FUN in Student Ministry
Church isn’t always the first place that may come to students’ minds when they hear the word “fun.” However, it is so easy to begin a chain reaction that can change this narrative.
There are two things that will get students to come and bring friends to your Student Ministry; food and fun. When your students are having a good time, making friends, and drinking one too many mountain dews, chances are they will tell their friends about the fun times they have at your youth group. When they are greeted with love and hospitality that fits their age group, it will draw them in and allow them to feel more comfortable.
When it comes to having fun at youth, the possibilities are endless. Ice breaker games are extremely easy to find on places like Pinterest, and are usually free or very cheap to pull together. From personal experience, having group ice breakers toward the beginning of the night to get kids more comfortable with one another and their surroundings is very important and helped me to step out of my shell as a student. Another piece of this could be providing a hangout time before getting started so kids can mingle and talk to friends. Having card games, Spikeball, cornhole, and other fun activities set out for kids can be a fun and inviting way to make your students and their friends more comfortable.
Although food can sometimes get expensive, having snacks available is always a bonus. Once a month or semester, having a special night such as “pizza night” or “cereal night” can be fun things for your students to invite their friends to. It’s all about getting kids involved and making them feel like they belong somewhere.
Even though food and fun are important, it is also important to not get lost in the fun and forget the foundation of student ministry. Getting kids there and giving them opportunities to fellowship, have fun, and eat are all part of the ministry, but feeding them the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ trumps it all. Bringing fun into the equation shows the students what true life is like in Jesus. That even when our circumstances aren’t the best and life isn’t perfect, we can find our joy in Jesus! That he has given us fellowship on this earth so that we do not have to walk the Christian life alone! Instilling this into your students is crucial, especially with the worldly pressures they will face everyday when they leave your ministry.
Your students carry around a lot of heavy baggage, whether you can always see it or not. Let your student ministry be a place where they can leave it all at the door and just be a kid! Love them like Christ would and show them a life lived to the fullest!
