One of the most asked questions I get asked by new student ministry volunteers is how do I start a conversation and then keep the conversation going with teens. Today I read a great post from Brian Berry with some great tips and examples. Here’ a bit of the article below, the rest you can find here.
Like many youth groups around the country, we’re launching our small groups this fall. We also have made some changes based on learnings from the flow of groups last year. As a result, we have decided that the first 10 weeks will be largely if not almost exclusively focused on getting to know our students. Then in January, after the Christmas break, we’ll then build on those relationships and begin a process to dive more fully into the Scriptures together each week in a more “traditional Bible Study”.
But what this means in the short-term is that from late September through Christmas, we’ll be spending a lot of time (like an hour or so) pouring into the life of just one student in each small group each night. Not like a hot seat where a small group grills one member with questions, but more like a moment where we say, “We really want to get to know you more… but for reals. So tell us all about yourself.”
If the small group you lead is made up of outgoing bubbly teenage girls, well that might be all you need. You’ll be lucky if you get them to stop talking 60 minutes later with that one intro.
But if you’re leading freshman guys, it’s gonna take some more work.
So in order to help, we put together a packet of stuff to keep a conversation going with a student. Here’s 6 tips we’re using to train our leaders.
START YOUR SMALL GROUP EACH WEEK WITH A BUCKET TESTIMONY. Pick an item (bucket, purse, backpack, suitcase, basket, etc) and have a different person each week come with 10 items inside. As they pull each item out, they tell you why they put it in there and what it means to them. As leaders, you do this first, choosing a wide range of items from serious to funny and set the tone. Then have someone volunteer or choose a student who can do this next week. Don’t forget to call and remind them in the days leading up to your next meeting so they don’t forget.
