Tag: event planning

Theme Night Ideas: October Celebration

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Notice what we didn’t title this post: Halloween party, harvest festival, fall celebration, costume party, or reformation gathering. I’m going to let that sit for a moment because some of you are laughing, others are cringing, and still others of you may be frustrated.

The reality of the matter is any type of celebration in October can be inflammatory and challenging for youth ministries as we seek to work within the guidelines and parameters of our church while also navigating the cultural tensions that exist among church goers and communities. I mean how many of you have heard something like, “Halloween is the devil’s holiday” or, “Why would you wear costumes? God tells us to come as we are!” Or maybe you have even been told that bats and the like represent hell and we should never have them in the church.

Been there, am I right? Even as I am writing this, different conversations and interactions are coming to mind and I have a flurry of emotions and reactions. There will always be strong reactions to a theme night in October, but if we are looking to utilize theme nights as a means to invite new students and engage with our community, we need to understand that this is an opportune time to do so.

I am not saying we compete with Halloween or different cultural elements because you probably won’t see success in doing so. Instead, I’m suggesting that we find a way to engage our community in fun, relational, and missional ways that reach our students and their peers. But what does that look like? What can we do as we navigate this tricky time of year?

Pick a theme that works for your environment.

It’s easy to look at what others have done and want to create that for our groups, especially when we see what people post on social media. We see what larger churches and programs do and we want to replicate that. But before craving to imitate, let me encourage you to think about your environment and what will work for it.

Think about your people and what they need. Think about your space and what it will allow you to do. Think about your church and its culture and what will be acceptable. Think through what will reach your students and their peers. After you’ve done the ground work of examining what will work, then pick a theme. It could be as simple as calling it a Halloween Party or maybe you could theme it as a Fall Tailgate. Whatever you pick for your theme, make sure that it will be the best for your students and their peers.

Utilize games and activities to embrace the theme.

Whatever theme you choose, make sure to incorporate games and activities that embrace your theme. If you choose a theme but then just utilize your normal games or keep the format and feel of a typical program, the themed event will fall flat. Not only will it make your students feel devalued, it will also make it appear as if you don’t care. If students believe you don’t care about the event that you put together for them, they will believe that you don’t care about them.

You can incorporate different elements from your theme into your activities. If you are simply going for a fall theme think about doing apple bobbing and maybe taking it up a notch by bobbing for various fruits and veggies or even different foods like sandwiches. Choosing a Halloween theme doesn’t mean you need to do a haunted house, but instead you could have activities like pumpkin carving or pumpkin bowling. You could also utilize games with strobe or black lights like 9 Square or dodgeball. But make sure to tell your students if there will be strobes because they can affect people differently. There are also costume competitions to which you can assign different categories of judging. You can also incorporate eating activities like a pumpkin pie eating contest or have a make-your-own-s’more activity with a prize for most creative.

Make sure to utilize different decor.

When it comes to a fall-themed event think about decor like pumpkins, hay bales, apples, and fall leaves. If you want to do a more Halloween-themed event think through what won’t necessarily be inflammatory for your church community. You could use different colored lights, cobwebs, and hanging signs.

But what if you can’t bring in all the things? What if your space and/or budget is limited? Think about getting different colored tablecloths for the food area from a dollar store, get creative with the plates, cups, and napkins and see if you can acquire ones that fit your theme. Think about hanging lights around doorways or the podium you may use. Or consider hosting the event outdoors and asking local farmers to donate straw bales (not hay, I learned that one very quickly living in Iowa) that you can incorporate into your outdoor design.

Don’t be limited by your space but allow your space to generate creativity and utilize it in unique ways. This is also a great opportunity to ask your students and leaders to design it and see what they come up with. If you’re passionate about it and give them responsibility, they will be passionate as well and run with the theme.

Theme your food options.

When you can theme your food for events it just makes the event that much more fun. I’ll be honest, I’m not super creative when it comes to decorating food items for different events. But I can make things that fit the feel of the event. My point is that you don’t have to be able to design popcorn balls that look like spiders, but instead can utilize caramel popcorn for popcorn balls because it is a snack that has the feel of fall.

So for a fall event, consider having snacks and food that fit the theme. Think about pumpkin snacks, popcorn, candy corn, caramel apples, puppy chow, apple cider, hot chocolate, and whatever else feels fall-ish to your group. Or consider asking parents or different groups within the church to prepare and run a fall-themed dinner for your group.

Don’t fudge on your vision and mission.

This is more of a reminder to us as leaders. It is always fun to put on an event our students will love and bring their peers to, but we need to remember that regardless of what we do, our vision and mission should always be a part of and shape our activities. Simply put, we shouldn’t do things just because they are fun or different, they should embody our vision and help to emphasize it.

Theme Night Ideas: Fall Kickoff

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It’s the middle of August and that means the school year is rapidly approaching. Many of our students are getting in their final vacations and summer memories because they start school in just a couple of weeks. Families are beginning to shop for back to school items and students are beginning to finalize their class schedules.

This also means that ministries–ours included–are preparing for the fall launch. Our summer programming is scaled back due to living in a tourist town where most local families go away for the summer. Because of that, we look to kickoff our fall programming in a fun and celebratory way. We love to start the school year in a way that fosters community and is invitational, while at the same time highlights what our ministry is about and shares our vision.

A successful fall kickoff isn’t a capstone to the year or indication that everything will go smoothly throughout the school year. Instead, a successful fall kickoff helps to set your ministry up for a good year and it allows the tone to be set for your students. Today I want to share some ways you can make your fall kickoff special, meaningful, and intentional for your students.

Cast the vision well.

One of things that is always important to the start of the school year is making sure you cast your vision. It sets the tone for the year, highlights your priorities, and helps students and leaders know what your ministry is about. It allows you and your team to set the tone and direction for your group right from the onset of the ministry year. By doing this, students and families know your heart and passion for the ministry. It will also highlight the direction you are going and the reasons for doing so.

Utilize local resources.

I’ve talked about utilizing local resources in other posts, but in moments like these I love to do that. We typically see larger numbers at the start of the year because students are excited to be back. And with typically nicer weather this time of year, it affords us more options to utilize. We’ve partnered with local eateries and ice creameries for our kickoffs in the past, but you can honestly utilize any local business.

If you live in a farming community you may be able to host a whole hog cookout. If you live in a community known for a certain type of food or dessert, try to highlight that. If you have community groups that offer unique experiences like onsite laser tag or dunk tanks and weather allows, incorporate it into your kickoff. We live in Hershey and have highlighted chocolate at different points, but we also don’t want to overuse that one thing and so we look for other elements to highlight. Whatever your local resources, make sure to give them a shout-out and point your students and families to that aspect of the community.

Know your culture.

I could tell you all the things that we have tried to incorporate and have seen fail. I could also list out all the things I have done that have worked. But the truth of the matter is, some or none of those may work for you depending on the culture of your ministry. If you have students who just want to chill, setting up a large scale scavenger hunt won’t work. If you have students who love sports and active games, setting up 9 Square and playing capture the flag will probably be a win. At the end of the day, you need to know what your students are going to readily engage with and utilize those things to your advantage.

Create a celebratory moment.

Let’s be honest: going back to school isn’t a celebration for most of our students. But kicking off youth group, regathering with friends, and looking ahead are celebratory moments. So look to celebrate in ways your students will connect and relate to. This comes across in how you theme the gathering, the environment you create, how it’s communicated, and the way you and your leaders respond to it. When you and your leaders are having fun, your students will respond to that energy. It is also important to look at the environment. Do you have music, are leaders smiling and engaging, are the activities working, is there food, have you created opportunities for community? These questions will help us identify if this is truly a celebratory moment and also help us shift things if needed.

I would also encourage you to create a singular moment that everyone can celebrate. This can be pre-planned or something organic that happens in the moment. Let me explain. Every other year our church does outside services in the summer under a tent and it was still up when we did our fall kickoff. We had our music pumping and kids started to come up on the stage and dance. And let me tell you, some of our kids can truly bust a move! I was about to settle everything down and call students in for our brief message, but instead I called our students in and threw on a few songs they knew and our entire student body engaged in a dance party for about ten minutes. It was awesome and exciting and everyone was involved.

That’s an “in the moment” celebration. But perhaps pre-planning is better for some ministries. Maybe you celebrate and honor students who were baptized this summer. Perhaps you celebrate what God did on your mission trips or at camp. Maybe it’s welcoming in new students. Perhaps your students met a challenge and get to hit you with pies. Whatever it is for you, make sure to celebrate with your community.

Theme the evening.

This doesn’t need to be crazy or a brand new idea. Sometimes the proven themes can be the best for your group. We have tried to make our fall kickoff tailgate themed, but that never landed with our students. We did “Minute to Win It” for multiple years but it never really caught on. What has actually worked for our group is a theme around community and connection. We shape our kickoff around intentional moments and activities that foster connection and conversations. We also highlight our small groups and create two moments for connection during our kickoff. At the end of the day, however you theme your night has to be something that resonates with your community and draws them together.

Involve students and leaders.

Whenever I host kickoffs I like to highlight my leaders and introduce them, but I also love to make sure they get intentional time with their students. I also really enjoy getting my students involved in leading or facilitating part of the kickoff. This can include letting an intern take lead in the structure of the night. Or have students share their testimonies or stories of what they saw God do in and through them during your summer trips.

Set the challenge.

One of my favorite things to do is to honor and celebrate the successes we see our students already doing and challenge them to continue to do just that. Last year we saw our students invite a ton of friends to our kickoff and so I challenged them to let our ministry be a place where anyone and everyone could come and to continue inviting inviting their friends. This resulted in record numbers of new students attending our program and many of them becoming part of our community.

By setting a challenge or goal for your students, you are highlighting how they are the focus of the ministry. You are giving them identity, ownership, and purpose, and students will rise to that challenge. So think about what you’d like to challenge your students to this year and lay that out for them at your kickoff. I would also encourage you to remind them throughout the year and to celebrate the successes as they happen.

Theme Night Ideas: Christmas Parties

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“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!” It’s colder out, Starbucks has debuted their holiday drinks, radio stations are blasting their Christmas selections, and your hoodies and gloves are becoming a common clothing staple.

Don’t look outside thinking you’ve slept away the summer, it’s still July. But Christmas is fast approaching, it’s only 147 days away. Some of you may need to catch your breath because it feels like we just saw our seniors graduate and summer is only halfway over. But before we know it, Christmas will be here and we will be trying to formulate a plan for a Christmas party for our students, our leaders, and maybe even one at your home. So why not get a jump start on things and begin preparing now for Christmastime so you are better prepared when it comes along?

Today, I want to share some helpful tips and ideas for hosting a Christmas party either for your students or your leaders. My goal is to help you make it the best it can be and to help take some of the stress of planning everything off your plate. So what are some key elements that we’d encourage you to include?

Games.

Incorporating various games at a Christmas party is a great way in include excitement, fun, and engagement. Depending on your group dynamics your games may look different. With a smaller group you might want to make it more interactive and maybe include “all play” style games. Some games include the plastic wrap ball game, a Christmas themed “Find Me…” game, a Christmas carol rap competition, or a decorating game where students each have to decorate a person in a specific style.

If your group is larger you may need to look for games that are small group-styled PowerPoint games or ones that invite an individual or two up from each group. You can find a bunch of these games at DYM and many other ones you can utilize for any sized group.

Celebration.

Christmas parties should include an element of celebration and feel different from other youth group gatherings. This can be accomplished by having a themed party like ugly Christmas sweaters or dress up as your favorite Christmas movie character. It can be done through a hot chocolate and Christmas cookie bar, or through the decoration of your youth area.

These events should be celebratory and different so your students get excited about coming and want to bring their friends. That is also true for leaders. If you can add some festive elements and share a theme for the party, it turns a simple gathering into a really special day. Consider doing table decorations and centerpieces, having Christmas music, leveling up your food game, and community.

Stories.

For both student and leader Christmas parties, taking time to share stories of what God had done over the last year is a really cool way to celebrate God and to encourage those in your ministry. These stories should and will look different based on which party you’re hosting, but you could ask people to share how they’ve seen God move or to share their favorite memories from this year.

If you want to have things a little more polished and planned out for the student party, consider asking students to record a brief video sharing their stories that you can edit and show at the party. My encouragement for leaders would be to allow them to share live at the party whether in front of the whole group or at their tables.

Team competition.

One of the things I love to do at our student and leader Christmas parties is to have some sort of team or group competition. In years past we’ve done gingerbread house competitions and they have gone over very well. We broke students up by small groups and our leaders we divided by the table they sat at.

Depending on your group, and their propensity to follow or not follow rules, you can adjust the competition and rules accordingly. You could also do a karaoke-style competition or a group-style trivia game. There’s also Christmas Pictionary or charades. These are easy and fun opportunities to help the whole group participate in a game.

Gifts.

We always try to incorporate gifts into any Christmas party we do. We celebrate and bless our leaders by getting Christmas gifts for them as a way of saying thank you. Putting intentional thought and effort into getting a gift that your leaders will not only enjoy but also use is a great way to make Christmas parties special.

When it comes to our student parties, we do a white elephant gift exchange. We ask students to bring a new or gently used wrapped gift that is no more than $10 to utilize in our gift exchange. However, we know that some students may not be able to provide a gift or a friend may come to our party and didn’t realize they needed a gift. So we provide additional gifts for our students so everyone can leave with a gift at the end of the night. Typically we also tell our students that if they receive a gift they didn’t like they can swap out with one of the gifts we purchased which we make sure are things students will enjoy.

Worship.

Incorporating worship into Christmas parties is a great way to keep everyone focused on the true reason you are gathered together. Now before I go any further, I want to emphasize that I don’t simply mean music when I talk about worship. I mean holistic worship. So think about singing and music, reading and teaching the Christmas story or another passage of Scripture, prayer, and different responses. We don’t always sing Christmas carols at our parties but we do carve out time to talk about Jesus and why He is the reason we are gathering.

When it comes to our student parties we try to keep our lesson time to 15 minutes or less for two reasons: we know we have lots of first time guests who haven’t been to a church setting before and we will be giving them ample small group time to dig deeper into the Christmas story. For leaders, we love to read the Christmas story to remind all of us of how great God’s love is for us and then to spend time in prayer together. Sometimes we also sing Christmas carols together even if it’s a capella. Whatever way you choose to incorporate worship, it is an essential part of keeping the focus of Christmas parties on Christ.

Small group time.

Our student ministry is a discipleship-based program which means we allot ample time for our small groups each week (45–60 minutes). When it comes to events and theme nights, we know that these are highly relational and invitational. Because of that we know that extended small group time can feel awkward for our newcomers, which means we include small group time but only for around 30-35 minutes. That way groups can gather to talk through the reason for Christmas, to talk about their plans for the holiday, to do any gift exchanges for their small group, and to pray together.

For leader parties we take time to pray together at our tables during the party and to celebrate what God has done and to pray for any requests that we may have whether personal or focused on our students. This time of prayer and community is typically how we end our parties as it allows for us to engage in interpersonal relationships and be for one another.

What are some must-have elements for your Christmas parties?

Theme Night Ideas: Nerf Battles

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Last Monday, we kicked off a new series called “Theme Night Ideas.” These posts are intended to help you think creatively about how you can help students invite their friends out to a non-threatening event that will hopefully encourage them to participate in your ministry long term. We shared some commitments we make to our students in order to help them reach out to their peers, and some creative aspects to add to every event like food, students sharing, and shortened small group times.

Today, we’re sharing an event we only recently started hosting at our church: a Nerf night. This was something I never really got behind because I didn’t think Nerf would resonate with our students, especially our high schoolers, and our more reserved students. But we had a couple of small groups meeting at our church one week and they had a blast playing Nerf throughout the building. So much so, they were telling all of their friends and they were begging my team to host a youth group Nerf night.

I began to look into what this entailed, and it actually ended up coming together relatively easily and it cost less than I had suspected. So what does a Nerf event look like? Well, we have our Nerf night coming up later this month, and I would like to share with you a variety of tips and things to think through to prepare for and make this event a success.

1. Think about your space.

Knowing what you have and what you can use is key for these games. Sometimes less is more depending on the size of your group. Other times, utilizing bigger and more open spaces may be ideal. But knowing what you have at your disposal and how to best utilize it will allow you to create an event that students will love.

2. Provide eye protection.

Eye protection is key for games with projectiles. Some Nerf blasters, like the Rival line, can fire fast and hard, and even a smaller blaster at close range can do serious damage to someone’s eye. So having some safety glasses or googles is a must. A quick Amazon search brings up multiple varieties or a Google search will bring up sites that have various options as well. Just make sure you look at shipping costs and times when you place an order.

3. Supply extra blasters and darts.

Typically students have their own blasters, but some do not or won’t want to bring their own out of fear of them being broken. So having some extras on hand would be extremely helpful. They don’t need to be super expensive or battery operated; they can be simple one shot style blasters or off brand blasters. I’d also recommend supplying the darts for the game. That way students don’t have to struggle to find their darts after the game and it ensures you’ll have enough.

4. Have ways to delineate teams.

Whether it’s pinnies, bandannas, or hats, having a way for students to know who is on their team and who isn’t is key to the success of most games. In games where teams are necessary, having a visual means of identifying teammates and opposing teams will allow students to have more fun and build a stronger desire to participate. Even if you can’t get pinnies or bandannas, think about having different colored yarns attached to players or using colored paper that is taped to shirts as a means of identifying the teams.

5. Know your game styles.

I’ll be honest: the first time we held a Nerf battle I thought I had everything planned out perfectly. I had a PowerPoint with rules and game play, I made sure there was no way to get around the rules, and I thought I had fun ideas that would work well. It didn’t. After two rounds of the original style, I switched it up and we went to a more flexible style of game play. What I found out was my rules were too strict and the game play to detailed. My students wanted a quicker and less restrictive game play.

We switched to a “capture the flag” style game with jails for those who got hit with a dart. We also incorporated ways to get people out of jail to make it more fun and engaging. We have done free-for-all style games to end the night where no one actually gets out. We’ve done leaders versus students. We have had “protect the president” style games where one team’s goal is to get the president and the other team’s goal is to protect them at all costs. We’ve done games where each person on a team can only use one bullet at a time throughout the game.

Whatever you decide to do, don’t be afraid to switch it up if it isn’t landing with your students. And don’t be afraid to ask them what they would like to do because you might find out that they have really good ideas.

6. Make sure your rules are clear.

One of our big rules is no shooting blasters when we aren’t in a game scenario. If we are going over rules, eating snacks, or simply hanging out, students don’t have to wear their eye protection. We tell students they can’t shoot in these moments because we don’t want someone getting shot in the eyes. It can really hurt and damage parts of the eye so we want to be hyper-vigilant in that area. We also make sure that our game time rules are clear and that we have leaders who help to direct game play.

7. Call audibles when needed.

Sometimes our best laid plans can be blown out of the water. And this can only be exasperated by our inability or unwillingness to shift and change when needed. The first time we hosted our Nerf Night, I should have changed how we did it but I refused to audible.

We hosted it during the summer and were hoping for more students but only a small number of our group came out. We had reserved a large portion of church for the event and rather than slim down the area, we kept it the same size. This meant that students were running around for longer periods and spent much of the playing time simply standing around or looking for people. It still worked out in the long run, but it would have been a lot more fun if we had made the size of the space more appropriate to our numbers.

We learned from this and the next time we played, we narrowed the game play space down and it worked out amazingly. Our students were more excited, they were laughing, games went faster which meant more people could play, and overall our students continued to ask to do it again. Calling audibles isn’t always easy or fun for us, but it can make it more enjoyable and exciting for our students which means they will be more willing to invite their friends to the event.

8. Plan out your barricades and boundaries ahead of time.

I don’t know about your church, but at ours there are certain items and spaces that are off limits. We can’t use our preschool space and we can’t move things around in certain classrooms. That means we need to get creative with where we play and what we use for barricades. It would be helpful to think through this ahead of time so when you explain the rules you can help students know what they are and are not allowed to use. Because, and trust me on this, there is always at least one very creative student who will find a way to incorporate an item you never thought you’d have to have a rule about; like a push cart with a trash can lid.

Have you ever hosted a Nerf event before? What worked well for you?

New Series: Theme Night Ideas

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This week we’re introducing a new series we’ll share periodically called “Theme Night Ideas.” Our ministry hosts different events throughout the year that have a specific theme attached to them that help our students intentionally invite their friends into our ministry. And we want to share those ideas with you.

These nights aren’t all about the theme, but the theme is a big part of helping us draw in new students. We incorporate other elements such as snacks, a brief testimony or share time, and small groups, but not for as long as we normally would. The reason we still have those elements is because it is the DNA of our group; at our core we are a ministry and not just a fun place to hang out. So we want to make sure that these theme nights aren’t just about fun but also about Jesus and why students need Him. In order for these nights to be a success, we have promised our students four keys things:

1. We will never embarrass you or your friends.

In talking to students, they have made it clear that they are worried about inviting their friends to youth group because it will seem “weird” or “off-putting.” We know it can be hard for students to invite their friends so we want to make sure that we have a fun and safe space for them to invite their peers to without worrying that there will be embarrassment or awkwardness from our team and ministry.

2. We won’t force your friends into a commitment.

This means we won’t make students commit to a conversion experience nor will we force them to become a part of our ministry. That doesn’t mean we won’t share the Gospel or invite them back, it just means we won’t force or manipulate them to do so.

3. We will have fun.

Students want to invite their friends into a space that is spiritually encouraging and enriching, but also into a place that is fun and exciting. So we promise our students that their friends will have fun at these events and we look to deliver on that promise by what type of events we hold, the snacks and food we provide, and by how they are structured.

4. We will utilize more students for these events.

At these events, we want our students to be the ones inviting their friends and we want them to be the ones sharing with their friends. So that means we will have students helping to explain the event, getting their friends connected, and even sharing their testimonies on stage.

Join us next week for the first idea we’ll be sharing: Nerf Battles. In the mean time, have you hosted a theme night? What tips would you share from your experience?

How to Host a Respite Day

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One of the best parts of my job is working with our special needs ministry. I have the amazing privilege of overseeing a wonderful team of volunteers who love and guide our students in that ministry. Aside from being a ministry I believe every church should have (that’s another conversation for a later post), this is a ministry that truly brings me so much joy.

I started with the special needs ministry when the person overseeing it moved on to a different ministry organization. I’ll be honest and say that I was woefully ill-prepared and had no idea what I was doing. I had never been trained or taught about this while in school, and this is the first church that I have been to that actually has a special needs ministry.

So I went into my first meeting with the team and just asked questions and sought to learn. I dove into books, contacted churches who have special needs ministries, and sought to grow in my ability to walk with and disciple these amazing young people. Through all of that, I got to know my team and our students better and truly began to understand and have a heart for this ministry just like my leaders. And it was through one of my leaders that we began to host our Respite Days again.

Respite days were something our church hosted before COVID and before I started on staff, and honestly, I was a little nervous about hosting them. My mind ran toward all the liabilities, the different needs students had, the guidelines we needed, the number of volunteers, and so much more. If I am being honest though, it was fear that kept me from being willing to host these days in the beginning. Fear of the unknown and what-ifs. Fear of failing. Fear of letting down our students and families who already are marginalized and isolated.

But after some loving and continued prodding from my team, we hosted a respite day in January of this past year and it was a huge success! So much so that we are now hosting one in the summer, fall, and spring of each year. What I’d love to share with you today are a few key ways you can host your own respite day and how you can help ensure it is a success.

Have a sign up process.

The sign up process shouldn’t just be about gathering names, addresses, or other contact info, but about getting to know the students and their families. You should have options for understanding the students and their disabilities and how you can best care for them. You should also look to understand what their triggers are and how they interact with others. Doing this allows you to better serve, love, and care for the students. I’d also encourage you to have a place where you can ask the families if they have any prayer requests or needs, so you can assess whether your church can step in to help and walk with them.

Build a team.

One of the best things to have in place to make this a successful event is a quality team. Having people who understand students with special needs and how to love and care fore them is essential. But it’s also important to bring in people who simply love others well and care enough to learn and walk with them.

Utilize students.

Students with special needs often feel ostracized and alienated by their peers. And more often than not, students with special needs know that they are different and left out. So bringing in students to love and share in life with your group is a wonderful way to encourage them and help to build community. Seek out students who are good hosts and willing to spend time with others, and simply let them do that. Allow them to simply come and build relationships with their peers and to love on your special needs students.

Provide food.

Food is a natural way to lower walls and build community. Having snacks and a meal (if time allows) is a great way to make your environment welcoming and warm. But make sure that you know if certain foods or additives aren’t okay for your students. This is something that your intake form should have as a required question.

If parents don’t want their students having sugar, think about having fruit instead of fruit snacks. If they can’t have food dyes, look for more natural snacks. We have provided Goldfish crackers, pretzels, grapes, and Skinny Pop as snack items and we have had pizza and Chick-fil-A for meals. Whatever you choose, be intentional in what you pick to help make your atmosphere and the entire day feel special and celebratory.

Have a variety of activities.

In order for a respite day to be a success, it is highly important to have a lot of different activities to engage your special needs students. These could be Foosball, ping pong, four square, board games, puzzles, coloring and crafts, playing outside on a playground, drawing with chalk, watching a movie, or playing games on a Wii. We also provide fidget toys for our students who need them and we place them throughout the area we are using so they are ever-present.

We don’t necessarily structure our day with rigid timelines of what we want to do at specific times. Instead we have all the activities up and going to allow our students to engage organically with one another. We do make sure our leaders are present at each activity but we also allow students to choose their own adventure by picking what activity they would like to do.

Bless the families.

One thing I came to realize by serving with our special needs team is this: having a special needs child is extremely taxing and isolating. Most of these families feel alone and forgotten. And worst still, they don’t see churches as safe places for them or their kids. I’ve had multiple parents tell me they have been forced to leave a church as they were told their child wasn’t wanted because they are a disruption. These families are hurting and in need.

So if you’re able to, consider having gifts or gift bags for the students and for their families. For families, we write a card for them and include a gift card to a local restaurant along with information about our church and special needs ministry. For the students, we give new students The Biggest Story Bible by Kevin DeYoung, but everyone gets a gift bag with glow sticks, snacks, some fidget toys, stickers, colored pencils, a journal, sunglasses, and a special note to them from our special needs ministry team.

Utilize invitations.

When you are preparing to host a respite day make sure that you have invitations that you can use to invite people. Disperse them to your church community but also ask the families who have special needs students to invite their friends. Special needs families have their own communities and know one another well, so asking them to share the invitations will ensure that they invite their friends which will provide opportunities for unchurched people to step into your church.

Be hospitable.

Welcoming families as they arrive is key. There may be families who show up who have never been to your facility before, so having someone greet them is paramount to them feeling loved and accepted. Make sure your leaders have name tags and introduce themselves as they interact with the families to encourage them and to help them be put at ease as they leave their student with you.

Hospitality shouldn’t exist only when people arrive but also as students are picked up. Making sure you have a greeter and someone to walk parents and guardians back to their students is highly important and shows them that you value the safety and well-being of their child as well as caring for the parent.

The Passage Ceremony: Celebrating Students’ Milestones

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Students have a lot of big milestones in their lives. There’s graduation from pre-k, kindergarten, and junior high. There’s turning 16. Becoming an Eagle Scout. Getting their license. Going to prom. Turning 18. Graduation from high school. And many more celebratory moments.

The sad truth is many of these milestones aren’t celebrated or honored for a variety of reasons. People are busy, so family and friends can’t always make it. There are conflicting schedules and events; people don’t always want to go to ceremonies because of the time commitment. And because there are so many moments in students’ lives, it is easy to assume you can skip one and simply show up at another.

The truth is these moments in students’ lives are pivotal and quite important in how they mentally develop and grow, the shaping of their identity, and their understanding of the Gospel. If these milestones are so important, let me pose a question: when was the last time your church celebrated these moments in the lives of your students? I don’t ask this question to shame or make us feel bad, but instead to push us to do some self-reflection. If I’m being honest, until moving to our current church, I never really considered these moments and didn’t do anything to celebrate them other than going to graduation parties.

But is that the best and only option? Or is there something more that we can be doing? The more I’ve thought about the ways we honor, celebrate, commission, and challenge our students, the more I want to share with you something that we have refined and honed over the past six years in order to do just that: The Passage Ceremony. I know, the name needs work, but let me highlight what this is and how we utilize this ceremony to honor and challenge our students. This isn’t a one size fits all approach, but instead is a resource you can adapt and leverage in your ministry setting and refine to make it beneficial for your context.

The Passage Ceremony.

In the course of middle school and high school ministry there are many key milestones that can and should be celebrated. We have chosen three aspects to focus on: transitioning into 6th grade (or middle school), transitioning into 9th grade, and high school graduation. The reason we chose to focus on these moments is because they are shared among students holistically. Not all students go to prom, not all students do extracurricular activities, not all students get their license at the same time. These three moments typically hit the majority of students and allow for the greatest impact. Therefore, the Passage Ceremony centers around these three “rites of passage.”

Our Passage Ceremony has a few key aspects to it. Here is what they include:

1. Food and community. We make sure to provide a lunch for the families who are coming to the ceremony and we utilize round tables to facilitate conversation and community. We also bring in our volunteer leaders to connect them with our students and families.

2. Explanation of the ceremony. We have someone stand up during the meal time to talk to families about why we are hosting the ceremony, what it is for, and to share our commitment to students and families.

3. Intentional time for parents to speak into the lives of students. We know families are busy and life gets crazy, so we carve out 30 minutes for parents and guardians to speak into the lives of their students. We provide some guidance for what this looks like but have found that parents typically come prepared and actually would desire more time because of how impactful it is.

4. Honoring of students. When families come back from their time of encouragement, we host the formal part of the ceremony. We call up students individually according to their grades and give them a gift. Before we call them up, we explain why we are doing this and the symbolism to our ceremony. It is a time of encouragement, celebration, and intentional discipleship.

We take time in the months leading up to The Passage Ceremony to communicate with families what we are doing and what we are asking of them. At the end of this post, I’ve included that letter for you to utilize if you would like.

How to utilize celebratory moments.

In the letter below, you will see some of the order and flow for this ceremony. Additional things we provide include a light luncheon, facilitating the ceremony, and having a time of celebration and recognition at the end. Here are some key things to highlight in celebratory moments:

1. Make sure to recognize key people. This could include parents, students, volunteer leaders, ministry leaders, and others. Recognizing and pointing to them helps to highlight the focus and who the event is for.

2. Have a good facilitator and communicator. When you are honoring students it is important to have someone who can speak truth and encouragement into their lives with intentionality. You don’t want someone who doesn’t know them or stumbles over what to say because that doesn’t communicate value and worth. But having someone who does communicate well helps your students know they are loved and have a place to call home.

3. Make the environment celebratory. This could be as simple as having food and music, or you could decorate your space with balloons and centerpieces, or you could provide gifts. Whatever you choose make sure to be intentional and seek to create an atmosphere that celebrates your students.

4. Connect them with their leaders. Bringing your leaders into these moments is key because it values them, connects them to their students, and introduces them to parents.

5. Pray over your students. Let them know that they are loved and seen, and that they matter to you and to God. So pray for them and be in their corner.

Letter to Families:

As I have served in student ministries, I have seen a strong desire in parents to lead and guide their children as disciples, but the big question has always been “how?” The Passage Ceremony is one way for us to offer guidance to you and your students by giving you time and space to have needed conversations and by allowing us to support one another in this ongoing discipleship process. Parents, church leadership, and volunteer leaders will be part of this ceremony to signify the student’s desire to live as a disciple of Jesus.

Ceremonies are not a regular part of our culture, but with purpose and direction they can have a powerful impact on the discipleship journey of students. The Passage Ceremony is designed for you, as parents or a significant person in a student’s life, to have the opportunity to personally and privately give spiritual guidance and discipleship to them. The spiritual guidance should focus on:

  1. Affirming your commitment to being faithful parents and supporters of your student(s);
  2. Presenting or reviewing clear and specific guidance and evaluation of your student(s) as they continue to live as disciples of Jesus who are sent to build the kingdom of God.

Our vision for this ceremony is threefold:

  1. To affirm God’s design for parents and supporters as the main disciple-maker of their children;
  2. To affirm our commitment to you as a church and specifically as a student ministry to walk and partner with you in this discipleship process;
  3. To provide a meaningful opportunity for you to partner with the church to mark this significant milestone in their life together and commission them to continue to live as a disciple of Jesus.

Ceremonies typically have a symbol attached to them. We request that you supply a special Bible to use as the symbol of this ceremony. In the past families have purchased a new study Bible or use a special Bible they already have. The NIV Bible is highly suggested since it is the translation we most often use at church. Feel free to supply whatever size or color you would like.

We highly recommend that you use the inside cover to write a special note of vision and blessing to your student. Please drop off your signed Bible to the Receptionist’s Office to allow time for our staff to write in it as well. This Bible will be presented to your student(s) at the ceremony. Should you need any assistance in finding or purchasing a Bible, please contact our team and we will do all we can to assist you.

We will also provide time and space for you as parents to speak encouragement, affirmation, and Biblical truth into the life of your student. I would encourage you to think through this ahead of time so you can share this with them on Sunday. You could share why you are proud of them, what you are looking forward to experiencing with them, your desire to walk with them through this next phase of life, the truth of what you have seen God do in their lives, a life verse that you chose for them and why you chose it, and your prayer for them going forward.

5 Tips for Hosting an End of the School Year Celebration

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We recently capped off our school year by hosting our “End of the Year Celebration.” We had local ice cream and other snacks, games, Drift Trikes, music, and small groups. It was an absolute blast with so many fun moments and memories.

Our rhythm has been that we scale back summer programming because we live in a tourist area. Our local populace leaves for vacation as the tourists come in, which presents unique circumstances to contend with. Our ministry engages the summer in a way that allows us to best minister to our students and families by hosting specific gatherings, events, and by incorporating different summer trips.

I know that not all of us enter the end of the school year in the same way. Many ministries run a full program year-round, so thinking about a year-end celebration may not sound like something you would host. But I would still encourage you, regardless of your ministry rhythms, to highlight the end of the school year for your students. There are certain milestones in our students’ lives that are important, but often slip by unnoticed, and this is one of them. Being able to recognize their hard work and achievement, and to celebrate the start of a new season, is important and will show them love and care.

If you host celebrations like these, how do you ensure they are successful and meaningful for your students while still supporting the vision and mission of your program? I want to share a few tips I have learned over the years that help to ensure that these moments are truly successful for your ministry, your leaders, and your students.

1. Make it relational and fun.

Year-end celebrations should be highly relational and centered around bringing students together to recognize the milestone. These are celebratory opportunities to engage and have fun with your students as they do the same with their friends. The end of the school year can be hyper-stressful and busy. Simply creating a space to have fun and celebrate with people who love and care about them gives students an opportunity to relax and feel seen and loved.

The focus of these celebrations should be about connection and community. So seek to have activities that bring people together, create moments for small groups to connect, provide free snacks, and encourage your leaders to hang out and connect with their students.

2. Utilize local resources.

One of my favorite things to do it support local small businesses whenever possible. We recently had a new ice creamery open in one of our nearby communities and we have partnered with them with great success. It isn’t just the local partnership that makes this a success. It’s the fact that our students know and love the ice creamery and when we announce we have them coming to an event, they are instantly excited and invite their friends. When you know your community resources and which ones attract students, you can utilize that resource to bless and engage your community.

3. Incorporate music, games, and activities.

One of the best things you can do is think about what type of environment you want for this event and what type of environment will bring in your students. One big thing you can do is have music playing that is fun and upbeat. Music helps to create an atmosphere and helps to ensure that there aren’t moments of awkward silence.

Think through the games and activities you’d like to have to celebrate this moment. You could have organized games or it could just be a free time type of night where students get to choose between multiple activities. I would also encourage you to not forget the students who aren’t game or large activity types of people. It is so important that those students know they are welcomed and valued in these moments. This could be as simple as setting up tables away from loud activities and speakers–but still within the space that everything is happening–which have board games, fidgets, coloring books, and other fun activities.

4. Make sure to speak truth to and pray for your students.

One of the things we need to remember is summer isn’t always fun or easy for all of our students. In fact, summer can be really difficult for students. There may be tensions and difficulties at home, they may lose a large piece of their community, there are shifts to rhythms and changes in schedules, there are decisions to be made about their future, and so many other factors competing for their focus. This isn’t true for all of our students, but it is important to remember these things because as we focus on the spiritual piece.

Make sure to carve out time speak a word of Biblical encouragement to your students and to pray for them. This doesn’t need to be a 45-minute lesson; it can be short and sweet but intentional and relationally-focused. The more authentic and intentional this time is, the more students will feel seen and understood.

5. Honor your leaders.

In as much as this is an event and celebration for your students, for many ministries these celebrations only happen because of your volunteers. So I would encourage you to find a way to honor and celebrate them in front of your students. This has a twofold benefit: it shows your leaders how appreciative you are of them, and it shows your students how important your leaders are. You are creating a culture that values leaders and students and highlights the necessity of a discipleship-centered ministry. All of this takes place as you point to your leaders and acknowledge them, their sacrifices, and their hard work.

7 Keys to a Successful Fundraiser

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We just wrapped up our fundraiser for this year and it was one of the best ones yet! Not because of the money we raised–we won’t even total that up until later this week–but because of what the fundraiser accomplished and did for our students and our church.

It’s moments like these where I swell with pride as I watch my students serve, give, and live missionally. They were given a challenge and they rose to meet it! Don’t get me wrong, I was exhausted after the fundraiser and I napped hard when I got home, but this fundraiser was a true success for us.

I often ponder why the metrics we use to weigh the success of a fundraiser typically center on finances or on how many people show up. For our group, success isn’t focused on the money raised or the numbers but on how our students are able to serve and love others, and by how the fundraiser helps our church live out our mission. Looking at what occurred at our fundraiser, that’s why I believe we succeeded and will see huge benefits because of what happened.

Today, I want to highlight seven keys to a successful fundraiser and why these are important not just to your ministry but to your church overall.

1. Over-communicate.

This is something we need to do for our leaders, students, families, and our church community. Over-communicate what you’re doing, when you’re training, what roles students will have. The clearer and more concise the directions the better but remember that over-communication isn’t about inundating people’s inboxes with information. It’s about finding a balance: clearly sharing the information that’s needed and in the right methods.

Send emails or letters no more than once a week. Communicate all necessary information at training sessions and give handouts. Make sure you have leader meetings to be clear on what they need to know. When it comes to sharing with the church, think about the different ways you have to share information: mailers, emails, newsletters, bulletins, slides, announcements on stage, yard signs, knocking on doors, or whatever other ways there are to dispurse information. The ability to leverage multiple opportunities will help ensure that your message is heard and received.

2. Set clear expectations.

Working with students has taught me a lot but something I learned very quickly is the importance of clear expectations and rules. I was running a game one time and I thought I had all the rules figured out, when halfway through one of the junior guys let me and the whole group know I was wrong because he googled the answer. Well I very quickly instituted a no phones rule for our games to make sure that didn’t happen again. What I learned is that expectations are highly important and even when we think students aren’t listening, they actually are. Setting clear expectations and guidelines will help not only your fundraiser succeed but your students as well. You are setting them up for success and giving them the parameters in order to do so.

3. Focus on creating community and fostering relationships.

One of the things I love to do with student fundraisers is find ways for them to engage in inter-generational moments with the larger church body. Whether it’s having them serve together, finding ways to engage in conversations, or having older generations pray over students, these are opportunities that will help relationships and community flourish in your church. The more intentional we are at helping to develop relationships and community, the more we will see buy-in to the mission and vision of the church as well as student ministry. When people are able to grow together as a community it fosters unity and a desire to see the Gospel go forth.

4. Tell stories.

This is something I love to do. Most people know that I love to tell stories and incorporate them into teaching opportunities. I think there is an inherent beauty and strength to sharing stories because they bring people in, showcase the needs of others, and highlight the work of God in people’s lives. I think that’s partly why Jesus used stories throughout His ministry.

When we tell stories of lives that have been changed (think about your students’ lives and the lives of those you served) it allows you to show people the power of the Gospel and the necessity of student mission trips. Telling stories also provides a creative way to ask for support. Rather than simply asking people to give, you are painting a picture about why they should give because you’re showing what their giving has accomplished.

5. Utilize training sessions.

Before any fundraiser it is imperative that you take your team through training. These trainings aren’t meant to just be informational, but should also focus on team building and unity. When you can approach training with a desire to see your students succeed and to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus, it helps to shift the focus of the time. Sessions aren’t simply focused on telling students what to do or not to do. Instead, they’re focused on helping your students to mature in their relationship with Jesus as they care about and serve others.

6. Foster discipleship opportunities.

I love watching leaders pour into the lives of students, especially when the relationships are inter-generational. But even more encouraging has been watching our church community love, support, and intentionally invest in the lives of students. I’ve witnessed older adults engage with our students and build ongoing relationships where they continue to pour into their lives and support them even beyond high school. These are moments that are pivotal for students and will help them grow in their relationship with Jesus. Thinking about how you can foster these relationships will help to strengthen your group as a whole.

7. Incorporate prayer.

One of the things we highlight in our fundraising efforts is that the fundraiser isn’t just about financial support. Prayer support is vital to our mission succeeding and because of that we must be intentional in garnering the prayer support necessary for our trips. You can incorporate prayer in other ways as well. Ask students to pray at meetings and training sessions, hand out prayer cards at fundraisers, have leaders or staff or elders pray over your students at fundraisers, or even have your students pray for the church. These moments will help your students not only grow in their faith journey but will also help them to see the power and necessity of prayer in each of our lives.

5 Keys to Crafting Intentional Summer Programming

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Summer programming is just around the corner! In fact we will be wrapping up our regular programming in May and switching things up as our students and families change their rhythms and habits. I have served in enough student ministries to experience different rhythms and structures during the summer, but our current ministry context presents some unique opportunities and hurdles.

Living in a tourist community means our town sees an uptick in people but tourists don’t always come on vacation looking for a church or youth program. And while tourists come in to visit the town, the locals head out on vacations to relax and get away from the craziness in town. That means we experience a significant drop in attendance and in the number of volunteers that we have.

For each ministry and ministry leader, summer programming will look different. Some ministries don’t have any changes and run full programming all year long. Others scale back their programming and focus on intentional meet ups and trips. And still others have no programming. Regardless of where you are and how you run your ministry during the summer, intentional programming can help you create buy-in and cultivate a consistent vision that everyone knows and can be onboard with.

1. Understand your community rhythms.

When you know the rhythms and habits of your community, it allows you to think critically about the type of programming you will host. Some student ministry programs will continue running normally because students and leaders will be present. Others may need to think more creatively about what do as much of their community goes on vacation. But as you know and understand these rhythms, you will be able to offer options that best suit your people and meet their needs.

2. Know your volunteer strength.

Volunteers are the key to success for our ministry based on our program model. Regardless of the size of your ministry, you are probably in the same place. Even having two volunteers in a small ministry can make a huge impact for the students you’re ministering to. You may also need a certain ratio of leaders to students or may be required to have a certain number of leaders present due to working with minors.

With that being said, knowing your volunteer strength during the summer allows you to plan events and gatherings accordingly. If you don’t have your normal number of leaders, you will need to think practically and creatively about when to host gatherings and what they will look like. Another thing to consider is whether your volunteers are able to serve year round. Your volunteers–while they may never say this due to their love of the ministry–may need a break periodically. So consider their health and well-being as that is key to their effectiveness and to truly having the full strength of your volunteers.

3. Choose ideas, events, and focuses that highlight your vision.

Whatever your programming looks like this summer, let me encourage you to be intentional in highlighting your vision. Even if your programming looks different than during the school year, you can still make sure that whatever you’re doing is intentionally focused on growing and pouring into your students. The more intentional you are with highlighting your vision, the more buy-in you will generate with leaders, students, and parents.

4. Focus on relationships, community, and outreach.

Summertime presents us with a unique opportunity to reach and engage with our community, especially with those who may not have attended our church or ministry during the school year. Since school and extracurriculars associated with it have ended, students may be more inclined to attend your ministry and the events that you host. Because you may reach people who haven’t come before, I want to encourage you to make the most of these moments by focusing on relationship-building and fostering new interactions as you share about Jesus.

It is important to curate venues and opportunities that allow and encourage your students to invite their friends and interact with new people. Then, as new students are coming, be intentional with what you share and focus on clearly explaining the Gospel. These don’t need to be hours-long tent gatherings, but instead could include carving out 10-15 minutes to share about Jesus and then allow for further community and time for people to fellowship and ask questions as needed. Hopefully the summertime affords you a new opportunity to reach people you haven’t been reaching.

5. Plan ahead and communicate.

This is a big deal for me, probably because I am a planner at heart and love to know what is happening and when so I can prepare for everything. For families and leaders, having a plan for summer and communicating it will allow them to plan their schedules accordingly. It is also important to clearly communicate your plan and expectations to your leaders for the summertime. Doing this will help you know your volunteers’ level of commitment and ability to serve which will allow you to best plan your summer schedule.

In planning and communicating your programming, you should start first with your leaders to make sure you can actually do what you’re envisioning and that you will have enough leaders. Then you should communicate the plan to parents and students through multiple venues (online, emails, newsletters, in print, in person, etc.) and multiple times. I would also encourage you to have your plan ready and communicated at least a month before your summer programming starts. Many people are building their summer schedules earlier in the year and so the sooner you have a plan, the more likely families are to incorporate it into their summer schedules.