This is a great idea to help your youth groups really feel like a group. Get someone artistic (preferably one of the youth) to design a funky logo for the group. Or you could have a competition to see who can design the best logo. Get hold of some screen printing screens (talk to schools or anyone you know who’s crafty). Trace the logo onto plastic adhesive, cut out the image so that the logo creates a hole in the plastic, and then stick the sheet of adhesive onto the printing screens. Get the youth to bring along t-shirts, material, underwear – whatever! – and everyone can have a go at printing the logo. The paint to use is reasonably cheap, and the screens are easy to clean up. The youth will come away with something they’ve made that identifies them with the rest of the group, and most likely they would have had a lot of fun doing it! (Check with someone who knows how to screen print before you do this activity, to find out exactly how to go about doing it.)
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Archives by: Jill
Recognising God’s Voice
This illustration has been used both in youth group and in church to show how the more we get to know God, the more we can effectively listen to him and be guided by him through our lives.
Before the group meets, get a few people together and record them speaking for about 10 seconds each on a tape (they can say anything – tell a joke, talk about their favourite food, whatever). Try and get a couple of people who everybody knows, and one or two people that the youth will not know.
Play the tape to the youth group, and get them to see if they can recognise who is speaking. They never cease to get excited about hearing theirs or their friends voices on tape!
Explain the illustration by pointing out that it was easy for them to guess the voices of the speakers that they knew well, whereas no one really knew who the stranger’s voice belonged to. Explain that it is like this with God – the more we get to know him, the easier it will be to recognise what he is trying to tell us in our lives.
Free Coke!
A really simple yet effective way of encourage youth to get excited about serving the community is to go to a public place – e.g. the entrance to a shopping centre – and hand out free Coke cans to passers by.
A few 24-cases of coke is all you need – and this isn’t too expensive once you split the price.
In our experience, the youth were quite nervous about it at first, but after they saw the leaders do it, they chimed in! It really makes the whole idea of “serving” a practical one.
P.S. – Make sure you get permission from the shopping centre or wherever you are doing it! And it’s probably best to steer clear of busy intersections and potentially dangerous places.