Simple Youth Activities Vs.Big Youth Events

There is a lot of debate out there as to whether Big Youth Events are more successful than Simple Youth Activities. While Big Events do get large numbers of students to be involved and are great jumping off places for youth ministry, simple youth activities are where the meat and bones of transformational ministry occurs with young people. 

When I was a youth, I grew up with Big Youth Events. They seem to be the norm. They were exciting, flashy and always got a crowd. Whenever I heard about these events in my area, I flocked to them. They were filled with lots of exciting activities like dances, concerts and legendary speakers. But what I discovered was that after the big event I would go home to my local church youth group and not know how to apply what I had experienced, so that I could capture the same feelings I had at the big event.

When I started leading youth ministry in the local church I found it challenging to get students who wanted to attend these big events. They were more interested in staying local and doing things in and around the community they were growing up in. This was especially true for small town and rural churches that I served. The big event just seemed to be “too big.” There are still a lot of great opportunities to have students get involved in large youth event gatherings both regionally and nationally. And I'm sure they have their place in a general youth ministry.

But as we are discovering more and more, putting on these large youth gatherings is becoming more and more expensive and they are becoming less and less productive at doing what the job of the local church is to do, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. If I had to choose between doing a big youth event or doing a simple ministry in your immediate community, I would probably choose the latter. Regardless of what kinds of programs you should offer for young people, be sure that they involve making direct connection with young people and stick to the focus of what the mission of the local church is all about.

Resource Review : The Leadership Lab

It is often this very hard to find a well done leadership program for young people. In the past, I have had to piecemeal together various parts from several different sources. However, recently the United Methodist church’s General Board of Discipleship’s Division of Ministry with Young People have come out with a leadership development resource for senior high youth entitled "The Leadership Lab”. This new program has been tried and tested over a two-year period and has proven to be an excellent program to help develop young people into leaders.

At the heart of this program it approaches leadership from a holistic perspective keeping a balance between improving leadership feels and helping young people grow in their relationship with others and with God. There are seven different modules that include exploring the principles of transformational leadership, discovering vital leadership skills and knowledge about oneself and how that relates to relationships, and practical active learning that will put what you learn into action.

Resources included are the following : (1) facilitators guide, (2) participants handbook, (3) PowerPoint presentations, and (4) handouts. All of these resources are on a CD-ROM that allows you to print as many copies as you need. I would highly recommend that you check this resource out to help develop student leaders in whatever setting you find yourself.