Monday, July 17, 2006

Worse than death?

It was our church fete on Saturday (and we raised over £2000 which was great!) and the young people had volunteered to run the music for event. They had got together amps and a computer based DJ system and a funky gadget to fade from one song to another (ok I'm _sure_ it had a name but that's why the young people were running it not me!). They had spent the week running up to the event choosing music to give the fete a vibrant buzz and encourage people to hang around and visit the stalls and, of course, spend money.

Unfortunatley, even though the young peopel had thought carefully about tracks (and trust me we later at the youth club we heard the ones they decided NOT to play at the fete!) some people disagreed with the volume and the choice of music. They wanted the young people to play classical and hymns.

It is the eternal difficulty when churches want young people to be involved but don't want them to be themselves. Sometimes it seems that people at church to want young people to be there
but want them to conform to their idea of what church should be rather than be PART of the church and allow the church to be CHANGED by them.

I understand that the music the young people chose may not have been what everyone at the church would have chosen but I wanted the adults to acknowledge that it wasn't what the young people would have chosen as their ideal either. The young people had made an effort ot be there when they hadn't done so before and they had made compromises on their choice of music. I wanted the adults to acknowledge that so I spent some time chatting with some of those who had wanted quieter classical music. Some of the adults actually congratulated the young people on some of their choices which was really good. Others said they just found it too loud and that was because their stall was close to the amps so they found it hard to hear people who came to the stall.

As the youth worker it was quite right that it was my role to mediate between the young people and those who weren't entirely happy with the music the young people chose. Unfortunately it was also my job later that day to talk with the young people who walked in tothe youth club carrying the music equipment saying "at least we won't be told to turn the music down here!" At least the church DOES offer them a place where they do feel that way even if it is not within the church as a whole.

1 comment:

EasyRew said...

"It is the eternal difficulty when churches want young people to be involved but don't want them to be themselves. Sometimes it seems that people at church to want young people to be there but want them to conform to their idea of what church should be rather than be PART of the church and allow the church to be CHANGED by them."

Indeed. We're currently having some animated discussions in our Church about successfully "integrating" the young people into the life of the Church when the reach the age of 18. Sadly, some people's idea of the young people being fully integrated is simply for them to remain through the whole service and "enjoy" the sermon with the older people.

Personally, I don't think our young people are doing too badly at integrating. They are fully engaged in the fellowship time after the services (talking to people of all ages), they are involved in the prayer life of the Church, support social occasions, when school duties allow they join the Home Groups,and those who are permitted (ie, Church Members) take a full part in the Church Meeting. In fact as an age group they're showing up some of the more senior people.

But then what do I know? ;o)

Rich