Tag: events

How to Host Intentional Events

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Yesterday Elise and I watched the Super Bowl from the comfort of our own home as we relaxed, ate snacks, and enjoyed the commercials and Taylor Swift commentary. That wasn’t always the case though. We were reflecting this past week about how at our prior church we hosted a massive “Big Game” party.

We provided wings, pizza, and snacks. We brought in a mobile laser tag company. We had inflatables going all night long. There was a dodge ball tournament and few rooms down we had Just Dance going. We had the Big Game going in a room filled with couches and comfy seating. We also incorporated a lesson at halftime for our students. And that was just during the game.

Prior to we had all the organization and set up. We were attempting to pre-screen all the commercials. We were ordering all the food and connecting with the companies who were bringing in our event items. And we were organizing prizes for our annual game day quiz.

But do you know what this party actually lacked? Intentionality. The only real purpose this party had was just that: to be a party. Students would invite their friends and attend, but there was very little spiritual reward for the amount of effort, time, and work that went into it. We rarely saw new students return, students weren’t focused on the lesson, leaders were frustrated by how intense and long the event was, and no one really got to watch the game.

In many ways, it was discouraging in the moment and now reflecting back it has challenged us to be more intentional in how we plan, organize, and run events. So how do you actually host intentional parties or events?

Align with your mission and vision.

This is a big part to any event or gathering that you host. I’m ashamed to admit that it took me a long time to get to this point but once I understood it, it radically altered my approach and methodology to ministry. Aligning your mission and vision with what you do helps your ministry to drive home what you’re seeking to replicate and cultivate.

Our vision is this: to be an encouraging community of disciples who are sent to build the kingdom of God. That means we will say yes to events that help us build out our vision of disciple-making. On the flip side it means we will say no to other things. That doesn’t mean we don’t like them or that they don’t serve a purpose. We are simply saying we are seeking to align with our mission and vision and that is what drives us. This point will help you focus on what you are doing by giving you purpose and direction, and it will also shape the identity of your ministry.

Have a stated purpose and goal.

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. While you may have the understanding that the event you’re hosting aligns with your vision, does everyone else? Do your leaders know? What about the students and their families? I’m not saying you need to write out a thesis statement for each thing you do, but by providing a purpose and goal you’re helping to bring clarity, understanding, and direction to your ministry.

It could be something as simple as putting a line in your newsletter explaining the event and what your hope is for it. It could be announcing it to your students and leaders at youth group. Or it could be something you share at a training for your leaders. Outlining the goal and purpose will provide understanding and clarity for your group.

Generate buy-in.

This is really important when it comes to hosting events. If you and your leaders aren’t excited and talking about your event why would you expect your students to be excited? Your excitement and attitude is key to generating buy-in, but you can also do this by empowering your students to be the voice for your ministry.

If students are excited and participating in the event, let them be the vocal supporters and challenge them to invite their friends. Also, look to create unique elements to your events that are outside of the normal everyday programming that you host. Whether it’s a competition, prizes, different snacks, or something else, look to bring in different elements that will excite and engage your students and their peers.

Incorporate students.

Just as we said with the previous point, students are essential to the success of intentional events. Having their buy-in is huge, but so is utilizing their gifts and having them help facilitate the event. Students are amazing leaders and if you give them the opportunity they will seize it and do great things. Bring them in, hear their ideas, incorporate their suggestions, allow them to thrive and fail, and see what God will do in and through them.

Utilize the church body.

Crafting spaces for inter-generational relationship opportunities and community to occur will help your intentional events thrive. We have an amazing older couple who faithfully serve in our cafe each week and at any event that has food. They embody the love of Jesus as they smile and engage with students, even going so far as stopping what they are doing to sit and listen to a student who is having a bad week.

These type of volunteers and others in your church can show students the love of Jesus and help foster a true inter-generational church atmosphere. This will do wonders to help your church grow and mature. It may take time and effort on your part to create these moments and challenge the church to step up, but keep beating that drum and pray for God to awaken the church toward this vital mission.

Create space for connection and community.

Whatever your event, creating opportunities for community and connections is key. There will always be students who desire quieter spaces and opportunities to engage in conversations. So having places for those opportunities will help to create a successful event. It can just be some couches or tables and chairs that have games, coloring books, or activities, but that are situated in a way that encourages conversations. These spaces will help everyone feel valued and seen and provide a place for people to be refreshed and encouraged.

What are the priorities you seek to embody at your events?

Last Minute Christmas Party Games

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It’s the week before Christmas and for some of us, that means taking a break from ministry for a week or two. But there are other ministries that keep going and may be meeting sometime this week for their Christmas party. If you are in the latter category and looking for some easy, quick, and little-prep games for your party, you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s face it: we’ve all had a moment where for whatever reason, our event and activities have been placed on the back burner. That’s not a reflection of you or your heart, but it sometimes happens. And right now you may feel pressed for time and wondering if you’ll even be able to pull this party off because you still need a great Christmas message and games may not be your thing. It happens, we’ve all been there or will be there. This post is meant to help you have a great Christmas party for your students, or maybe even show up at your staff party as the hero with fun activities, or give you something fun to do when all of the family is over during the holidays. So here are some quick and easy Christmas party game ideas.

An easy Christmas scavenger hunt.

We have written about scavenger hunts in the past where we have used Scavr. This is not what I am suggesting. That takes a lot of back end work and would completely bog down any prep time you have this week. Think of this in the classic “Bring Me” style game but instead of doing it one item at a time, it’s a scavenger hunt where students either have to physically collect items or take photos of them. It could also have various elements like “have a group take a video singing Christmas carols in front of a manger,” “take a group picture by Christmas lights,” or “have your group dress up as wise men.” Including elements that are within your church and relatable to your church will help make this game relatively easy and successful.

Charades or reverse charades.

Charades is always a fun group game to utilize where you have a group of people guessing the action of an individual. This can be played in head-to-head fashion with multiple teams competing against each other, or if you have a smaller group it can be played all together with your group guessing the actions of one individual at a time.

Another fun way to play this game is reversing the function of the game: the group will act out the action while one person or only a couple of people guess. This allows for your group to be a little more creative and to craft a scene. I would suggest giving your groups around 30-60 seconds to come up with a plan if you are doing reverse charades. The scenes that you are utilizing should be Christmas-focused and could be Christmas movies, winter/Christmas activities, Christmas carols, or Christmas stories.

Christmas Scattergories.

Scattergories is a great game regardless of the time of year. It can be utilized in a smaller group where individuals play against one another. Or larger groups can be broken into small groups competing together, or even as a head-to-head style game where competitors go back and forth on answering. Regardless of how you run this game, think about different categories you can use to make the game more Christmasy.

Here are a few ideas to get you going: Christmas movies, Christmas songs, Christmas food items, Christmas characters, stocking stuffers, Christmas activities, Christmas traditions, something at the North Pole, gifts, or Christmas decorations. This is a game that is sure to produce lots of laughs and some spirited debates. But as long as you can keep it moving and see that your crew is having fun, the longer you can lean on this game to help make your Christmas party a blast.

PowerPoint Games.

Download Youth Ministry has a bunch of PowerPoint games available on their website, and I’ll be honest with saying these have saved me in many circumstances. There are all different styles of games and they can be utilized in a variety of ways depending on your group size and dynamic. Most of these will need to be paid for, but they are totally worth it. My advice would be to purchase games that have a higher review rating and ones that will connect with your group.

Christmas tree or Christmas present decorating.

Now I know what you’re thinking: why would we have our students decorate a tree or wrap a present? But hear me out: what if the tree or present was a student or leader? Right?! Now you’ve given your group the challenge to decorate someone in the most festive way possible and this is easily accomplished by purchasing (or finding) some gift wrap, bows, tinsel, tape, and maybe a few other additional items.

Another fun piece to include if you’re going with the gift idea is to get some larger boxes to wrap your people up in. Let your group go crazy with how they decorate their people and then up the ante by having them walk a runway and have a teammate explain their creativity. Another quick tip: purchasing these items can be done in an inexpensive way by shopping at a dollar store or Walmart or in a pinch purchasing online on Amazon.

How to Pick a Guest Speaker

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We’ve all been there at some point in our careers: on the lookout for a guest speaker. It may be finding someone to share on a youth group night or Sunday morning, looking for a camp speaker, having someone speak at a retreat or DNOW weekend, or having someone who can cover for you when your sick. We know the pains and difficulties that can go into finding a speaker who aligns with our ministry. We especially know those feelings if we have had a speaker who isn’t great or doesn’t connect with your group.

The reality is that we will need to find speakers who can engage with our students and fulfill the mission and vision we are seeking to implement in our group setting. But the are many details and questions we need to consider when it comes to doing so, because we want to approach this with intentionality, passion, and faith to make sure we choose the best possible speaker for our group. Today I want share some tips on how you can do this well and show care to all involved.

Be clear with what you’re seeking.

As someone who has spoken at different venues, one of the most frustrating things is when the expectations and directions aren’t clearly communicated. I like to know the culture of the program, the intent and focus of the speaking engagement (i.e. filling in on a youth group night or the focus for a week-long camp), the vision of the ministry, how long the messages are to be and how many there will be, and even what hasn’t worked in the past. When you’re open and clear about what you’re seeking, it will afford potential speakers the opportunity to say yes or no as they think through their skill sets and time obligations. The clearer you are the more likely you are to find the right person(s) needed for your event.

Know what your group needs.

This is hugely important because as the shepherd to your group you know what they need to hear, how they will receive people, what kind of care they need, and how they will engage with the person speaking. When you’re aware of the needs of your group, it provides clarity for you to choose a speaker who will be the best equipped to help meet those needs. You aren’t looking for someone to take on your role but for someone who will compliment it and provide a meaningful and safe place for students to engage and grow in their faith journey.

Get a resume.

This may sound weird because it’s not a job interview, right? But if someone is coming to speak to your group, especially for a longer period of time, this is a job interview. They are putting forth their services and they should be able to share their experiences, passions, and reasons for seeking to fulfill this role. In doing this, you will better understand if this person is truly the right fit for your group.

Now let me clarify something: I am not saying they need to actually give you a full on resume. I am saying to look for the pieces that go into a resume and seek to understand more about the candidate. If you get a resume, follow up with their references and see what they have to say about the speaker’s skill sets, communication style, and ability to connect with students.

Know their connection to student ministry.

It may seem easy to find a speaker for student ministry; just look in any of the numerous student ministry Facebook groups to see people who are ready and willing to jump in as a speaker. Or you can look at various people’s social media profiles and find tags like “influencer” and “speaker.” But just because someone says they are a speaker doesn’t mean they will be qualified to speak to students.

One of the best things you can do when looking for a speaker is to find out their connection and draw to be a speaker to students. Sometimes people think that speaking to adults and to students are the same, but there are important and noted differences. Being able to ascertain if someone has a connection to speaking to students is a key aspect to be looking for when choosing a speaker.

Consider cost.

Sometimes you will end up finding someone who will speak for little to no cost. These will typically be when you ask someone to speak on a Sunday morning or at youth group, but not so much for speaking at retreats or longer settings. Being aware of the cost associated with picking a speaker is important but should not keep you from choosing the best selection for your group. There are times when costs can be prohibitive to what you’re seeking to accomplish, but if you’re open with the reality of cost from the onset of your search, it will allow you to think creatively about who you bring in to speak.

Preview some of their teachings.

This is something that I would suggest no matter where you’re having someone speak. Whether it’s a speaker for a camp or retreat or someone speaking on a Sunday morning, getting to know their material, methodology, and how they engage with people is key. Getting this preview will help you make an informed decisions on whether that individual is someone you want sharing with your students, if their communication aligns with your vision and mission, and if they bring the necessary skill set to the table.

One final thing: how do you say no to a speaker?

There have been times where I’ve checked in with multiple people to speak and I’ve had to have an awkward conversation where I say no to them sharing. Depending on the circumstance this can be more awkward than not (i.e. telling someone at your church or a youth leader no). The key is how you go about this. Do you simply say “sorry we are going in another direction,” are you direct to the reasons why, do you try to soften the blow?

I would say that the closer you are to the individual, the more intentional, relational, and pastoral you are with them. Make sure to care for and love them well. Explain your reasoning and if there’s areas to grow in be willing to share those. If someone is fairly far removed from your group (i.e. you connected with someone referred to you over Facebook), simply stating you’re going in another direction is fine and thank them for their time. If they want more information that is up to you on how much you’d like to share.

Theme Night Ideas: Spring Kickoff

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Most of us are not thinking about spring right now. In fact, some of us are probably revisiting our winter weather and wellness policies because those fall sniffles and murmurs of snow are beginning to materialize. But that is why this is the perfect time to think about a spring kickoff because it gives us time to prepare. Preparing in advance helps us to put things together without feeling rushed or disorganized. It allows us to build something meaningful and intentional that will reach our students and their peers.

I do want to clarify what I mean when I say “spring kickoff.” For our ministry, we host our spring kickoff in January after we come back from Christmas break. Many of you are probably crying afoul because January is most certainly not spring, unless you live in a place that is perpetually warm. But here is the rationale for calling it our spring kickoff: we have just come back from a prolonged break and we want to celebrate being back and it is the start of the spring semester for students.

Our church is a regional church which means we serve multiple school districts and none of them follow the same format for semesters or marking periods or trimesters. So instead of trying to do a “semester kickoff,” it made the most sense for us to call it our Spring Kickoff. I am not advocating for you to replicate the name–thought it most certainly isn’t trademarked–but I am encouraging you to be intentional with the time when you come back from a prolonged break in programming. This is a great point at which to celebrate and reconnect with your students, and to have fun in the process.

In looking at the time of year this happens, many of us we need to think about indoor activities. There are some ministries that can be outside in January, but for those of us who cannot, we must think about activities that can be utilized indoors. All of the ideas below can be used outdoors as well and can be shaped and molded to fit any space and ministry size. Today, I want to share with you five ideas for a spring kickoff event that are guaranteed to be a ton of fun!

Cutthroat Kitchen.

Cutthroat Kitchen was a cooking show on Food Network where competitors were given a set amount of starting cash they could use in each round to either buy advantages or purchases sabotages for their competitors. DYM put out a Christmas version of this competition that can easily be tweaked to meet the needs of a spring kickoff. You will need to play around with the graphics and some of the names of the games, but it is a great springboard and has a ton of helpful guidance.

This is an event you can do for one night or for a months-long competition. We took a month leading up to it for small groups to win “money” by competing in various games that they could use in the main competition. It was a ton of fun, and our students still talk about it.

Team Competitions.

Team competitions don’t have to be like the relay games of yesteryear. They can actually be a lot of fun and it is all in how you cast the vision and know what your group enjoys. You can host a trivia night where small groups compete against each other. You could have small groups plan and share skits or a talent show. You could have a lip-sync competition between small groups. Or it could be any number of things, but the key is knowing your group and what will get them excited and participating.

Scavenger Hunt.

We have written about using Scavr for our spring kickoff before, and honestly this is an amazing resource for youth ministries. This is an option that costs money depending on which version you would like to use, but I will say it is totally worth the value. All you need to do is figure out the clues and answers for the hunt, have your teams download the app beforehand and create a log in, and then just manage the submissions.

Gone are the days of trying to track all the scores or figure out who did what. Scavr does that all for you. This is something you can completely scale and shape to fit a theme, environment, or your church setting. We love to incorporate trivia questions about leaders and staff, utilize staff who are on-site for photo opportunities, and have our students running all over.

Minute to Win It.

This is a classic event for student ministries. You can literally find tons of Minute to Win It games online and even find websites with the games broken down by categories. There also a lot of Minute to Win It countdown times on YouTube that you can use for this event to keep things moving and make it feel like you are actually competing on the show. You can set this up where you have multiple stations and students will move through them in groups and you keep track of which student/group got the quickest time. Then you figure out which team or individual won the most games or had the best overall score, and you have your winner.

Bigger and Better.

This is a classic game that we used to play all the time at my youth group growing up. The premise is fairly simple: each team starts with the same “small item.” We always started with a quarter. You would then have to travel around and trade your small item for something bigger and better, trading items until you’re out of time. When time’s up, everyone reconvenes at church to see what each team got, and to pick a winner.

We learned pretty early on that you had to have certain ground rules in place like “no stealing,” “no drive-able items if you’re under 18,” and the item you receive you have to be able to keep. The last two were because someone had a family member drive their 18-wheeler to church. But this is a game you could play in a neighborhood, a smaller community, or by utilizing church staff and/or members to engage in more inter-generational community. The last one could even be an opportunity to have dessert at one of the homes and celebrate together.

6 Tips for Designing Your Space

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Typically there are two responses to this type of an article: I don’t have a designated space or I already have my space set up.

Those responses highlight a mentality of frustration or completion and I can fully resonate with both. When you don’t have a space that is specifically for your ministry due to multipurpose usage it can be really discouraging and frustrating. On the other hand when you have your space and it is fully set and designed how you like, your response may be to continue with the status quo, because why change what is working?

But may I suggest to you that neither of those responses are helpful nor beneficial? In fact both of those attitudes can lend themselves to complacency and an unwillingness to adapt and change. That is not a helpful place to be because it leads to tensions, frustrations, resentments, and bitterness. Instead what we should should be doing is thinking creatively and identifying ways in which our space can be most utilized to reach and impact the communities we serve. The question then is how can we design and utilize our space to that end?

1. Know your ambiance.

What is the vibe that you want your ministry to have? Is it a classroom setting? Do you want it to feel more like a party? Or is it a coffee shop environment? It may be none of these or a hybrid of a few different options. Regardless of what you choose, how you embrace the ambiance and build your space to reflect that is key. So know what you are going for and commit to it.

2. Consider your lighting options.

Our space is pretty set with lighting options because it’s a multipurpose room. This means we can’t add or change anything unless it is something the entire church agrees on or the items must be able to be removed after each event. For us, that means that either we use the lights that are in the room or we get creative. We chose to get creative and we have purchased floor lamps and market lights to change the ambiance of the room for our youth group nights. While yes, they do make set up a bit longer, the change of lighting and the effect it has on our environment has been more than worth it.

3. Think about seating.

Here’s the thing: chairs and tables aren’t always necessary. They can add to an environment but they can also detract from it. Deciding how you want people sitting may sound like it isn’t important but it can shift the the entire ambiance and purpose of your space.

When I started at our church, Sunday mornings were a little dull and lifeless. Students would come and sit in rows and there wasn’t a reason for why we had rows. So I shook it up, and we moved to round tables with chairs to foster conversations and discussion on what we were teaching. Changing seating will switch up the ambiance, the energy, and even the purpose of what you’re seeking to accomplish. So think through how you want your seating to be and make sure it matches your vision and purpose.

4. Intentionally set up your room.

We just talked about chairs and tables but it is important to think through your room setup holistically. Where do you have your TV or your projector? Where are you putting snacks? Does your room setup convey a welcoming environment? Where and how will you incorporate games and activities?

Like I said above, we utilize round tables and chairs but that really inhibits us from being able to do active and mobile games. We knew that with our current set up we would need to be creative, so we utilize PowerPoint games that are usually in an all-play style.

We should also think through how our rooms bring people in and what we are conveying. Is it welcoming? Does it feel warm and inviting? How are students engaging and interacting? These questions will help us to think critically about room setup and if it is what we need for our program.

5. Incorporate student elements.

This is something I would love to do in our main spaces, but unfortunately cannot at this time. Instead I’ve encouraged students to bring in paintings and drawings, poetry, photos, stories they wrote, sculptures, or any other artistic elements to decorate our Leader Hub. Allowing students to contribute not only highlights their gifts and skill sets, it also helps to encourage your leaders as they see their students growing and flourishing.

6. Utilize food and music.

Music and food are two amazing elements we often don’t consider but just have at our gatherings. But why do we use them and how should we use them? Food is a natural barrier breaker. Have you ever noticed how often Jesus had conversations around food? I believe it is because when you share a meal, people’s walls start to come down and it allows us to engage in community. So as you think about designing your space, think about where you’ll be incorporating food and if it is truly helping your group engage in community. If food is at the back of the room and difficult to get to, you aren’t helping your cause. But if it is readily accessible and in a place students see, it will help you succeed in your vision for your program.

Music is hugely important when it comes to designing your space. Have you ever gone to a coffee shop or a supermarket and there’s no music playing? It’s a little creepy right? We begin to wonder why there isn’t music, it feels awkward, and we pull inward. The same is true for student spaces. You could have the most beautiful space but if there’s no excitement and nothing filling the dead air, students will not want to be there. So play music but also think about what kind of music you want, and how it is rounding out the environment you are seeking to create.

Theme Night Ideas: Prizes

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Our theme nights often have some type of competition between small groups. That may be entire small groups competing against one another in a scavenger hunt or an “Amazing Race” challenge, or it may be a representative or two competing for their group. Regardless of how we structure it, we frequently offer prizes for the winners.

Here’s the thing: I think for some youth groups offering prizes is normal and a good chunk of their budget can be apportioned to it. But there are other youth groups that the thought of prizes is something they can’t even consider due to constraints or lack of a budget. What I would love to do today is share some prizes we have utilized that I think should be applicable to any youth group regardless of financial standing. This isn’t meant to say one is better than the other, but a way to highlight the intentional and relational approach we can take with giving prizes to our students.

Food.

For some youth groups this may mean treating the winners to Chick-fil-A, for others it may mean giving them an ice cream party or cupcakes, and for others it may mean the prize is something that you or one of your leader makes for the group.

Gift cards.

You may be thinking, “Hold up Nick, you said these are applicable to any youth group.” You’re right, I did. I think when we hear “gift cards” we default to the belief that we have to pay for them. No, I’m not advocating that we steal them. But what I am suggesting is to be creative. Do you have a cafe you sell food from? Create gift cards your students can use there. Connect with local businesses and ask if they’d be willing to donate some gift cards for your event. Local businesses tend to have bigger hearts and want to bring in locals, so an opportunity to bless students is a great way for them to advertise.

Dinner out.

This is similar to the one above. We default to going out to dinner at a restaurant, but that doesn’t have to be the only option. What if you lined up a list of people within the church and their “menus” and let students choose where they want to eat? You could ask staff, elders, or volunteers to donate their time, home, and a meal for the winning team. Dinner out doesn’t need to be a restaurant but instead can be more about a memorable experience students can have with people who care about them.

Start a tradition.

I have seen youth groups do this in different ways. Some utilize a random item students get to sign if they win, which is displayed in the youth area or youth pastor’s office. You could also purchase imitation Emmy awards online that are fairly cheap but are something students can take home and display. How you theme, emphasize, and champion these traditions will help students be excited about them and desire to win them at each event.

Something personal.

This past year I decided to try something different as a prize. I’ll be honest, I lumped this idea in with three other prizes students could choose from and honestly they all chose the one I tried out. It was a huge hit! What was it? I offered to bake whatever they would like (within reason and my skill set) and bring it to their Home Group and spend the evening with them. I couldn’t believe how successful this was. My students loved it and we will continue doing it for prizes this year. I also enjoy making candles as a way of decompressing and we have offered a candle making class for winning groups and that was another successful prize. Creating a prize that is personal and relational is something students will desire because it’s meeting needs and offering them something they are craving: authentic relationships.

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?