I was going through the Christian education section of the bookstore here on campus yesterday picking up a few books on youth ministry. I flipped through them at lunch and noticed something that I have read in other books before, and that is you have to have a worshiping group of students for them to become disciples. I agree with this, but I really don't know how to bring this into the youth that I have.
For example: Last night they were playing hide and seek with the lights off on the 2nd floor (which they have complete use of, it is really nice). They were wanting to use the stereo/pa I bought for a timer to know when they had to be hidden. The song considerations brought up where "Enter Sandman", "Back in Black" and "Chocolate Rain"...I really didn't know what to think about the last one. This is the same group where one of the kids lists his influences on myspace as "God the Father, Jesus, The Holy Spirit..." and then the rest are all of the members of AC/DC".
When I worked with college students we dealt with the problem of relevant worship music by creating our own. It worked because most of these students had grown up around CCM worship and were just ready for something different. It was usually good and we had a great experience doing it.
But these youth are different. Only 2 of them have really grown up in church singing hymns, and none have ever been exposed to anything remotely like modern worship music, and when their mp3 players are full of really good metal and the complete history of the smashing pumpkins I really think they would laugh in the face of anything put out by Six Steps records. I overheard two of them having a argument over the lyrical differences between "Let it Be" and the "White Album".
All this means I have no problem relating to them on a cultural level, but how I do I bring worship into the mix. I am taking them to camp for the first time this summer so there will be some exposure there, but I want to get there feet wet before that.
I guess the thing that frustrates me the most is the cookie cutter worship music that seems so prevalent today. Then you get the CCM machine behind it all and it really starts to get over-rated. Last night I saw a flyer that looks like it was made in Microsoft Paint in 1997 advertising "The Latest Emerging Worship Songs in Your Church-featuring songs by Mercy Me"!
Really, how bad has it gotten? I guess that is my frustration with the American Protestant Church, that we have turned out faith into a marketable item, and it in turn really affects the way we do church.
Sorry for the rant...