Here's the question I've been asking: why? Why do we do these kinds of events?
At our church they have a specific purpose, as I've already mentioned--to introduce people to church and to Jesus. Sometimes the goal is to just have fun, and other times a message is included, like in our upcoming multi-church "Up All Night" overnighter. I don't think these kinds of events are bad. But as I plan a budget for the next year, I wonder if doing so many is good stewardship of our time and financial resources.
For me, the question comes down to purpose. Yes, students need to be able to have fun together, and play is important in youth ministry. But do these events accomplish what we design them to? I'm not really sure. We get a lot more guests to our large group gathering and small groups than we do to the big events. Students have told me they enjoy bringing friends when they know we'll be talking about something substantial. In fact, I've gotten texts on a Saturday wanting to know if the topic for our Sunday large group gathering is a good one to bring a friend to.
Last month, we did a Friday night worship night with a couple of other churches. We had a great time, students loved it and want to do it again--so they can bring their friends. In addition, it was fun! Afterward, we just hung out at Village Inn as a large group, had a few $1 challenges (think coffee mixed with salt and pepper and cream with some clam chowder for, um, flavor), and basically just talked for a while.
This year, we'll do a few more events like the worship night, and see how it goes. Of course, that means a few other mainstays may be put on hold for now--if not permanently. Perhaps what students really want to come to is a place where they are loved and where they hear the truth about a God who loves them more than they could ever know.
What are your thoughts on "purely-fun" events in youth ministry? What events are you planning for 2011?
2 comments:
Totally agree with this whole post. Glad to see someone else not going the route of "Programs/fun events are the devil and are what causing students to leave the church in college."
I definitely think there is a place in Youth Ministry for the fun events, but the students also need a place that is going to challenge them. I blogged earlier this year about how my fall schedule sucked because we had two events fall through, and those two events were our big evangelism and discipleship type events, that without them happening, made our Youth Ministry very shallow this fall.
Find the balance, which I think is what your doing.
Smalltown:
Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your insight and desire to have some deeper events. I think the issue is more purpose than balance. The way I see it is that we have a certain number of volunteers, a certain amount of financial resources, and a limited number of events we can do. Let's just say we'll do twelve special events a year (by special I mean outside of our normal Sunday/Wednesday meeting times). If we look at it as though we have those twelve events to "spend," what should we spend them on? So, no, I don't think fun events are from the Devil (and they will have a place in our schedule this year), but I need to make sure they have a purpose.
How do you determine what to "spend" your event opportunities on?
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