Sunday School Lesson Plans to download
10 Ways to a
Great Youth Group.
Making a Great Youth Facility.
Leading a Middle School Youth Group
Keeping Kids Interested in Church
Volunteer Sunday School Teacher Page
Practical Tips To Help Grieving Teens
Children's Safety and Teacher Accountability
Whenever parents leave their kids with you, for a trip or even Sunday School, they are entrusting you to keep their children safe. This responsibility should be given top priority when conducting any youth ministry activity. Bad things can and do happen. My daughter was killed on a Sunday youth group outing (for more info about Catherine and the loss of a child click here to jump to Coconut Mountain Website). You must give some thought to what you would do if the worst happens. The idea that your preparations are good enough for your own kids is not enough. If disaster strikes the parents must rest assured that you've done everything possible to ensure their children's safety.
Here are a list of things you must be prepared for on any outing:
Permission Slip/Parent contact form: You must keep this information with you at all times. In the chaos of an emergency, communication with doctors and parents is essential. You must be able to give an emergency care provider and hospital specific information for them to treat an injury. Never take a child anywhere without a permission slip. Click here for suggested permission slip. This is a long-term permission slip. However, another youth leader recommended getting a new form from the parents for every outing and trip because people are changing insurance companies frequently so the information on even a seasonal medical form get outdated quickly. See the link for the book below that offers many forms.
Basic Medical Information and Identification: You should be able to supply an emergency responder a list of allergies to foods or medicines. You must also have a current photo and physical description to supply searchers if a child is lost.
Free youth ministry forms from Doug Fields and Simply Youth Ministry.
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What Do I Do When Teenagers are Victims of Abuse? By Steve Gerali / Youth Specialties In What Do I Do When Teenagers are Victims of Abuse? you’ll explore the various types of abuse teenagers may become victims of, how theology informs the issue, and what practical actions you can take to help teens avoid or escape abusive relationships. You’ll also find additional resources to take the help further. |
Local emergency contact numbers for the area you will be in. Do not assume that dialing 911 on your cell phone will work. Have an alternative plan in place before you go that includes the local sheriff/police phone numbers. Let people know exactly where you are going and when you'll be back.
Make sure all the leaders have the cell phone numbers of all the other leaders. Make a list and pass it out or program the numbers into your cell phones memory. Get the kids numbers too.
Read the book: "Better Safe Than Sued", by Jack Crabtree (shown below).
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Better Safe Than Sued: Keeping Your Students and Ministry Alive--Book and CD-ROM By Jack Crabtree / Youth Specialties Make sure your ministry is safe and that you're protected so you never have to be the one who didn't take safety seriously until something serious happened. Youth ministry veteran Jack Crabtree spells it all out for you right here; from van safety, sports, trips, sexual misconduct. Includes a CD with legal forms and more. |
Just as a matter of course you must conduct a background check of all your youth pastors and volunteers. Click on the banner below to visit a website that provides this service.
Saddleback Resource Notebook
All 130 pages in this resource are jam-packed with helpful materials used in the youth ministry at Saddleback. You'll get tons of forms, fliers, promotional material, meeting itineraries, letters to parents and more.
Suggested Youth Ministry Policy:
The purpose of this policy is to assure a safe environment for children, protect the reputation of people in youth ministry, and shield your church against liability. These policy guidelines are necessary due to relevant laws, court rulings, and insurance recommendations. They have been developed thru many years of experience with the help of several churches, pastors, and forums. Download .pdf click here.
Teacher Accountability Partner:
Every Youth Pastor or youth leader should have an accountability partner. This should be a mature person you feel comfortable with, who is trustworthy, and exhibits wisdom and confidentiality. They do not need to be a member of the same church or live nearby but you must be able to share everything with them.
Youth Ministry Forms 101: A Guide to Forms As A Risk Management and Organization Tool for Youth Ministry
Facebook, Myspace, and e-mails:
Facebook and Myspace is a good way to keep an eye on the kids interactions. I encourage parents and youth leaders to jump into the game but keep your comments to a minimum. All of your friends are notified when you post events, activities, and meetings. I prefer Facebook. Myspace is a bit too worldly for my taste with lots of ads aimed at hooking-up. Be careful of posting group pictures of kids unless you have parents permission. Someone wrote:
Everything you ever write for the internet is:permanent & indelible, discoverable, international, instant, reproducible, misquotable, and susceptible of misrepresentation, decontextualisation and satire.
E-mail is a great way to get word out about your youth group activities. Ask your kids if they actually check their e-mails anymore as most use Facebook or Myspace. Parents are still using e-mail. Avoid personal e-mails with students. If one is received we suggest sending a blind-copy of your reply to your “accountability partner”. Both of you should make a copy of the e-mail and keep it on file. If you send an e-mail to a kid do a copy to their parents to.
You hope you'll never need a book like this but if you're in the game long enough you will.
Order a copy today and keep it handy.
I have had to refer to this book several times and the advice is always right on.
Jr High Resource Kit
This thing is packed with game ideas, video ideas, sample promo and communication to students, parents and leaders...and many more forms that are completely editable and reproducible. Weekend worship service overview, Volunteer training, Video ideas, Camp counselor Tips and tricks, Promotional ideas and logo samples, Curriculum samples, Game ideas.
Many opinions have been put forward as to the value of taking junior high Kids on mission trips. I will not hazard an opinion myself but I will suggest a mission that is safe, inside the United States, and has junior high age specific opportunities: Click here for Mission Discovery.
From their website: "Mission Discovery began in 1991 as an effort to serve Jesus Christ by combining and coordinating mission resources and US churches to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the world's poor. Since Mission Discovery's beginning, over 20,000 students and adults have built homes and churches and have shared the gospel with hundreds of people in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Africa, and the United States.
Mission Discovery projects are organized around 5-10 day outreaches. Each team will be involved in a vital construction project along with an outreach led by team members that communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hundreds have decided to follow Christ each year through Mission Discovery outreaches such as Children?s Bible School and door to door evangelism."
