Free worship resource now available for ‘Youth in the Church and World’ Sunday, Aug. 21

‘Out of Many We Are One’ is a complete outline for a youth-led worship service

by Emily Enders Odom | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE – From Massanetta Springs to Montreat to Mo-Ranch to Montgomery Center—and just last month to the campus of Purdue University for a “little,” 4,700-strong youth event called Triennium—young people from all across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have traveled faithfully and far this summer. They have taken planes, trains, buses, and automobiles. They have camped and conferenced. They have been leaders, and they have been led. They have impacted God’s world and have themselves been transformed through diverse mission experiences locally, nationally, and globally.

Photo from Youth Sunday Resource 2016. Photo by Jeremy Wilhelmi.

And now, as the summer winds down and a new school year begins, PC(USA) congregations will have an opportunity to observe a special programmatic emphasis established by the Presbyterian Mission Agency to celebrate and highlight the gifts of youth. On “Youth in the Church and World” Sunday, August 21, churches across the PC(USA) are invited to be led in worship by the youth and adult youth workers of their church.

Toward that end, the Presbyterian Mission Agency—through the Office of Ministries with Youth—is offering a free, downloadable resource entitled, “Out of Many We Are One,” that provides a detailed outline of a “Youth Sunday,” youth-led worship service. The worship resource vividly illustrates passages in Paul’s letters to the Roman and Corinthian communities that focus on the relationship between being individual parts of a body versus the body as a whole.

“As our young Presbyterians transition from summer to ‘back to school,’ I hope that many of our congregations will consider this the perfect time to share in their witness to God’s work, God’s people, and God’s call to Presbyterians—of all ages, but particularly the young—to go into the world and make disciples,” says Gina Yeager-Buckley, the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s associate for Ministries with Youth.

“Out of Many We Are One”—written by Rev. Jeremy Wilhelmi and first led by Wilhelmi and the youth of Salisbury Presbyterian Church, Midlothian, Virginia—contains a complete worship service with leader notes, hymn suggestions, and even instructive photographs for interactive prayers of the people.

“The service is a perfect and fun order of worship for a specific Youth Sunday, for a ‘Youth in the Church and World’ emphasis, or any worship opportunity led by youth any time of the year,” says Yeager-Buckley.

“Out of Many We Are One” is a part of the Quicksheets resource family. Quicksheets— “Fast and Fabulous Ideas for Youth Ministry” across a variety of topices—are fast, fresh, and relevant downloadable resources created by youth workers for those active in youth ministry. Quicksheets are free and available online on the Ministries with Youth web page.