Comments on: youth ministry 3.0, part 1

By: 10 Reasons You Should NOT Think Orange « Running for Home

10 Reasons You Should NOT Think Orange « Running for Home — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:16:08 +0000

[...] on your shelf about youth ministry tricks and tools, you can’t wait to try out your new idea “The Hot Seat” on your [...]

By: Bill Dorfner

Bill Dorfner — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:06:59 +0000

The hot seat still has a purpose! I found the instructions and description of how to do it in an old Youth Specialties Idea Book that was in the office I took over. I read it to my youth group and they laughed hysterically. Especially the part about the warnings of not standing too close to the edge of a stage, etc.

Don’t throw those old idea books away! They are wealth of material for attention getters before your talks!

By: Dan Rosch

Dan Rosch — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:36:52 +0000

Before I became a Christian, I always thought Christians did not have fun and just prayed and read the Bible all the time. I became a Christian as a junior in high school and I probably would have not become one had it not been for the zany fun filled times. Had it been a serious and stale, I would have never kept coming. I wanted a sense of belonging and that was my entrance. We can’t skip the fun, but it should not be the utmost emphasis on how YM clicks. It should be to develop youth into followers of Christ, not robot disciples who know the scripture references and don’t know what they mean or even how to lead a person to Christ. If they (youth) see how we live hopefully they see how we live with Christ in our lives. Even in our dumb times (mooning, chuging, et al.
We do need to shift big time. The church still is stuck on Lord I lift your name on high as a “new song.” We need to speed up to catch up to youth culture, before we lose an entire generation like we have with the 20 somethings. The way culture is presently we will never catch up unless we decide to move to reach the lost and disciple the saved.

By: Mike Lamson

Mike Lamson — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:24:27 +0000

It is because of things like the “hot seat” that as a person who was not a follower of Jesus at the time, hated Christians and churches.

I had heard people who went to churches talk about such things, and I had already seen the embarrassment of some of my friends with such antics, whether in church or otherwise. To hear that a church was doing those types of things made me hate them all the more.

I NEVER did things like that in my youth ministry. The pain that it caused was insurmountable. I have seen students walk away from youth ministries (and some even the church) for good because of these things.

For some students, you are facilitating hell on earth for them. For sake of the Kingdom, please THINK about what you are saying by the environment you are setting up.

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:08:29 +0000

I just stumbled onto your blog and will read the rest of the posts. I have been involved in ministry for 25 years in the same church. I have had the pleasure of watching kids grow up from wide-eyed wonder, to silliness, to rebellion, … and finally to adulthood. I have seen many kids drift off into the world and have seen many come back to the church.

Our current sunday school program is very good but it is not growing. It basically services the families that attend our church. In fact, many kids of those families choose not to attend the sunday school. My observation is that the sunday school or youth group or whatever you want to call it is not interesting/fun. We are in competition with other points of interest in a kid’s life. I have a strong conviction that it can be fun and interesting but just don’t know how to do it. One essential element is to have that sold-out person who will stop at nothing to make it happen. How can we make a youth group that is so compelling to the kids that it would be the first in a long list of places to go and be at?

By: dave miers dot com » Youth Ministry 3.0

dave miers dot com » Youth Ministry 3.0 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:43:08 +0000

[...] youth ministry 3.0, part 1 [...]

By: Tom C

Tom C — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:26:35 +0000

And right on time I open my email to see the YS Update for 04.01.08 and one of the links in this weeks newsletter?

“8 Stupid (and Fun!) Youth Group Games” http://christianteens.about.com/od/activities/a/stupidgames.htm

which includes

“Milk Chug

This is fun, but ultimately disgusting. It is a good idea to get permission from the parents of students competing, as it will likely result in vomiting. So why is it on this list? Well, it really is a fun competition to do during a service. Have four or five students volunteer to compete during a youth service or activity. At the start of service give each student a gallon of milk. Throughout the service the students chug the milk to see who can finish the entire jug first. It is a good idea to have garbage cans on hand.”

hmmm….

By: Jim King

Jim King — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:10:28 +0000

I’ve been involved in youth ministry for 34 years in Youth For Christ. In the early days I have fond memeories of the hot seat. We didn’t use it as a motivation for Scripture memorization. After a few years we didn’t use it anymore. The reason for discontinuing use is we heard that a church used it to see how long a kid could sit on the chair before getting off. The electric current eventually burned the guys buns. Then parents did get upset.

By: randall

randall — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:17:07 +0000

“If it was OK, why isn’t it OK now?
If it wasn’t OK, why didn’t we see that then?”

I think that we have to remember the culture and context of things. Youth and church culture was very different 20 years ago. This was also when stories of Russian soldiers breaking into underground church and scaring off all of the ‘fake’ christians. This is the time when the christian sub culture was taking root and if you find your mom, you hesitated for a second thinking you were left behind. The stol ‘game’ fit into the context that it was in.

If the stool game happened in today’s context, i wouldn’t be worried about a law suit, i would be worried that the student would never come back because s/he was embarrassed. The student’s spiritual journey would cease.

I’m convinced that in 20 years this same discussion will happen based on what we are currently doing. The next generation will look back and go, man, what was my youth paster thinking.

By: michball

michball — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:26:31 +0000

Tom C –

I am glad you were able to get something out of my comment. I was hesitating about posting, but then thought, ah you never know what value somebody may be able to find in it.

There is no doubt in my mind that most of the youth workers out there are putting their hearts into their work. And I know working with kids isn’t easy. It is like Marko says, it is about finding the right methodology. I encourage you all to keep up the good work!