How to Plan Missional Activities For A Youth Group

First we must understand what a Missional Activity for a youth group is. Missional Activities are any activity done for someone else. When working with a youth group,the key is to find a way to make serving others fun. The following ideas are things I've actually done with a youth group over the past 12 years.

Things You'll Need

• A youth group (a group of young people)
• A heart to serve
• A creative attitude
• Flexibility

Instructions

1. One of our favorite things to do as a group was to visit Nursing Homes. We would go to a different Nursing Home every Sunday (We rotated through 4 different ones in our town and when there was a 5th Sunday, we would rotate through the other Nursing Homes in our area). We would sing songs, play games, do crafts, etc. For every holiday, we had a small gift for each resident (these were things like cards, hand lotion, a small craft item, etc. ~ It's important to find out if anyone is on a special diet or if anyone has any allergies before choosing the gifts). At one of the Nursing Homes, each teen "adopted" a grandparent. This was someone they gave special attention to and would visit at other times besides just with the group.

2. Another great idea for teens is collecting things for people in need. There are several ways to do this. We worked with the Operation Christmas Child (Billy Grahams program). We would collect shoeboxes full of gifts for children and we boxed them and sent them on to the Samaritan's Purse headquarters. This is something your teens can do and it doesn't have to cost them money. They can do a shoe box if they want but they can also just collect them from people in your church or community. The teens "job" is to get as many shoeboxes as they can together. Once they have collected the shoeboxes, they send them on and your teens have helped many children have a great Christmas. If you are interested in signing your youth group up or for more information, go to the website www.samaritanspurse.org. This is done in November every year.

3. Another great Missional Project for your teens is Crisis Care Kits. This is something that our youth group did for anyone who had lost everything due to floods, Hurricanes, or other natural disasters. The large Ziploc bag would contain basic things for a person (like Suave shampoo, Dial soap, hand towels, comb, a small stuffed toy, Puffs tissues, etc.). The teens would provide the Ziplock 5 gallon bags and people could take a bag and fill it (you'd give them specific things to put in it) or they could donate a few things for a bag. When you have 12 bags, you ship them off to the collection site where they store them until a natural disaster happens. Many of or bags went to New Orleans and other places after "Katrina" hit. If you are interested in signing your youth group up or for more information, go to the website www.nazarenemissions.org. Although this is a program started in the Nazarene Church, you could turn it into something your church could do. The important thing is that people are helped in their time of need.

4. Every year our youth group "adopted" a family. If there wasn't a family in need at our church, then we would go to a school and get information on a family (just ages of the children, sizes, etc. ~ never their names) and we would gather Christmas gifts for them. If we knew the family, the whole family received gifts. We always had the gifts dropped off unwrapped and the teens would wrap them. That was so we were sure the gifts were new and appropriate. The last thing you want a small child to open on Christmas Morning is an "adult" rated video game or something equally inappropriate. Then on Christmas Eve (or a day close to Christmas Eve) we would go Christmas Caroling and deliver the gifts. We would hold back a few gifts and give them to the parents from "Santa" for Christmas morning. We never put our names on the gifts ("from" was always left blank so the parents could give them to their children). Getting patted on the back wasn't the goal. Giving a great Christmas was the goal. The gifts themselves were not as important as the giving.

5. For Thanksgiving, we did the same thing. We would "adopt" a family and provide a dinner for them (With all the food you normally have for Thanksgiving). Again we got donations and the teens would deliver it. Many times we ended up with enough food for the family to have many meals after Thanksgiving as well.

6. One of the best things we ever did with our teens was an Appreciation Dinner. Before you question how it was Missional, let me explain. Missional is serving others and sharing Christ. We invited the whole police force (Town, County, Deputy, Forestry Service and the State Police that worked our area)to come to our church for an appreciation dinner. Our teens cooked, set up and waited on everyone who came (they were told they could bring a guest). We got food donations from our church members and we had a few adults helping (one adult was in the parking lot with 2 teens helping direct parking, one adult kept the tea and water pitchers full so the teens could keep the glasses full, One adult filled the bowls so the teens could keep the food coming to the tables, etc.). It was a big hit. We gave the departments a framed certificate of thanks and appreciation from our youth group. The following year we invited the fire and rescue workers for our area and did the same for them.

7. Another favorite things to do was to take a group around the neighborhood offering our services. We would rake leaves in the fall, shovel sidewalks in the winter, clean flower beds in the spring and mow lawns and pull weeds in the summer. we tried to find families who couldn't afford to do these thing or elderly families who struggled with these things. We never accepted payment for our work. If someone in our church needed painting done and our teens were old enough we would volunteer to help there as well.

8. I think you get the idea. Basically, you see a need and try to fill that need while accepting nothing in return. Teaching young people the true meaning of giving and serving is so rewarding. As a thank you to the teens for their hard work, I would take them for Pizza Hut pizza or plan a day of fun for them. The people you help should never reward the teens but it's o.k. for you to show you appreciate all they do.

Tips & Warnings

• Check your local and state laws before doing these things.

• If you try to help someone or do something for them and they are not comfortable with it, ask if you can leave your name and church number in case they change their minds, then leave.

• Always (no matter how old your teen is) send an adult with your youth group. This protects them from harm as well as from being falsely accused of something.

• Keep in mind that if you or your youth group cause damage to anyone or their property, you will be responsible for damages.

Resources

• Pass Family Values
• Raise Responsible Children
• Positive Kids
• Problem Solving