Editor’s note: Jake Hunter serves as youth minister at Friendship Baptist Church in Conway. He is at Super Summer Arkansas this week and posted these thoughts as he prepared to shepherd his student group shown in the picture above. .
If you were to ask me what my favorite part of camp is, hands down it would be our church group time at the end of the day. Church group time can be one of the most pivotal moments for a student ministry during camp, and if I am honest, I haven’t always taken full advantage of it. Here are a few of my thoughts and lessons I’ve learned over the years to win at church group time.
-Winning at church group time starts with encouraging students to be looking for HOW and WHERE God is moving. At the beginning of the week encourage students to be looking for how God is going to move in their lives. I tell students every year on the first night that God has moved, and lives have been changed every year that I have been at camp. Every year we bring home two groups of students: One group experienced a movement of God and leaves camp changed. Another group stood in the same room shoulder to shoulder with kids whose lives were changed -experiencing the same movement of God, and somehow, they leave unchanged. The question is not if God is going to move. The question is: are students going to lean into it? One of the best places we can begin to encourage students to “lean in” is at church group time.
-Understand that church group time is NOT the time for another sermon. There are many youth pastors that are gifted teachers/speakers, but the best youth pastors can discern when it is time to sit and listen. Church group is the time to let students share and process what the Lord did in their lives that day. They need time to flesh out what the Holy Spirit is doing in them. I know the Lord might be giving you a word that you feel the youth ministry needs to hear, and there are definitely times where you can add to and connect things. Just be careful that you don’t dominate the discussion time and save the sermon for another day.
-Don’t be afraid to call on students. If a student knows that at any minute they might get called on to answer a question or share about their day, then they are more likely to stay engaged and not check out. If your group isn’t very talkative start with easy questions like “what was your favorite part of today?”
Then follow up with deeper conversation such as: What was your favorite part of today? Student: Worship! You: Why was worship your favorite? Student: I felt closer to God than I’ve ever been, and I didn’t feel like I was being judged. You: Why do you think worship feels different here than at home? etc.
-Be ready to shift the conversation at any moment (not everything needs to be shared in a large group setting). Sometimes, guilt/shame/hurt can lead kids to open up and share things in small group time. We have to be able to discern what is an appropriate discussion for the group, and what is best talked about in a smaller setting with adults. On another note, sometimes students can share random things that really do not fit in with what you are discussing in your church group time. Good youth pastors can direct and steer small group conversations, but the great ones learn to discern and shepherd these spiritual moments in ways that are honoring and loving to the person sharing, but beneficial for the whole group.
-Leave time for some adults to share what the Lord is doing in their life. I feel like I stumbled upon this one if I am honest. For years I completely dominated the conversation and never gave the adults that were with us a chance to share what the Lord was doing in their lives. Then one year a leader asked me if she could share what the Lord had taught her that night. She opened up about some unforgiveness she had in her heart for a person that had hurt her, and she shared how the Lord was leading her to forgive this person. That led to other students sharing unforgiveness they had been holding onto. As a result of this one adult being vulnerable and sharing what God had taught her that night, many students walked out of that room with a weight lifted from their shoulders. Not every adult should talk every night but leave room for those moments. God may have something powerful to share with your youth group, and He may use someone other than you to say it.
-Take time to truly celebrate the decisions that were made. There is a good chance that one of your students is going to make a life-changing decision this week. By taking time to really celebrate what the Lord is doing in their life, not only are you affirming and loving the student that made the decision, but you are also teaching the rest of the group what really matters and how to love one another. If you get excited and make it a big deal when they share, then your students will learn to be excited when others share. However, if you celebrate more on the rec field than you do at church group time, what message are you communicating to your youth group?
-Help students connect what God is doing throughout the week to what God is doing/can do back home. At the end of the week ask the students what is one thing that they are going to take away from camp and apply to their life. The reality is there are probably many things that your students learned during the week but having them share one thing that they are going to take with them will help them connect the spiritual high of camp to an action step they can take in the weeks to come. Camp was never meant to be a moment of a spiritual high; it was meant to be a catalyst for spiritual growth in the youth ministry. If we do not help make their next steps clear, we might limit the impact that camp could have on the spiritual development of our youth ministry.