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Resource: Time to Praise:
Planning Youth-Led Worship
By Allyson Adair George, Celia and Ron Whitler. Cokesbury, 1996.
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What is the purpose of this resource?
This book is designed to be a collection of resources for adults who work with young people interesting in learning more about worship. It includes material about worship, as well as suggestions for how to help youth plan and lead worship. - What characteristics
or components does this resource view as essential to worship and/or the
sacraments?
A great deal of emphasis is given to prayer and to Scripture. Elements of worship such an openings, offering, singing, etc., are dealt with, and the sacraments get one question each. Worship is seen as both a corporate and private act (personal devotions). - What, if any,
particular theological perspective or agenda is present within this
material?
Worship is defined as honoring our relationship with God. That relationship is honored as we remember who God is, remember who we are, desire to live God and respond to God’s love, and are moved to serve others. - For whom is this
resource intended (age group, interests, etc)?
In what settings (classroom, home, etc.)?
This book is intended for adults who work with youth and and middle-high schoolers themselves. It is designed for use in a classroom setting, but can be adapted to a three-day retreat or mini-workshops on particular topics. - What type of learning
activities are included in the lessons?
There are group-building activities, discussion, movement, small group work, singing, writing activities, drama, and planning activities. - How is the resource
structured? (Lesson plans,
retreats, weekly meetings, worship services, etc.)
This book begins with two pages of resources related to music, youth programs, clowning, drama, worship and devotional books. It then moves to several pages of material for adult leaders about worship in general and how to plan worship experiences with young people. Five sessions for youth follow, which focus on helping young people understand worship. The fourth session helps the young people put into practice what they have learned by planning a worship experience. Worshipping together is built into each of these five sessions. After the 5 sessions, there are suggestions for six mini-retreats that primarily focus on using creativity in worship – multimedia, drama, music, clowning, movement and the visual arts. The book ends with 101 suggestions for worship to help spark the creativity of young people planning worship. - How much does this
resource cost, and what is included in the price?
The book is available from Cokesbury and costs $9.95. - What kind of
leadership is necessary for the material?
What does the leader need to know or do prior to each week?
The leader who uses this needs to be comfortable with youth, have a strong understanding of the worship traditions of his/her own church, and it would help if they were fairly creative! Although many suggestions for leaders are given in the 5 sessions for youth, the mini-retreats are really just 2-3 ideas, with no real suggestions for structuring a session. They would require much more leader preparation and creativity than the 5 sessions for youth. - What strengths and/or
weaknesses do you find in this material?
This book was a little too much of a hodgepodge to be the only resource a congregation would need on helping young people understand and plan worship. There were some good ideas, some good resource suggestions, and some very helpful thoughts on some of the difficulties of youth-led worship and how to help get over those hurdles. I think this book would be a helpful supplement, but it is weak on theological understandings of worship and I wouldn’t use it as my only help in working with youth about worship.