Anyone who has prepared a youth or children's programme for a church weekend away will know the feeling: your minister is due to chat to the speaker, and once they have, you will have your theme for the weekend.
We try to teach the youth and children the same thing over the weekend as the adults, so this is a big moment - if the theme is Jonah, you're laughing; Lamentations (as we once had) - less so! So you can imagine how I felt when the theme came through as "learning to groan well," looking at three tricky psalms of lament! My initial thoughts were "no thank you, let's do something completely different," but my fantastic team convinced me to think again.
There has been an article that has caused a bit of stir recently; arguing for children to remain with their parents in the main church gathering rather than leaving to key into different age groups.
It is quite in vogue to make these sorts of arguments and while this piece won't address all of those, I thought it might be good to be reminded of some of the benefits of having groups for different aged children (and maybe also youth!).
Over the Christmas period our church, like many others, had several evangelistic events. We had the classic Christingle and Nativity services, as well as a youth carol service.
We also had a meal for our youth to invite friends to, as well as a big, immersive theatre event for Year 2 children from local primary schools to attend.
If you've ever climbed a mountain (or even just a good-sized hill) you'll know that it can feel like hard work and it's not long before you start to question whether it's worth it. But on a clear day, what can really make a big difference, is after putting some serious effort in, looking up and seeing some good progress made and knowing you are nearer to the top.
However, the danger comes when you're desperate for that burst of encouragement and you keep looking up at every opportunity you get. But each time you look up, the top looks just as close as it did last time. Plus with your eyes up, you're more likely to miss something on the floor and trip up.
It's a funny title but bear with me as I think this gets to something that can cause real heartache among youth and children's workers up and down the country.
Picture the scene - in your small youth group dominated by boys, one girl comes week by week but you know she's not loving being part of it. And then to your utter joy a new family arrives who have a daughter the same age! Problem over, right?
How has your new academic year begun? It can feel like landing back to earth with a bump and maybe you wonder how you ever used to cope doing all a normal term-time week entailed?
We all want to start the term in a great place so we can hit the ground running but I'm sure we all achieve that to different extents and are painfully aware of those areas we weren't quite ready for. Before I share what those are for me, here are a couple of ways we were able to begin in good shape thanks to two wonderful members of our youth and children's team.
Many like me will have served on some sort of camp over the summer and be reflecting on the experience.
Here are some of my thoughts as I consider the highs and lows, and ultimately how worthwhile it all is.
We use cookies on our website. This helps us provide a good experience and to improve our site. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy and Privacy Notice.
Tackling heavy topics in our youth groups
Anyone who has prepared a youth or children's programme for a church weekend away will know the feeling: your minister is due to chat to the speaker, and once they have, you will have your theme for the weekend.
We try to teach the youth and children the same thing over the weekend as the adults, so this is a big moment - if the theme is Jonah, you're laughing; Lamentations (as we once had) - less so! So you can imagine how I felt when the theme came through as "learning to groan well," looking at three tricky psalms of lament! My initial thoughts were "no thank you, let's do something completely different," but my fantastic team convinced me to think again.