Summer and youth ministry seem like they’d go hand in hand. However, it’s like when I go on vacation and think, “With all this free time I’ll spend 4 hours a day in quiet time?!” But then, when the schedule goes out the window, I find I don’t actually do as much as I would on a normal day. Youth ministry is just like that. Whether it’s the vacations, sports, summer jobs, summer mission trips, or a myriad of other things, it seems there’s always a summer slump. Many have proposed shutting it down altogether in the summer (Mike Calhoun makes mention of this here).
One of the best reasons I’ve heard for shutting down youth ministry in the summer is that it gives the youth pastor/director/leader time to regroup, refocus and retool for the fall. However, I think completely shutting it down is a mistake. I think you can recharge your batteries and still keep a consistent (if somewhat different) program rolling for your students. Check out these 4 suggestions:
#1 Keep it simple
Summer isn’t the time to delve into your greatest theological discourse and it’s not the time to pull together your most complex event. Keep it simple. I would often do a character study during the summer. 8 Lessons from the Life of Joshua, or something like that. They’d be more devotional in nature, but still pack a punch. This let me spend a little less time studying in the summer to focus on other tasks. Also, I simplified our schedule. Basically, we did a game, a lesson and some small group time. That’s it. No big worship practices, no fancy set decorations, no crazy skits…. just simple.
#2 Make it Fun
Your first reaction to #1 might be…. if it’s that simple, it’s going to be boring! Not true. Since most students don’t have to be anywhere the next morning, extend your meeting and plan a great game. During the year, I might have a 10-15 minute ice breaker type game. During the summer, we’d have a full hour of volleyball, ultimate Frisbee, etc. Doing these games leads to #3.
#3 Change Your Scenery
During the year, we ran a really tight schedule. So we almost always met in our youth room. But with the relaxed nature of summer, we took the opportunity to meet in parks, at people’s houses, at the beach, etc. Just be aware though that all this moving around leads to #4.
#4 Communicate
You’re thinking, “Now here’s where it gets complicated.” It doesn’t have to be that way. Figure it all out ahead of time and just post the schedule everywhere, put it on your website and send it home in a post card. A thorough saturation at the start of summer should do the trick. And, if you have a particularly special event planned, communicate in a way that will also give you a chance to interact with some students at the same time. For instance, one of my favorite summer stunts is to pick up a couple of students early in the morning (I’m talking 5:00am early) since they don’t have to be at school and then hit Starbucks and then drive around to other students houses placing a plastic fork in their yard with a helium balloon attached to it that has the details for our event that night written in sharpie. It’s fun, it’s crazy and I get to go home and take a nap afterward 🙂
I have a friend who always says, “Make it High Speed, and Low Drag.” While that would not be an appropriate mantra in every area of life nor all year in your youth ministry, during the summer, I think there’s some merit to the idea. The key is to keep a consistent influence happening in the lives of your students while changing it up for them and giving you and the other youth staff a bit of a break. Change it up and beat the summer slump.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
