Home Groups

I know one of the biggest things we try to do as youth pastors is find a way to make small groups work. I made the decision to committ to small groups and make it work. When I did that I organized on Sunday Nights where we did nothing at the church and everyone met in homes off campus. The middle school groups are led by high school students and some adults and the high school groups were led by Seniors and some youth ministry leaders. We started out with 5 groups in homes hoping for about 50-60 people. We had sign-ups for a month or more before and had homes already set up and leaders in place. There seemed to be some resistance since we had never done something like this before. Everyone complained about not having the large group time on Sunday nights. I stuck to my passion and explained how in order to promote an atomosphere of acceptance we must get to where we connet people better with one another. They began to understand. The Sunday night before home groups started we did a big event in our youth building to get sign-ups finalized with maps so everyone would know where to go. We called it "Float Night!" We had crazy games with swimming pool floats and we played, "Will it sink or will it float?" with about 10 different strange items like Jello, Spaghetti, power ranger action figures and other stuff. We had around 60 kids show up and that was about what we have been averaging so it was a great response.

When all was said and done we ended up having over 80 kids connected in small groups and some groups with over 20 people. We are in a great position to have 8-10 groups now. We are taking a break over Decemeber and kicking them off again in Jan. Our students loved the groups and everyone wants to keep doing them.

I encourage you if you have a passion for small groups, stick with it and communicate your vision. Get everything ready and don't let complaining or some kids that don't want to do it stop you from getting other kids connected.

I actually had a group of students in one area not want to do them. I had an adult back out hosting the home because they didn't really love the idea and their daughter wasn't that excited. I told the group that if they wanted to go they could go to the other group but this is what we were going to do. They complained some but ultimately those students ended up going to the other group and they loved it. Keep Seeking God and pray through what God has for you to do in ministry. Stay strong in what God has planned for you!

Youth Ministry Helper Blog!

I want to use this blog to tell all the crazy youth ministry stories that I have experienced, as well as, insights, ideas, concerns, frustrations, and praises. It is important to encourage one another and see how God can impact our ministries.