Youth led worship their way on May 5, 2018, at the Eagle River Church in Eagle River, Alaska. Every aspect of the Sabbath was directed by a young person, and they eagerly embraced the task of taking charge of each role within the liturgy.
The idea behind the special Sabbath was spearheaded by Carl Butler Jr., Eagle River Church pastor, and readily executed with the assistance of the youth leader and elders.
“The most important thing I wanted to accomplish with such a highlight Sabbath was the ability for our young people to take a more active role in worship than to simply be benchwarmers each Sabbath," Butler says. "We accomplish nothing when we sing the wonderful song yearly of needing to get our young people involved but only do this through simple activities and games that probably won’t challenge them spiritually."
Seeing ahead of time the clear goal of such a blessed Sabbath, Butler enlisted the aid of several youth speakers. Each Sabbath, he challenged youth participants to preach a three- to five-minute sermon prior to his morning message. As each Sabbath passed, cycling through one young person each service, they were strengthened and encouraged to not only take a small portion of the worship, but to lead out in the youth-themed Sabbath.
Tobin Dodge (left), Alaska Conference youth ministries director, plays guitar while youth lead the Eagle River congregation in singing.
Rachel Ninan presents her sermonette
