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One
indicator of how young people in The Salvation
Army are seeking to engage with their culture
is through the emergence of fresh and creative
worship initiatives. Here, Matt Leeder –
lead singer of Electralyte - highlights a
few ideas that have been put into action around
the UK: The ‘Fuse’ in Anglia,
‘Desire’ in Yorkshire and ‘Sanctify’
in Anglia.
Any attempt to definitively prescribe what
ingredients must go in to create an emerging
worship event misses the point; but the unifying
characteristic is that events like this are
always born from a passion to worship God
and see others worshipping Him in their own
cultural language. These events are an amalgamation
of diverse styles and ideas, which flow together
to create organic and fresh new streams of
worship.
That isn’t to say that events like The
Fuse, Desire
and Sanctify are
overtly different just for the sake of it
– each one is a celebration of worship
expressed through a variety of different cultural
lenses.
Anyone who has ever organised an event will
know how it feels both when things go right
and when things go wrong. We spoke to Richard
Craik who is part of the event leadership
team at The Fuse,
based in Peterborough, “We
always try to do things differently &
better than last time. It becomes obvious
what things work and what things don’,
so it’s a constant evolutionary process”.
The Fuse is run in partnership with other
churches in the town.
When we look at the variety of events it soon
becomes apparent that each one is as unique
as the individuals who attend it. Originally
the purpose of Desire,
an emerging worship event in Yorkshire, was
to provide culturally relevant worship and
discipleship specifically for Christian young
people. However, Simon Fisher, the organiser
of Desire points out that “It
soon became clear that Desire works effectively
as a reaching event – providing an access
point for young people into church”.
As Desire has developed, it has become clear
what the needs of those who attend are –
the team are keen to provide a forum where
God can meet those needs.
Simon Girling, a facilitator of the Sanctify
team points out that: “Not
all young people are alike”.
Individual events needn’t be clones
of each other – they must be indigenous
to the needs of the young people that attend
them. Sanctify has been running in Anglia
since the mid 90s and the team have continually
tried to build on their experience. Recently,
the event is being overhauled as the previous
leadership team hand their responsibilities
onto the next group – made up of young
people, aged 14-21. Simon points out that
“For me, it’s about setting up
people to succeed rather than fail”.
Richard, from The Fuse, agrees: “Not
only is the Fuse about worship and culture
but it is also about empowering and equipping”.
And so the evolution
continues … |
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| ALOVE
TOP TIPS |
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Learn
from experience:
Often we’re too busy looking
forward to the next big thing to look
back and assess the last one. Take
time to carry out a SWOT analysis
(Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities
Threats) of each event. Make this
happen within two weeks of the event
or you’ll forget what happened! |
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Develop
leaders:
Remember that whilst we are leading
we must always be on the look out for
the next leader. Don’t become
too protective of the event when you
hand over leadership – it will
naturally change when you do and that
is a good thing. |
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Build
a team:
Building strong teams is vitally important
if our emerging worship events are top
grow and develop. By working in a team
we allow the unique flavours of indigenous
worship to develop and mature. |
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Youthwork -
The Partnership ...
ALOVE,
Youthwork Magazine, Youth For Christ, Spring Harvest and
Oasis are working together to equip and resource the Church
for effective youth work and ministry. |
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