HANDS-ON HELP: STUDENTS

Group, Jan/Feb 2004 by Musselwhite, Chuck, Reynolds, Rebecca, Long, David, Nance, Rachel, Et al

YOU'VE BEEN MUGGED!

When new visitors attend our youth group, we visit them within a week and give them a mug of goodies.

We start by buying glass root beer mugs from Wal-Mart for about $1.50 each. Then we make customized stickers using a desktop publishing program, such as Publisher, which allows you to print your own decals. We add these to the outside of the mugs and then place the following items inside each mug: a calendar of events, a youth ministry brochure, candy, and an eraser that says, "God loves you." Then we wrap the mugs in cellophane and deliver them to newcomers. The kids love them.

CHUCK MUSSELWHITE Santa Maria, California

CLIP & USE

'WHAT'S IN THE BAG' WORD SCRAMBLE TRY THIS ONE: GAME

Use weird-feeling objects to spark a zany game.

You'll need one paper lunch bag for each player, tape, candy, and numerous "mystery objects" that feel weird to the touch, such as mushrooms, grapes, cooked noodles, dog biscuits, modeling dough, and marshmallows.

Before the meeting, you'll need to choose one funny or trendy phrase for each group of players. (The number of letters in each phrase should equal the number of players in each group.) Write one letter of the phrase on a paper bag, and assign each letter a con secutive number. So, for example, for the phrase "SpongeBob," you would make a bag that has S-1, another bag that has P-2, another bag that has 0-3, and so on. Fill each bag associated with one phrase with one of the mystery ingredients, then fold down the tops of the bags and tape them shut.

When teenagers arrive, give them each a bag and tell them they can't open their bags or tell anyone else what they think might be inside. Tell everyone that the goal of the game is to find the others who have the same mystery object-by feeling the contents of the bags-and then form a group. Then each group must figure out what its phrase is. The first team that correctly identifies its mystery object and phrase wins.

To add a level of challenge, don't add the numbers to the bags, and have teams try to de-scramble their word phrases.

REBECCA REYNOLDS Kingsport, Tennessee

HANDS-ON HELP: STUDENTS

YOUTH MINISTRY 'PROBATION'

All youth leaders experience frustration when students make bad choices-but it's especially difficult when the students are leaders in the youth ministry and you need to ask them to resign from their leadership positions.

Rather than cast students into oblivion, a new program we instituted last year allows them a chance to redeem themselves. We made a connection with an inner city ministry that works with middle school boys and girls, and set up an opportunity for our "probation" students to become more other-centered by helping with tutoring, abstinence programs, and basketball leagues. It was amazing to see how this not only helped the middle schoolers but also woke up the previously self-involved high schoolers. In the past when we disciplined kids, they'd leave and never come back. Now we're retaining students, who often return to their leadership positions after only a few months.

DAVID LONG Fort Wayne, Indiana

HANDS-ON HELP: STUDENTS

ALL-POINTS BULLITEN

As a condition of graduation, many high schools require that students volunteer a certain number of hours of community service-so encourage them to volunteer in the church.

Use your church's bulletin to publicize a "wish list" for teenage volunteers, describing the various church projects and ministries in need of help. Students will learn how to give of their time and also be able to observe the fruits of their labor within the church community.

RACHEL NANCE Raleigh, North Carolina

CLIP & USE

RANDOM FRISBEE FUN TRY THS ONE GAME

Easy setup and scoring turn this game into quick Frisbee-Golf fun!

You'll need one flying disc for each player in this game, which can be played in any location with open space. Determine the number of holes prior to starting, based on how much time you have to play.

Select a player to go first, and allow that player to select a "flag": essentially anything in sight that's not a hazardous target-a tree, shrub, telephone pole, or playground equipment, for example. Each player then attempts to throw the disc to that flag and tracks his or her number of throws. As in regular Frisbee Golf, each person must throw his or her disc from where it lands. A flag is considered "holed" if any part of the disc touches the flag. Players can move their discs six feet in any direction from where they land, but players must take a stroke in order to do so. The player with the best score for each round chooses the next flag, or you can rotate players to begin each round.

DAVE BOSTROM Maplewood, Minnesota

DISCUSSION DON'TS AND DO'S

Giving teenagers the opportunity for small-group discussion and reflection can make the difference between an unsuccessful and a successful lesson. First of all, here's what not to do:

1. Don't talk. A discussion leader's primary purpose is to keep the conversation moving in a positive direction. I've found that many times leaders end up doing all the talking because they can't stand the tension of silence. Don't be afraid of silence; most likely it means that your students are thinking!