Hi. I was a youth group leader for a couple of years, but I wasn't in charge of the whole thing. Honestly, I think it's too heavy for a teenager! Is there anyone else in your church who you might be able to talk to about it all beforehand?

One thing I remember is that we decided that there was no point in having a church youth group without devotions, so we made sure each night had a lesson in it. We also had a team that worked together; most of them were older teens, but we did have an older couple in charge of it all. Often the younger ones would be in charge of running a night (in teams of two or three) but they would always meet with the leader before hand to iron out any issues.

We always had running around and casual games to start the night. Most kids are pretty antsy after a week of school, and need some activity and a chance to catch up with their friends. You don't need big formal activities for this, just get a ball or something and have some fun. Then we'd do the activity for the night.

Each night would have a theme; For example, we might decide that in semester one we would do stories from the old testament, and then we would work out how many youth group nights were in that semester, and then allocate that many old testament stories to those nights.

Then we'd try and find a fun, interactive way to present the message. Sometimes we'd act it out, or do a game show, or have contests between groups, or have a dress up night. But somewhere in the night there would be a passage from the bible, and its meaning shared.

Then we'd close in prayer and have some supper.

At our youth group we charged $1 a night (I think, that was a few years ago) and that money helped to pay for supper and materials for the activities. At some point we had a night centered around world poverty, and then sponsered a child as a youth group and collected an extra $1 a night (voluntarily) for that as well. If we went broke, the youth group would get together and try and raise money by washing cars or selling chocolates or something. We also had a camp once a year.

Anyway, there are probably as many different ways to run a youth group as there are youth groups. If your church has a good relationship with another church that has a youth group already, why don't you see if you can go visit them, or at least meet with their leader, or email them or something? Get a lot of ideas, and then you can choose what seems best.

You could even see if you can get a book on running a youth group, something like a homeschool curriculum, just for youth groups instead :)

I hope this has given you some ideas, even if it's just what to avoid. Good luck!

the person before me gave alot and i think its all great stuff. just so we know how long is your yourth group nights? what ages, like is it just high schoolers or Jr higher or both? how many? those things can chang how the group should work. one thing i know as a teen leading teens you need to set the law, like when you say the group is going to do something do it, dont let them walk on you, its very easy to let them take over, so be strong. i can help with activetys if you want, but this isnt something some one can tell you how to do, we can help when things happen but we dont know your group you do some things that have worked for us may not work for you. try new thing, ask them what they want from a youth group, but be sure to keep God and the bible the main part. let me know if you need anything else, and how everything is going.

say strong in the Lord
brett