Last night at youth group we went Christmas Caroling. It was an easy evening to plan as long as your open to the logistical chaos of coordinating the energy level of teenagers, the memory lapses of the elderly, and the weather. Fortunately we had great weather, a really good group of 6-12th graders and a volunteer to call every single person on Sunday morning to remind them we were coming later that night.
So here's what worked well.
1. We guessed the right number of people. There were 69 of us caroling (19 adults, 20 high school, and 30 678 students). That was a perfect number for us. We had 22 pizzas (which were all consumed - 6 of them leftover but eaten when groups returned). We had two extra vehicles, which meant that some groups had extra adults which helps with singing and car conversations. We had enough high school students to make them their own group, which was more fun for them.
2. We all went to nursing homes first. The high school group headed across the river first. They sang in the halls of a nursing home, then visited two shut-ins. and in the meantime, the other three groups (each had middle school kids) all met at one nursing home and sang together for the first 20-30 minutes. The home had a great turnout in their large room and I think singing together gave the kids a lot of confidence!
3. We didn't make it too complicated. Three vehicles per group, a manageable number of kids and adults in each, only 3-4 people to sing to, no silly games - just letting the kids have fun. Kids were singing with others in their age group and were chosen by their friends into 4 packs.
Things to do better next time.
- we had one HS student insist on driving himself because he had to leave early. That can't happen again.
- we had barely enough song sheets
- some of the songs on the song sheets weren't in the Lutheran inclusive or our tradition of words... change that.
- take pictures of groups before they leave.
- text pictures to each other... it'll be more fun!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
The inclusion of Jesus on Christmas
Last night at youth group I heard more students say it was their favorite night than ever before... we made ginger bread houses. It was pretty sweet.
We actually began this tradition when I began here (I carried it over from my former church) and my favorite part of the evening is that the students learn without realizing it. Most students are familiar with the Christmas story, most have a nativity set at home and realize the meaning of the Christmas carols to some degree... but few students hear the story with a message other than God gives us a gift, we give others gifts too. So in this event we pick a theme and let the students explore the story and create a sugary diorama of what they see and hear in the story.
We began the evening with a warm up game similar to mad gab where students tried to identify Christmas-themed clues. It was a good game without any movement, and fit nicely in our evening for about 10 minutes of fun.
Then we invited a senior to share her faith story which happened to be about inclusion and exclusion. Meredith identified the most beautiful parts of the youth group - a welcoming place in a world where so many are excluded. Her story was powerful because she is such a high achiever that no one would have guessed that she has felt so excluded, so often in life. And in our church. It was a good story of her life and her passion for God and how she sees God involved in the inclusive ministry at youth group.
We built on Meredith's theme throughout the evening by moving into the next room and getting ready for our gingerbread competition. We call it a competition to add a little urgency and purpose to our designs. This year each group was assigned one of three stories from Matt or Luke about Christmas. And each team was first asked to identify the inclusion and exclusion aspects of the story. and then create a diorama that depicts that scene and theme.
30 minutes later our students were messy, but cleaning up and moving their sugary displays around to show off to others. We invited a representative from each team to share in front of the group what elements they chose to include and why, and then assigned three adults to pick favorites (for bragging rights only).
We still had 15 minutes at the end of the night to sing a few Christmas carols, pray and bless each other!
We actually began this tradition when I began here (I carried it over from my former church) and my favorite part of the evening is that the students learn without realizing it. Most students are familiar with the Christmas story, most have a nativity set at home and realize the meaning of the Christmas carols to some degree... but few students hear the story with a message other than God gives us a gift, we give others gifts too. So in this event we pick a theme and let the students explore the story and create a sugary diorama of what they see and hear in the story.
We began the evening with a warm up game similar to mad gab where students tried to identify Christmas-themed clues. It was a good game without any movement, and fit nicely in our evening for about 10 minutes of fun.
Then we invited a senior to share her faith story which happened to be about inclusion and exclusion. Meredith identified the most beautiful parts of the youth group - a welcoming place in a world where so many are excluded. Her story was powerful because she is such a high achiever that no one would have guessed that she has felt so excluded, so often in life. And in our church. It was a good story of her life and her passion for God and how she sees God involved in the inclusive ministry at youth group.
We built on Meredith's theme throughout the evening by moving into the next room and getting ready for our gingerbread competition. We call it a competition to add a little urgency and purpose to our designs. This year each group was assigned one of three stories from Matt or Luke about Christmas. And each team was first asked to identify the inclusion and exclusion aspects of the story. and then create a diorama that depicts that scene and theme.
30 minutes later our students were messy, but cleaning up and moving their sugary displays around to show off to others. We invited a representative from each team to share in front of the group what elements they chose to include and why, and then assigned three adults to pick favorites (for bragging rights only).
We still had 15 minutes at the end of the night to sing a few Christmas carols, pray and bless each other!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Christmas Shopping
Last night at youth group we met at church for our annual Christmas shopping for the Handicapped Development Center. This has been a long-time tradition of the youth group and it's a wonderful experience for our students to pool their money and buy gifts for people who really need our love and support.
We began the evening gathered in the church narthex so that we could make a quick getaway. because the narthex doesn't offer the same amount of comfort and welcome that our youth room does (there are not enough seats) we played a quick stand in a circle game as we began called railroad. It was effective at keeping everyone focused on the group while an adult leader gathered the stragglers for the first 10 minutes.
Then we broke into groups to go shopping. each group was given a shopping list for a resident. they worked together to think through gift ideas, then headed out in vehicles to the super target for some shopping.
Groups concluded by returning to St. Paul to wrap gifts, make cards and sing a few carols.
Things I loved about the event:
Having everyone go to the same store (a store with everything) was good for photos. St. Paul pitched in $20 for each group to help make sure the gifts could be great. Leaders were critical to making good decisions for the gifts, but the students creativity was inspiring. The small groups working together was sweet. The students generosity was inspiring. making Christmas cards out of construction paper was a good match. Extra Large gift bags were essential to keeping the gifts together.
Things to do better:
make sure the students share what they bought (i invited adults to share because we ran out of time). randomizing small groups - should have planned something better to get everyone on the same page before they left. leave more time for announcements and songs at the end. make sure to remind students that they are representatives of St. Paul when they are out and about.
We began the evening gathered in the church narthex so that we could make a quick getaway. because the narthex doesn't offer the same amount of comfort and welcome that our youth room does (there are not enough seats) we played a quick stand in a circle game as we began called railroad. It was effective at keeping everyone focused on the group while an adult leader gathered the stragglers for the first 10 minutes.
Then we broke into groups to go shopping. each group was given a shopping list for a resident. they worked together to think through gift ideas, then headed out in vehicles to the super target for some shopping.
Groups concluded by returning to St. Paul to wrap gifts, make cards and sing a few carols.
Things I loved about the event:
Having everyone go to the same store (a store with everything) was good for photos. St. Paul pitched in $20 for each group to help make sure the gifts could be great. Leaders were critical to making good decisions for the gifts, but the students creativity was inspiring. The small groups working together was sweet. The students generosity was inspiring. making Christmas cards out of construction paper was a good match. Extra Large gift bags were essential to keeping the gifts together.
Things to do better:
make sure the students share what they bought (i invited adults to share because we ran out of time). randomizing small groups - should have planned something better to get everyone on the same page before they left. leave more time for announcements and songs at the end. make sure to remind students that they are representatives of St. Paul when they are out and about.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Judging others/Forgiveness
Last night at youth group we had a brave senior share his faith story with our group. Couched in between a few classic games and some intense small group conversation - it was a powerful night.
We began the evening as normal with a gathering time. I asked students to write what they were thankful for on a post-it note and drop it into a hat as they entered. Then for our warm-up we chose three students who acted out the thankfulness notes in kind of a loose charades game. It was a little silly and it was really helpful to have a leader screening the notes to prevent repeats, but a good opening for our group.
After Joys and Concerns we headed into the next room and sat in chairs in a circle to play shuffle your buns. We began with just a basic version to get everyone moving, before adding in a slap on the chair to move the opposite direction and eventually adding two people to the middle. I think it's helpful as the leader to play this game with the students so that you can jump into the middle at any time and alleviate confusion (leaving an empty chair and ready to play again.
Taking advantage of our chairs in a circle, we also played a game called this is a fork. In this game I passed around an imaginary object but every time the object was passed, everyone forgot what it was forcing them to ask their neighbors until it reached the leader who then reminded them what it was... it's a totally silly game and wouldn't have worked in our group if we hadn't warmed up with shuffle your buns. But it's simple enough and silly enough to have a lot of fun. For our size we stationed two leaders at opposite ends of the circle and each passed different objects to our right and left: Fork, spec of dust, bowling ball, and marble (all pretend - of course). We could have probably had more leaders start passing objects to add to the confusion - but it was plenty of confusion and fun. I really had to pay attention to the end of the game though because a few of the objects were getting lost due to the students frustration (and silliness). Ending at a high point in the game is critical for this game success.
Once we were back in the youth room we settled everything down and made the hard transition to a serious moment so that our senior could share his faith story. As a leader, I was nervous about this story. When we met last week to work through his story, I could tell that he was comfortable sharing details about his history with drugs and greed that might make some in the room uncomfortable or un-relatable. So we talked a lot about how his story could connect to others who didn't have the same past. I was also nervous because this student isn't out of the darkness of the story yet and I wanted him to be authentic with his story and not lie. That authenticity was really appreciated by leaders and students and their conversation was deep and diverse.
I added a Bible study to the small group this week - which I don't always do - in case there were some groups that couldn't relate to the message. The study of John 8:1-11 (woman caught in adultery) was a great fit for groups who didn't connect to the story because it focuses so much on judging others and forgiveness.
We began the evening as normal with a gathering time. I asked students to write what they were thankful for on a post-it note and drop it into a hat as they entered. Then for our warm-up we chose three students who acted out the thankfulness notes in kind of a loose charades game. It was a little silly and it was really helpful to have a leader screening the notes to prevent repeats, but a good opening for our group.
After Joys and Concerns we headed into the next room and sat in chairs in a circle to play shuffle your buns. We began with just a basic version to get everyone moving, before adding in a slap on the chair to move the opposite direction and eventually adding two people to the middle. I think it's helpful as the leader to play this game with the students so that you can jump into the middle at any time and alleviate confusion (leaving an empty chair and ready to play again.
Taking advantage of our chairs in a circle, we also played a game called this is a fork. In this game I passed around an imaginary object but every time the object was passed, everyone forgot what it was forcing them to ask their neighbors until it reached the leader who then reminded them what it was... it's a totally silly game and wouldn't have worked in our group if we hadn't warmed up with shuffle your buns. But it's simple enough and silly enough to have a lot of fun. For our size we stationed two leaders at opposite ends of the circle and each passed different objects to our right and left: Fork, spec of dust, bowling ball, and marble (all pretend - of course). We could have probably had more leaders start passing objects to add to the confusion - but it was plenty of confusion and fun. I really had to pay attention to the end of the game though because a few of the objects were getting lost due to the students frustration (and silliness). Ending at a high point in the game is critical for this game success.
Once we were back in the youth room we settled everything down and made the hard transition to a serious moment so that our senior could share his faith story. As a leader, I was nervous about this story. When we met last week to work through his story, I could tell that he was comfortable sharing details about his history with drugs and greed that might make some in the room uncomfortable or un-relatable. So we talked a lot about how his story could connect to others who didn't have the same past. I was also nervous because this student isn't out of the darkness of the story yet and I wanted him to be authentic with his story and not lie. That authenticity was really appreciated by leaders and students and their conversation was deep and diverse.
I added a Bible study to the small group this week - which I don't always do - in case there were some groups that couldn't relate to the message. The study of John 8:1-11 (woman caught in adultery) was a great fit for groups who didn't connect to the story because it focuses so much on judging others and forgiveness.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Rewritten
Last night at youth group we explored our creative side with words and music. Actually this idea was kind of forced upon us when our contemporary worship service band hosted a Sunday evening concert which ended just before our youth group time. It seemed like a good match for our kids to go to both, so we invited and encouraged them and treated them to pizza afterwards (the first 20 minutes of youth group).
Then we began our evening with a giant game of apples to apples. It worked well, but with 40 people there were a LOT of red cards to read aloud. I helped this small thing by having two leaders (myself and another senior) read the cards aloud so that the judge could just listen and then decide which was their favorite. It also worked well to have two green cards read aloud at the same time, two students then collected cards which were submitted for each. That helped speed the process of giving cards and distributing. We played about 5 green cards in 25 minutes.
Next we played a simple game called word association. While seated in a circle we just reacted to the word spoken by the person next to us with the first thing that came to mind. This was an especially fun game to loosen ourselves up with and a great match with apples to apples.
We followed up the games with an experience using the song amazing grace. Since it's written in common meter, it can be sung to tons of different tunes: Gilligan's Island, Pop Goes The Weasel, America The Beautiful, House Of The Rising Sun, Mickey Mouse Club, Yellow Rose Of Texas, Auld Lang Syne, Piano Man, Mary Had A Little Lamb, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, And My Favorite - You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch. Using spotify, I made a playlist of the karaoke version of these songs and one by one we sang amazing grace in all kinds of ways. It was silly, fun, and a little long. The students definitely were surprised at how many versions there were... I was too.
Then we broke into small groups (a change this time by not breaking into our consistent groups, just a random group that I numbered kids off for) and wrote new verses to songs that we already sing in our youth song book. Some of the songs were ridiculous, often making fun of my bald head, and others were more story-based, which was a lot of fun to hear. All the groups came back together at the end and we played each song the 'correct' way and then the 5 small groups sang their version of the song. It was a little difficult to hear the groups, next time I'll have them write their new lyrics on an overhead page and we'll just project the words on the wall.
Then we began our evening with a giant game of apples to apples. It worked well, but with 40 people there were a LOT of red cards to read aloud. I helped this small thing by having two leaders (myself and another senior) read the cards aloud so that the judge could just listen and then decide which was their favorite. It also worked well to have two green cards read aloud at the same time, two students then collected cards which were submitted for each. That helped speed the process of giving cards and distributing. We played about 5 green cards in 25 minutes.
Next we played a simple game called word association. While seated in a circle we just reacted to the word spoken by the person next to us with the first thing that came to mind. This was an especially fun game to loosen ourselves up with and a great match with apples to apples.
We followed up the games with an experience using the song amazing grace. Since it's written in common meter, it can be sung to tons of different tunes: Gilligan's Island, Pop Goes The Weasel, America The Beautiful, House Of The Rising Sun, Mickey Mouse Club, Yellow Rose Of Texas, Auld Lang Syne, Piano Man, Mary Had A Little Lamb, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, And My Favorite - You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch. Using spotify, I made a playlist of the karaoke version of these songs and one by one we sang amazing grace in all kinds of ways. It was silly, fun, and a little long. The students definitely were surprised at how many versions there were... I was too.
Then we broke into small groups (a change this time by not breaking into our consistent groups, just a random group that I numbered kids off for) and wrote new verses to songs that we already sing in our youth song book. Some of the songs were ridiculous, often making fun of my bald head, and others were more story-based, which was a lot of fun to hear. All the groups came back together at the end and we played each song the 'correct' way and then the 5 small groups sang their version of the song. It was a little difficult to hear the groups, next time I'll have them write their new lyrics on an overhead page and we'll just project the words on the wall.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Communion
Last night at youth group we played one of our more dangerous games: the bus game. On its surface it doesn't seem to be more than just a game of tag, but when you throw in a few crazy rules and put it to music - oh baby it gets crazy.
We began the evening with a quick warm up (a powerpoint quiz) and then moved on with Joys and Concerns and then into the next room for the bus game. This time we created three buses, and had two chasers and two people being chased. Then we throw in all kinds of rules like:
Bus Stop - everyone changes seats on the bus
Chinese Fire Drill - everyone leaves their seat and runs around their bus and then finds a new seat
Rosa Parks - everyone moves forward two rows and the front two rows move to the back
Forrest Gump (right and left) - everyone shifts seats leaving columns of open seats
During this game I find a microphone essential! The game is a game of chase, but when we add one of these crazy rules, we have to be able to quickly identify who is the new chaser and the new runner (the two people left without a chair).
After a crazy game like the bus game we took a few minutes to settle back into the youth room. I think changing locations is really helpful for this transition, as is a reminder that we are changing modes in our youth group time.
For this evening I led a Bible study up front - so all students were given a Bible as they entered the youth room (another mood changer). I used powerpoint to walk students through the story (highlighting verses that I wanted to draw attention to). The story of John 6:25-68 is probably not used often in youth groups, and it was a struggle for me to teach about. There isn't much story to use and there is an awful lot of repetitive talk, so the powerpoint was really useful to skip over that repetition and focus on Jesus being the Bread of Life. I ended the study by talking about our own communion with God and then Pastor Katy led us through communion before heading to our small groups and discussing the tradition of communion and forgiveness in our own lives.
We began the evening with a quick warm up (a powerpoint quiz) and then moved on with Joys and Concerns and then into the next room for the bus game. This time we created three buses, and had two chasers and two people being chased. Then we throw in all kinds of rules like:
Bus Stop - everyone changes seats on the bus
Chinese Fire Drill - everyone leaves their seat and runs around their bus and then finds a new seat
Rosa Parks - everyone moves forward two rows and the front two rows move to the back
Forrest Gump (right and left) - everyone shifts seats leaving columns of open seats
During this game I find a microphone essential! The game is a game of chase, but when we add one of these crazy rules, we have to be able to quickly identify who is the new chaser and the new runner (the two people left without a chair).
After a crazy game like the bus game we took a few minutes to settle back into the youth room. I think changing locations is really helpful for this transition, as is a reminder that we are changing modes in our youth group time.
For this evening I led a Bible study up front - so all students were given a Bible as they entered the youth room (another mood changer). I used powerpoint to walk students through the story (highlighting verses that I wanted to draw attention to). The story of John 6:25-68 is probably not used often in youth groups, and it was a struggle for me to teach about. There isn't much story to use and there is an awful lot of repetitive talk, so the powerpoint was really useful to skip over that repetition and focus on Jesus being the Bread of Life. I ended the study by talking about our own communion with God and then Pastor Katy led us through communion before heading to our small groups and discussing the tradition of communion and forgiveness in our own lives.
Monday, November 5, 2012
silent laughter
Last night at youth group our students played one of their favorite games - Silent Football. This is one of those games that you either love or hate, but either way only can be played once in a while to keep it fresh.
Our evening was definitely shaped by student conflicts of musicals/plays at every high school and a cross country banquet too. I was sure that our attendance would be abysmal but was surprised to see a handful of new students join us and others who haven't been around much. Just proves that you can just never predict this group.
I planned silent football anticipating lower numbers but when we had strong attendance divided our group into two groups to play.
Following a good 30 minutes of silent laughter during the game we returned to the youth room for our large group. It could have been great! Looking at John 6:1-15 there is a segment of dialogue between Jesus and the disciples that can seriously be taken in all kinds of ways. Was Jesus being sarcastic? cynical? stern? Were the disciples overwhelmed? concerned? flippant? joking... there are a lot of options and I intended to use three students to read and re-read the dialogue in all the versions. But the students were overcome with laughter and literally couldn't get through it even once. Alas, I yanked them from the stage and continued minus this powerful example.
The small group conversation that followed was interesting as kids talked about miracles, Jesus being elected as a president (6:15) and how they react to God's power in the world. Not a bad night, not at all!
Our evening was definitely shaped by student conflicts of musicals/plays at every high school and a cross country banquet too. I was sure that our attendance would be abysmal but was surprised to see a handful of new students join us and others who haven't been around much. Just proves that you can just never predict this group.
I planned silent football anticipating lower numbers but when we had strong attendance divided our group into two groups to play.
Following a good 30 minutes of silent laughter during the game we returned to the youth room for our large group. It could have been great! Looking at John 6:1-15 there is a segment of dialogue between Jesus and the disciples that can seriously be taken in all kinds of ways. Was Jesus being sarcastic? cynical? stern? Were the disciples overwhelmed? concerned? flippant? joking... there are a lot of options and I intended to use three students to read and re-read the dialogue in all the versions. But the students were overcome with laughter and literally couldn't get through it even once. Alas, I yanked them from the stage and continued minus this powerful example.
The small group conversation that followed was interesting as kids talked about miracles, Jesus being elected as a president (6:15) and how they react to God's power in the world. Not a bad night, not at all!
Monday, October 29, 2012
College Fair
Last night at youth group we hosted a joint youth group with other Lutheran Churches from the area from 6:30-7:30 followed by a Lutheran college fair from 7:30-8:30. Though I'm not interested in hosting the event every year, I loved the joint youth group and partnership with Lutherancolleges.org which hosted our fair. They brought in 14 Lutheran school reps and provided a financial aid seminar for parents at 6:30.
Check
in/gathering – I thought this was great. every leader wore an orange IGNITE shirt, which is a big help for students and leaders. Snacks
were nice but didn't seem necessary. Music over the speakers as students gathered was perfect!
Ice
breaker/introduction – Not bad. I introduced churches, leaders, and college students, gave the students our game plan and then led the game evolution. It was silly and fun and seemed to get everyone
going. As students completed the game they joined a random small group - I should have had the small group leaders in a line ready to grab their
kids for the next piece though with better instructions about where to go for
small groups.
Team
Challenges – Wonderful. A great mix of fun games, good diversity in the groups,
and good conversation. feather thing, human pretzel, name game... all simple and they all wrote questions at the end for our college panel which was really cool. Most of the groups were integrated with kids from all churches which was also really fun.
Panel
Discussion – This was the highlight for me. I loved hearing the students’ perspective.
The questions the kids generated were really good and I thought Pat did a great
job facilitating! (best prank, should you go to a community college before a large university, how did you choose your college, what do you miss about high school... among others)
Closing
Devotion – Pastor Janet did a good job. It was a little later than we wanted, but didn't feel too bad. I think the framework of having God with us at college is
critical and I thought it was important to include.
College
Fair – well done by the college hosts. Lots of good food, conversation and
plenty of parents who stuck around!
I
really enjoyed the group dynamic during the evening. I counted 47 students and
16 adult leaders… My own group numbers were down a bit (27 were from St. Paul
Monday, October 22, 2012
Curtis Fry
Last night at youth group we invited guest speaker Curtis Fry to speak with our teenagers. His story is incredible! It was a story that challenged our teenagers and our small group conversations were sparked in all kinds of directions.
We began with an ice breaker called forced decisions which allowed our teenagers to move around a little bit and begin to think about difficult topics like morality, perception and others judgments of us. This game was a great fit because we didn't have time to move to another room to move around - instead we played it right in our room.
Then we shared joys and concerns followed by introducing our speaker, Curtis. He was very good. As he told his story he shared the bad decisions that eventually led to him being arrested. Then he told his story growing up and who he was. Then he told us what he was arrested for: murder. Curtis' story is bleak and the hope that he offered often comes in the hope and faith he has in God.
Curtis did get a little preachy at points. He could have been more brief and allowed more time for questions. And it seemed that Curtis was using the shotgun approach of just covering lots of topics rather than just closing in on one and really selling it. For instance, he mentioned red flags that God had showed him - which would have been a great closing. He talked about choices that he made - but it was really only one choice that was a mistake. He talked about life in prison, forgiveness, grace, drinking... all could have been good in and of themselves. We'll surely touch on these again in the future months.
Q and A was brief it seemed our teenagers, there were over 50 of us so intimidation was likely high.
Small groups were all over the board as their topics were so varied. Kids reacted strongly to the choices, drinking, and forgiveness themes. the leader reaction at the end of the night was also all over the board many connecting to different points in the talk, surprised with kids' reaction, and wrestling with their own ideas of having a convicted murderer in our room.
It was a powerful night - very memorable!
We began with an ice breaker called forced decisions which allowed our teenagers to move around a little bit and begin to think about difficult topics like morality, perception and others judgments of us. This game was a great fit because we didn't have time to move to another room to move around - instead we played it right in our room.
Then we shared joys and concerns followed by introducing our speaker, Curtis. He was very good. As he told his story he shared the bad decisions that eventually led to him being arrested. Then he told his story growing up and who he was. Then he told us what he was arrested for: murder. Curtis' story is bleak and the hope that he offered often comes in the hope and faith he has in God.
Curtis did get a little preachy at points. He could have been more brief and allowed more time for questions. And it seemed that Curtis was using the shotgun approach of just covering lots of topics rather than just closing in on one and really selling it. For instance, he mentioned red flags that God had showed him - which would have been a great closing. He talked about choices that he made - but it was really only one choice that was a mistake. He talked about life in prison, forgiveness, grace, drinking... all could have been good in and of themselves. We'll surely touch on these again in the future months.
Q and A was brief it seemed our teenagers, there were over 50 of us so intimidation was likely high.
Small groups were all over the board as their topics were so varied. Kids reacted strongly to the choices, drinking, and forgiveness themes. the leader reaction at the end of the night was also all over the board many connecting to different points in the talk, surprised with kids' reaction, and wrestling with their own ideas of having a convicted murderer in our room.
It was a powerful night - very memorable!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Breaking the Rules
Last night at youth group we provoked our students to think about how Jesus broke the rules and in turn how we might also need to break the rules. In our study of John, we looked at chapter 5 when Jesus heals on the Sabbath. Of course this was against the Jewish Sabbath laws and Jesus gives a great answer "my father is still working and I am still working." In our large group we also made the claim that Jesus chose the man who had been paralyzed for 38 years because there had been a social rule about healing yourself first, ignoring someone on the fringes and looking down on someone who was paralyzed. All rules that Jesus broke.
Nothing about the evening was a total home run, but the two truths and a lie tournament was a good fit and it allowed our kids to get to know each other better. The silly stunt was fun, but just a time filler. The large group was good - Bibles in hands of teenager and a good study - but the technology wasn't smooth and we waited for the youtube clip to buffer. The small groups were good, but I don't think all the groups got to the point of challenging each other to break a social rule for Jesus.
http://twentytwowords.com/2011/06/08/new-yorker-rides-into-obstacles-in-bike-lanes-to-prove-a-point/
Small Groups
Prayer and Praise
Nothing about the evening was a total home run, but the two truths and a lie tournament was a good fit and it allowed our kids to get to know each other better. The silly stunt was fun, but just a time filler. The large group was good - Bibles in hands of teenager and a good study - but the technology wasn't smooth and we waited for the youtube clip to buffer. The small groups were good, but I don't think all the groups got to the point of challenging each other to break a social rule for Jesus.
Gathering + snacks
Silly stunt - the pour!
Silly stunt - the pour!
Choose 4
contestants and give them each a glass filled with ice and a bottle of soda
(coke?). Instruct each contestant to pour the soda into the glass and see who
can fill up the glass with the most soda on one pour without spilling.
Joys and Concerns
Ice Breaker - Fellowship Hall - two truths and lie
Ice Breaker - Fellowship Hall - two truths and lie
First, split
in groups of 4-5, then in groups of 8-10, then transition back to youth room
and have one contestant from each group share (be sure to sit by your group)
Large Group Lesson (John 5:1-18) - pass out
Bibleshttp://twentytwowords.com/2011/06/08/new-yorker-rides-into-obstacles-in-bike-lanes-to-prove-a-point/
Small Groups
Prayer and Praise
Monday, October 8, 2012
that's what makes me smile
Last night at youth group we were blown away by a senior faith story. When I met with this young woman - we'll call her Sarah earlier in the week I was sure the story would be good, but it was better than that, it was awesome.
We began the evening with normal ice breakers and then proceeded into the fellowship hall for a game called screaming toes. When two people looked at each other and screamed, they became partners, left the circle and were given a few questions printed on postcards to get to know each other better. Included in the questions were instructions to make a secret handshake - so it was fun to watch kids finish this exercise with some fellowship and silliness.
When we headed back to the youth I put up a text poll - but the answers have not been good lately. perhaps we're using this resource too often, or maybe the uncensored answers are getting too silly. it does provide a nice transition and it's collaborative which is nice.
Then we opened the floor for the senior faith story. I prefaced the talk by explaining this would be serious, that we all need to be respectful and show her that we were listening, and that it - including the small group time - is always confidential.
Sarah's talk was a home run! when she spoke her voice was broken - clearly moved by sharing this story - and it drew everyone in. she opened by explaining that the divorce of her parents was particularly difficult for her and went on to say that every person in her family has a lifetime restraining order on him... enough said. Everyone was hooked to this beautiful story about how she has learned to guard herself and not let anyone see who she really is, not let her mom see when she was bothered, or not let her therapist see when she was hurting. If she smiled, everyone left her alone, so she would just smile and people would stop asking. She explained what it feels like to have acquaintances and not have any friends, then she explained her experimentation with marijuana and when her mom caught her and finally drove her back into this youth group. My favorite part of the story was her ending line: I realized that at youth group I didn't have to smile, which is what makes me smile the most.
After the faith story, I addressed the group and retold the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. This was a great fit as Jesus looks past her guard and sees the real woman - calling her out and to a better life. We concluded by talking a little about how this group becomes a little like a church community before heading into small groups to debrief from the story and/or to think about our church community and what or why we do what we do.
We began the evening with normal ice breakers and then proceeded into the fellowship hall for a game called screaming toes. When two people looked at each other and screamed, they became partners, left the circle and were given a few questions printed on postcards to get to know each other better. Included in the questions were instructions to make a secret handshake - so it was fun to watch kids finish this exercise with some fellowship and silliness.
When we headed back to the youth I put up a text poll - but the answers have not been good lately. perhaps we're using this resource too often, or maybe the uncensored answers are getting too silly. it does provide a nice transition and it's collaborative which is nice.
Then we opened the floor for the senior faith story. I prefaced the talk by explaining this would be serious, that we all need to be respectful and show her that we were listening, and that it - including the small group time - is always confidential.
Sarah's talk was a home run! when she spoke her voice was broken - clearly moved by sharing this story - and it drew everyone in. she opened by explaining that the divorce of her parents was particularly difficult for her and went on to say that every person in her family has a lifetime restraining order on him... enough said. Everyone was hooked to this beautiful story about how she has learned to guard herself and not let anyone see who she really is, not let her mom see when she was bothered, or not let her therapist see when she was hurting. If she smiled, everyone left her alone, so she would just smile and people would stop asking. She explained what it feels like to have acquaintances and not have any friends, then she explained her experimentation with marijuana and when her mom caught her and finally drove her back into this youth group. My favorite part of the story was her ending line: I realized that at youth group I didn't have to smile, which is what makes me smile the most.
After the faith story, I addressed the group and retold the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well. This was a great fit as Jesus looks past her guard and sees the real woman - calling her out and to a better life. We concluded by talking a little about how this group becomes a little like a church community before heading into small groups to debrief from the story and/or to think about our church community and what or why we do what we do.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Messy Olympics
Last night at youth group we hosted our annual Messy Olympics. It is a chance for students to get messy with our silly games that we would never play otherwise, and a chance to for our small groups to dig into the messiness of life. Everything about the event and the youth group that followed was great - but it was too long! This year to maximize the daylight, our messy olympics was held before youth group - starting at 5:00 pm. It was a good strategy because it allowed students to choose to participate and then stay for youth group or avoid messy olympics and just attend youth group. I was honestly surprised that half of our students skipped the messy part and just came to youth group, until I realized that the kids who came to the whole thing were here for close to 4 hours... that's a long time on a Sunday night when you might have already been to church that morning for a few hours.
The other difference this year was an attempt to keep the chaos more controlled and have less food/mess fighting. It worked in a lot of ways: sitting at tables in the grass, having contestants from each team participate in smaller events where others could watch, a leader was assigned to each team, adding a sound system and playing some music... these were all good for our group.
Here was our schedule:
The other difference this year was an attempt to keep the chaos more controlled and have less food/mess fighting. It worked in a lot of ways: sitting at tables in the grass, having contestants from each team participate in smaller events where others could watch, a leader was assigned to each team, adding a sound system and playing some music... these were all good for our group.
Here was our schedule:
5:00 Gathering in the youth room
5:10 Break into 6 teams, decide event participants, make team flags out of edible sticky paint and poster board (this was a great opening because it got everyone a little messy. Just cornsyrup and food coloring and it's really sticky)
5:20 First Event - Whipcream Whistle (faces into pie pans filled with whipcream trying to find a whistle and make the sound - fun to watch and play)
5:25 Second Event – Mud Makers (sculpting relay with mud - very messy! we used tupper ware boxes prefilled with mud and was really fun to watch)
5:35 Third Event – Donut Dash (blindfolded contestants attempt to eat powdered donuts suspended from a string - didn't go over as well as I had hoped. I was trying to modify a game that would normally involve suspending them from the ceiling and the stick I used just wasn't as good.)
5:40 Fourth Event – Raisin Bran Mayhem (bowls of cereal trying to sort out raisins from bran wasn't too bad, but not very messy)
5:45 Fifth Event – Jello Toss (using prepackaged jello cups we had a tossing competition like a waterballoon toss. It was fun but the mess happened after a team was out and would hurl jello at other teams)
5:55 Sixth Event – Marshmallow toss (dipping marshmallows in cups of chocolate syrup and then tossing into their partners mouth - really fun, pretty messy!)
6:00 Dinner Setup
6:10 Messy Dinner (spaghetti eaten in different ways. It was just okay - some students were just tired of being messy at this point, others really wanted to get more messy so it was a weird mix)
6:30 Clean up
6:45 Gather in Youth Room (Ice breaker, Joys and Concerns,
Awards)
7:00 Message (I used a video from youteach - the skit guys - about playing the cards you've been dealt. It's powerful and fit the message of the evening. Then I recapped the video by talking about Job and Niccodemus and the different ways they dealt with fear adn doubt, the different cards they had been dealt. And then I mentioned my own cards that I've been dealt - good and bad)
7:20 Small groups (we sent each small group leader with a pack of cards, scrap paper, markers and tape. The first thing each student did was identify some cards that they had been dealt in life good and bad. And as they shared and made their cards they discussed honestly how their lives were going. It was very intense. Very good conversations!)
8:05 Worship
Monday, September 24, 2012
miracles
Last night at youth group might have been the perfect strategic night ever. we're only three weeks into our youth group year and as we're getting settled into the rhythm of the year we dove into the topic of miracles. I also used this opportunity to encourage kids to come and hear about our new mission trip destination next summer. These two fit together so beautifully!
I don't always like to go after topics like this early in the year, but being persuaded by a leader to focus on the book of John this year - the story of Jesus first miracle in chapter two is difficult to avoid. So after our normal ice breakers and a good game of Chicken on a hill the teenagers headed into the youth room for our large group.
I began by showing this video about miracles and then we began a Bible study. I did fail to have students pick up Bibles as they entered the room so I tried to read slowly, but I wish they had their Bibles.
I walked students through the story pausing several times to ask questions and get responses from the students. We focused on Mary's faith in this story - her ability to believe that Jesus could/would do something because she had prior experience with God's miracles. And contrasted our own faith and the disciples faith until they saw the miracle.
It was a great study that led to very good conversation in small groups.
We concluded the evening with worship and during worship I revealed our summer plans by recapping the miracles story and our own need to see God do amazing things so that we could have faith to see more miraculous things.
Strategy was great - evening felt awesome!The number of kids who come is so stable - it's just the frequency of kids that really drives me bananas! We had 42 students - of course 7 of them were new and the number of kids who were back from week 1 was back up... it's a little crazy - but probably a good subset of what's going on in churches as well. good numbers, less frequency.
I don't always like to go after topics like this early in the year, but being persuaded by a leader to focus on the book of John this year - the story of Jesus first miracle in chapter two is difficult to avoid. So after our normal ice breakers and a good game of Chicken on a hill the teenagers headed into the youth room for our large group.
I began by showing this video about miracles and then we began a Bible study. I did fail to have students pick up Bibles as they entered the room so I tried to read slowly, but I wish they had their Bibles.
I walked students through the story pausing several times to ask questions and get responses from the students. We focused on Mary's faith in this story - her ability to believe that Jesus could/would do something because she had prior experience with God's miracles. And contrasted our own faith and the disciples faith until they saw the miracle.
It was a great study that led to very good conversation in small groups.
We concluded the evening with worship and during worship I revealed our summer plans by recapping the miracles story and our own need to see God do amazing things so that we could have faith to see more miraculous things.
Strategy was great - evening felt awesome!The number of kids who come is so stable - it's just the frequency of kids that really drives me bananas! We had 42 students - of course 7 of them were new and the number of kids who were back from week 1 was back up... it's a little crazy - but probably a good subset of what's going on in churches as well. good numbers, less frequency.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
sacrifice
On our second night of youth group for the year we had 41 students. 30 had been here the week before, 11 were new, and 20 students didn't come back for week number 2.
I try not to look at numbers like this for any reason other than to reaffirm in my head and heart that each week we have a dramatically different group of students. The small groups - while we're trying for better consistency this year - are still changing each week. It also means that our group takes a little longer to settle in each week, the transition times are a little delayed and the conversations can be a little off balance with some people feeling very comfortable and others not at all.
Our opening is going very smoothly. the spotify playlist is very welcoming, and our technology quizes were great. I'm very happy with the joys and concerns part as it gives us a chance to be honest, serious and prayerful early in the evening. each week we've had students share big things with the group which is really cool to have in our group.
Human foosball was great - 10 minutes of energy and silliness but I did a horrible job leading it. I should have moved into the fellowship hall before we got into our lines. instead, we made groups of 4 and walked in, but by the time we transitioned into the fellowship hall the groups were separated, confused, and we had lost some of the momentum.
the transition poll was nice to have - 40 texts is plenty for the group.
the lesson was great. we used the brick testament to tell the story of abraham and Isaac - then discussed Jewish ideas about sacrifice until Jesus shows up - keying on the passage from John: Behold the lamb.
That led us into great small group conversations about sacrifice.
Gathering + Snacks
Opening Game: Powerpoint quiz game
Joys and Concerns (+ Introductions of Leaders)
Ice Breaking Game: Human Foosball
Transition poll - If you
were stranded on a deserted island, what one item would you bring?
John 1 Lesson - 1:29 - The
next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of
the world!
Small Group conversations
Worship
Monday, September 10, 2012
in the beginning - of the year
Last night at youth group we began our year... and we're off and running. 49 students and 13 leaders made for a very full youth room, loads of energy and very powerful evening.
Some news things for our group this year will include:
technology - we've installed a big screen TV and computer in the main youth space which allowed us to open the evening with spotify songs (thanks to some great lists made by YoungLife), a powerpoint trivia warm up game, youtube clips during our large group, and some interactive polls (polleverywhere.com).
small groups - we always have small groups to debrief our experiences, but this year we are establishing permanent small groups that will meet each week. We experimented with this last year during house groups and I think our group is both large enough to support them, diverse enough to need them and craving depth enough to appreciate them. So a few weeks ago I sorted leaders into teams to lead small groups and we had kind of a draft for the students. Last night they found out who and where they would be each week during small group and began those great conversations.
So the evening unfolded as planned:
Some news things for our group this year will include:
technology - we've installed a big screen TV and computer in the main youth space which allowed us to open the evening with spotify songs (thanks to some great lists made by YoungLife), a powerpoint trivia warm up game, youtube clips during our large group, and some interactive polls (polleverywhere.com).
small groups - we always have small groups to debrief our experiences, but this year we are establishing permanent small groups that will meet each week. We experimented with this last year during house groups and I think our group is both large enough to support them, diverse enough to need them and craving depth enough to appreciate them. So a few weeks ago I sorted leaders into teams to lead small groups and we had kind of a draft for the students. Last night they found out who and where they would be each week during small group and began those great conversations.
So the evening unfolded as planned:
Gathering + Snacks
Opening Game: Powerpoint quiz game – hipster slang
Joys and Concerns
Ice Breaking Game: Train Wreck
Poll (What's the hardest part of being Christian? - getting up on Sunday mornings)
Large Group - John 1 Lesson
Small Group Sorting
Small Group conversations
Worship
To make Trainwreck even better we had categories which helped them think of ideas and move our conversation from the summer towards how we see ourselves. I didn't know if we could play this game for 20 minutes like we did, but every once in a while I paused the game and had kids talk with their neighbor. that and the categories really helped hold their attention and the game didn't get tired.
The lesson was great! I worked hard to scorre the message and we talked about the choice that we make with a mirror - to reflect ourselves and see our flaws or to reflect others and the light of God. the youtube clips aren't perfectly smooth from powerpoint, but it wasn't distracting because I used them at the beginning. since the talk was focused on reflections I handed out mirrors to each person as they left as a reminder.
Small groups really focused on how we see ourselves, our reputations and the ease and difficulty of being who God wants us to be - a total win in all the groups!
And then we closed everything up beautifully during our worship moment by writing on the backs of the mirrors: you are a child of God, holy and dearly loved, Jesus loves you and so do I. it's a phrase that Marilyn Sharpe uses and we adopted it into our group last year. we close the evening by saying those words to each other, they were perfect to write on the back of a mirror.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Hate Religion - Love Jesus
Last night at youth group we watched and discussed the latest youtube sensation: Why I hate religion but love Jesus. It wasn't my initial decision, I had several leaders mention the video to me and I came across this interesting blog (rethinking youth ministry) that gave me some ideas. Our event was different - it was after all contextual to our group - but it was excellent and truly one of the better nights of our youth group this year.
To begin the evening we played a simple game of forced decisions. I asked students to gather in the center of the room and after I announced the two ends of the spectrum, our kids were forced to choose one side of the room or the other. Questions ranged from "sports vs. arts" to "age that kids should be allowed to have a boy/girlfriend - above or below 14". After each decision I choose a few representatives on each side to chime in with their rationale and then we moved on to the next question. One of our more hotly contested decisions was whether or not a guy should be expected to ask the girl out - interesting conversation on that one.
Forced decisions were a perfect primer for the video as I explained to the group that we weren't just watching the video but going to be listening as he made several bold statements about faith and religion. Then we switched rooms, watched the video 1.5 times (there was a small technical glitch so after 2 minutes the video had to be restart. bummer. but it was a blessing to have our kids hear the first and most controversial part of the video twice). immediately after the video I asked for group reaction. not surprisingly there were several who loved his claims. and there were a few who wondered what he meant by 'religion' and were skeptical about some of his message.
Then I turned the kids loose for about 15 minutes to react to 9 bold claims that the poet makes during his video. For each claim, I wrote out on a large piece of butcher paper followed by a simple question or two. following some of the quotes I asked kids to vote with colored dots whether or not they agreed, or vote on a scale (how much do you mask yourself when you come here). The dots helped visualize answers - and do quick analysis.
Surprisingly the kids were really into this activity. They quietly roamed the room honestly writing long answers to deeply personal questions. They posed new questions, drew pictures, and took their own bold stances. Sometimes kids would wander around just reading others thoughts - commenting like they do in facebook - liking different comments. it was powerful to behold.
And then we asked the kids to get in small groups to discuss some of these statements. I had asked several leaders to monitor the papers and choose powerful or summation quotes to read aloud, and then in small groups one at a time we discussed the bold statement and a few of the student quotes. Seriously the hardest part of the evening was moving on from one subject to the next. Every small group was interested and involved in the discussion. It was great!
Maybe part of the success here was that I broke kids into small groups of 3-4 kids. That really helped kids open up and share. In many groups the leaders didn't even say anything as the kids took turns sharing and discussing.
We concluded the evening with some closing worship - a short few sentences from me about this video and how incredible it was to be part of this community - and then we made the sign of the cross on each others foreheads to remember our baptism and closed the evening.
To begin the evening we played a simple game of forced decisions. I asked students to gather in the center of the room and after I announced the two ends of the spectrum, our kids were forced to choose one side of the room or the other. Questions ranged from "sports vs. arts" to "age that kids should be allowed to have a boy/girlfriend - above or below 14". After each decision I choose a few representatives on each side to chime in with their rationale and then we moved on to the next question. One of our more hotly contested decisions was whether or not a guy should be expected to ask the girl out - interesting conversation on that one.
Forced decisions were a perfect primer for the video as I explained to the group that we weren't just watching the video but going to be listening as he made several bold statements about faith and religion. Then we switched rooms, watched the video 1.5 times (there was a small technical glitch so after 2 minutes the video had to be restart. bummer. but it was a blessing to have our kids hear the first and most controversial part of the video twice). immediately after the video I asked for group reaction. not surprisingly there were several who loved his claims. and there were a few who wondered what he meant by 'religion' and were skeptical about some of his message.
Then I turned the kids loose for about 15 minutes to react to 9 bold claims that the poet makes during his video. For each claim, I wrote out on a large piece of butcher paper followed by a simple question or two. following some of the quotes I asked kids to vote with colored dots whether or not they agreed, or vote on a scale (how much do you mask yourself when you come here). The dots helped visualize answers - and do quick analysis.
Surprisingly the kids were really into this activity. They quietly roamed the room honestly writing long answers to deeply personal questions. They posed new questions, drew pictures, and took their own bold stances. Sometimes kids would wander around just reading others thoughts - commenting like they do in facebook - liking different comments. it was powerful to behold.
And then we asked the kids to get in small groups to discuss some of these statements. I had asked several leaders to monitor the papers and choose powerful or summation quotes to read aloud, and then in small groups one at a time we discussed the bold statement and a few of the student quotes. Seriously the hardest part of the evening was moving on from one subject to the next. Every small group was interested and involved in the discussion. It was great!
Maybe part of the success here was that I broke kids into small groups of 3-4 kids. That really helped kids open up and share. In many groups the leaders didn't even say anything as the kids took turns sharing and discussing.
We concluded the evening with some closing worship - a short few sentences from me about this video and how incredible it was to be part of this community - and then we made the sign of the cross on each others foreheads to remember our baptism and closed the evening.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Super Culture
Last night at youth group we celebrated the cultural tradition of watching the Superbowl together. This is honestly the single biggest problem with having youth group on Sunday Night regularly - well except for homework. The Super bowl is too big to ignore, and too insignificant to make it amazing. So youth group is always in this strange grey area.
Fortunately, Superbowl fell on house group night so kids planned to meet in each others houses to mostly watch the game, hang out, and eat yummy food. Typically we host 4 house groups on Sunday nights, but for the Superbowl we narrowed it down to two groups with moderate success.
I say moderate success, but honestly they were great parties. We had good numbers at both, and the kids genuinely enjoyed the company of each other as they laughed at commercials and watched the game.
There was no curriculum for the night - no imposed devotion - just a simple hang out night. A testament to our group dynamic and the good feelings of being in a 'group' that everything worked out so well!
Fortunately, Superbowl fell on house group night so kids planned to meet in each others houses to mostly watch the game, hang out, and eat yummy food. Typically we host 4 house groups on Sunday nights, but for the Superbowl we narrowed it down to two groups with moderate success.
I say moderate success, but honestly they were great parties. We had good numbers at both, and the kids genuinely enjoyed the company of each other as they laughed at commercials and watched the game.
There was no curriculum for the night - no imposed devotion - just a simple hang out night. A testament to our group dynamic and the good feelings of being in a 'group' that everything worked out so well!
Monday, January 30, 2012
School service projects
Last night at youth group we gave our students a service project that beautifully partnered with the mission of our congregation and the needs of our community, and then we made it fun enough for the kids to enjoy: It was great!
Our church has a unique partnership with a nearby middle school through which we provide mentors, volunteers, and resources to an otherwise disadvantaged school. One resource that our church provides is a care package for students as they take their Iowa Basic Skills Tests. I remember from my own days of taking the MMAT (the Missouri equivalent) that these were long days of filling in bubble sheets. So the care package provides a few sharp pencils, bookmark, mints, gum, sticker and pencil grip - enough treat and practical supplies to make the test hopefully more bearable.
I introduced this project to our students last year. It doesn't take long - many hands make light work - but is a really nice thing to do. Last night though we really took it to the next level by adding purpose to our service. We began the evening by talking about the middle school in need, reminding our students that in this school there are many students who don't have positive role models, parents to help with homework, safe places to play, and for many, probably not a whole lot of enthusiasm about school work. So our mission was to show these students that we loved them with this small gift. Then to put our affection into words by writing notes on the outside of the care packages.
I really wanted this to make a big impact on the students we served, so the first thing that students did before assembling the envelope-care packages was to gather in groups of 6-8 at the tables. Then they each took an envelope and wrote an encouraging phrase on it and passed it around their table.
The result was incredible. Thank God I resisted the urge to pre-write some ideas on white paper and hang them around the room. Our kids were more creative that I would have been. among my favorites included: Nailed it, You've got swag, and numerous quotes from Harry Potter. Envelopes became decorated with lots of phrases - super encouraging pep talks for the students taking tests. And though each student was only writing one phrase several times, the envelopes became uniquely hand written love notes.
We wrapped up this service project by gathering in the youth room to pray over the envelopes before settling into our seats for a Senior Faith Story. Easily one of my favorite traditions that we've begun this year, the last Sunday of month has become a holy space for our seniors to share their story of God with our group. This week a student shared about her experience with a house fire and the love and outpouring of friendship that affected her life post-fire. She connected the disorientation of the fire with the reality of what she really needed in life and how much luxury she has in life. It softened her to people who go without and opened her eyes about her own friendships. I prefaced her story by reading from Luke 12:22-34 and then we split into small groups to reflect. 20 minutes was enough time, but it definitely could have been more.
The evening concluded with worship - during which we remember our baptism by reminding students that we often try to fill our lives with stuff, not realizing what is really important is our relationships. So as we played music students made the sign of the cross on each other's foreheads while they said, "you are worth it, you are a child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I". Though this baptismal tradition is becoming a sweet spot for me, one of my leaders is pushing me to consider how else to frame the final moments so that kids who are acne-conscious won't feel strange about the experience... I'm still thinking about that, but for now, the baptismal reminder is an excuse for us to look at each other and remember God's connection to us - and I don't want to give that up.
Our church has a unique partnership with a nearby middle school through which we provide mentors, volunteers, and resources to an otherwise disadvantaged school. One resource that our church provides is a care package for students as they take their Iowa Basic Skills Tests. I remember from my own days of taking the MMAT (the Missouri equivalent) that these were long days of filling in bubble sheets. So the care package provides a few sharp pencils, bookmark, mints, gum, sticker and pencil grip - enough treat and practical supplies to make the test hopefully more bearable.
I introduced this project to our students last year. It doesn't take long - many hands make light work - but is a really nice thing to do. Last night though we really took it to the next level by adding purpose to our service. We began the evening by talking about the middle school in need, reminding our students that in this school there are many students who don't have positive role models, parents to help with homework, safe places to play, and for many, probably not a whole lot of enthusiasm about school work. So our mission was to show these students that we loved them with this small gift. Then to put our affection into words by writing notes on the outside of the care packages.
I really wanted this to make a big impact on the students we served, so the first thing that students did before assembling the envelope-care packages was to gather in groups of 6-8 at the tables. Then they each took an envelope and wrote an encouraging phrase on it and passed it around their table.
The result was incredible. Thank God I resisted the urge to pre-write some ideas on white paper and hang them around the room. Our kids were more creative that I would have been. among my favorites included: Nailed it, You've got swag, and numerous quotes from Harry Potter. Envelopes became decorated with lots of phrases - super encouraging pep talks for the students taking tests. And though each student was only writing one phrase several times, the envelopes became uniquely hand written love notes.
We wrapped up this service project by gathering in the youth room to pray over the envelopes before settling into our seats for a Senior Faith Story. Easily one of my favorite traditions that we've begun this year, the last Sunday of month has become a holy space for our seniors to share their story of God with our group. This week a student shared about her experience with a house fire and the love and outpouring of friendship that affected her life post-fire. She connected the disorientation of the fire with the reality of what she really needed in life and how much luxury she has in life. It softened her to people who go without and opened her eyes about her own friendships. I prefaced her story by reading from Luke 12:22-34 and then we split into small groups to reflect. 20 minutes was enough time, but it definitely could have been more.
The evening concluded with worship - during which we remember our baptism by reminding students that we often try to fill our lives with stuff, not realizing what is really important is our relationships. So as we played music students made the sign of the cross on each other's foreheads while they said, "you are worth it, you are a child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I". Though this baptismal tradition is becoming a sweet spot for me, one of my leaders is pushing me to consider how else to frame the final moments so that kids who are acne-conscious won't feel strange about the experience... I'm still thinking about that, but for now, the baptismal reminder is an excuse for us to look at each other and remember God's connection to us - and I don't want to give that up.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Foosball
Last night at youth group we played one of my favorite games... feels like I say that a lot, but human foosball is definitely in the running. I've played several varieties of this game, but I think I've perfected it in my setting. We occupy the entire fellowship hall (a large mostly rectangle room) and line it with chairs facing out of the playing field. Then as we form teams we actually just form lines of 3-5 students who hold hands and face alternating directions lining up between chairs like a foosball table. The chairs become anchors for the lines and to ensure that the kids stay true, we use waste hose to connect each line to the chair anchor. Then I give some quick instructions about not getting hurt and that if they knock over their chairs they will lose a point, and we're off.
When we're playing with 30-40 people, multiple balls are necessary. I like to use a variety of sizes and styles of balls: nerf, inflatables, and a few kid-kick balls (the kind in the giant towers at walmart for a few bucks). Then as a leader I run around encouraging, teasing and chasing after balls which have gone astray while the kids bop balls back and forth.
As with most of my games I pretend to keep points, but I never actually do. If it seems one team is winning too much I start assigning disabilities to the winning teams or I will alter rules to make it more even. And every few minutes of play I stop the game, have each line move one row closer to their goal and the forward most team to retreat to their defense. That keeps the lines fresh as they meet and kick against new players. The real key to the game is the waste hose. it's so useful in keeping kids in a line, but also allowing them to move a little bit so that no balls become stuck between lines.
Along with Foosball, we also played a quick name game in the beginning that asked kids to get to know their neighbor. first I asked ids to share names as one person in the middle pointed to different people and asked "do you know your neighbor" and counted to 5. After several attempts to get to 5 before they could respond, the middle person said to change places if... kind of working in a "train wreck style game" Then we learned new facts like where they were born, farthest away from home, middle name... The game worked fine. it was kind of a mix of several games, but it was a good mix to get kids loose and learning about each other. I should have partnered them up myself after the game instead of letting them move to find groups, because that would have forced some new relationships during the foosball game, but as it was, the kids were standing next to their friends and playing against other friends, so it was just fine.
After foosball we had a large group talk about Philip and the Eunuch - Acts 8. I identified 5 things that philip did that made a difference in the Eunuch's life: running alongside, sat down, saw the bigger question, shared his life experience, and then shared an experience. And then we applied those 5 things to how we can make a difference in relationships we already have. Small group followed with a pretty intense conversation about friendships and how friendships change - thinking specifically about how to help friends grow deeper.
We concluded the evening by revisiting the baptismal promise and how that moment changed our lives. We then remembered our baptism by passing around a bowl of water as we sang and put the sign of the cross on each others foreheads, repeating the words: "you are a child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I." This was a beautiful ending to a powerful night of conversation and fun. The balance was perfect - lots of fun, and lots of depth in conversation.
When we're playing with 30-40 people, multiple balls are necessary. I like to use a variety of sizes and styles of balls: nerf, inflatables, and a few kid-kick balls (the kind in the giant towers at walmart for a few bucks). Then as a leader I run around encouraging, teasing and chasing after balls which have gone astray while the kids bop balls back and forth.
As with most of my games I pretend to keep points, but I never actually do. If it seems one team is winning too much I start assigning disabilities to the winning teams or I will alter rules to make it more even. And every few minutes of play I stop the game, have each line move one row closer to their goal and the forward most team to retreat to their defense. That keeps the lines fresh as they meet and kick against new players. The real key to the game is the waste hose. it's so useful in keeping kids in a line, but also allowing them to move a little bit so that no balls become stuck between lines.
Along with Foosball, we also played a quick name game in the beginning that asked kids to get to know their neighbor. first I asked ids to share names as one person in the middle pointed to different people and asked "do you know your neighbor" and counted to 5. After several attempts to get to 5 before they could respond, the middle person said to change places if... kind of working in a "train wreck style game" Then we learned new facts like where they were born, farthest away from home, middle name... The game worked fine. it was kind of a mix of several games, but it was a good mix to get kids loose and learning about each other. I should have partnered them up myself after the game instead of letting them move to find groups, because that would have forced some new relationships during the foosball game, but as it was, the kids were standing next to their friends and playing against other friends, so it was just fine.
After foosball we had a large group talk about Philip and the Eunuch - Acts 8. I identified 5 things that philip did that made a difference in the Eunuch's life: running alongside, sat down, saw the bigger question, shared his life experience, and then shared an experience. And then we applied those 5 things to how we can make a difference in relationships we already have. Small group followed with a pretty intense conversation about friendships and how friendships change - thinking specifically about how to help friends grow deeper.
We concluded the evening by revisiting the baptismal promise and how that moment changed our lives. We then remembered our baptism by passing around a bowl of water as we sang and put the sign of the cross on each others foreheads, repeating the words: "you are a child of God, Jesus loves you and so do I." This was a beautiful ending to a powerful night of conversation and fun. The balance was perfect - lots of fun, and lots of depth in conversation.
Monday, January 16, 2012
SPY retreat
Last night at youth group we hosted an offsite retreat at our local church camp. We are fortunate to have a church camp (which most kids have attended) about 45 minutes away with a winter retreat center. This allows us on evening like this one (the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day - a 3 day weekend) to drive up to camp for a one-night retreat.
One night retreats are not common because it's difficult to get a group to fully engage and get out of the world and really retreated into God's company in such a short time. Even two-night retreats are difficult for this reason. But as I've done several one-nighters I've realized that there are some great advantages. First, there are always more people who can attend because there are fewer conflicts. Second, it's much cheaper (we offered this retreat for $20 which included two meals, activities, and a night stay). And third, it's much easier on the leaders of the retreat to plan it themselves. For our purposes, because we're so close, we are also able to offer a partial retreat for kids who wanted to experience youth group at the camp but couldn't stay the night - 3 leaders and 3 kids participated this way - or students to show up a tad late.
Our retreat was themed about spys - we are after all St. Paul Youth. The retreat began at the doors to the church as we made announcements and I set the expectations for our group then assigned vehicles, purposely mixing up cliques into the vehicles. When we arrived at camp we were treated to a skit by a brave leader in a tux involving silly string, and then some spy training which broke kids into groups, mixed them up and began the ice breaking.
Following dinner our leaders performed another goofy skit about teamwork and we began a discussion about the body of christ and the essentialness for all members. Playdough and pipe cleaners helped kids get creative as they identified themselves as a variety of body parts in our group and how their role was important to our larger group. That conversation in small groups led to conversations about how our group was functioning - what were the weaker and stronger parts of our youth group.
Then we took a break and resumed activity with a game about observation using a homemade DVD similar to SceneIt. The game provided a transition into a quick talk about how every spy has a handler and the essential connection that the handler makes with the spy. We then talked about spiritual pathways and broke into groups to discuss the variety of pathways and how each of us connect differently.
We closed the evening program with excellent worship like normal before taking an hour long break for kids to enjoy free time, games, and snacks. Then we gathered again for worship - recapped the day long retreat and hosted a huge group game for all participants. Finishing at 12:30 pm, I laid out ground rules for the lights out procedure and then kids headed to bed or to the living room for quiet conversations until the leaders closed down the room.
In the morning we began with breakfast, followed by an optional snowball fight outside or inside hang out, and then closed everything off with a worship moment about our mission that God gives us. We closed by inviting kids forward one at a time to remember their baptismal promises, burn their personal commission (which kids rewrote for themselves about the great commission), and then receive their new commission as a spy (receiving a pair of sunglasses).
In total, the retreat was excellent. The major pieces that we put in place really met our kids in vulnerable spots leading to really good conversations. The pathways conversation was the best. It was easily led and followed with great discussion and revelations from kids about connecting to God. The Body of Christ experience was also very good - a spring board for our kids to talk about cliques, beam with pride about their group and identify their own strengths. Worship time was phenominal and the closing commissioning was just about as good as it gets. We each have loads of great memories, we're filled with the spirit, and we all have new sunglasses to remember that we are God's spys in the world!
Next time I think the leader skits should be improved just a little (but a great start). I made some good contemplative workbooks to be used in 15 minutes increments during the retreat for reflection that we didn't use. I think the practice of journaling would have been good at the retreat, but it just didn't fit with the time frame. Next time we'll have to weigh if this is worth it, it would have been too much this time. I also need to break the teams up better next time. Many of the groups were too friend-dominant which was good for conversation, but not for diversity of opinion. And finally the closing devotion could have had some more punch. I changed locations for this one, and wish I hadn't because the living room space (although it had a fireplace) didn't have the same feel as the red room.
Monday, January 9, 2012
White Elephant
Last night at youth group our students were organized into house groups again. Four houses across the city hosted the groups of 6-10 students (collecting about 33 students and a dozen leaders).
The house group plan included a white elephant gift exchange, Bible study based on the visit from the magi in Matthew 2, an activity about the 12 days of Christmas (guessing what those gifts could be and then making up their own ideas), and then a picture challenge of each group posing through the 12 days of Christmas. The house groups have been working really well, and this was no exception. This is the fourth house group of the year, and here are some conclusions that I've made that will guide us in the future.
1. Consistent leadership has been key. I think the more that our leaders have been involved the better their leadership has become. not every leader reads the guide ahead of time, or even has things planned out and prepared, but the students have adapted to the leaders strengths as the groups have developed. I've seen the leaders connecting better outside of the groups as well. With a large group such as ours, it can feel overwhelming for leaders who are trying to get to know a different group of kids each week. These house groups have given leaders a focus group of kids to connect with and then platforms for the leaders to discover their roles, use their gifts, and engage other kids.
2. Changes in the house group location each month means lots of communication! Each house group has changed locations almost every time they meet. This is great, kids want to host, they want to show off their houses and invite others... but it's also a challenge to get everyone directed to the right location - facebook events have been key - and postcards each week have also been integral!
3. Even with texting, facebook events, facebook messages, bulletin announcements, parent emails, weekly reminders and postcards, we still had students show up to the last house group without a wrapped present to exchange (fortuantely I supplied 2 extra gifts per house group just in case). But this amount of communication is too much to sustain long term. I think we're operating in a communication overload world, so I need to find ways to make our communication more powerful and direct instead of just a mass communication.
4. Cliques are good. Well, groups of students who feel like they belong to each other and provide safe circles of friends are good. Exclusion is bad. Our house groups have created some very strong identity in our group - which is great for kids who haven't felt like this is a group for them yet... but when the groups become so strong that they no longer are welcoming others in - then we have a problem. This is a borderline issue right now in our group. One that we'll have to bring to the surface, remind everyone of our values and then encourage them like crazy to use their cliques as springboards into new relationships within and outside of our group.
5. The picture challenge, followed by a posting on facebook, has been crucial to the groups feeling like they haven't missed 'it' each night. it's probably also leading to strong/competitive groups, but they have definitely been a huge win for our group.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)