Making memories with students

Special thanks to Jennifer Stoltzfus, a student at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida and summer intern for the LifeWay Women's Event team, for writing the following post.

Before I knew it, it was 9 o’clock in the evening. I had spent the last several hours in a booth in the back corner of a crowded Chick-fil-a. Living in Nashville for the summer, I was having dinner with my younger brother’s best friend, a sweet young man I’ve known my entire life. We spent hours retelling stories and laughing about memories of long ago.

What struck me the most after reminiscing with Kyle was the memories that made us smile so big were so unlikely. They weren’t of magnificent trips, mega concerts, or any of the entertainment ploys that youth groups often take. Instead, we smiled about playing hide-n-seek in the church. We laughed about water balloon fights in the parking lot, the silly videos we recorded with summer interns, and watching movies in the student auditorium.

All too often youth groups become an entertainment gathering. We try to make our church the one with the coolest band, the best youth room, or the trendiest pastor. What we fail to realize is that what we use to get the students in is what often we must maintain to keep them. If we draw them in with entertainment, we likely won’t satisfy them with a simple Bible study unless we keep the entertainment factor.

With everything inside of me I believe that life with Jesus is the deepest joy anyone could ever know. Yet, we lose many of our students because they “just want to have a little fun.” We have deeply cheapened the gospel when students think they have to run from Christ to find fun and happiness. We must express to them that the fun of the world is “short term gain, long term pain.” And to do so, we must be the ones to model for them the joy of life with Christ.

You don’t need a big budget or a hip youth room. Your students will forever cherish the memories of everyday summer fun.

Here are some ideas:

• Have a Disney movie night for the girls. Make popcorn, show Cinderella, and talk about how your girls are princesses – Daughters of the King.
• Have a spa day. Enlist a few moms, or leaders to help paint nails and curl hair. Have the girls get dressed up and do a fashion show.
• Have a simple game day. Meet them for lunch and invite them back to the church to play dodge ball, sardines (Reverse hide-n-seek- One person hides while everyone waits for 3 minutes… then the search begins! The first person to find the “hider” joins them in their hiding place until everyone is hiding with them!), or any other game you come up with – be creative!
• Make tie-dye. Wal-Mart sells reasonable packages, but you can also find recipes online for homemade dye. Have the girls bring a plain white shirt and go crazy!
• Make a short film. Have the students create a storyline and characters. You can record on a basic family video camera, edit it, and watch it all together.

Hopefully this gets you started! Your students will remember the laughter and silly activities you lead them in. You can model for them that life with Christ is no chore. It is the adventure of a lifetime. They will cherish these memories for years to come.