Need Ideas for youth Group

[God_is_love]

I am starting a youth group for my church and I am very much brain dead.. I could use tons of Ideas.. We have about 20-30 teens going to attend.. So anything not too expensive would be great... Thanks

[elkieDannsa' Air An Drochaid]

What about contacting youth pastors and other youth groups in other churches and seeing what they do, too?

Might be helpful to you.

Have you checked out the local Christian book store ? Maybe there are some books with more ideas, too. Even could be books everyone would enjoy reading together or project ideas in other books for your groups to do!

Where I live, they do alot of varying things. Everything from Bible study to concerts, working on plays to show the church, projects to help others, to playing musical instruments together, pot lucks in the countryside. -pretty much everything.

Wonder if Christian Campus Crusade would have a few pointers for you. They are online and you can email them, too. They do have a place to ask questions.

Please let us know how it is going.

God bless,

elkie

[Iryssa]

Here's some good links courtesy of Z-Jam:

Youth Ministry Links

You can probably find some ideas and Bible Studies in there...

Our basic Youth Group structure on Sunday nights was as follows:

6:30pm: meet at church/leader's houses for small groups. These were broken up according to grade and sex. Here we did a Bible study and had a time for accountability and prayer. There were usually snacks which we rotated bringing.

8:00pm: meet back at the church (if we'd been at our respective leaders' houses) in the Youth Room or sanctuary for singing and a message related to the Bible study we did in small groups.

on Wednesday mornings (before school...so at like 6:30am) we did "Team" breakfasts. We rotated bringing breakfast and met to pray, do a short Bible Study, and work out details for youth events. The Team was basically a group of students, Pastor J. and his wife, all committed to praying for the Youth Group and generally helping out with it. The fact that it was at 6:30 in the morning helped weed out people who weren't serious about it

Apart from that, my advice is to listen to the group...you don't have to do everything they suggest, but nothing puts a teenager off more than being brushed off. If someone would like to bring their electric guitar to help lead worship, welcome him. If someone's great at Power Point or can help with overheads during worship, enlist them! Most kids actually love having that kind of responsability (people generally tend to live up or down to the expectations we have of them), so delegate lots!

For events...our Youth Group always loved video ralleys...send kids out in groups with video cameras borrowed from their parents to film eachother doing silly things like making a really gross sandwich (think ketchup, anchovies, pickles and chocolate chips) and eating it, getting strangers to make a goofy face for the camera, asking McDonald's workers for a free smile...it was kindof a goofy scavenger hunt thingy. The only problem with that is if you don't have enough youth leaders/helpers to get that kind of thing to work, it's pretty tough to do.

Other things we did were:

Having lock-ins at the church...we'd do this for 30-Hour Famine and the like. Give them games to play or movies to watch, or whatever

Playing Laser Tag...church picked up the bus/van fee if there weren't enough drivers, and the kids payed for the laser tag entry fee.

Retreats at various nearby camps

Visits with other Youth Groups to do a joint coffee-house/Karaoke/random games and fun night

Guys/Girls nights at the pool or a movie

Rollerskating nights (at a rollerskating place downtown...hillarity and fun ALWAYS ensued)

Street Hockey (we got the other churches involved in this one and had some good-natured "rivalry" between teams *grin* never anything serious...it really brought the churches and the individual youth groups together)

Missing Persons - a scavenger hunt for people! Everyone goes to the mall and senior members or adult helpers get into disguises, getting to the mall before the rest of the group...the kids break up into groups (headed up by leaders if the group is really young or prone to getting into trouble) and go through the mall looking for the disguised Youth Group people'

*sigh* anyway, I have no idea what your facilities are like or what kind of help you'll have, so I guess a lot of what you could do will depend on that...but hopefully that gave you some ideas...or ideas about ideas...or something

[jesussaves]

I am starting a youth group for my church and I am very much brain dead.. I could use tons of Ideas.. We have about 20-30 teens going to attend.. So anything not too expensive would be great... Thanks

Whatever you do just make sure it is all Christ centered. Youth meetings are not meant to "win kids over", or to keep them in church. They are to help them fellowship and grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Pray for them and with them and live it before them with love. Plan trips to a local nursing home so they can pray with people and spread some cheer. Have them "adopt" a mission project and work together to raise support for missions. Fun time at the skating rink should be filled with only Christian music. Summer fellowship at the park with a pic nic and games is nice and fall at the cider mill..

pray and ask the Lord to help direct you to good wholesome fellowship with them and have a guitar or music handy to all sing songs of praise together. Being a Christian is fun! and uncompromising with the things of the world.

Blessings.

[HisWordIsSufficient]

hello!

Im doing the same thing, and needing the same advice... i just finished reading a book that is simple and effective. It's called "Youth Ministry", and its by Julia A Bell, the woman who is in charge of youth at Hillsong church Australia (very successful, evangelical, praise and worship based ministry). Although there was a part in it i didnt like where it tells you to "Scratch where people are itching"... there were some really good ideas and its easy reading. Worth a read

[Iryssa]

What did it mean by "scratch where people are itching?"

If it means to tackle the things that get to people today (ie. addressing issues like drugs and alcohol with a group of teens that live in an area where the use of those things reigns), I'd say they're absolutely right! As much as teens are resistant to talking about that kind of thing with their parents, if you go about it the right way they're usually much more open to getting the issues out in a group where they feel safe, like at Youth Group.

If the book means to just smooth over those issues, though, toss the idea...same thing if it means to address ONLY those issues that make people "itch."

[DaughterofKing]

ok maybe this is bad to say but i would actually go to church for the yummy munchies they had. So this one church had krispy kreme donuts, muffins, cookies , coffee, tea, etc. and it would get me out of bed to go. And then this other church, someone would bring some yummy dessert or another, like a cake and coffee and tea. So I was happy.

Well, maybe a bad suggestion and maybe that just speaks more for me but, oh well....

[Guest christwithin]

I am starting a youth group for my church and I am very much brain dead.. I could use tons of Ideas.. We have about 20-30 teens going to attend.. So anything not too expensive would be great... Thanks

Here is an idea, ask God.

Instead of saying "Right, God, this is what we are doing, now you bless it", seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I heard a statistic today that said 94% of all people who respond to Christ backslid. Thats because of the watered down "here we are now bless us" Gospel. People doing things out of their own strength.

Rom 8:5-6 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

I was talking with a friend on Sunday and he expressed the idea that God is insulted when we go behind His back seeking counsel in other people.

Just something to think about...

[ayin jade]

I was talking with a friend on Sunday and he expressed the idea that God is insulted when we go behind His back seeking counsel in other people.

Just something to think about...

And yet the bible tells us to encourage and exhort one another. Is that not counseling others?

[Iryssa]

I was talking with a friend on Sunday and he expressed the idea that God is insulted when we go behind His back seeking counsel in other people.

Just something to think about...

And yet the bible tells us to encourage and exhort one another. Is that not counseling others?

Yeah...I think God has blessed us with enough brains to go to one another for counsel. He's the giver of all true wisdom, after all. True godly counsel comes with wisdom in the package, because "the fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom," (Proverbs 15:33) and godly counsel is bound to come from someone who fears the Lord. Again, Proverbs says "The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom..." (Proverbs 10:31)

Really, I can see no reason for not going to brothers and sisters in Christ for advice. If you put it ABOVE what God says, THEN it becomes a problem, but when you're keeping the Lord's will in view, godly counsel is a very good thing.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. " - Col. 3:16

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed" - Proverbs 15:22