Here's how your church can create a spot teenagers like hanging out-whether it's a youth room or the back of the church bus! Mix dozens of creative decorating ideas with faith-building program ideas based on decorating themes & you've got a recipe for a great youth meeting place! And because you involve your teenagers in making the changes, you'll see your group grow closer! Here are the nuts & bolts of involving kids in creating a meeting place, plus tips for getting around small budgets, frowning board members, & ugly furniture.

As youth workers, we all have our vision—the plan we hope to make real in our ministries—to change the lives of teenagers as we introduce them to Jesus. But how often have you found yourself wondering if your picture is just wrong—or thinking you just don’t know how to make your ministry match what you envision?In 101 Ideas for Making Disciples in Your Youth Group you’ll explore the idea of ACTS to create a disciple-making ministry with the elements needed to create an environment necessary to cultivate this mission. ACTS represents everything a missional youth ministry needs to be about:• Adoration—More than an act, this is a lifestyle that is fleshed out in expressions of prayerful dependence, deep gratitude, and expectancy in what God can do.• Community—This is an atmosphere of genuine caring, authentic relationships, and unity based on Christ’s love for his Church and the Church’s love for one another.• Truth-and-Grace—The basis of everything that is taught and valued, this is a setting where God’s Word is the standard and central to belief and behavior.• Serving-and-Sharing—As a way of life, serving involves helping the whole person by ministering to both believers and the lost by meeting their needs, as well as verbally sharing God’s message of grace.As you dig into each aspect of ACTS, you’ll discover Jesus’ style and see how he cultivated each element in his own ministry. Then you’ll explore the youth ministry style of each aspect, where you’ll find 25 hands-on, easy-to-implement ideas on how to cultivate the same element in your context in order to create an environment of disciple-making that finally fits your ministry.

Sticky Faith delivers positive and practical ideas to nurture within your kids a living, loving faith that lasts a lifetime. Research indicates that almost half of high school seniors drift from their faith after graduation. Struck by this staggering statistic, and recognizing its ramifications, the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) conducted the "College Transition Project" in an effort to identify the relationships and best practices that can set young people on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service. This easy-to-read guide presents both a compelling rationale and a powerful strategy to show parents how to actively encourage their children’s spiritual growth so that it will stick with them into adulthood and empower them to develop a living, lasting faith. Written by Fuller Youth Institute Executive Director Dr. Kara E. Powell and youth expert Chap Clark--authors known for the integrity of their research and the intensity of their passion for young people--Sticky Faith is geared to spark a movement that empowers adults to develop robust and long-term faith in kids of all ages. Further engage your family and church with the Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family, Sticky Faith curriculum, and Sticky Faith youth worker edition. Sticky Faith is also available in Spanish, Cómo criar jóvenes de fe sólida.

How a small church can have a big impact on a teen's faith journey.

Ready-Made Event Packages ...Just Add Youth Group FULLY LOADEDAll Options, Extras & Side Items IncludedThese ready-made event packages are completely accessorized with everything you need to easilyprepare and smoothly execute fun and instructive youth activities. You can spend less time on planning event details, and more time directly engaging your teens.These plans cover every detail, even laying out hour-by-hour schedules for you.Think of the convenience. Think of all the up-front prep time you can save. The unique benefit of the Ready-To-Go series is that these activity materials go beyond merely offering ideas. Ready to Go resources instead provide fully developed activity & event plans. These allow the youth leader to host youth events of substance & quality, with a minimal up-front time investment. It’s like offering a baked cake instead of a cake recipe & ingredients. Or, offering a fully-assembled ready-to-use playground set...instead of loose components in a box with assembly instructions. This book features 101 ready-to-go lessons that Youth Leaders can use in a Sunday School setting, in youth meetings, or retreats. It also contains meeting ideas and lessons that can be utilized quickly and effectively when the need arises. Ready-to-Go Youth Group Activities includes -- Meeting starters Short Bible studies Test worksheets Fliers Parable studies with skits Games Small events with little or no prep time Meeting closers A scripture index. All materials are reproducible.Ready-To-Go resources are equipped with event themes that target contemporary issues teens face in the real world. These relevant messages are delivered with impact, through coordinated devotional plans, discussion frameworks, and captivating activities. All the event accessories you need, down to publicity fliers and parental forms are included. Just add youth.

Thirty-eight strategies to tap into young adolescents' tactile and intellectual creativity to help them learn about and grow in faith and spirituality are contained in this guide. Strategies are organized into three sections: activities for personal reflection, self-disclosure, and affirmation; active strategies for learning and reviewing material; and ideas for prayer and reflection that engage young teens at different levels.

This collection contains ideas for two overnight retreats and four one-day retreats. The themes of the overnight retreats are self-esteem and being true to oneself; the themes of the other four retreats are Confirmation, discipleship, the Triduum, and leadership development.

Justice and Service Ideas for Ministry with Young Teens is a collection of twenty-one strategies for short- and long-term service projects, outreach activities, learning exercises, and discussion starters all aimed at helping young teens understand the social impact of our culture and make a difference in their world. The strategies continually challenge the young people to live out the Gospel mandate and the Church's call to serve others and build a just society, one person at a time.

Sixty-five field-tested, creative activities complement the Horizons core curriculum and minicourses. Ideas for community-building activities and games, prayer experiences and rituals, liturgical celebrations, and service projects center around six thematic sections. Engage your youth to make Christ's teachings relevant and fun!

Youth ministry isn't just meeting with students and teaching them God's truth. It also involves a myriad of administrative and operational details. Youth Ministry Management Tools 2.0 provides youth ministers and volunteers with helpful insights, advice, and practical resources to successfully manage a youth ministry. You'll find sample budgets, release forms for trips, and clear direction for screening applicants for volunteer positions. Authors Mike Work and Ginny Olson provide you with quick and accessible answers to all of your management, administrative, and supervisory questions and needs. Sprinkled throughout the manual are brief personal anecdotes by actual, in-the-trenches youth workers, case studies of church-office debacles, pivotal lessons learned over decades of ministry, nightmare scenarios to avoid, and glorious successes to emulate. No other book provides everything a youth ministry leader needs in one place at such an affordable price.This revised and updated edition of a youth ministry classic includes bonus online content, copy-ready pages and forms, and loads of other highly practical material.