So here’s my two cents:

First, the sheer size of the worship gatherings was worth something, I think. It helps us know that we are not alone, even we don’t agree with everybody in the room. And maybe that’s the most valuable part of the experience, that we don’t agree with everyone in the room. My church polity professor at the very Reformed but not Presbyterian seminary where I went used to say: “The church, like an airplane, needs both its left and right wings to fly.”

Second, I worry most of all that we can’t replicate the sort of bass-thumping, 500o person excitement in those worship services. What does that mean when you go home? So we have to find other ways that youth meet God. At the risk of getting roped into doing more at Presbytery retreats, I agree that we need to do a better job of trying to teach spiritual practices than making people sit through long lectures and worship. I don’t have the attention span for that, either. (Although, interesting side note: in my small group, the youth said that one thing they were taking away from triennium was a desire to go to church more often when they got home. I challenged them, pointing that I was pretty sure their churches didn’t do worship like we were doing it that week. It seemed that the style of worship wasn’t the point…it was connecting with God’s people and worshipping with them. As if to prove this point, almost everyone of my youth group who went to triennium, none of whom were in my small group, showed up at worship on Sunday morning. And did energizers in the back before worship began…)

Finally, I’m annoyed with some of the critical comments that were leveled against you because there ARE conservative, thoughtful, and THOROUGHLY Reformed folks who really do agree with the majority of what you are saying. My John Calvin bobble head is knodding “yes!” as I write this. To set up what you are saying as a particularly liberal statement and then dismiss it because of that is simple theologically lazy.

Thank you for saying this…it helps me clarify much of what I’ve been thinking as well. I probably sit more in the middle of the airplane, but I’m more than thrilled that you are balancing us out on the left wing!

Yes, some seem to think one must go “x” long for such a worship time to “count” and sometimes it is as simple a reason as those who are leading the worship (sometimes the musicians) are never in front of such a large group so they are pumped up and want to “make the most of it”. It is a great experience for many youth who are from smallish churches and never go to such events to find themselves in this huge crowd of peers singing praise to God.

Many orthodox evangelicals (like myself)—not all but many of us—-no longer even consider sending the youth from the church where we serve to the Triennium or most other youth events sponsored by our denomination (as some others in the previous post mentioned) as we have had youth being taught things contrary to orthodox faith—and sometimes things contrary to our own denomination’s stance. As long as we do not have a bare bones statement of basic beliefs that leaders of such events must affirm, this will remain so. It may well be some of the orthodox evangelical churches in Chicago presbytery (where you are) do not send their youth to presbytery sponsored youth events for that very reason.