Concord UMC youth lead special worship night, service
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Concord United Methodist Church youth Alana Bush leads with a powerful prayer during the church’s Student-Led Worship Night. - Photo submitted
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Concord United Methodist Church youth Christian Baker shares excerpts from the Bible during the church’s Student-Led Worship Night. - Photo submitted
Concord United Methodist’s youth shared a powerful time of worship as more than 150 students and their families gathered for a special Student-Led Worship Night, hosted by Concord United Students, in February.
That night led to students leading a morning service Sunday, March 15. Another worship night has been
scheduled for 6 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 3.
Worship Night brought together youth groups from across Knoxville, including Middlebrook Pike, and Powell United Methodist Church, for “a night filled with passionate worship, heartfelt testimonies and prayerful unity,” said
Becca Means, CUMC missions director. Students took the lead in every aspect of the event, sharing their stories of faith, lifting up songs of praise and inviting others into a genuine experience of God’s presence.”
“We had this idea to do a worship night,” Means said. “We were talking about it, as a staff, what it would look like. We felt like it would be a great opportunity for our students to be able to show their talents and to lead.
“But, more so that, we felt that it’s important for our students to be in worship with other students who are outside of the church walls,” she said. “They get to do that a couple times a year with camps that we do.
“We think it’s important for them to have that confidence in their faith, to be to see others and to worship together so that they are able to go outside of the walls,” Means said. “When they build those relationships, just that confidence being inside of them to share their faith wherever they are.
“So, we decided to do this student-led worship night, and we invited churches from around the community,” she added, estimating about 150 students and their families were at the inaugural event.
“We opened it up to everybody,” Means said. “We wanted a night where we could all come together and have one purpose.”
In the end, “it was inspiring to see how our students took ownership of their faith and just shared in the joy of loving Jesus,” she said. “We had students who led worship for the very first time.
“They led the worship piece; they sang; we had students who gave testimonies,” Means said. “We had one student who gave a very passionate testimony who had never spoken in front of a big group like that before.
“We had students who prayed on stage for the first time,” she added.
During a period of time leading up to the worship night, there were games.
“We had a big group game,” Means said. “We had students who led those games.”
The students’ actions “really just blew us away,” she said. “It was incredible to see how they just stepped out. It was a welcoming environment, but it was definitely a spirit-filled environment.”
Worship leader Paul Jones, who leads worship on Sunday mornings, helped students by mentoring them leading up to the worship night, “preparing their hearts for what leading worship means,” she said. “We got great feedback from the visiting churches and youth groups.”
When all was done, two students asked Means, “Can we do this again tomorrow?”
“It was that kind of joy-filled room,” she added.
