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Planning for Summer Youth Ministry

/ by Ben Read

We love learning from other Youth Pastors, it’s one of the reasons we started this site, write on this site, and want you to post with us ( tweet us for more info @youth_min).

With that in mind, we love seeing what other Youth Ministries are doing and where they are doing it. Ministry context’s shift and alter geographically, and only you know whats best for your ministry.

So in the comments, we would love to see a link to your Youth Ministries Summer Calendar and your geographic location.

Go ahead and throw in one thing you are trying this year that you haven’t done before, and we’d love to keep in touch with how that goes.

Ben Read

12 Comments

  1. Ben Read - June 12, 2012 at 3:51 pm
    One of the things we are trying new this year is a evening book club and a midweek bible study in the mornings for guys and one for girls. Excited to see how those two things go, commitment wise
    Reply
  2. Ben Read - June 12, 2012 at 11:51 am
    One of the things we are trying new this year is a evening book club and a midweek bible study in the mornings for guys and one for girls. Excited to see how those two things go, commitment wise
    Reply
  3. BenB - June 12, 2012 at 4:50 pm
    We're trying 2 intense teaching times this summer like David Platt's "Secret Chruch". It's a co-op between myself and another youth minister in my city. We tackled James this past Sunday night from 7-10pm and will do another in August.
    Reply
  4. BenB - June 12, 2012 at 12:50 pm
    We're trying 2 intense teaching times this summer like David Platt's "Secret Chruch". It's a co-op between myself and another youth minister in my city. We tackled James this past Sunday night from 7-10pm and will do another in August.
    Reply
  7. Matt - June 26, 2012 at 11:30 am
    We are a suburb of Detroit Michigan. During the Summer we take a 7 week period and "shut-down" our midweek program. This includes our services and small groups.  During these 7 weeks we still meet midweek but call it Summer Impact. Every week has a different topic/theme.  This keeps our program fresh and and the students excited.  This year here is what we are doing. -July 3, Fireworks Night (Grill Out party and Fireworks) -July 10, Nerf Night (We turn our church into a nerf war zone) -July 17, Transformation Night (This is a night of Testimonies and Worship. Our H.S. students are at camp the week before and usually can't wait to talk about what God did! -July 24, Red Carpet Night (we show a movie and roll out the red carpet. Have a contest where students dress up as their favorite movie character) -July 31, Challenge Night (The whole night is different challenges for the students to compete in.  We have lots of prizes and giveaways) -Aug 7, Bonfire Night (Huge bonfire, smores, lawn games, basketball, volleyball, and an outdoor movie) -Aug 14, Mayhem Night (Outdoor Messy Competitions, A great ending for summer impact) We then go back to our normal service structure with momentum carrying us into the Fall  
    Reply
    • Blanca - July 27, 2016 at 4:36 pm
      Awesome! Would love to implement this for next summer. My husband and I are missionaries in Durango, Mexico and are youth leaders. This is our first summer here and we have had no idea how to keep these kids having fun while learning about Jesus. It is a learning experience!
      Reply
  8. Matt - June 26, 2012 at 11:30 am
    We are a suburb of Detroit Michigan. During the Summer we take a 7 week period and "shut-down" our midweek program. This includes our services and small groups.  During these 7 weeks we still meet midweek but call it Summer Impact. Every week has a different topic/theme.  This keeps our program fresh and and the students excited.  This year here is what we are doing. -July 3, Fireworks Night (Grill Out party and Fireworks) -July 10, Nerf Night (We turn our church into a nerf war zone) -July 17, Transformation Night (This is a night of Testimonies and Worship. Our H.S. students are at camp the week before and usually can't wait to talk about what God did! -July 24, Red Carpet Night (we show a movie and roll out the red carpet. Have a contest where students dress up as their favorite movie character) -July 31, Challenge Night (The whole night is different challenges for the students to compete in.  We have lots of prizes and giveaways) -Aug 7, Bonfire Night (Huge bonfire, smores, lawn games, basketball, volleyball, and an outdoor movie) -Aug 14, Mayhem Night (Outdoor Messy Competitions, A great ending for summer impact) We then go back to our normal service structure with momentum carrying us into the Fall  
    Reply
  9. YouthMin.org Youth Group Games: Frisbee Tic Tac To - July 24, 2012 at 4:58 pm
    [...] Sitemap Youth Group Games: Fris-Tac-le024 Jul 2012frisbee, inside games, outside games, student ministry games, tic tac to, youth group games by Ben ReadWe love Youth Group Games and love sharing them with you! This is a game I got inspiration for from Pinterest, but we played last week in our Summer Mid Week Program. [...]
    Reply
  10. April - May 4, 2016 at 3:43 pm
    I'm trying to help a church convert their Sunday School into a Youth Ministry. Up in till now the students have been mixed with the younger kids. I need suggestions on how to emphasis the importance of keeping the Events and church for the Youth group separate from the children's church (meaning that they are meant for just the teenangers to attend), and how to create events and messages for the students. Basically any and all tips that can help. The leaders are not trained and are not used to newer Youth Ministry styles. I am currently studying to be a Youth Pastor and while I feel lead to help these leaders get on their feet and get a better understanding of how youth groups run now a days I am being called to serve else where and will only be at the church occasionally and meeting up with the leaders when we are all free until I go back to school.
    Reply
    • Ben Read - May 4, 2016 at 3:52 pm
      Hey April, the first thought that comes to mind with trying to emphasis the importance of separate events would be to check out the book It's just a phase from Orange (they also have a website), there's some great language and graphics in there that help show the unique stages with their own challenges and opportunities of each phase, which in turn really shows why you'd want to cater to each phase separately. The book invokes a lot of great discussion and ideas that could be great for some training dialogues, highly recommend it! Praying for you and the youth ministry!
      Reply

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