Thursday, 08 October 2009

• Is Jazzing-Up Youth Group Worth the Price?

  My high school youth group experience was anything but visually inspiring. The youth room was small but sufficient, with plain white walls and grey carpet. There was no stage or even a backdrop; the band played on the floor, and if you think there was an awesome sound system in that place, think again. We had no colored lights or fog machines, but we did cover the windows with black trash bags to add some ambiance. The words to the worship songs were not displayed on some LCD TV or a high-definition projector but instead an overhead projector, the kind you might have seen in elementary school.

  I don't envy youth ministers today. A great deal of time and effort must go toward getting kids away from the distractions of their everyday lives. There are so many things to compete with for the attention of today's youth, from the typical video games and TV to, more recently, the internet and even phones. With all of these interactive and multi-media distractions in the lives of kids, it's hard to imagine how youth ministers manage to juggle it all.
  

  There is help for some; companies and websites exist that offer materials for youth groups and ministers. Some of them offer a massive amount of resources and visual aids, but they can be pretty expensive! One such company, Interlinc, has a membership-based program called Youth Leaders Only (YLO) that ships out boxes of resources four times a year. The plan, which costs in the hundreds of dollars each year, offers a wide assortment of materials, from CDs and music videos to books of interviews and hundreds of Bible studies. It even offers two different “flavors” of YLO. “Hot” features progressive, alternative music while “mild” contains music from pop and acoustic artists.
  

  If that is a bit too pricey, there is also Youth Music Vault (YMV), which costs significantly less but also offers less materials. Instead of providing music and Bible studies for several artists, YMV selects one artist every two months and creates messages and materials focusing on just that one artist. To make it even more cost effective, the membership is all online; there are no shipping fees to pay, as members simply log in and download the materials. The selection of artists is limited, though, and youth ministers can't opt for a different plan if the music is too hard or too soft for the youth group's membership.

  YLO and YMV both offer great services, but the quality and quantity of what ministers can get their hands on depends a great deal on how much they're willing to spend, at least when it comes to these membership programs. For small youth groups, like the one I was a part of when I was in high school, these sort of plans are simply not affordable. What can the youth ministers of these groups do to compete with the ones that can afford these materials?

  Maybe, instead of trying to jazz-up youth group and make it prettier to look at, youth ministers should start by being more involved in the lives of the youth to whom they minister. Instead of spending money on fancy videos, inviting some of the youth to the church to make the videos themselves can make the kids feel more involved and important and costs a lot less! Instead of introducing the group to musicians and then handing out pre-made Bible studies about these artists, pastors could instead look to the music their groups are already listening to, read the lyrics and research the artists, and then create Bible studies of their own that are more meaningful to their own groups. Inviting kids over to hang out at the church, play video games and eat pizza worked much better for my youth group than any music video ever could.

  In the end, I don't think it's how the church looks that makes it more relevant; it's how the church acts and becomes involved in the world around it. Youth groups can show all the flashy videos and hip music they want, but if youth ministers don't become involved in their groups lives and encourage them to be involved in their communities, I don't think they'll get any better turn out.

  What are some of your own youth group experiences, good and bad? What are some other ways that youth ministers and youth groups can make their messages relevant to kids today?

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