Follow this step-by-step approach to learn more about contemplation in small groups.
by Tony Jones
Exodus 14:14
A small group of high school seniors meets at our house on Monday evenings. Every week, they gather with Julie and me on our couches in the basement, munching popcorn and drinking Diet Coke. We've spent the year trying to get our arms around the entire Bible, reading a chapter each week from Walt Wangerin's novelized version called The Book of God.
Use things found on a scavenger hunt to worship God.
Tami Rudkin
After your group has arrived, break them into smaller groups of 3 to 4 (depending on the size of your group).
Explain that you are going on a Worship Scavenger Hunt and that it will be timed. Explain that you'll have snacks, etc. when they get back. (You can prepare desert/popcorn or have your regular person prepare the snack)
Hand out the "to find" list.
Have fun and hurry back.
When everyone gets back, have them share their items and their stories over desert.
Consider partnering with this organization to help troubled teens.
Sue Skalicky
Group Outreach
We were friends first. I had gone back to school to get my teaching degree and she, I came to find out, was working to try to get her two children back after her home was raided for meth. Her husband went to jail and she went through drug rehab while her parents became foster parents to her children for a year. She worked at a fast food restaurant and I had a Dr. Pepper addiction, so ...
Our ministry wasn't going well, the group was unhealthy and the students weren't connecting. Then, I tried cell groups.
Trevor Throness
My first job as a paid youth pastor was in a church of about 250 people. On a good youth group night we had 15 kids. On a bad night, we had three or none, depending on which key kids had offended each other that week. It's humiliating to fit your entire youth group in a Chevy Sprint and have one seat belt left over.
Our first retreat was truly an ordeal. Several kids refused to take part in an encouragement ...
Teenagers are facing immense pressure; small groups can help.
Michael C. Mack
If I hear the same old story about Moses and the Red Sea one more time, said one minister's teenage daughter, I'll scream!
It's not that there's anything wrong with traditional methods of the church's ministry to youth, but many teens are looking for more. After years of learning Bible stories in their Sunday school classes, they are ready for an approach that makes them feel that they and their contributions ...
How we started small groups for our youth, led by our youth
Wayne O. Gooden
Our youth small groups are totally student-led, with "at-hand" adult leadership available in case of needs that are outside the ability of teens. When we started out, we had one large "youth group" that usually met on Sunday afternoon from 4:30 - 6:30.
We began to share the vision with our kids and began to show them how this could work for them to strengthen, encourage, evangelize, etc. Each week ...
We had to undergo transition as people decided a cell church wasn't really what they thought it would be.
Bryan R. Stevenson
Even though we started purposefully as a pure cell church at Acts 2 Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, we've still had to undergo transition as people decided that a cell church isn't really what they thought it was. (Where are the midweek services, the military ministry, and the youth group?) Our vision at first was to have the youth go with the parents to cell group. This didn't work, primarily ...
A father-daughter team worked together to reach the local youth, with lasting results.
Mike Osborn
It's been just about a year now since my daughter asked me if we could start a youth cell in our home. Since I was presently serving in the position of a Zone Pastor, initially I was a bit hesitant. But after praying about it, our family decided that we would take a shot at it. My 11-year-old daughter would be responsible for cleaning the house, making the refreshments, coming up with the weekly ice ...
How to start and maintain a small group ministry for teens
Michael C. Mack
"I shudder at the thought of having to go into a group of some 30 to 40 teenagers to try to elicit some kind of enthusiastic participation,: says Tony Campolo in Carpe Diem. "To get them … genuinely involved in a discussion would require a cahrisma and talent that only a superior species might possess."
If Tony Campolo feels this way, how about the rest of us? How can we get teens genuinely ...
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