Whether you feel ready or not, fall is here.
Each year I spend the summer hanging out with students, and planning for the fall. Actually, planning the entire year. We wrote an article last week that you can check out called, 5 Ways To Be Ready For The Fall. There are tons of resources out there to help youth pastors. I know that a lot of youth workers don’t have design skills, or the ability to spend hours developing a calendar from scratch. All you need to know is the basic of design programs and buy resources that can help you.
Here are the top 15 resources that we will be using this fall:
1. Clean Fall 2015 Calendar. We will be using this awesome looking calendar for our sr.youth ministry. It’s an upgrade on the calendar last year, and it has fall colors. Love the look of it, and it’s pretty helpful to parents.
2. Bright Fall 2015 Calendar. This is a bright and fun calendar we use each year for our jr.youth. We will be using it again. Why reinvent the wheel. Sometimes it’s worth using what works.
3. Fall 3 Month Calendar. This is from our friends over at youth min.org. The beauty of this calendar is that it’s fully editable on microsoft word. You don’t need a design program for this calendar.
4. Leader Search Game. We play this game every fall with our jr.youth leaders and we give each leader a gift card to give away to the first student who finds them. Easy to plan, and you can launch a night around this type of game.
5. Mall Hunt Event. This is an event we run each November that is a huge hit. We divide each team up into groups with a leader and set them loose. It’s always a huge hit, and the students invite a ton of friends. There’s a manifesto of points that they are trying to keep track of. So each team carries a booklet around.
6. Fall Launch Poster/Postcards. Again, this is an awesome resource from our youth min.org friends. Love the look of the fall launch theme.
7. Candy Auction Game. Here is one of our most popular games we have ever done for our Jr.youth ministry. This is a huge hit and students look forward to it every year. We do this event every year at halloween and Easter. It always draws in friends, and is a huge hit.
8. Habits (3 Week Sermon Series). Habits is a series that will help your students understand how to live a transformed life. Each week of the three week series will focus on a new and different challenge. Everything is included in this pack to lead an unforgettable youth ministry sermon series.
9. How to become a Christian message. How do you explain to someone or your group how to become a Christian? One of the hardest things to explain in a simple and clear way. Here is a great example as how to help people come to know Christ. We do a version of this each year for both jr. and sr. youth. It’s always great to see students come to know Christ at different events.
10. Identity (3 Week Sermon Series). Identity is a 3 week youth ministry sermon series designed to help students understand where their identities are found. The Goal is for each student to find their identity in Christ.
11. 4 Pack of Postcards. Here is one simple way to show that you care about your leaders, students and parents. Download and print off these postcards, and write a note to someone in your youth ministry today.
12. New Christian Bible Reading Plans. New stats show that less than 20% of churchgoers read their Bibles daily. I wonder what that number is in youth ministry? Regardless of the number, we need to get students into the word daily. Here is a great starter plan for someone who is a new Christian. I remember when I became a Christian in grade 10, and received my first Bible, I had no idea where to go. I wish someone gave me one of these. Download it and print it off.
13. 30 Days Through The New Testament Bible Reading Plan. This plan is a little more intense, but it might be something that a student is looking for. Help a few students you are discipling read through the New Testament in 30 days.
14. Volunteer Job Descriptions. Do your leaders know what is being asked of them? If not, here are three sample volunteer job descriptions. A couple of years ago I created these as a way to help leaders know exactly what was being asked of them each week. It breaks their job description into hours required, job description, requirements, and accountability.
15. Youth Ministry Poster Template. Here is a great looking poster template to put events, sermon series, and social media accounts on. The best part about this youth ministry poster template is that it’s fully editable.
There you go. There are 15 resources to help you have the best year yet. I hope that some of these resources have been helpful to you and your youth ministry.
