Sunday School Lesson Plans to download.
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10 Ways to a
Great Youth Group.
Making a Great Youth Facility.
Leading a Middle School Youth Group
Volunteer Sunday School Teacher Page
Growing a Middle School (or High School) Youth Ministry
Discussion groups are more likely to grow and least likely to decline.
A new poll by Josh Hunt reinforces my belief that Sunday School, or children's church, based on discussion type lessons like mine are far more interesting to teens than a sermon or lecture done poorly. Josh finds:
"If your class is not growing, we have an easy solution: jump to the discussion method. It is the single most likely group to be growing AND the single least likely group to be declining. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by going to the discussion method." Read the entire article.
Subscribe to Josh's Lesson Vault. Use coupon code 4478 for a 10% discount. Free 170 page e-book from Josh Hunt in .pdf format. Download here.
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You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less By Josh Hunt / Group Publishing You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less is a revolutionary concept based on tried and true principles of church growth. Hunt shows us that Sunday school isn't a dinosaur headed for extinction, but a dynamic tool that can be used to reach many people for Christ. Relationships is the way to reach people for Christ and the Church and Josh Hunt tells how to do it. This book breathes excitement and passion. The purpose of doubling a class is not just numbers or to have a bigger Sunday school. Hunt appeals to the NT purpose of evangelism and outreach. |
Helping kids feel at home:
Upon arriving, every kid is celebrated into the youth room. That means that the leaders usually shouted out their names and added a big cheer. Within the first few minutes each teen is included into a conversation and presented with a snack or a warm drink (on a cold day). 
One of the best things we did was to let the kids write on the wall. We painted it bright yellow then supplied lots of colored markers. Everyone signed their name. The wall became known as the guest book. When a new person came they were warmly greeted then asked if they'd sign our guest book. They were delighted when they found out the book was actually the wall. A regular attendee would proudly walk them over, get the makers. The newcomer was immediately involved.
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Getting Students to Show Up: Practical Ideas for Any OutreachEvent—from 10 to 10,000 By Jonathan McKee / Zondervan The heart was there, the vision was set, the motives were genuine . . . but no one showed up. The book will help youth workers program to an audience that they're not used to reaching. Programming an outreach event is much more than booking a band and a speaker. Unfortunately, most people don't know that-and the students they wanted to reach aren't making it there . . . they don't show up. Youth workers are only learning how to program outreach events by "trial and error." Instead, they need a resource to not only teach them the basics in programming outreach events, but also give them tools and examples that actually work. This book will help them understand the mindset of this outreach crowd, and give them the tools to plan effective outreach programs. |
Here are some Youth Ministry/Sunday School Ideas especially for Junior High age kids.
Kids (especially teens) are some of God's greatest creations. Why do people always roll their eyes and think I'm nuts when I say that? Kids are dying for grownups to treat them with respect, take them seriously, and care about them. If you do that for them they will do that for you.
Of course, it also helps if you genuinely like kids. They can tell. "Kids will be what they think you think they are." The kids were an important part in helping me cope with the loss of my own daughter. I did not hide that from them and they were pleased to be helpful in that way. To learn more about that read my article, "Buckets of Love".
In addition, my junior high Sunday School class was held during the church service, right after the worship time, so they got out of having to sit through sermons that were way over their heads. Word got out about this. Kids invited their disbelieving friends to see for themselves. They told their parents they wanted to come again. The parents told me they were delighted that their kids actually wanted to come to church. These families became regular attendees.
We continued the class year-round instead of breaking for the summer. We experienced a huge jump in attendance over the summer, and enjoyed an extraordinary spirit-filled time.
Anyway, if you other youth leaders are wandering around the internet you must be looking for something: encouragement, group ideas, Sunday School lesson ideas. Feel free to poke around my stuff, download what you might be able to use.
I got a lot of ideas from other website's myself but I never found a curriculum or a Sunday School lesson that was just what I wanted so I always wrote my own. The kids seemed to like them. After awhile they would prefer to skip my lame games, just sit down and get into the lesson. Sweet.
The links and products featured on the site are all things I use in the Junior High Ministry. Buying these items thru the links provides our ministry with a small commission and offers you the lowest price and a safe source to get it from.
Churches around the globe are experiencing a sharp lack of volunteer Sunday School teachers. It does require a high degree of commitment and can also be a little scary for a new volunteer to contemplate being in charge of a group of Junior High age kids for more than an hour. My greatest fear in the beginning was, "What if my brain freezes up in the middle of a lesson, I lose my train of thought?" So every Sunday I came in with a Sunday School lesson plan guaranteed to keep me on track. Click here to discover how these lesson plans can help you too.
Always be quick to offer an apology:
If you misspeak, hurt a kids feelings, show up unprepared, or just do something dumb, be quick to apologize. Whether you are wrong or not an apology shows you are willing to humble yourself before the kids. It proves that you do not think more highly of yourself than them. It proves they are important.
Humbling yourself before children never detracts from your leadership authority. It does increase their respect for you.
Dress up your youth area or advertise a special event with a custom banner.
A great way to build relationships with kids is to visit them in their home (always with parents present of course). Offer to update the spyware and virus detectors on their computers. The software suggested below is free, works better than most, and is easy to install and run. Home computers are more at risk than ever. This will actually be a valuable service to them. While you are loading and updating the software you'll have time to talk, get to know the families, see the kids rooms, meet the pets. This help you understand where the child is coming from. It also helps the kids (and parents) accept you into their lives having had already visited their home.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html Spy-Bot Search & Destroy
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/ a-squared Anti-Malware
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1/us/frt/0 AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php Ad-Aware 2007 Free
USB Jump Drives (shown left) make great prizes and help ensure that the kids data is backed up.
