Every few seconds light flashes in the dark room. A neon
green sign glows “Wired.” Two children stand in front of the room, bouncing in
place with anticipation as each child’s legs are tied together with yellow
nylon rope. “Eye of the Tiger” booms through the speakers as the children wait
for their signal. Someone shouts “GO,” and two children run in circles,
wrapping their partners into mummies. After a minute, the toilet paper mummies
race toward a box of Milk Duds.
This isn’t a birthday party. They aren’t at a carnival. This
is church.
Bursts of light, loud music, fun games and flashy music
videos have all become part of regular church life at Pinellas Community Church
in St. Petersburg, Fla. Churches across the country are using unique techniques
to attract the attention of middle and high school students who live in a fast
pace, here-and-now world.
“Ten, 15, 20 years ago was a time when someone who was
trying to bring in a video game system would not be looked well upon, but now
we know we have to speak the language of the day to our young people,” said
Mike Conaway, a pastor at the church who was involved with youth ministry in
North Carolina, Texas and Florida for 11 years.
The last 10 years have been a time of change for youth
ministries across the country, Conaway said. Youth services were structured
much like adult services; the only difference was the age of the attendees.
Conaway said churches now focus on what is interesting to
middle and high school students, creating curriculums that grab young people’s
attention and deliver messages related to the Bible.
“Instead of being bored and trying to listen, they make it
fun,” said Camdon Hay, 12, who will be a seventh-grader at Thurgood
Marshall Fundamental Middle
School in the fall. “You can actually pay
attention because there are skits and educational games.”
At this St. Petersburg
church, Camdon and other middle school students file into a small room with
chairs stretching from one wall to the other where their service, called Wired,
takes place. The church also has a high school group called thirtyonesouth that
is structured similarly to Wired. In both classes, students are greeted with
flashing lights, booming music and glowing TV screens. While parents are
singing worship songs, their children are scrambling to the floor to recover
candy thrown to them by staff members. The youth services begin with a game and
are followed by a music video, prayer and finally a 15- to 20-minute message.
The opening games, such as the toilet paper mummy races, are
used to get students active and involved, and then tie into a Bible message for
the day. The game with students wrapped in toilet paper was later related to
four vices that young people are wrapped up in — laziness, fear, pride and
guilt — instead of being wrapped in qualities God wants them to possess.
Cassandra Holt and her family have been attending Pinellas
Community Church
for nearly two years. They left their old church because Holt and her husband,
Bob, thought the other church wasn’t engaging enough for their two daughters
Sierra, 14, and Samantha, 11.
“We were
getting what we needed, but the girls weren’t,” Holt said. “Here they use
things like Extreme Makeover and Fear Factor and they use it in a way that (the
girls) understand and that relates to the Bible.”
In addition
to using familiar television shows, the youth leaders try to keep the messages
short in order to hold the attention of restless middle and high schoolers.
“Kids these days are interested in music and the hip-hop
lifestyle,” said Chris Davis, a parent and volunteer for Wired and
thirtyonesouth. “They come in from a world where they are in the music videos
and playing video games and on the skateboards. If we cater to their
lifestyles, they’ll stay interested.”
Another way the church is trying to keep young people
interested is by addressing common issues that teens face in their daily lives.
In February and March the church devoted four weeks to discussion about sex and
relationships during the adult and youth services. The series discussed common
perceptions about sex and looked to the Bible for answers. Holt’s daughter
Sierra was in middle school at the time and attended the sessions. The Wired
staff was able to teach Sierra things she wasn’t able to verbalize to her daughter,
Holt said.
“She told me she learned it wasn’t just a physical choice,
but also a spiritual one,” Holt said. “I was already talking to her about sex,
but it helped for her to hear about it from them.”
Holt said she is happy the church takes on tough issues and
teaches them to her two daughters in an age-appropriate manner.
The issues discussed in church and the methods used to
spread God’s principles to young people are not unique to Pinellas
Community Church,
Conaway said. A book written by Youth Pastor Doug Fields titled “Purpose Driven
Youth Ministry” has been instrumental in teaching churches across the country
ways to reach young people in their areas. Fields teaches at best-selling
author and prominent evangelical leader Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback
Church in Lake
Forest, Calif.
Fields’ book focuses on using the interests of preteenagers,
or tweens, and teenagers, such as music and video games, to attract young
people to church, Conaway said. Saddleback
Church has been a major influence in
youth ministry for the past 10 years, and as a result Conaway said he has seen
the number of youth ministries across the country grow.
As Pinellas Community
Church’s youth ministry evolved
over the past few years, the church’s youth membership has increased. The
percentage of people under the age of 18 who attend the church has always held
steady at about 30 percent, Lead Pastor Mark Canfield said. However, in the
last few years, youth attendance has jumped to nearly 40 percent.
Youth aren’t just attending the services. They’re getting
involved in the programs, and not just when it’s time to wrap each other in
toilet paper and race to a box of candy. The greeters, sound technicians and
emcees in the youth services are all high school and middle schoolers, reaching
out to their classmates.
David Biglow, 16, who will be a senior at Northeast
High School in the fall, has been
an emcee in the Wired and thirtyonesouth services for nearly a year. He
attended Wired periodically while his mom was in the adult service. Eventually
he started coming on his own and became a fixture in the youth ministry
programs. At first David said he was uncomfortable coming to Wired because he
was jumping into a new environment and meeting new people. But, he quickly
embraced the bright lights and loud music.
“The general environment is good. There are flashing
lights and me doing crazy stuff on stage,” David said. “Everyone gives off
energy. It’s not bland. It has flavor.”
