christian youth group

Before we can even begin to inspire our kids with the glory of scripture we have to understand what the essence of Christianity is. If we just use it as a weapon to constrain or restrict our children, then we lose their interest, or worse, their respect. Christianity is a route to the true self, stripped of lies, stripped of prejudice, and as such a valuable tool for increasing our personal sense of worth. If we can get this message across to youngsters, then we give them something more valuable than money. But how can this be done?

There are many community centres, youth mentoring groups, Christian and non-Christian, that are devising ways of reaching kids via their own culture. We may not be able to get the majority of youngsters to kneel and pray and say three hail Marys overnight, but we just may be able to connect with them through the media they understand: music, pop culture, dance, theatre, and the arts. By making Jesus’ life come alive through these channels we arouse young interest.

Secondly, we must make Christianity relevant to kids today. How can it not be, when so many are trapped in a harming environment of liberal sexual practices and drug abuse? Or family breakdown, or second and third families, which require new rules to make things work? Take Jesus onto their turf and see the difference He can make to their lives.

Christianity is not just for the middle ages or the middle aged, but for every age of man. There is a formula which can be applied to every type of society and every age group which will always be healing and enlightening. As Christians we ought to work harder to crack the right formula that will unlock children’s hearts and fill them with the spirit of Christ, the only real alternative to sex, drugs and rock n roll. The message of Jesus is exciting, but so often it is tailored only for the conservative, peace loving individual who is happy to sing the old hymns. Time for change. Tell the kids that Jesus loves them for who they are and for what they have to give, then sit back and watch the fruit ripen.

Remember the Bible’s words: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Prov 22.6).

Milton Johanides is a retired businessman, church elder, writer and artist. He has been featured on BBC TVs Songs of Praise, owned numerous art galleries and once ran an award winning picture framing business in Scotland. The views expressed in these articles are his own. Web address: http://www.x-ibit-it.com, http://www.helium.com/users/510112/show_articles

Ready To Go Youth Group Activities $14 Ready-Made Event Packages…Just Add Youth GroupFULLY LOADEDAll Options, Extras & Side Items IncludedThese ready-made event packages are completely accessorized with everything you need to easily prepare and smoothly execute fun and instructive youth activities. You can spend less time on planning event details, and more time directly engaging your teens.These plans cover every detail, even laying out hour-by-hour schedules for you.Think of the convenience. Think of all the up-front prep time you can save. The unique benefit of the Ready-To-Go series is that these activity materials go beyond merely offering ideas. Ready to Go resources instead provide fully developed activity & event plans. These allow the youth leader to host youth events of substance & quality, with a minimal up-front time investment. It’s like offering a baked cake instead of a cake recipe & ingredients. Or, offering a fully-assembled ready-to-use playground set…instead of loose components in a box with assembly instructions. This book features 101 ready-to-go lessons that Youth Leaders can use in a Sunday School setting, in youth meetings, or retreats. It also contains meeting ideas and lessons that can be utilized quickly and effectively when the need arises. Ready-to-Go Youth Group Activities includes –Meeting startersShort Bible studiesTest worksheetsFliersParable studies with skitsGamesSmall events with little or no prep timeMeeting closersA scripture index. All materials are reproducible.Ready-To-Go resources are equipped with event themes that target contemporary issues teens face in the real world. These relevant messages are delivered with impact, through coordinated devotional plans, discussion frameworks, and captivating activities. All the event accessories you need, down to publicity fliers and parental forms are included. Just add youth.

Group Builder Games And Activities For Youth Ministry $17.99 Building unity among teenagers is as easy as Ready…Set…Go with this must-have resource packed with cool youth games and activities with a purpose. Unique and loads of fun, these games and activities will help tear down walls and build community in any group of teenagers. Unlike other game books on the market, it emphasizes teamwork to build a stronger group and to shape self-confidence in teenagers.

Preparing For Adolescence Group Guide $19.99 Adolescence brings with it many physical, emotional and mental changes. This 10-session study, based on the bestselling series by Dr. James Dobson will help youth (ages 9-14) understand those changes: what they are, why they happen and their importance as steps in the process of becoming an adult. This guide is designed for use in group settings such as Sunday School classes, youth group or small group meetings Students will learn how to deal with feelings of inferiority, develop self-confidence, stand up to group pressure, say no to drugs and alcohol, make sound decisions based on God’s will for their lives, understand their urges for independence and much more. This is an excellent program for any setting in which there are young teens and preteens to teach!

Pastors Guide To Youth Ministry $12 For pastors and youth leaders who want to build successful, Christ-centered youth ministry that will integrate youth into the total life of the church. (From the book) The Top Four Signs of a Christ-Centered Youth Ministry4. Your group shows a change in their thinking, attitudes, and behaviors that reflects time with God and the Bible.3. Your house or office has been “decorated” at least once in the past 12 months.2. You and your leaders are more refreshed than drained.1. Your youth grow up to be life-long followers of Christ. This book will:Help you use prayer as the foundation of your youth ministry.Help you recruit, supervise, and keep volunteers.Help you grow your youth to be life-long followers of Christ. Help you cultivate accepting youth who will reach out to others.

Small Group Qs $9.99 Just what small group leaders need to get their youth started in a meaningful discussion.This flexible and adaptable resource for youth workers contains 600 questions including 50 complete Bible studies specifically designed to help groups get acquainted, get deep, get spiritual, get into topics, and get into the Word. Leader’s hints, exercise options, and fun, helpful tips are included.Features include: * 600 ready-to-go small group questions for equipping small group leaders * Perfect for youth workers, camp counselors, Sunday school teachers, student leaders, or volunteers * Leader’s hints, exercise options, fun and helpful tips * Flexible and adaptable–ideal for both junior high and high school groups Click here to read a sample chapter! Adobe Acrobat is required. Click here to download

Games 3 : For Youth Groups $19.99 The newest volume in the best-selling Ideas Library is Games 3! A huge collection of over 400 of the newest, most fun, creative, youth-group-tested games ever imagined! Indoor games, outdoor games, water games, balloon games, wide games, living room games, large and small group games, all kinds of wacky games, rowdy games, silly games, quiet games, hilarious games, games with a point–brand new games to keep your group laughing, playing together, and building community at the same time. Perfect for youth leaders and recreation directors.

Small Group Strategies $9.99 With Small Group Strategies, you can effectively guide students in your small group toward the most important relationship they will ever have a lifelong relationship with Christ. Respected authors Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn offer 30-plus years of collective youth ministry experience to these proven ideas, which offer: a strategic approach to small group ministry, hundreds of ideas to reach students at every level, and practical applications that foster spiritual growth. Meet your students where they are in life. You have the heart, you have the vision. Here are the ideas you need to make it happen.

Combos For Youth Groups 4 $25 This book gives experienced and fledgling youth group planners everything they need to carry out theme-based programming. Included are six monthly themes and multiple ideas for developing each one visually and through other senses. Each theme has four weeks of programs, Bible studies, service projects, “out and about” activities, and community-building games – plus related food suggestions, decoration ideas, music and video recommendations, celebrations, publicity helps, and more. Useful background material is included to help leaders enhance the relevance of the theme for their students, as well as related Scripture that parallel the theme. Included with the book is a CD-ROM that enables leaders to tailor the program to their specific youth group.

Youth Ministry In Small Churches $17.99 You can develop an effective youth ministry with only a few teenagers. Learn about the special dynamics of a small church. Discover what a small church can do that a big church can’t. And get practical answers to tough questions…*Why is small church youth ministry so tough?*Should I cancel a meeting if only one or two kids show up?*Where can I find good no- or low-cost resources?*Should I combine junior and senior high groups?*How can I find volunteers when everybody’s so busy?*What activities really work with small groups?You’ll learn how to start a youth group from scratch–with just a handful of young people. Discover how to build a budget. Learn to cooperate with other churches. And take control of your schedule. You’ll help your group:*Grow closer to God*Reach out and serve others*Get the money it needs*Build a tight-knit groupPlus, you’ll get 28 ready-to-use, involving activities to use with just a few kids.Get encouragement. Get support. Learn how you can maximize your church’s youth ministry potential with YOUTH MINISTRY IN SMALL CHURCHES.

Help Im A Small Group Leader $10.99 So you’re leading a small group? Your small group can accomplish big things in the lives of your teenagers. And in Help! I’m a Small-Group Leader! you’ll find methods and approaches you can use. Foibles and minefields to avoid. Solutions and tips that will help you nurture your small group into a growing community, whatever you goals. Inside you’ll discover — How to put small groups together – How NOT to lead a small group – How to start a discussion — and KEEP IT GOING – How to ASK QUESTIONS that get responses – Three kinds of BIBLE STUDY questions to ask – How to work with DIFFERENT personalities in a small group – How to help you kids LEARN TO PRAY – 10 ideas for BUILDING COMMUNITY in your small group . . . and to top it off are 20 pages of questions (100 questions, to be exact) that you can use in your small group Bible study, on the most common subjects discussed in junior and senior high small groups. All this in a no-frills, straight-to-the-point style — perfect for volunteer small-group leaders, or for youth pastors or youth directors to lead their staffs through.

Top 20 Messages For Youth Ministry $19.99 Complete, cutting-edge messages your youth group will never forget! No matter what your speaking ability, you’ll find what you need in The Top 20 Messages for Youth Ministry. This incredibly useful resource contains 20 complete, power-packed message outlines to slice and dice and make your own. Featuring: clear, topical outlines with Bible-based points; over 20 great stories and illustrations; more than 20 great movie clip illustration ideas; over 50 quick and easy ideas for involving group members in your message, and; a boatload of extra ideas! Take your speaking to the next level with The Top Twenty Messages for Youth Ministry.

Outflow Youth Ministry Leader Kit $24.99 Youth leaders want to do outreach–but teenagers find most outreach techniques contrived and intrusive. Teenagers hate memorizing formulas and shoving tracts under windshield wipers. With Outflow, teenagers experience transformed, joy-filled lives, and then share those lives with others. Outflow encourages organic, honest outreach based on a growing relationship with God…and the sharing of God’s love. This Youth Ministry Leader Kit includes everything you’ll need to present five compelling messages about outreach…and to share the Outflow vision with a youth group: Youth Leader Guide–5 complete sessions that challenge and equip teenagers to move from inward- to outward-focused living Outflow Youth Journal–25 daily, interactive readings and guided journaling that support the discoveries made in Outflow Youth DVD–5 video clips with unique content you won’t find anywhere else–perfect for Outflow sessions

Combos For Youth Groups 1 $25 Gives planners of youth group meetings everything they need to carry out theme-based programming. Each of the six themes includes four programs, service projects, out and about, plus related food suggestions, decoration ideas, music and video suggestions, and publicity helps. The CD-ROM provides PowerPoint presentations, posters, scripts, additional games, handouts, and more!

Catholic Faith Handbook For Youth $16.95 With clear, concise information about the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church–organized to parallel the Catechism of the Catholic Church so that young people can appreciate the richness of Catholic teaching–this handbook is the most comprehensive available. Teens will appreciate the articles and stories that shed light on issues important to them. Useful sidebars give quick, easy access to Catholicism’s basics and include “Pray It!” “Looking Back,” “Saintly Profiles,” “Did You Know?” and “Live It!”A full-color design and over 100 photos make the book lively and interesting for teens. Use it with your parish program, school class, or youth group–or give it as a gift!

Hope Lives: Youth Kit $29.99 Take Your Youth on a Journey of Restoration Hope lives, and that hope is personified in Jesus Christ. We can offer that hope to our world but we are also to help relieve the pain and suffering so prevalent in our world. So let’s go on a journey together and take our children with us. A journey into the heart of Jesus. A journey that transforms hearts. A journey in which the words of God are proclaimed and the works of God are done. A journey of restoration. Hope Lives, a five week series, is more than a group Bible study and devotional experience because it provides opportunities for students to take this heart-changing information and apply it. Youth apply what they learn though prayer, service, commitments, and relationships. Use this series to encourage your students to develop a Jesus-centered, compassionate response to poverty. Lessons Topics: Week 1: Poverty of the Heart Week 2: Who Is My Neighbor? Week 3: For Such a Time as This Week 4: The Power of Prayer Week 5: Be the Change

Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Training $19.99 The Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry Training Kit is here to help you and your leadership team (both adults and student leaders) build a purpose-driven ministry. Designed to prompt group interaction with you as facilitator this kit contains five sessions for your team. If you’re starting a youth ministry, look here for firm foundations. If you want to take your existing youth ministry to the next level, turn here for insights and applications that can take your team a quantum leap forward. This clear and easy-to-follow facilitator’s guide walks you through each session so you can escort your team into discussion, discovery, and ministry-transforming decisions. Get ready to cover more ground, reap more rewards, and have more fun building a truly purpose-driven youth ministry than you ever dreamed! Build a vigorous, purpose-driven youth ministry with these key concepts: Tap into the power of God – the foundation for any effective ministry. Chart the course of your ministry – clearly with a carefully conceived statement of purpose. Identify your target audience – know your students’ various spiritual levels and needs. Develop purpose-driven programs that reflect the biblical goals of evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry. Build a healthy leadership team whose members love each other as they love students.

Emergency Response Handbook for Youth Ministry $15.99 Teens face difficult, painful stuff in life–and they shouldn’t struggle alone. But what do you say? How do you help? What if you make things worse? This rapid-response handbook gives you and your youth group the confidence to share God’s love and comfort with hurting friends. You will be prepared to respond with 12 chapters focused on twelve emergencies that the teens you care for may encounter Topics include: Grief Depression Suicide Addictions Divorce Abuse Crisis Pregnancy Academic Problems Family Conflict Stress and Anxiety Destructive Behavior Gender Identity and Sexual Choices Each chapter includes: Real Life Narrative – Learn from someone who has been there Care and Counseling Tips – Practical ideas to personally reach out in love Tips for your entire youth group – Great ways your group can offer support What to say and what not to say – Positive encouragement to help the hurting and advice on what not to say You’ll also find Scripture connections, guidelines for referring your friend to a professional counselor, additional resources, and ways your group can stand by your friend in need.

Student Leadership Training Manual For Youth Workers $15.99 It may make youth workers grimace, but no one doubts it: in many aspects of youth ministry, one student in your youth group can do more than your nominee for Youth Pastor of the Year. The reason? No matter how profound, relevant, or humorous an adult’s admonitions, teachings, and testimonies are, teenagers are more affected by what another teenager has to say. Kids talking to kids means more to them than adults talking to kids. This is why student leadership is either a reality or a deliberate target for hundreds of youth workers and youth groups around the country. And with The Student Leadership Training Manual for Youth Workers, youth workers can actually equip their senior high students for leading their peers_kids taking charge of their own meetings, their own small groups, their own activities, their own missions and service, and their own fundraising. This book introduces the four levels of student leadership: ~ peer ministry/counseling (a listening ear) ~ servant teams (just the tasks, ma’am – publishing a youth group newsletter, doing puppet ministry with elementary Sunday school, etc. ) ~ ministry teams (up-front stuff – platform, performance, public leadership) ~ overall leadership team (students as decision makers) It also identifies and answers questions like What do I risk when I train students to be leaders? What are some of the critical issues I should be aware of before I begin training my students for leadership positions? This book will help you and the other youth workers in your church implement a students leadership program and see it through to success. The book includes more than 30 actual training sessions for student leaders.

Drama Skits And Sketches 3 $19.99 More great ideas for youth group activities