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Youth Group - Please Help!


Brother Adam

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Brother Adam

Thank you for the good ideas. Any other thoughts on really good ice breakers like Office Olympics?

PS - Most youth groups charge a fee around here. There is little to no way for our parishes to provide everything for free in this economy. We charge one of the lowest rates around. We do not let families pay who we know are jobless.
PPS - I have run lock ins before. I don't see any problem with them.
PPPS - Yes, we segregate the youth for chastity education, but that is it.

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laetitia crucis

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='29 May 2010 - 09:38 PM' timestamp='1275183498' post='2120450']
I see that you have a camping trip listed. I guess coed? :detective: Anyways [b]somewhere [/b]in the schedule, even if you have to fly in a girl friend from out of state or something, you should have an activity for young men only, and something for young women only. It doesn't have to be a chastity talk or anything :sweat: it's just that youth [color="#FF0000"]REALLY[/color]

[color="#0000FF"]REALLY[/color]

[color="#4B0082"]REALLY[/color]

[color="#006400"]REALLY[/color]

listen differently in a coed context than in a single-sex one.

REALLY REALLY differently. That is one of my biggest youth group memories actually, from seventh grade. There was some seventh grader I thought was cute, and he was in my 'group.' So whenever the group leader said something I thought was dumb, we would catch each other's eye and smile like "We're smarter." The dynamics are REALLY REALLY different in single-sex groups. Trust me. So if you are thinking through your lessons for the year, and think "I wish everyone would listen to this lesson, if they were going to only listen to one of my lessons" (if you have lessons...) then make that day Men's Group/Women's Group.

If you haven't thought about this before, think about it. I know you said your group is small. 2 girls and 2 boys is big enough to do at least 1 day with single-sex. Trust me. Remember being a teenager?
[/quote]

I agree with this post COMPLETELY.

Having worked with youth groups as a Sister -- and even with single-sex Confirmation groups -- there are definitely dynamic differences. For the better, I think. Granted, there was a drop in attendance for one of the youth groups because, truth be known, most were not coming for Jesus, but for finding a boyfriend/girlfriend. However, it seems for the kids that did come, they became closer and stronger in their faith without the opposite gender distraction.

Anyhoo... just my little 2 cents. ;)

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CatherineM

We sort of had a lock in for 70 last night. There is a big Youth Conference here, and we're the closest church to the coliseum where it is taking place. We were being used as a cheap hotel by the youth groups. They sure made mass lively.

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let_go_let_God

One thing the parish I'm working in now did what is known as a Silly Supper. They had plates, utensils, necklaces, and glasses that had glowsticks in them. It turned out for a pretty good time.

Otherwise see you at NCYC!

God bless-
LGLG

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Nota Bene: all fun activities like climbing, camping, skiing, moonbounces etc are not covered by the insurance that my archdiocese requires me to have, so the youth group never gets to do those sorts of things. But I have no idea how things are run in your diocese. When planning this sort of thing, it's good to check the policy, just in case.

That's not to say we never do anything awesome. Lazer tag, bowling, car washes, and even lock-ins have all been succesful activites done by my youth group in the past. But it looks like you already have that sort of thing covered!

The scedule on the whole looks very good, but I would remember to run it by the members of the youth group before it's finalized. That will also get you new ideas.

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Ephrem Augustine

Eucharistic Adoration
(combined with some catechesis, but really not too in depth, I think the experience needs to come first.)

Visit the old people in the retirement home

feeding the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, or something that would help them see the world is bigger than their sheltered FACEBOOK and their IPOD

in addition to many of the other fun things that were listed. Of course I don't think youth group should be only social service club, or adventure field trip camp, but I tend to come at it more as evangelization.

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Brother Adam

Here is my current update. I kinda had a feeling this would turn into an 'advice' thread, which is fine, but I am more looking for ice breakers, service events, etc that we can do.

Youth Group Schedule 2010 – 2011
BRING YOUR FRIENDS!
Regular & Core Meetings: Sun 3–5 PM (unless noted) | Bible Study at WHS: Tues 3–4 PM

July 30-31 Michigan Adventure Camping Trip

August 22 Core Team Meeting (Office Olympics)

September 12 Parent / Informational Meeting ???
September 19 Religious Education Eucharistic Ceremony + Praise & Worship
September 26 Youth Night – Bonfire & Food + Talk + Youth Banner + Name our Youth Group

October 6 Core Team Meeting
October 10 Youth Night - Toilet Paper Glow in the Dark Dodgeball + Pizza + Talk
October 24 Youth Night - Ultimate Frisbee + Make your own tacos, so very tasty and good for you, + Vocations

November 7 Diocese of Lansing High School Jamboree
November 14 Youth Night – Eastern Catholic Church Visit + Pizza Hut
November 20 (Sat) Youth Mass @ 4:30 PM - Youth Laser Tag ($5) & Pizza Afterwards

December 5 Core Team Meeting
December 12 Day of Caring in Williamston
December 12 Sat Youth Night - 4:30 PM Teen Mass + Youth Night Afterwards
December 24 Midnight Latin Mass at St. Mary in Morrice
December 31 New Years Eve All-Nighter Lock In + Bowling

January 9 Core Team Meeting
January 23-24 March for Life Trip
January 30 Youth Night - Apologetics 101 + Apples To Apples / Catchphrase

February 6 Core Team Meeting + Super Bowl Party
February 13 Youth Night - Apologetics 201 + FUN?
February 27 Youth Night – Roller Skating?

March 6 Core Team Meeting
March 13 Youth Night – Eucharistic Holy Hour + FUN?
March 27 Youth Night – Passion Play Practice + Pizza

April 16 Passion Play Rehearsal
April 17 (Palm Sun) Passion Play
April 21-23 Triduum – Youth Sit Together

May 1 Youth Night – Bonfire & Smores @ The Hilkers (7-10 PM)
May 8 Core Team Meeting

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Brother Adam

Okay, here is where you can give me 'advice'. I want to bring 4 or 5 ideas for a youth group name to my youth for them to vote on. Something Latin, like FUS household names. Like "The AMDG Youth Group".

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tinytherese

I came up with another game. I did this as a warm up for a dance class in college two years ago. Pick an area where the kids have plenty of space to run around and tell them that they need to chose a protector and an enemy, but you can't tell either of them that they are. At the end of that, ask them to reveal who they're protector and enemy were. (If they don't know each other, this is a fine opportunity to properly introduce themselves.) I remember once at the end of playing one round of that that one girl kept running away from her enemy, but the problem was that the other girl had designated her as her protector. So that was amusing for our professor to watch. :lol:

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fides quarens intellectum

[quote name='tinytherese' date='31 May 2010 - 04:03 PM' timestamp='1275339836' post='2121481']
I came up with another game. I did this as a warm up for a dance class in college two years ago. Pick an area where the kids have plenty of space to run around and tell them that they need to chose a protector and an enemy, but you can't tell either of them that they are. At the end of that, ask them to reveal who they're protector and enemy were. (If they don't know each other, this is a fine opportunity to properly introduce themselves.) I remember once at the end of playing one round of that that one girl kept running away from her enemy, but the problem was that the other girl had designated her as her protector. So that was amusing for our professor to watch. :lol:
[/quote]

i don't think i get it. they can't touch each other or something? they're supposed to figure it out somehow? just curious.

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fides quarens intellectum

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='31 May 2010 - 02:30 PM' timestamp='1275334220' post='2121375']
Okay, here is where you can give me 'advice'. I want to bring 4 or 5 ideas for a youth group name to my youth for them to vote on. Something Latin, like FUS household names. Like "The AMDG Youth Group".
[/quote]

oh, well if you're looking for a Latin phrase, naturally you'd want to consider:

fides quarens intellectum


:D

Edited by fides quarens intellectum
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Piccoli Fiori JMJ

Um, it's not latin, but mucho appropriate:

[img]http://joanallegretti.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/verso-lalto.jpg[/img]

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tinytherese

[quote name='fides quarens intellectum' date='31 May 2010 - 07:26 PM' timestamp='1275348363' post='2121609']
i don't think i get it. they can't touch each other or something? they're supposed to figure it out somehow? just curious.
[/quote]

Nobody has to figure out on their own who their protector or enemy is. It can be revealed afterwards from others. From what I can remember, there wasn't touching involved. We just weren't supposed to be close to our enemy. It was really us running around the room trying to get away from and to other people.

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Now I don't know your kids, where they are or what they are interested in, or even how old they are but here's some ideas based off what we've done at our LifeTeen:

The general idea we use is to have one of four types of nights for each 4 weekends in a month: prayer nights, catechetical nights, fun/social nights, and issue nights.

One thing you seem to be lacking in the schedule are issue nights. Stuff like: cliques/treating people right, stress, gossip, parents etc. Stuff that isn't exactly church focused, but the kids are dealing with them everyday.

Fun is great, but many kids do want to learn about the faith, and many more quickly become interested in it. An entire night of fun is great once in a while, but over and over again can make the group appear shallow. Don't get me wrong, no one likes to sit around and learn for 2 hours either. Like even on catechetical nights we play games, but its only like 10-15 of the night.

oh, also: skits. Skits never fail to bring the kids together and entertain. Skits are a great way to let the kids show you whether or not they really understand what you just taught them. Plus you can videotape them and re-show them at the "end" of the year. (Similarly with photo slideshows)

Some recent skits we've done:
- We did a night on appreciating our priests. We found a list online on things to do to help a priest feel more welcomed in a parish (give a present, invite to dinner), we split up the list and gave 2-3 ideas to each group and the group came up with skits to demonstrate. It was surprisingly hilarious.

- During a theology of the body night we were talking about original sin and the fall and the loss of original innocence. We had the groups make skits about how they could have prevented the fall and preserved original innocence. Like what would they have done to stop adam + eve from making that mistake. These were totally awesome and hilarious.

I think the ultimate "trick" to any youthgroup is keeping it fresh. never do the same type of night more than twice in a row. try to change locations, change seating arrangements, change moods, change the way you do a talk/teach etc - especially for learning nights.

OH: group discussion is absolutely important. give time for the kids to voice their own opinion on a topic. never ever give a talk and then just move on to the next thing without trying to learn what the kids think of the topic. Listen to the kids. This builds relationship and respect, and helps you learn how to focus future nights to help the kids' needs.

I hope this helps!

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