Comments on: Suggestions for your very first youth group meeting

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 03:41:29 +0000

No problem, Christina! Thanks for the question. :)

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 18:50:53 +0000

Huge thanks to all of you – Tim, Chris, Benjer, and Mike! All of your suggestions were great!! This was about a month ago, so I have spent the past few weeks working on these ideas and focusing on the relationship aspect of getting to know everyone and allowing them to get to know me, and it was been a blast!

I really feel connected to the group and we’re ready to get rolling now.

Thanks again for all of y’alls (I’m from the South!) help!

By: mike

mike — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:30:17 +0000

another thought might be to try to get a feel of what they know or want to learn. Perhaps you could give them a few questions to answer and get back to you. Questions about how well they feel they know the Bible, what topics or subjects they would like to discuss, issues they want to learn about. Just some basic stuff to have an idea of where to start teaching.

Some groups are pretty versed in the basics of the Bible – so starting with a lesson on the breakdown or order of Scripture would be bad. But maybe starting with a lesson on the role of each believer in the body of Christ would work. You don’t know the students (or other adult leaders for that matter) very well, so allow them to help you get a better grasp on who they are.

I would emphasize the need to show them who you are and that they can trust you. One of the best things that happened when I came to my current church (8 months ago) was that the second week I was here the high school went to a week-long conference. So immediately the group got to see myself and my wife in a relaxed setting and we really got to know them (outside of who they are in class).

By: Benjer

Benjer — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:00:40 +0000

Christina:
Tim makes some great suggestions. Building trust will be very important as you begin, and appropriate vulnerability is a must. If you are succeeding another youth minister at the church, it might become even more important, because the students will probably really miss the former youth minister, and might have an attitude of, “you can’t replace [youth minsiter's name].” The good news is that you can’t do that, nor is that your job. Feel free to acknowledge what has come before and praise the good things that have been going on (but don’t criticize things you may not agree with). Once the students understand that you are not there to replace what has come before but to build on the positive, they will be more open.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:53:01 +0000

We did a moving meal which some of the volunteer leaders organised, and at each stage the young people had a chance to ask questions to me in a big group setting, but also to have smaller one-on-one conversations.

By: Sunday School Resources

Sunday School Resources — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Tim Schmoyer has an interesting post on what to do at the very first midweek youth meeting. Whether it be because you have moved to a new area, or because it is your first appointment as a youth pastor. The best way I’ve found to build trust is to model vulnerability and let them see that you’re a real person who is not afraid to be