In all the worship teachings, ponderings, and musings that I read, I don't hear much about worship mentoring. I have never been a part of a church that does this intentionally. The reason for this may be that in the Nashville area there is such an abundance of good musicians that there is not a need to recruit young people to help. While it's great to have good players, I believe we are missing the blessing and a mandate of raising up the next generation of lead worshipers.
I think there are several reasons why worship leaders avoid working with young people:
1. There's not an immediate payoff. Most worship leaders I know are more concerned with this Sunday than 5 years from now. It's easy to fall into this way of thinking. We want instant results and Lord knows, working with teenagers is 2 steps forward and 1 step back! Many times in ministry leadership we have the mindset of "What can this person do to help me and my ministry?" We must change this to "What I can do to develop this person?"
2. We fall for flash instead of fulfillment. When selecting players, everyone wants the guitar player who can mimic all the tasty licks from the recording, versus the teen who plays everything with hi-gain distortion :). At the end of the day, nobody's going to remember the great guitar riff in "Let God Arise", but a you may direct a young person's destiny by giving them the opportunity to serve along side you.
3. Nobody wants extra baggage. Beware! Integrating young people into your band will cost you. There is a certain amount of hand-holding that must happen, especially at first. My son Christian, who plays guitar and is 12, has started helping me when I lead. The first few times he helped out I had to double check that he packed all his gear, set up his guitar rig, and help calm his nerves. Now that he's been doing it awhile, he knows what gear to bring, sets up his own rig, and is getting more confident with the band.
4. We believe the lie that teens don't want to be involved with adults. This is so bogus. I hear this argument against older youth pastors or adults who work with students. I turned 40 this year and my wife and I both have incredible relationships with a bunch of teens. Nobody cares that we are old enough to be their parents or that we are not cool. All they care about is that we care about them enough to invest into their lives.
5. We feel pressure from the pastor and/or congregation to have a professional sounding band. Okay, I'm going to try and stay off my soap box, but... I sometimes think that the church has forgotten why it exists. In visiting some churches, I get the feeling that the most important thing is how good their music is. We relegate our young people's service to the youth service or the once a year "youth Sunday". That sends the message "this is big church and there's no place for you to help here". If we want more young people in our church services, how about giving them a place to serve?
The seed we sow now will yield an abundant harvest in time if we are faithful to plant and water. So get that spiky haired kid with the Flying V involved in your ministry. You will change his life and he will change yours.
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