Programs

This is something that our youth participate in every summer. The acrostic W.A.R. stands for: Worshipping God through godly music, Adherence to God’s Word through relevant lessons, and Recreation through fun games. These can be done in any order, but variety is the key. The name W.A.R is derived from the competition between teams through the summer. Every Wednesday night we spend time in worship, Bible study, and competitive games that add up to points. Teens really enjoy this and are encouraged to recruit new teens to be part of their teams. Who ever has the most points at the end of the summer receives a special prize, which should be relevant to your youth group.

S.N.A.C. (Sunday, Night, After, Church)

Once a month the youth meet at people’s homes. The homes are offered on a volunteer basis. This is a time for devotionals and prayer time leading into fun games the kids enjoy, such as “spoons” or board games. This has served the purpose of fellowship. The volunteers get to know the kids and relationships begin. This is how I organized our SNAC night.
Jr. High is every 2nd Sunday
High School is every 3rd Sunday

Volunteers usually prepare food. but you could have the boys bring pop and the girls bring chips or visa versa. This helps with the cost if you have a large youth group.

Our youth this year will be giving a special service on Memorial Weekend. They will each be selecting a person from Fox’s Book Of Martyrs to present to the church. By doing this we not only memorialize these wonderful men and women who gave us the freedom we have, but the youth also get a sense of the importance of standing up for our God and righteousness! After the service we may reward the youth for their effort with some ice cream and fun games.

S.L.A.C – Sunday Lunch After Church

This is a great program for Jr. High but you can use it for any age. The title explains it all…you eat lunch after church and play games. It offers some good fellowship and a very informal time for the kids to hang out.

Our youth group was really dying last spring! The youth were uncommitted and not very excited about the activites. When we asked them what they would like to do, they would only state the same activites they were seemingly bored with. They didn’t want to think outside of the box. So in an effort to salvage the group, we planned ahead our entire summer worth of activities for the youth. Trips to the mall in the middle of the week, baseball games, concerts, scavenger hunts, fundraisers, mission trips, etc. Everything had a point value, including bringing a first time friend, volunteer work, Sunday School and Church Services. At the end of the summer we tallied up the points. Youth that got up to a certain preset amount of points were entitled to a free weekend trip to an amusement park. We had a prize for he person with the most points, too. And all the youth were invited to go on our weekend trip, they just paid the percentage of points they were short!

The youth were really excited about the points system and now for the fall have submitted several creative fun ideas of their own to try! God is so Good!

Every Monday night during the school year, the teens in the church perform skits and play games with the elementary children. This provides a place to go for young and older children and it is exactly what the name means Madness!!! (It’s a great mentor program)

This is a program I started last summer to keep my teens interested in our youth group during the summer months. It can be used at any time. The S.E.R. stands for Soulwinning, Excitement, and Reward Character(as opposed to talent only). A teen could become a member of the S.E.R. CLUB by accomplishing the following: 1.) Win a certain # of people to the Lord through personal soulwinning (youth leader sets the #). 2.) Show excitement for the youth department by being at all church services and teen activities, as well as inviting & bringing visitors. The teen would fill out an activity sheet weekly to show the services attended, daily Bible reading, souls won, etc. 3.) The teen would be rewarded once they reach a specific level, such as a special meal with the Youth Director, Pastor & their wives; a very nice plaque of achievement presented to them in the Church service, and special privileges during Youth activities. Over a 3 month summer period last year, our youth group read an average of 28.75 chapters in the Bible per week, and won 27 people to the Lord. They accounted for 40% of our soulwinning crowd on Tuesday nights, and almost 15% of our churchwide Sunday School attendance.
If you would like particulars of the program, such as rules and follow-up reports, you may contact me at the e-mail above, call me at 336-785-0527 (Church), 336-918-0759 (mobile), or you may write to me at the following: Ben Streett (Youth Director) Berean Baptist Church 4135 Thomasville Road Winston-Salem, NC 27107

I just thought I would share this idea with you that we are doing with our youth group. This year we have a number of newcomers and we struggled with how to build bridges between the newcomers and the regular teens in the group. We came up with the idea of Team Factor, which involves six weeks of team building activities. Instead of having our traditional game time each week, we now plan on major activity that involves a whole team. Last week, for example, I measured a number of items within our community such as buildings, signs, park benches with a banana. The team was given a list of the item I measured and 2 bananas and were sent out to measure and record their results. I awarded points for the team who came the closest for each item. Another important thing is that the teens do not get to choose what team they will be on. I broke the teens up by age and wrote numbers 1, 2 and 3 on three card (I have three teams) and had them come up one at a time and choose a card. After the six weeks we will stop and see how much the teens have learned about each other. So far they are enjoying Team Factor and we find the newcomers feel like they are a part of the group.
What I have given you here is just the concept, but it is up to the youth leader to decide how to use it. So far we are very pleased with the results.

At least once per month, if not more often, go somewhere after your latest Sunday church service. Vary the location among restaurants, outdoor activities, home fellowships, etc. Encourage youth to bring their friends to the service beforehand.

Bible quiz.We frequently do this at our youth meetings. The idea behind is to encourage the youth to study the bible and to know it.

Youth leader. Set questions from the bible.
Have the correct answers with you, which you will disclose or check with, when questions are being answered.

Examples:
1 Please name all the 12 disciples whom
Christ Jesus walked with?
2.Name first books of the bible in their
order?
3.Give us the names of Moses’ Mother and
Father?
4.How many books are there in the Bible?
5.Complete this verse. “Be still and know
that I am God———”
6.From which book and verse of the bible do
we find this verse
7.What is the shortest verse of the
bible,were is it found
8. Which book of the bible comes before
the book of Philemon

Have as many questions as you can according to the time you meet
Divide the youths into two groups,i.e (Group 1 and 2)
Ask group 1 first question if they got it right give them 2 marks
Ask group 2 second question and if they got it give them their two marks.

You can give half marks if they got part of the question correct. It’s up to you to decide.
If one of the groups fails to answer, open it to the other group, for a bonus point of 1 mark. Then ask them also their question if they got it right, this will mean they will be a point ahead of the other group.
As you continue, they will be some competition, and one group will be better than the other or they will be equal.

I have just set these questions now and I know all the answers. For intrest’s sake how many did you get right without looking for the answers.
“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15