New To Youth Ministry - Need Some Advice!

[BNNewsome013]

Hello, all!

I've been recently blessed by being selected to be the Youth Director at my church. I love the Youth of my church, and I wanted to serve them and help them along their spiritual journey.

However, I'm running into a lot of obstacles. There are a lot of elements of our current Youth program that I think detract interest: we only have a Wednesday night service, it's a girls-only class, we've had no outreaching events, we've had no church events, it's a sit-down-and-shut-up kind of Bible study, etc. Our average attendance every Wednesday night is, unsurprisingly, very low and is comprised mostly of the children of active church members. While I'm not all that concerned with numbers (I'd prefer quality over quantity), I would like to grow this Youth program and let them have fun doing so!

What is some advice that you would be willing to share with me to help reinvigorate my church's Youth ministry? I want to implement changes, - add the guys of the church, start doing more events, probably add times we meet up - but I don't want to overwhelm my Youth committee with these changes and impose my will on the Youth program.

Thank you all, and God bless!

 

[Edyos]

Hello,

Congratulations on the new position first of all.

I am also a youth leader, and I can relate with you regarding the low numbers.

The problem with youth this days is that they get bored very quickly. On one hand, we don't want the meetings to be only about entertainment so they won't be bored, but also we don't want it to be only reading from the bible and talking.

The most important thing is to listen to the church pastor/leader, and if there is an idea that you would like to implement and it doesn't go according to their will, then give it up. Better without the idea that a fight.

I think the best course of action is to involve the youth in the evening. Find out each person what he is skilled with. For example, if you see a boy who likes to play guitar, ask him to play in the band for the same evening. Another person is good with computers or editing, you can ask him to prepare a short video regarding the subject you will talk about.

When they are engaged in the evening, they are less likely to be bored. Also, you can ask every time for a different person to prepare a subject.

You can bring some snacks, and maybe take them out to bowling if they are not a big number. this will improve the relationship between them and make them want to be with each other more often.

Pray, pray pray for them. Very important you pray for them daily and fight on your knees for the youth group. It is your responsibility as a youth leader. This young men and woman look up to you, make sure you are a good example for them.

Be very straightforward with them, do not treat them as kids, but talk to them as adults and make them feel important. When they feel like they are not kids but adults, they also will feel more responsible to come and be attentive.

God bless you, I hope this will help. Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.

 

[Karin12414]

Congratulations! I too have recently started working with the teens in my Church.

Our Pastor is Leading the Youth for now until we find someone more permanent, but he has really changed the way we approach the teens. It's all about being totally real with them. Not holding back on touchy topics that we KNOW are a part of their teen lives. We spoke about Homosexuality this past Wednesday with the teems, and they received it SO well and we were able to have an open MATURE conversation about it

I think something that might help is asking the teens themselves Ask them what THEY want to get out of the program and what kind of outreach THEY would be interested in. That way you are going with things they might actually enjoy

 

[ChristianGirl_96]

Hello
My mom was a Youth Minister for several years. Every week she asked them what they wanted to discuss. It helped her build a healthy relationship with her students over time.
Encourage them to come up with a list of goals to achieve. Another suggestion is to get them to help lead the session. That way you are making the most of it.
You might also find this website helpful. https://youthministry.com/

 

[Penpoint5309]

Hello, all!

I've been recently blessed by being selected to be the Youth Director at my church. I love the Youth of my church, and I wanted to serve them and help them along their spiritual journey.

However, I'm running into a lot of obstacles. There are a lot of elements of our current Youth program that I think detract interest: we only have a Wednesday night service, it's a girls-only class, we've had no outreaching events, we've had no church events, it's a sit-down-and-shut-up kind of Bible study, etc. Our average attendance every Wednesday night is, unsurprisingly, very low and is comprised mostly of the children of active church members. While I'm not all that concerned with numbers (I'd prefer quality over quantity), I would like to grow this Youth program and let them have fun doing so!

What is some advice that you would be willing to share with me to help reinvigorate my church's Youth ministry? I want to implement changes, - add the guys of the church, start doing more events, probably add times we meet up - but I don't want to overwhelm my Youth committee with these changes and impose my will on the Youth program.

Thank you all, and God bless!

Congrats on the position! I do not have a lot of experience in youth leadership, but I have learned a fair amount from the 8th and 9th graders at the Christian school where I teach. They do get bored easily, and I think it's important to push them to participate in every activity (especially Bible study) because it helps them stay focused and practice their speaking and thinking skills. I would try to build as many bridges as possible between youth activities and the other things going on in their everyday lives. If you take the time to really get to know them and prove that you love them, they will respect you and likely invest themselves more into what you're doing.

Blessings!

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hello
My mom was a Youth Minister for several years. Every week she asked them what they wanted to discuss. It helped her build a healthy relationship with her students over time.
Encourage them to come up with a list of goals to achieve. Another suggestion is to get them to help lead the session. That way you are making the most of it.
You might also find this website helpful. https://youthministry.com/

Hello and welcome to CF!

Those are some of the things I've tried to do in our recently reestablished youth ministry as well. Unfortunately our kids are in the tight-lipped one word answer phase right now but I'm hoping and praying that will change over time. Thanks for the suggestions - I'm going to try broadening a bit this semester and see how it goes. I did want to welcome you to CF.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Congrats on the position! I do not have a lot of experience in youth leadership, but I have learned a fair amount from the 8th and 9th graders at the Christian school where I teach. They do get bored easily, and I think it's important to push them to participate in every activity (especially Bible study) because it helps them stay focused and practice their speaking and thinking skills. I would try to build as many bridges as possible between youth activities and the other things going on in their everyday lives. If you take the time to really get to know them and prove that you love them, they will respect you and likely invest themselves more into what you're doing.

Blessings!

And welcome to you as well! I agree and am hoping that building a relationship over time will be helpful. We are just moving into our annual period where they have an opportunity to participate in self-directed writing and speech elements for the potential to win scholarships and more (up to $30k/year!) as well as the advantage of involving themselves more directly in teaching themselves how to be more active learners in their faith. I'm hoping there will be some enthusiasm.

I wanted to welcome you as well.