Ideas for Your Church Youth Group

A Youth Minister’s worst nightmare is a scheduled youth group meeting with nothing planned as an event. There are ten, twenty, even thirty or more students gathered in one place, expecting excitement, and you have nothing with which to entertain or teach them.

Between counseling, visiting, teaching, and planning, the life of a Youth Minister is never easy. The youth of today are depending on you for guidance through this wonderful, terrible world, and you are at least partly responsible for their spiritual development. The values and morals that you instill in them are counteracted daily at school and in extracurricular activities, and you count on the hope that they will listen to you rather than to their friends and other less reliable sources.

Youth group is meant as a way to bring children and teenagers of the same faith together in learning and fun, giving them an opportunity to build camaraderie with one another and to go to you for advice and guidance. Planning youth events should incorporate both fun and learning, because the students’ parents expect that they build knowledge as well as friendship.

There are several books dedicated to Youth Ministry and its hardships. One is called A Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, which is an edition of the Purpose Driven Life series. Another is A Youth Minister’s worst nightmare is a scheduled youth group meeting with nothing planned as an event. There are ten, twenty, even thirty or more students gathered in one place, expecting excitement, and you have nothing with which to entertain or teach them.

Between counseling, visiting, teaching, and planning, the life of a Youth Minister is never easy. The youth of today are depending on you for guidance through this wonderful, terrible world, and you are at least partly responsible for their spiritual development. The values and morals that you instill in them are counteracted daily at school and in extracurricular activities, and you count on the hope that they will listen to you rather than to their friends and other less reliable sources.