The year has begun!
Normally, at this time of year, I would be looking over my calendar for youth and beginning to tweak the plans I made for the year with my team in the summer. I would be beginning to think about our summer programme and dreaming about all of the memory-making activities and trips we could offer for our young people! However, this year, it is so much harder to plan, as we really do not know what the next month might look like, let alone a year!
We might not be able to plan specifics yet, but I would still encourage you to consider the big building blocks of the year, your key opportunities, and consider a plan A (the ideal) and a plan B (perhaps you are concerned about restrictions, budgets, team etc). I have given you an insight into my building blocks below, and some of the ideas that I am thinking about. These are the evangelistic opportunities or key times to have a social, and then you can work your curriculum around these blocks.
I generally plan my year January – December. I know that lots of youth leaders will use the academic year to plan, but I personally find that it is easier to plan for transition ages if I look at the year commencing in January, but that’s up to your own personal preferences!
NEW YEAR
We always try to mark the New Year with our young people, as it is a brilliant opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed and the year ahead. It may have been that young people faced a loss or hurt last year, and this gives a space to process that, but also to consider some of the highlights, too. Find ways to help your young people to look forward to the year ahead!
- A New Year’s Party.
- A letter to yourself in a year’s time.
- An online session reflecting on the year.
- A craft-based social session.
HALF TERM 1
I love half terms, as they can be a unique opportunity to organise something a little bit different! February half-term is often very cold, but use this to your advantage!
- Ice Skating.
- A worship workshop – you could ask your church worship team to help with this!
- A young leaders day – if your youth group is smaller in numbers, why not partner with some other youth groups in your area!
- An online ‘do with me’ session. For example, you could bake something together but in your homes. You may want to send a shopping list ahead of time, or even drop off kits to young people’s homes before the session.
EASTER
We find that the Easter holidays are the most popular time of year for all of our youth to be on holiday! So we will often take the two weeks off, but organise something for the Easter weekend only.
- Good Friday Communion Meal.
- Easter Family Fun Day (We work alongside the whole church to organise this!).
- A Film night with plenty of popcorn.
HALF TERM 2
May half-term is usually warmer, so the social ideas for this half-term are more focused on the outside! May half-term is also when we begin to let those moving up into high school join in with youth activities as they begin to transition into youth.
- A Camping trip, or a church sleepover.
- A Beach trip.
- A Scavenger hunt in your local town centre.
- A prayer walk.
- A skills session, such as learning how to bake a cake!
SUMMER HOLIDAYS
The Summer Holidays are a fab opportunity to grow relationships in your youth group and to help them to experience God in different ways. We tend to plan one event per week, with one week being a Festival or Conference such as Ascent!
- The Ascent Festival, or other events that suit your young people.
- Laser Quest.
- Summer Party.
- A Social Action Project.
- An afternoon at the park.
- A long hike – we often take our young people to the Peak District.
BACK TO SCHOOL
September marks the ‘back to school’ season, where you’ll likely have young people at different stages of life. You’ll have those starting a new school, a new year, starting their GCSE’s or A-Levels, starting College, or even those who will be going to university! We tend to mark the occasion with a social, before heading into our usual curriculum of Bible study.
- Back to School party.
- A one-off session looking at starting new things.
- A games evening where you and your team can focus on building relationships and checking in with how young people are feeling about the new academic year!
HALLOWEEN/OCTOBER HALF TERM
Another half-term marks time for another social activity in our calendar! As it is a bit cooler, here are some indoor ideas. Alternatively, you may wish to provide an alternative to Halloween for your young people.
- A light party.
- Go-Karting.
- Tribal Wars.
- Cinema Trip / Film Night.
- A trip to a local restaurant/dessert cafe!
CHRISTMAS
By far one of my favourite times of the year, Christmas! It is such an opportunity to reach out to your local community! I would encourage you to not necessarily think about your youth group as a separate department of the church ever, but especially during this time of year. Here are a few activities to think about:
- Encourage your young people to volunteer in any social action project your church is involved with over Christmas.
- Throw a Christmas Party.
- Youth Secret Santa (set a very low budget!)
- Get involved in any Christmas services or events, and allow young people to have different opportunities to serve.
Once you have these building blocks in place, build your youth group curriculum around them. You may wish to use a ready-made programme; we use Energise by Urban Saints, and it serves us really well! It is especially helpful to do this if you have some newer team members who you’d like to lead sessions, or if you are a voluntary youth leader or have lots of other responsibilities! Alternatively, you may wish to plan all of your sessions bespoke to your youth group. Regardless of which you choose to use, listen to the questions your young people are asking!
I truly hope you have found this useful in planning your year ahead! Do you have any of your own top tips?
