In January we start planning our student ministry summer calendar. Thought I would ask in this week’s poll if your youth ministry meets year round, too.
JG
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Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 15+ years and serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. [read more]
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Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
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yeah, we definitely continue meeting in the summer. attendance is sporadic (high number one week but then lower the next) but this is when we also go to camp for a week and it’s amazing! i think the kids aren’t as stressed out in the summer since they don’t have school and sports, etc. weighing on them.
Summer we also change things up. We have Advent services in December and Lenten Services from Ash Wednesday until Easter. They are on Wed. nights, which are our typical youth nights. Tried switching youth nights to another time of the week, but that just made those seasons more hectic for the youth. Now I stress the services and both the kids and I enjoy a break from the routine.
We meet year round in our youth ministry, and summer is actually a strong building time for our group. We take our evening groups outdoors, and do games, music, and interactive Bible studies in a very laid back setting. Actually, we get a high percentge of new kids coming in the summer, who then end up in our camps and get plugged into our group.
- I try to take off December to honor Christ birth.
- I take of January so I can gear up for the new upcoming year and the ministry opportunities it will hold.
- I take off February in honor of President’s Day and Black History Month.
- March is out to to the begining of Eastern Orthodox begining of Lent.
- April is Easter, so there is no point in doing anything… after all, that is when Jesus rose!
- May is Memorial month.
- With all the graduations and open houses in June, I could never plan anything during that time.
- July is our nation’s time to recognize our freedom and independence. This is not a time to have youth ministry events.
- Before school I like to have a month to relax and vacation with the family, that would be August.
- September is when all the schools get started, students don’t need anything more.
- October is Santan’s month, so I just spend the month in prayer.
- November we try to focus on what we are Thankful for… I am usually thankful that we don’t have activities during that month.
We move our normal Wednesday Night stuff to the neighborhood park. We play football, tigerball, and other games and then walk to my house to hang out and have a short Bible study. We use this as a time to meet kids in the subdivision and build relationships.
In the summer we move youth group to the beach and usually the group grows during the summer.
During Christmas we just change stuff from the normal routine.
i voted that we take summer off and it is true that weekly programming is suspended during the summer break… Although summer is when we do mission trips… Each year we have approximately 20% of our Jr/Sr high students somewhere for a week in the summer…
We also will host a couple of pool parties for Jr High in July/August to keep in touch…
B
We take July off because of Camp and VBS but we replace them with events like our annual trip to the local water park. In New Hampshire, that’s a special treat. We also take Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years weeks off, although we usually schedule a bowling night, a separate guys night and a separate girls “spa” night between Christmas and New Years Eve to replace our normal meeting since they are on vacation and have the time.