Questions to ask Mary and Joseph

One of my favorite authors is Max Lucado. On top of being an accomplished pastor, he is also an accomplished author that writes easy to read and relevant devotional books. One of my all-time favorites is his book entitled "God Came Near: Chronicles of The Christ." In that book one of the chapters he poses questions that he might ask Mary, the mother of Jesus. From that article I have adapted my own list of questions that I would ask both Mary and Joseph. Here they are:

What was it like to correct him?

Was he any good at woodworking?

Joseph, why did you stay and raise a child that biologically wasn't yours?

Did Jesus go through the terrible twos? (I have a two-year-old and could use some advice)


Did Jesus have any close friends?

Did he ever get hurt? How did you make him feel better?

What was his favorite food to eat?

Did you ever want to ask him about how he and made the universe?

Too often at this time of year we lift Jesus up on a pedestal not realizing that while he was fully divine he was also fully human. I hope is you celebrate this Christmas you will keep that in mind.

BTW-What questions would you add?

Video-Myths About Christmas

I found this great video that explains some myths about Christmas. It can be used as a great launching point for discussion with the youth group or even an adult small group. Enjoy!!

Youth Ministry Christmas Ideas

Decorate Youth Room Night – Tired of decorating the youth room? Get all the stuff ready and make one of your nights a night where you all pitch in and decorate the youth room for Christmas. You can break students  into teams and have each team be responsible for 1 aspect of the room such as lights. Have one team be in charge of getting the Christmas tree ready ect… Have rockin holiday tunes playing for the evening on Pandora or your favorite way to broadcast music and have fun together! Have some treats ready to go so that you can take a  break or when it’s all done – pig out together.

Student Christmas Tree – Basically – get everything you need to make a person into a Christmas tree. This is a lot of fun and you can divide up students into groups and pic 1 student out of the groups to be the volunteer to become the Christmas tree and then give a time limit and once they are all completed – judge 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on. You can even give out prizes too! Make sure each group is prepped and has the same amount of stuff along with scissors and tape.

Host Your Own Community Christmas Party – Have your students raise money and host a party for your community! Turn your youth room or make it a non-church facility and turn it into a Christmas Party. Be as extensive as you want with prize give-a-ways, treats, karaoke to Christmas carols, and more. Invite the community to share the love of Christ. Your students can be involved in various aspects of the evening and the point is to serve and love your community.

Christmas Caroling – Do you remember doing some of this growing up? I do. Why not bring it back? Have your group or groups go out and do some caroling either house to house or in your local nursing homes. TIP: do some practicing because if some students haven’t ever sang Christmas carols before – then it’s kind of embarrassing showing up and nobody really knowing how it goes – lol. So just make sure there is a good handful of students/adults that know the songs before you head out so that your song/s don’t die out.
The “First Christmas” Skit – Do a skit with your group using the “First Christmas” (click the link to read about how). Skits are a powerful way of helping us to think and remember and respond to the meaning or message in the story.

White Elephant Gift Exchange – This is probably over-done – however – this is still a fun and easy way for students to have a gift exchange. A white elephant gift exchange is about wrapping up funny gifts and then everyone draws a number and the first person starts – opens a gift and then the 2nd person can take the first person’s gift or open a new one. This continues until all the gifts and exchanging are over. You can apply whatever spins and twists you like to game.

Un-plugged Acoustic Worship Night With Just The Christmas Lights On – I don’t need to expound on this one right? Select some Christmas or Christ-focused worship songs and have your student team or an adult that is up to snuff on the acoustic guitar lead the group in some worship songs. The only thing that is plugged in is your Christmas lights. I encourage you to just stick with the Christmas lights – so don’t paste words on a screen or anything like that. Another alternative is to use candles. Have an un-plugged evening of singing and testimonies in candle light! This has a great effect on the mood and students opening up to God.
What are your favorite Christmas ideas for Youth Ministry? Please share them with the rest of the readers below so we can see what it is that you do with your youth ministry.

Above every activity that you decide to do – keep CHRIST in Christmas! Focus on Jesus and you can never go wrong with your time together!