This is post 7 of 10 from our series. This post will give a little bit of insight on the programming and curriculum that may work well for a small group as a youth group is just beginning.
I agree, it is very hard to plan for a small group of people, especially if you are unsure if there will be 2 or 20 kids that show up. Before a youth group grows to about 15 kids each week on average, it is hard to expect what to do. Here are my tips.
I heard it once said (and I’m not sure if I have this right)….If:
1 kids show up – you go for ice cream
2 kids show up – you go for pizza
3 kids show up – you go to walmart and play games
I am sure it is much different than that, but it makes a good point. The first steps of your program should involve developing relationships. Do not worry much about a lesson or prayer activity right away. Get to know the kids, find out what they are interested in, develop their trust, and they will walk with you until the day they graduate.
Wait until you have a good solid crew of at least 5 or 6 kids before you take anything too seriously. Once you got them then start talking about developing a more structured group. Start by planning a monthly game night where they can invite all of their friends. Get a good group of them involved and then start talking about a youth group or something that is more organized.
Hints of Lessons
While you are working with this small group of people it is important to have a handful of little topics to discuss. Watch a lot of movies, read the news, and keep up to date on the topics they enjoy. Have meaningful conversations with them and LISTEN more than you talk. These are mini lessons where you will give your 1 cent of teaching to them as they learn to respect you and follow you.
Next Bigger Group = Next Bigger Lessons
Once you are able to get a group of 10-12 kids coming for a game night. Start with a prayer, have a time in the evening when everything stops and you go in to the chapel for a bit for some short improv prayer. Have some times where you read the gospel for the upcoming Sunday liturgy and discuss it for a few minutes. Again, the prayer and structured time is great, but continue to focus on relationships.
Starting a regular youth group
Once you have a solid youth group set up and at least 6-8 kids coming a week, then you can set some structure. Start by only having one hour of actual youth group, allowing for time after youth group to hang out. For example, the kids know that youth group only goes from 7pm-8pm, but that they can stay and hang out from 8pm-9pm and do whatever they want. Start the hour with some hang out time and a cool game, talk for about 5-10 minutes on something, and end your hour in the church or chapel in prayer. Find many ways for them to pray but also provide many opportunities for them to offer their own prayers. If you are able, include music and worship in to the prayer time.
The committed prayer time each week will create a very intimate environment. That tag teamed with plenty of time to hang out afterwards will start a fire in your youth that will get things rolling. Yes, some youth will not be excited to pray. Keep it short, serious, and be ready for the spirit to move and prayer time to often go longer than expected.
Full Group
Once you are ready to get serious and have a full group of kids that come often, then everything opens up. Now you need to start coming up with quality lessons, quality discussions, and more, which is what the last posts in this series talks about. The biggest thing to know about organizing your curriculum for a larger group is to have a plan. As mentioned in the first post, plan out your year and what you want to cover. Try to think of 20 lesson themes you want to get across and set that as a goal.
If you are looking for good prepare curriculum. I have heard great things about Lifeteen, Grapple, and the LIVE Curriculum. We do not use a regular curriculum, but use a lot of Quick Discussions and Lessons that you can find on our site. I will typically write my own lessons and discussion questions. I look around for the freebies from sites like Simply Youth Ministry and make them my own. I try to find a lot of current videos on YouTube and Tangle and use them also.
Until you get a set thing that you know you will be able to use for the whole year, do not commit too heavily to one thing. I have invested a good deal of money in curriculum that I did not like at all. I would mention some but would hate for one of my readers to hear me tearing down a curriculum that they wrote!
I will use my next posts to discuss what types of things I use to really grab the attention of the kids and do lessons that are current and taught how the kids appreciate them.
