Partnering with Parents in your youth ministry is essential and huge! Walking beside them in their child’s life takes finding ways to encourage, engage, equip, and empower them. Often this takes on us being creative and going beyond what might be the normal scope of our ministry job description. This is especially true in our […]
Effective teaching through storytelling in teaching within your youth ministry can significantly improve engagement and learning. Storytelling has always been a powerful teaching tool throughout human history, even including Jesus’ use of parables. Here are some helpful tips to enhance your youth group lesson through storytelling: Know Your Audience: Understand your student’s interests, backgrounds, […]
Like many homes where adults choose to make the children the center of attention and decision making, there are ALSO many youth ministries and churches doing the SAME thing. Like homes that are consumed with making sure children are not bored or unhappy, we as youth ministries may also be unknowingly doing the same thing […]
Creating Summer Ministry FOMO. Creating a sense of “fear of missing out” (FOMO) for your youth ministry during the summer
Frustrating your volunteers is a quick way to lose them. We all want a great team of volunteers, that stick it out for the long haul. Unfortunately, often leaders end up frustrating their volunteers, causing them to quit, walking away disappointed. Here is a quick Top 10 list of ways leaders end up frustrating their […]
Here is a quick in-the-trenches, real-life hint/help as you head into your summer camp or your mission trips It depends on the group and even the leaders I have had over the years. Pranking can quickly get out of hand, especially at camps and retreats! I have heard various theories and debates over whether to […]
MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMP MISTAKES AND MISSES, For 10-15 years, I chose to run my own camps for my groups and/or decided to run missions trips in place of summer camp. In my last two churches, we have rented out camps, hired outside speakers and musicians, and ran most of the programming and activities ourselves. In […]
INCLUDING PARENTS IN SUMMER TRIPS, Summer trips (camps, conferences, missions trips…) can be a massive moment in the life of children and teens to create memories that last a lifetime. In many ways, it is a rite of passage. Even if the location is not that far away, it may be the first extended time away from […]
The Summer Youth Ministry Battle… If your church is like ours, and most that I talk to are, summertime is the ever-constant battle..
Ten Youth Ministry Mistakes… People always ask me what I would tell my younger self, starting out in youth ministry. What are the mistakes that you made that you wish someone would have told you about during your first year in youth ministry? The other question I get is what I observe as the big […]
