Free Youth Ministry Ideas

Crack-a-Grin:
A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."
The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the
minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying."

Hot Topix:
A. Earth Day 4/22-
Read Gen. 1:31 to the group and hold a discussion about our responsibility to be good stewards of the resources and planet God has provided us with and the fact that there are simple things we can all do to help out. I would also be sure to share that there is a difference between being a good steward and being a fanatic.
Plan on having a celebration for the day at whichever meeting is closest to the day. Help the group to come up with ways they can help protect the planet at home, school, and church. Buy a Large garbage can or container for aluminum cans, newspapers, etc. for the church. Have the teens paint various pictures that depict protecting our planet.
Another idea is to adopt a stretch of road in the community that needs to be cleaned up and meet on Earth Day. Provide refreshments for the teens after the clean up and make sure to take photos. Use these photos to put together a short slideshow to show the congregation what the youth group is up to.

B. National Day of Prayer - This has been such a hot topic lately with the Presidents decision to cancel events at the White House for the day. Hold a discussion on the disappearance of the evidence that our country was founded on the belief in God and what your teens can do to get involved.
Cover items (share the history of each) such as our money saying "In God We Trust", the 10 comm. being in the court rooms, swearing on the bible in court, prayer in school, etc. Be sure to talk about the recent decision by a Wisconsin Judge ruling that the government holding an event for the day is unconstitutional and how they feel about separation of church and state. Do they believe that's part of our problem with the country being a den of sin and so forth.
On the National Day of Prayer, set aside about an hour or two after school for teens to come by the church and pray for our leaders. Be sure there are several adults present.




Stat-O-The-Week:
A. The four most researched words on Google:
1.Sex 2.God 3.Jobs 4.Professional Wrestling

B.
10% - the amount of info we retain solely by listening
25% - the amount of info we retain by being told twice
50% - the amount of info we retain by seeing
(According to Skip Heitzig on his radio program "The Connection".)

Free Youth Ministry Resources:
1. Vision Board - Bring magazines, newspapers, print outs of images from the web and allow the teens to choose images and create pieces that represent what your goals are as a youth group. Also print out quotes and provide materials for the teens to write scripture on.
2.Illustration - The bible is like an MRI. Many times we like to think that we are a good person and therefore appear that way in front of the Lord and do not need to change anything in our lives. We get in the Word of God (have the MRI test) and the cancer present in our lives is revealed. Our teens need to understand that as Christians we are on a journey of transformation until we die and that God is in the business of change. We all like to deny our faults but is we will keep our hearts open, listen to God, and do as He says, we become a better person and grow closer to God.
3. www.speakupmovement.org - this site deals with various issues for all ages regrading our constitutional rights. Use it yourself and pass along to the teens.



Encouragement For The Road:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalms 19:14

Free Youth Ministry Ideas

Hey Gang! I am on vacation and wasnt going to post anything for this week but decided to share a few great videos to use in your ministry. Have a great week and next week we will be back to our normal column!

Free Youth Ministry Ideas

Crack-a-Grin:
About the time your face clears up your mind gets fuzzy.

Hot Topix:
We have two very important events coming up over the next couple of weeks. Sunday, April 11th is Holocaust Remembrance Day and Friday April 16 is the Day of Silence. Use your upcoming meetings to discuss these two important days and use the information below to aid in your talks.




1. Holocaust Remembrance Day - While your teens have all heard about the holocaust, their knowledge may be limited and most will be unaware of the day of remembrance. I suggest discussing the holocaust the Wednesday before and dedicate your sunday school meeting to honoring and remembering those who were lost during this horrific event. If your sunday schools classes are divided, bring them together for this. Here are some tips to get you going:
a. Put together a slide show of images and facts from the holocaust, then use it in one of your meetings
b. Invite a survivor or liberator to share their story with the group
c. Have a moment of silence and then prayer
d. Show the film Defiance (*note-you will need to get parents permission before this, as it has some poor language) a story of survival and new beginnings




2. Day of Silence - This is an event tat has some churches in an uproar and others actively participating. This event is a stand against the bullying and teasing of gay,lesbian,transgender kids. I believe that we, as Christians, should support such an event because God is Love and this is an opportunity to reach out to the gay community and plant seeds. At the official website, www.dayofsilence.com, you can print out speaking cards (which you can customize) for your teens to hand out, sticker templates, and much more. The best way to explain Christians participating in this event is as follows: As Christians we believe that homosexuality is a sin, we believe in standing up for what is right, and we know we can use this experience to plant seeds. It is that simple
You must get your teens to realize that living a homosexual lifestyle is a sin just as gossiping and lying are sins. This is definitely a topic to have a discussion on and get rid of some of the common misconceptions about homosexuality. If one of your teens is guilty of bullying or teasing, Discuss the different methods of bullying, such as posting things on a social networking site, texting gossip, and even actually filming bullying Or maybe they are guilty of not standing up for someone who was being verbally beat down and instead of saying something and walking away they kept quite. When we fail to do nothing, we are failing to do the right thing.
Even comments such as "That's so gay.", is hurtful and drives homosexuals to shame. This is no different than using the n-word. It is uncalled for and definitely not Christ-like. Don't allow this type of idle chatter in your youth group as it will have a negative affect on anyone who is dealing with same sex attraction.
"What are you going to do to end the silence?"


Stat-O-The-Week:
According to the Mental Health Association of Westchester's website-
78% of teens report that youth who are gay or thought to be gay are teased or bullied in their schools and communities.
93% of the teens hear youth use words like "fag," "homo," "dyke," "queer," or "gay" at least once in a while, while 51% of them hear it every day.

Free Resources:
a. www.iamnotashamed.org - A great opportunity for your youth group to be a part of the worlds first online video bible. Sign up at the website, record your group quoting a scripture or two, and upload it to the site. It's a fun way for your teens to proclaim that they are not ashamed to be a Christian.

b. www.commonsensemedia.org - This is the site for great reviews on the latest and hippest films, t.v., websites, books, and more. There is also a section designated for parents and they also have resources for teachers.

c. Pow Wows - This is a great ice breaker. Take 5-10 minutes at the beginning of class to have a pow wow. Divide your teens into groups of 5-10 and give each group a large marker and a dry erase board. Divide the paper into 2 columns, one pow and the other wow. The teens are to list what negative things have happened in their lives over the past week under pow and the positive things that have happened under wow. Have a member of each group read thru their list for the class and talk briefly about it. This is also a great way to get an inside view of whats going on in your kids lives!

Encouragement For The Road:
"Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."
Romans 4:8