Starting Over: The Youth Meeting

Today my thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have served and are serving in our armed forces.  Happy Veteran's Day!  Your sacrifice is much appreciated!


This is post #4 in my continuing Friday series answering Chris Cooper's question, "What would I do if I were starting over in Student Ministry today?" Previous posts include If I Were Starting Over, Strategery and Ask Someone Who Knows.   If you have questions about student ministry and think I can be of help, shoot me an email or find me on Twitter @youthguy07. Enjoy!

Ever have an Egyptian Mummy Race?  You should!

My 16 year old son Will is taking an AP physics class this year that really should be kicking his butt.  The class is very difficult and involves a great deal of math, which he (just like Daddy) hates!  But instead he loves the class and is actually doing quite well.  The reason?  His teacher really understands teenagers.  He understands that the overload of information he is trying to impart to them is not something that he can just fling at them and expect them to learn.  He is creative.  He is entertaining.  He understands that the average student attention span is about 12 minutes (Will tells me that he actually pauses for a "commercial break" about every 12 minutes to let their brains reboot).  And perhaps most importantly, he understands that class should be different everyday, surprising students and keeping them on their toes.  Mr. Shelton knows that "tameness, sameness and lameness" are the enemies of educating young people.  He would make a wonderful youth pastor...


I have said before that one of the best qualities of the youth ministries I led over the years was that the kids would often arrive at our youth meetings with no idea of what was going to happen that evening.  They knew there would be some sort of lesson, but they had no idea what form it might take.  It was rarely in the form of a sermon.  Studies have proven over and over again that lecturing is the least effective form of teaching, and yet it continues to be the #1 method of teaching used in churches. I usually had things to say, but we also used a lot of role plays, skits, video, small group activities and interactive activities to communicate the evening's message.  Creativity was a key.  But we also never let the message be the only important part of the meeting.  There were often games and stunts- silly things to help newcomers and those not yet comfortable with our spiritual focus to feel included and welcomed.  There was almost always a time of worship to help us focus on praising Jesus.  And there all kinds of others random things that we included from time to time just to keep the students wondering what might happen next.  This was what my primary Sunday evening youth fellowship meetings looked like for the better part of 28 years.  And if I were starting over today...I wouldn't change a dang thing!  Planning and creativity insure that the content will change.  But the format would not.  There will be no "tameness, sameness and lameness."  That's a promise!


One question I am often asked is this: How do you control the flow of a youth meeting when you include so many elements?  If you get the students wound up playing games or doing goofy skits, how do you then bring them back to a focus on a lesson or quieted down for worship?  I have 2 suggestions for those who ask.  First, there has to be a plan.  It needs to feel wild to the students, but the leadership must know the schedule- and every minute should be scheduled!  It's what my friend Brent Bill once called "organized chaos."  Included in that schedule are transitions that move the group from phase to phase, either building enthusiasm or calming them down.  Video works well as a transition device, but the best transition for me was always music.  Sometimes this was music played over the sound system, but more often it was in the form of group singing.  We would do wild songs to get everyone pumped; we would do praise songs when we wanted to begin to set the mood for worship; and we would do worship songs to help us come before God.  I often told people that if you gave me a guitar, I could move a group from The Technicolor Stomp (ask if you don't know!) to contemplative worship and singing Sanctuary in 10 minutes, and they would never even know they had taken the trip.  :)  It may not be music for you, but whatever it is you must find ways to transition if you want to use the "wholistic" model of youth meetings.


This is only my opinion, and there are lots of ways to approach youth meetings. Part of your plan will depend upon what else you have going on in your student ministry. Is there a Bible study opportunity for more serious students?  Are there extra fellowship opportunities?  Do you have a primary program for the purpose of service?  All of this comes in to play when deciding what your primary youth fellowship will look like.  I just know that if I were be doing youth ministry at age 90, I would never want to fall into the trap of "the same things happens every week."  And there would never, ever be any math...


Because of Jesus,