Phase 2
Enhancing youth music and worship ministries through training, research, and resources.
In partnership with Lilly Endowment, Inc., the Dunn Center for Christian Music Studies has developed a project within Lilly's Strengthening Congregational Ministries with Youth Initiative to continue exploring youth participation in worship in the local church. During this project, the research team is working to assess and develop youth leadership models that when applied fully or in smaller, appropriate contexts, will increase the overall productivity and longevity of youth worship teams. The CCMS project is titled the Worship Lab Initiative (WLI) and seeks to identify and introduce scalable worship leadership models into the local church through observations, assessment, and implementation.
Primary Research Objectives:
- To equip the local church by restructuring Worship Lab as a broader brand for worship-related resource and research;
- To equip students musically, theologically, and spiritually through attending the summer Worship Lab camp and one-day Worship Lab workshops;
- Establish partnerships with select churches to allow for further collaboration and observations of ministry programs.
- Establish best practices for connecting youth to the music and worship ministries by designing broader-use models to share with a wide variety of churches.
- Disseminate findings from our research and programming to the broader ministry community.
Putting This Into Action
Based on the results of our Building Bridges research and conversations with students, parents, and church leaders, we know that the potential impact of this project is far-reaching, both for the students and their churches. During the Worship Lab summer camp, many students discovered a passion for church leadership and continued energy and interest beyond their youth group experience. As a Center whose vision is to foster growth and utilize Christian music to its God-given potential, we see the outcomes of the Building Bridges to the Future project as shaping the next generation of church leaders and we are eager to continue and expand this important work through a new chapter of research and development in the Worship Lab Initiative.
Church Partnership Program
Baylor’s church partnership program will consist of three partner types. Type one, model churches, will provide case studies from which we can learn more about practices that are effectively functioning and equipping students. Type two, growth churches, will be church communities where components of these models can be implemented to help their youth music ministries grow. Type one and two partners are encouraged to continue their partnership after their contract ends by transitioning into our third partnership type: intergenerational churches. Intergenerational church partners provide an additional growth opportunity by encouraging churches to integrate youth into their larger church services. By creating partnerships that focus on learning from the churches, the focus for the research moves beyond the summer camp to the local ministries and their various contexts. These churches will be a combination of previous church partners as well as new ministries that are willing to partner with us. The project will involve no more than 10 churches at a time.
Questions?
If you have questions about the work of this past initiative, please contact our office at 254-710-1355.