Youth Group Meeting Ideas

Tonight I finished a series with my small group students. My goal has been to make their faith a central part of their home lives, even if their parents weren’t doing it themselves.

The method of choice for of our final lesson was to put their sin side-by-side with their praise so they could see the need for God in every part of their lives.

They cannot hope to make Christ central in their home life if they don’t allow Him into every aspect of their lives.

Who’s your hero? –is the question I asked the teenagers this past weekend while speaking for Newburg Retreat. Several youth groups gather each year at the Doubling Gap Retreat Center for their annual spring retreat. I was excited to return for my second year as their speaker.

While everything from the games, Saturday night’s dinner, and skits were themed around Superheroes, the focus was on equipping the teens to discover their ultimate superhero, tapping into their superpowers, and then become a hero by telling others about THE Hero.

"What if they texted us their questions about the lesson?" And there it started.

The kids were listening but they never looked at me. They were texting almost the whole time. However they were paying attention in ways I never knew was possible.  

Jennifer Winn is an event planner for non-profit and cause-centric organizations. She's got some great advice that even youth pastors need to hear:

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:14)