As many of you know, Paul and I recently inherited leadership of the high school youth group at church (in addition to teaching the high school Sunday school class). Our first meeting will be this coming Sunday evening at our house, which gives me extra incentive to clean (in addition to Linda and Cheryl coming this weekend). I have decided that if I do a little bit more than I think I possibly can each day, I should be able to get the house clean. Right now I am half-exhausted and half-flying. Sammy had an appointment in Indy today, and I was so tired on the drive home that I stopped and bought a mocha frappucino. If my rambles don't make sense we'll blame the frappucino.
There are six kids who normally come to Sunday school (and a few others who are there on occasion). About three of these will probably come to youth group. Which means, we are in pretty bad shape. Anyway, presumably the best way to grow the group is for it to be cool enough that the kids want to invite their friends. Since Paul and I don't really qualify as "cool", I'm not really sure how well this will work out. And of course, we want the group to actually be a time to help guide the kids in their relationship with Christ.
I think the basic plan is: play cheesy games, have a discussion about some pertinent/controversial topic, and then having free time to play games (we at least have cool stuff in the basement).
Some possible discussion topics: dating, drugs, sex, depression, self-esteem, racism, homosexuality, cheating, gossip, popularity, evolution, relativism, etc. I think we will plan on having questions and letting the kids freely share their opinions, but then use the wrap-up time to share what, from our viewpoint, is a Biblical perspective on them. Ideally, we'll make it comfortable that people can share from the heart.
I am probably in a little bit of hot water at the moment. When asked, I told one of the girls that I believe their is nothing un-Christian about getting a tattoo. I did advise that she should be careful what sort of tattoo parlor she goes to. And we talked about making sure that the tattoo wouldn't be highly visible or of an offensive design. And if I was advising an adult this should have been sufficient. But what I should have said that I didn't was, "Even if there is nothing wrong with getting a tattoo, if your mother does not want you too, it is still important to honor her."
Sigh...
Maybe I'll get another chance to talk to her about it before she goes and gets it.
6 comments:
Not just cheesy games, I hope, when there are so many wonderful games available these days. I would have found youth group much more tolerable if in addition to the non-stop silliness there was some spirited competition across a map of the ancient world (a la Journeys of Paul, for example).
And I don't think the kids would reject good games. When I was teaching high school, I was amazed at the interest the kids had in chess--and not just the clever kids.
And please, no biting on an onion...
We will probably have game nights once in awhile where we do more complex games, but I think we are looking to play games that everyone can participate in that don't take very long. And we also won't play the sort of games whose purpose is to embarass or disgust.
Still, there are a lot of really fun games that still fall into the category of "cheesy".
If you have suggestions of simple, quick games that would be suitable for a large group, we are certainly open to ideas.
Think of it like organizing Mees Baking - Apples to Apples and fresh brownies both work wonders. If you can find a way to speed up Carcassonne or Settlers of Catan, go for it. And if you can spring for the tech, there's always Dance Dance Revolution.
As for the serious discussion topics - bring in folks from your congregation who feel they've made mistakes and want to talk about them. As a teen I respected and trusted the folks who had "been there," and said "it wasn't worth it," much more than those who followed the rules. Experience == credibility.
DDR is great, I agree.
Depending on how many people you end up with (you'd want at least 8), there's a fairly simple game called Mafia, or Werewolf, that works great in groups. The best part is you can play it with a deck of regular cards, and the rules can be learned in three minutes. Saboteur is another easy game that's cheap (maybe $15) and plays well in big groups (5-10 probably) and is super easy and fast. King Me! is fast, easy, and great for up to 6. Formula De is a racing game that can do up to 10 (up to 8 for the Junior version). It's fairly fast moving and has plenty of luck, so poor strategists still have a chance. If you'd like, I can give you the Junior since I now have the regular (I was selling it online, but you'd be welcome to it if you think you'd use it.)
The real sweet spot for board games is 4-5 players, though, and at that point there are dozens of excellent options, many of which you probably already know.
One game I learned at Rose that I enjoyed was Spoons -- only the St Joe's group tended to use similar shaped candy bars instead of spoons (due to the plethora of candy and the dearth of silverware at our regular events)
I mentioned spoons. And Paul said "I hate that game!" Imagine Tree Beard at spoons. It just won't work.
I like the idea of playing for chocolate. Do we get to eat the chocolate at the end?
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