Developing a Cross-Generational Life-Transforming Worship Service: an Approach to Involving and Empowering Youth and Young Adults at the San Diego Filipino-American Seventh-day Adventist Church

Abstract

The Problem. The worship services at San Diego Fil-Am were traditionally led by the older generations where most of the time the younger generations felt neglected to and left out in the planning and from experiencing a life-transforming worship. For some time, the younger generations sought opportunities to be involved in worship but the traditional practice of worship did not favor it. Advocates for children and young people in the congregation urge separate worship services for the youth and young adults but this is strongly opposed by the majority of leaders and senior members, many of whom hold leadership positions on the Church Board. This situation has affected the interest, the attendance, and the participation of the youth and young adults in worship. The Method. This project dissertation presents a survey of biblical foundation for a corporate cross-generational life transforming worship as well as guidelines and suggestions for developing a cross-generational, intergenerational, or multi-generational (CIM) model of worship with intentional involvement, training and equipping of the younger generations. It integrates methods and principles from current literature on CIM worship relevant to planning, implementing, and evaluating a CIM life-transforming worship at the San Diego Fil-Am SDA Church. Results. There were six people from younger generations trained and equipped as worship leaders. The involvement of the younger generations in planning and leading worship greatly contributed to a higher percentage of the younger members leading, noticeably the young adults, in worship. The worship attendance among the younger generations has increased. The more inspiring result of this process was manifested in the church members’ becoming more prayerful, more engaged in the ministry, more caring and loving to one another, more focused and alive in worship, and in serving others. The CGLTW was considered a process, a life-transforming experience, not only for the older and younger worship leaders, but for all generations in the congregation. Conclusions. The priority of this project is to develop younger generations in worship leadership, equipping them to assist or lead in improving worship services by designing, implementing, and evaluating life-transforming worship services that involves all the generations (all age groups) in the congregation. By giving the younger generations the opportunities to be involved they truly felt that they belong, their relationship to the church community was strengthened and their worship experience became life-transforming.