katja Elina Powell (source)
Breathing is a vital component of singing.
But the way we breathe when singing is different than the way we breathe in everyday life, requiring us to use our respiratory muscles in new and different ways.
The goal when singing is to have breath control and good breath support.
Breath control means being able to inhale quickly and exhale slowly throughout the phrase while maintaining good posture. (source)
Breath support means using other muscles (e.g. abdomen, back) to support the work of the lungs and foster better tone production and the ability to sing longer phrases. (source)
It's that time of the year again - the time when choir directors everywhere begin choosing music for next year!
From conferences to reading sessions to the seasonal reading packets in your mailbox, the stack of anthems, catalogs, and listening CDs on your desk at any given time can get overwhelming.
Where to begin? Is there a method to this madness?
As a quintessential Type A individual, I believe there is a method for every madness, anthem selection included! Today, I'm sharing an inside look at my process - my selection criteria, the things I take into consideration, and questions I ask myself along the way.
Whether you're choosing music for an adult choir, youth choir, or children's choir, I hope you find this insight useful and beneficial to your ministry.
Let's get started
I've written several posts like this one with anthem recommendations for the small church choir (here and here) and children's choirs (here), but today's post is specifically for youth choirs. Youth are often looking for life-changing experiences - things that will empower them. Choir and the music you sing can offer words and meaning to go with those experiences. Look carefully at the text, listen for beauty and singability in the musical lines, and look for teachable moments (life, faith, and music).
The anthems in this post range from unison/2-part to SATB, depending on the age of your singers, size of your choir, and their ability to sing in parts. The nice thing is, many of these anthems are available in a variety of different voicings (marked with *), so you have a little more flexibility!
Here are my top 50 anthems for youth choir:
Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about ways for children to participate in worship. Not sit in the pews with a children's bulletin and a pack of crayons, but actively participate in meaningful ways. It's important to create a welcoming and inviting space for all who come to worship and plan experiences that include children and youth, as well as adults. This creates a worship environment that is inviting, inclusive, intergenerational, and inspiring. (For more about each of these points, read this post).
Youth participation in worship should not be limited to Youth Sunday.
From serving as worship leader to helping serve Communion, bringing Scripture readings to life or contributing to music ministry, many middle and high school students are capable of participating in and contributing to worship - often, they just need to be asked.
Here are 25 ways for youth to actively participate in worship:
Working with a youth choir can be a fun, inspiring, rewarding, and deeply meaningful experience.
As a director, you balance the responsibilities of building community, integrating service, sharing meaning, inspiring purpose, and fostering musical development.
But how do you approach musical growth and development for adolescent voices? How is it different from working with children's voices or adult voices? What do you do when voices begin to change?
Here are a few helpful tips for working with 6th-8th grade singers:
Choir is a meaningful way to build community, promote unity, and bring people together.
Whether you direct a community choir, a church choir, or work with a professional choir, combining with other groups can be a memorable, enriching musical experience for all involved. It's also a practical way to expand what's possible on a concert program: more voices, more opportunities for divisi, and a bigger sound than one group could create on their own.