Insight

People of Prayer - an evening of creative prayer for young people.

Although 'People of Prayer' is part of my series on themed youth evenings, there are no icebreakers or games. 'People of Prayer' is a creative evening for your group to pray for each other, their friends, your church, and for the body of Christ in your city, nation and throughout the world.

This guided evening of prayer contains a number of simple activities and visual prompts to teach and engage your young people in prayer. There are four sections to the evening - Focus on God, Focus on myself, Focus on friends and family, Focus on the wider world.

I have used this outline with many groups and it should take between 60-90 minutes. However, use your own judgment to pace the evening, as every group is different. You may also like to have the Bible passages viewable as a PowerPoint presentation and add a relevant video clip for the final section on the persecuted church. The links will take you to useful resources. Make sure you have a suitable and comfortable room for this evening of prayer.

Parachute Night - a themed night of co-operative games and reflection.

Parachute games provide an opportunity for co-operative, non-competitive activities and are good for generating a group spirit and togetherness. They can be used with all ages and abilities and work really well with 11-14 year olds. Parachute games can be used in groups of all sizes and I've found that even young people who might normally opt out of 'sport activities' are attracted by the 'novelty' and usually get involved.

Try to get the biggest parachute you can and if possible one with reinforced grip straps. Purpose made nylon parachutes are almost indestructible and a great investment for youth evenings, special events and camps. Recommended users for each size are 6m (20ft)-12 users, 7.3m (24ft)-16 users, 9.15m (30ft)-20 users.

OK Grahame, where on earth do I get a parachute? Play parachutes are available from a number of online educational, youth and sport suppliers. For readers in the UK, try Sports Warehouse, or call on 0800 783 5011. For readers in the USA and worldwide, try S&S Worldwide, or call on 1-800-288-9941. If you Google 'play parachute' or 'rainbow parachute' you'll discover other suppliers. Prices vary, but the two I've suggested represent good value.

Jesus-Style Youth Ministry

Dave Livermore and Steve Argue from Intersect have kindly allowed me to reproduce this article. I hope you find it thought-provoking and helpful as you reflect on the kind of youth ministry you want to develop to serve your young people.

Should the 'youth' in our youth ministry be our primary focus? Wherever we go these days, we're introduced as guys who really have a heart for today's generation of young people. And of course we do. We love teenagers, are quick to defend them, and are passionate about understanding them. But we think the 'ministry' side of youth ministry is sometimes unrecognizable in the shadow of the 'youth' side.

Ask the kids we work with—we're not total killjoys. We love a good time and a good laugh. But what does it mean to authentically demonstrate the love and mission of God to the 'people group' he's entrusted to our care? What do they see valued as they watch the things we prioritize?

Let's take the 'youth' out of youth ministry for a moment. Ministry is the biblical description for what we do—we're ministers who happen to be called to youth. Consider Paul's ministry imperatives to young Timothy (2 Timothy 2):

Daily prayer - more food for thought

'I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.' John Wesley

'Talking to others for God is a great thing, but talking to God for others is greater still. We shall never speak to people for God with real success until we have learned how to speak to God.' Anon

'The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer.'  John R. Mott

'When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't pray, they don't.' William Temple

'Pray, and let God worry.' Martin Luther

Record Breakers - a themed youth night of challenges and reflection.

Set your youth group some fun challenges. Who can eat the most jelly with chopsticks in one minute? Who can eat the most doughnuts in three minutes? Who can text message the fastest? Who can hold the most live rattlesnakes in their mouth? Er, perhaps not the last one, but all are genuine Guinness world records.

For this youth evening you will need a copy of Guinness World Records 2008. This global publication is available in 100 different countries and 24 languages. Guinness World Records contains listings of the largest, heaviest, smallest, longest and fastest things on the planet, and a collection of epic human endevours and fantastic feats! It also contains a mind-boggling selection of unusual sports and bizarre human records. November 8th 2007 is Guinness World Record Day where many more records will be smashed around the world.

This is a great theme night to advertise widely and encourage your youth group to bring their friends. The aim is to have fun trying to break some simple but unusual feats of human achievement listed in Guinness World Records 2008. The challenges can work on two levels;

1. Young people 'competing' against each other to see who will hold the youth group record.
2. Trying to see how close they can come to the actual Guinness world record.