Active Youth Program Analysis

A little over a year ago I was approached by the youth pastor at my church and was asked to help out with an active youth program. I immediately said yes. I didn’t mind the idea of investing my time into this program considering I was once attending the same youth group when I was in middle school and loved it. The program consisted of playing, singing, and studying with middle school students every Wednesday night from seven o’clock to nine o’clock in the evening. It was a bit different than I remembered it to be but the next year and a half would be no less memorable.

In my first week I was introduced to the existing group of counselors or “leaders”. I was actually already very familiar with the other leaders, being that most of us grew up together, making this experience that much more exciting. The first week I was also assigned a small group of students to look after and to grow in fellowship with. However, I would not spend the entire night with these kids, allowing me to get to know the majority of the other thirty-five to forty kids. Since the church has a gym, a lot of the activities took place in there. A common game to play was dodgeball, though us leaders have gotten creative and created and played countless other

Several times we have had lip-sync battles in which the leaders are strongly encouraged to take part in. The results of these battles are fantastic for the most part, with everyone having fun and laughing by the end of the night, although, it can be a bit awkward and humiliating for those individuals who went on stage unprepared… Truthfully, I would forget about them until I arrive at the church, resulting in my lack of preparation. I don’t recommend picking a song you don’t know and just “winging it”, the end result can be extremely embarrassing. Along with these lip-sync battles and gym games, we’ve held other events like “game night” and a lock-in.