Miscellaneous

Our group had a fund-raiser in which we collected pennies. We made it into a contest the guys versus the girls. The loser’s punishment was a blast. We took all of the youth out to a local restaurant for an “All you can eat wing night” we didn’t tell them what was going to happen there, only that this was going to be the night the guys received their punishment for losing. When each guy arrived at the church they were given a fresh white t-shirt which they had to wear as they served as the girls napkins for the evening. Anything was game from the waist up. It was a blast and the guys kept their shirts which will be a memory they will never forget.

After your kids read John 15, select a broad, blank wall. Have the kids paint the wall with a high quality background paint. After this dries, sketch a vine, as they think it should look, across a portion of the wall. Leave room for the vine to lengthen, and room for verse 5 to explain to viewers what is being attempted. Have your young people paint the vine in colors appropriate for vines, writing verse 5 in large letters, and leaving space around the vine for the names of all your kids, both now and in the future. Have your young people write their names in charcoal, attached to the Vine where the students think is best. Go over the letters in high quality black paint. You will have a visual representation of the relationship youth groups are trying to build.

This idea is to stimulate youth to youth outreach, witnessing, and a youth groups core leaders. At as many youth events as possible, ie: Camps, concerts, bible studies, mission trips, allow the core leaders, the group of youth that you rely on most, to lead as much as possible. Let them plan the events, schedule the concerts, and lead the bible studies. As leaders we should provide steering and mentoring in addition to our Biblical teaching. If we allow the youth to be seen as the Church of today we will spread Christ’s love all the more.

This is a great game for getting the Youth/Children listening, intently, to a chosen bible passage. The leader must cover his/her face with Squirty Cream or Shaving foam, and tell the group they will be asked questions about the passage. The leader then reads the passage in sections, asking a question after each section. If the group get the question right they are armed with a corn puff each; they then have to throw it at the leaders face. The aim of the game is to get the corn puffs to stick on the leaders face. Repeat this for each section of the passage. At the end, count up the amout of ‘sticks’ and if it matches the desired total, give rewards.
They group loved this game and I had baby soft skin for hours after. (Best to wear sunglasses tos!)

In order to create more unity and fellowship and love amongst our teens we thought up the idea of sending mail to one another that would solely be encouraging mail. We added a twist however, and decided to update the idea for the 90’s. We made up a shelf that had a slot for each person in the youth group (including the adult sponsors, and myself) and also made up slips with room to write these letters of encouragement on. The whole system is called e-mail for encouragement mail, and we have found that the youth have caught on to the idea well,and every week almost, everyone gets an “e-mail!”

Great idea for a swimming party. Teams have 10 members each and 10 places around the pool are marked for each team’s station. >>> Sample events: 1.) Swim across the pool with an egg balanced in a spoon. If the egg falls, the swimmer must retrieve it and continue. 2.) Dive to the bottom of the pool and retrieve a brick. 3.) Swim across the pool with a tether ball tied to each ankle. 4.) Dive and swim underwater across the pool 5.) Dunk the youth leader in the pool. The contestant must hit a target of some sort and if he/she does, the youth leader is pushed off the diving board.

Do you have your marble is a great way to teach youth about responsibility and also raise money – just simply give each teen a marble tell them they are responsible to keep the marble on them at all times. If you see someone that you know should have the marble (maybe at the mall, school etc.), ask them “do you have your marble?” If they don’t, they give a donation to the youth fund – you can set a price like a buck or fifty cents. Real fun!