Interesting topics for youth ministry. Topics for youth small groups “Guide my gaze. Topic: Civil society, its origin and features. Features of the formation of civil society in Russia. PR structures and media as elements of civil society

It all works. The ideas for this book came from people just like you—in the thick of youth ministry.

In this book you will discover a goldmine of practical youth ministry ideas for Bible study, evangelistic programs, prayer, games, working with large audiences, tips on how to start a discussion and capture the attention of listeners. All these ideas were developed in practice and sent to the very popular Group Magazine column called “Try this!”

When I started the Group in 1974, there was no World Wide Web, an electronic network for youth workers or anyone else. But there was definitely a need to share good ideas among the struggling youth ministries. This became Group Magazine's dream. A section called “Try This!” quickly became a favorite among readers looking for useful, fun, and tried-and-true ideas submitted by other readers of the magazine. In that pre-Internet era of “Try this!” has turned into an off-line forum that does not require any high technology.

And “Try this!” continues to be a favorite column in The Group, which is the most widely read resource for youth ministries worldwide. Some tips have worked and will continue to work. God has certainly blessed many youth ministries through the ideas someone shared in Try This!

In this book we have collected the most best ideas from our column, sent to us over the past few years. Seek, enjoy and apply these ideas in your ministry. They work! And join a long tradition of sharing the best ideas for youth ministry. Send us your best ideas [email protected]

INTRODUCTION
There comes a time in every youth leader's life when he or she is faced with the eternal question: "What do we need to do about this?" That's why more than two decades ago we decided to launch the “Try this!” section. with sound ideas that you as practitioners have applied in your student ministry.

The very first book published by the Group was a collection of the best letters from the magazine's "Try This!" section. We haven't published books like this for many years and thought it was time to do it. That's why we opened the repository of the “Try this!” section. and selected the best ideas to create another book for you. As we began to review the letters, we were reminded again of the amazing things you do to build relationships with teenagers.

A good and very effective way of evangelization is the so-called Bible circle or, in other words, meetings for those who are interested in the Christian faith.

In our church we have quite successful experience in conducting such classes. I want to share some of my experiences. So, first you need to decide on a list of questions and tasks that face those who want to start this kind of work.

1. Where to hold meetings.
2. How often to hold meetings.
3. Where, how and who to invite.
4. What topics to choose.
5. How to conduct communication.

Let's look at everything in order.

Where to hold meetings?

There are several options: House of Prayer, the house or apartment of one of the believers, a neutral place - rented premises, a cafe, and so on.

Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. My personal experience suggests that it is best to hold Bible circle meetings in the House of Prayer. Why? Firstly, it is convenient, since the House of Prayer most often has all the necessary conditions. Secondly, the invited person involuntarily gets acquainted with the House of Prayer and gets used to it. Subsequently, it will be easier for him to come to worship.

A private house or an apartment is a good option, but has a number of significant disadvantages. Starting from the fact that it is much more difficult for a stranger to come to someone’s personal home than to a public place, such as the House of Prayer, and ending with the fact that people living in the house or apartment may unwittingly interfere with the meeting.

The third option is well suited if the House of Prayer is located in an inconvenient place or for some reason it is impossible to gather in it. It is better to rent a room than to gather in a private house. But this option is the most expensive of all.

How often to hold meetings.

It’s worth noting right away that frequency is not as important as consistency. It is better to have meetings less frequently than to cancel appointments that have already been scheduled from time to time. Good results are achieved with a weekly regimen. In this case, there is enough time to prepare for the next meeting. In addition, the impressions and memories of the meeting will not yet have time to fade for a person who comes to such a conversation within a week.

Setting the frequency less than twice a month is not recommended. The rarer the frequency of communications, the more difficult it is to create a friendly, trusting atmosphere during them, and it is difficult to instill in those visiting the need for such meetings.

Where, how and who to invite.

Consider two different types invitations to such meetings.

1. Personal invitation.

You could ask each church member to make a list of those unbelieving people he knows personally. After this, it is necessary that the one who compiled the list invited everyone on this list to communicate. If the invitee refuses, then it is advisable to ask him if he knows anyone who might be interested in such an invitation.

Our church's experience has shown that the personal invitation method is the most effective.

2. Invitation through invitations, announcements and so on.

In the second case, people are invited to meetings using: invitations and announcements

According to statistics, about 1-2% of the total number of invitees comes through invitations and announcements.

What topics to choose.

Topics can be very diverse. For example:

Does man need God?
-Can a person have communication with God?
- Why do we trust the Bible?
- What is sin and what are its consequences?
- How to overcome sin?
- What is the Church?
- Does true freedom exist?

I will post some materials for preparing these topics on this site under the heading “conversations on Christian topics.”

How to communicate.

We immediately decided that such evenings should take place in a friendly, simple, informal atmosphere. This is not worship, in the usual sense of the word, it is precisely communication. We set up tables, buy cookies and sweets and pour tea. Usually communication begins a little after six in the evening, sometimes even at half past six. But it's not scary. The time while we are waiting for all latecomers is used for communication between those who arrived. Usually from 5 to 15 people come to us. It is better if there are few church members. The most acceptable would be two or three brothers and a sister who would serve the table and accompany on the piano. If more church members come to the fellowship, people may feel uneasy.

Communication begins with prayer. If I see that there are those who came for the first time, then I explain in detail how and why we pray. In roughly these words:

Dear friends. We have Christian fellowship. And since we are Christians, we always ask our God to bless us. For this we will pray. We usually pray on our knees or standing. Now we will stand up and I will say a prayer. If you agree with the words of the prayer, then at the end you can say the word “amen”, which means “truly so.”

After the prayer, I talk about how the communication will go. It is very important to remind those who come that we have communication, so everyone can ask any question, express their opinion, and if they don’t agree with something, then don’t be shy about saying so.

After such an announcement, we invite people to get to know each other. Usually the acquaintance is short. It is suggested to say your name and your relationship to God. It turns out something like this:

My name is Alexey, I am Orthodox, but I don’t go to church.
- My name is Olya, I don’t know what my relationship to God is.
- My name is Mikhail Ivanovich, I think that there is some kind of power in space, but I’m not sure.

Sometimes the introduction can be supplemented with questions. For example:

What do you expect from these communications?
- Tell us about the time when God saved you.
-Have you ever prayed?

After getting acquainted, we propose a topic for discussion.

It is very useful to formulate the topic in the form of a question and ask this question at the very beginning. I usually ask everyone who comes in turn. At this stage, you should not discuss the answers; you need to let the person express his opinion. After everyone has spoken, you need to offer your thoughts. But it is important to remember that communication should not turn into a sermon or monologue. It should be remembered that someone may express an opinion that sharply differs from the Christian one. In any case, you need to treat the person with respect and patience.

If someone who came to the conversation had a birthday the other day, then this is a great way to spend the evening: give the birthday person a small gift, buy a cake. The costs are small, and for non-believers this is further proof that the church is truly one family.

You can sing at the middle and end of the conversation. It is imperative to allocate time (at least one third of the total time) for questions. This is the most important part of communication. Sometimes we even devote the entire evening to questions and answers, and leave the topic for next time.

It is useful if the leader of communication gives everyone his phone number, and writes down the numbers of those who came. I usually send everyone a text message reminding them about the next meeting.

Home > Document

Themes

for youth small groups

"Guide my gaze"

Dear youth leaders!

Let this manual for working in youth small groups “Direct My Eyes” become for you at least a small but tangible support in your difficult and inspired work in a particularly significant territory of God’s field - serving youth and teenagers. The topics are intended primarily for young people who have recently embarked on the path of faith and now need to form or crystallize their Christian position in various areas of spiritual life. Open the doors of small groups for children who feel a lack of Christian fellowship. We believe that you will be able to use the proposed topics not only as a basis for holding youth meetings, discussions, surveys, supplementing them with your accumulated experience and material, but also develop new ones based on this model, urgent ones specifically for the needs of your youth. The order of meetings on topics is free, you can vary it at your discretion. We pray that Christ, our faithful Guide, will direct the gaze of each of you, and that you, in turn, may help your friends to do the same. May your work be blessed! “Be an example for the faithful in word, in life, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity... engage in reading, instruction, teaching. Delve into yourself and into the teaching; do this constantly: for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you” (1 Tim. 4:12, 13, 16). We will be grateful for all your wishes, additions and ideas. We are always waiting for you here: ym@ Prayerfully, EAD Youth Department

Legend:

- Molitva. Use a variety of different and unexpected approaches to your prayer ministry. Prayer can be a powerful means of bringing your group together and growing spiritually. Here are some suggestions:

Leader's prayer.

The leader prays for the whole group or for each participant individually.

Prayer in a circle.

Gratitude or prayer requests are distributed among the meeting participants, and each person in turn brings a specific request to God.

Prayer - chain

The leader begins the prayer, and everyone, in turn, without saying “Amen,” continues, adding to it. These can be prayers of both glorification and prayers of petition.

Prayer of someone standing nearby

Having previously learned about the wishes, the participants pray in a circle for the person standing next to them.

Jewish prayer

The person who wishes praises God in prayer or summarizes requests. The rest echo him in chorus with phrases addressed to God, for example, “Amen!”, or “Glory to You for Jesus Christ” or “Thank you!” etc.

Secret Prayer Friend

Participants write their prayer requests in notes, sign and exchange them. They pray for these requests for a week, and then at the next meeting they find out who their secret prayer friend was and what happened during the week.

Prayer popcorn

The idea is that prayers are said randomly, in a continuous stream, one after another, in turn by everyone, even if twice by the same participants. At the end of the “claps,” the leader says “Amen.”

One Prayer

Each meeting you choose a common problem: one person or group, minister, region or area of ​​​​life, and with the whole group in unity you pray about it for a week.

Prayer time

Determine the general, most convenient time of prayer during the day or evening for your group. Remind him about it during meetings and inspire the guys to pray.

Prayer of change

Teach the children to turn requests, even the most urgent ones, into gratitude. Agree that in prayer you will hear only praise to God for everything. Sometimes it is not easy, but you will feel joy from this prayer.

Prayer chain

Distribute time between participants so that the entire day or day is covered in prayer. This will be a special experience for you.

Prayer phone

Choose someone who is willing (you can even be a senior member of the Church) who, for example, in the coming week would have constant contact by home or mobile phone and could be “on duty” on the “prayer phone.” This should be a person whom the guys trust. Agree that, if possible, you will pray together over the phone or the person on duty will support in prayer the one who called independently.

Prayer stand

If you don’t already have something like this, organize a prayer stand in the youth room or in the lobby of the Church. Anyone looking at this display in the "Answers from God" section would see the mighty works of God in the lives of the children from your church, and they could also leave their needs in the "Letters to Heaven" section for your church prayer group. Some practical advice: the stand can be made from chipboard or made from a piece of foam plastic, then covered with fabric (for example, dark blue), use buttons to attach sheets of needs. There is another option - place only answers to prayers on the stand, and place a “Heavenly Mail” basket to collect needs. A more creative approach allows you to design your stand in the shape of... an apple tree. Needs are placed on the half where leaves are depicted, and answers are placed on the half with ripe fruits depicted.

Prayer Friend

Pray that the Lord will give you a prayer friend, a person with whom you would be open and honest. Singing Use all possible resources for singing and musical arrangement of the meeting. Teach the youth that music is the most powerful tool in winning hearts for God. Scripture Study P presentation of the topic Aim of the meeting
Questions, tests, questionnaires Discussions, discussions Missionary projects For ideas on mission projects, use the Getting Started Ideas guide or other books or websites: /base/index.shtml Homework End of the meeting

I'd rather die Keeping the faith If you loved me, you'd agree In the name of love I'm ready A game called dating An internal struggle What should I do on Saturday? The Holy Spirit and you A life filled with stress The choice is yours Trainspotting Children just want to have fun Bringing joy to people No one is perfect The first one is always lonely Looking for love Which channel to watch? Christianity Honestly We are the world Wise enough Let's become attractive! So what's the difference? Look up

I'd rather die

I'd rather die

Questions

What do you think of when you hear the word “suicide”?

Try answering the following question: “What makes your life truly miserable?”

If you heard a friend say the following words: “I wish I was dead,” how would you react?

Below are five reasons why people decide to take their own lives; choose one of the most common in your opinion and suggest a way to solve such a problem, excluding suicide.

A. Divorce of parents ______________________________________________________________ B. Feeling of loneliness (abandonment) _____________________________________________ B. Breaking up a relationship with a loved one _____________________________________________ D. Poor attitude from parents _____________________________________ D. Deep depression _______________________________________________ _____

Andrei's parents divorced when he was nine years old. There were three children in the family, of whom he was the eldest. He felt very lonely and unwanted. During math class, he wrote a note saying he was looking to commit suicide, but then threw it away. You found it by accident. You have known Andrey for about two years, but you never knew about his depression. What should you do in this case? (select more than one option if desired)

A. Show the note to the class teacher ____ B. Tell your parents about Andrei ____ C. Consult with someone in the church ____ D. Laugh at the note ____ D. Think that he is not capable of this, he just wants to attract attention ____ E. Throw it away note and forget about it ____ G. Tell Andrei’s mom ____ Z. Call the police ____ I. Talk to Andrei about his feelings ____ K. Will you pray for someone to help him ____ L. Your answer option ___________________________________________________ Scripture Study

Read each Bible text below and complete the sentence according to what you read:

Heb. 4.15-16 Jesus knows how I feel because ____________________________ Gall. 6.2 I am responsible for _________________________________________________ Ps. 22.4-6 When it’s hard for me, God is able to _____________________________________

Keeping the Faith

Subject:Faith Aim of the meeting Youth is the time when a person develops reflexive thinking. Youthful faith is very receptive because it is ready to experience everything. They The young man feels old enough to blindly believe what his parents say. This topic allows your group to discuss the concept of faith in more detail and in a more expressive way. PrayerSingingTopic Submission As an “ice breaker” To defuse the situation, you can start the dialogue by discussing the motorists’ phrase regarding brakes: “Trust, but verify.” Ask the audience to determine if this phrase has anything in common with a Christian's faith. Give everyone the opportunity to finish the sentence in turn: to believe means... Dialogue:

rAsk each person to explain why they made that choice. Each phrase examines faith from a different perspective. Make sure everyone answers honestly. To do this, you can conduct an anonymous survey, and the answers can be read out at the end of the meeting. The purpose of this survey is for everyone to determine for themselves in which area of ​​their activities they truly exercise faith. It is also recommended that this survey be conducted anonymously. These creeds will help your group examine themselves and reflect on what they believe. If you think it necessary, there may be a discussion about the basic doctrines of the Church. You can also pass out booklets containing all the points of doctrine and discuss them together. Use this time to reaffirm what those present unquestioningly believe. Give them the opportunity to understand that doubts are acceptable, but the main thing is how we respond to those doubts. Doubted Even John the Baptist doubted (Luke 7.:18-23). Ask several group members to continue the sentences aloud. Discuss each text, but focus on one in more detail, paying attention to the context.

End of the meeting: Emphasize that doubts are natural. Undoubtedly, each of them must test their faith in God in accordance with the faith of their parents. Let each of them see how their lives correspond to what they believe in. Check Tell us how faith affects the quality of life. The Bible teaches that “faith without works is dead.” Consider point No. 3 again to become more confident in it. Missionary projects Homework

Invite the youth to ask their parents about their faith in God, life after death, the Bible, miracles, prayer, etc. Ask what they learned from this conversation.

Gather questions they have about the Christian faith. Let them write down the questions. Let them write down the questions on paper, and you promise that you will answer and return them. This must be done anonymously. Invite a pastor to help answer teens' questions.

PrayerSinging

Keeping the Faith

Questions:

Name one or two people who, in your opinion, have a strong faith in God?

_______________________________________________________________________ 2. Circle your desired answers to the following statements according to how you think. (S – agree, NU – not sure, N – disagree)

a) A believer never doubts God	WITH	WELL	N
b) For most people, faith is a good support	WITH	WELL	N
c) It is much more difficult for modern people to maintain faith than for people at the time the Bible was written	WITH	WELL	N
d) Faith helps me in school exams	WITH	WELL	N
e) God does not expect constant faithfulness from us.	WITH	WELL	N
f) If I became an eyewitness to some miracle, my faith would become stronger	WITH	WELL	N
g) Faith helps to recover during illness	WITH	WELL	N
h) If not everything in life goes smoothly, then this means a lack of faith	WITH	WELL	N

3. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how much faith you exercise in different areas of your life.

In communication with friends ____ In the family ____ During dates ____ At work ____ At school ____ In free time ____ In life in general ____

4. The following are excerpts from a Christian's profession of faith. What questions are you absolutely sure about, what questions do you doubt, and what questions do you disagree with?

1) I believe in the triune God	Sure	I doubt	I don't agree
2) I believe that Christ rose from the dead	Sure	I doubt	I don't agree
3) I believe that the Word of God is truth	Sure	I doubt	I don't agree
4) I believe that I will go to heaven when I die after the resurrection	Sure	I doubt	I don't agree
5) I trust that God always answers prayers	Sure	I doubt	I don't agree

Scripture Study 5. Read the texts from the Bible and complete the given phrases according to what you read. Rome. 10.:17 Faith from ___________________________________________________________________ Heb. 12:.2 Christ is _____________________________________________________ Heb. 11:.1 Faith is ____________________________________________________________ James. 2:. 18-19 Faith is known in _____________________________________________________

1. So that the Ministry of Finance strictly monitors the implementation of these agreements at the regional level

   Document

   At the same time, I would like to especially note and emphasize that in some regions I have already recorded a decrease in funding in some industries at the expense of funds allocated within the framework of national projects.

2. Budgetary institution of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Ugra for children in need of psychological, pedagogical and medical and social assistance “center for psychological, pedagogical rehabilitation and correction” “Psychological, pedagogical and social assistance to children,

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   7.2. Features of psychological and pedagogical support for adolescents with deviant behavior in special secondary schools closed type………74

3. Topic: Basic organizational forms in large-scale business

   Solution

   The development of modern scientific and technological progress in countries with developed economies is determined by the size of the organization and the effectiveness of their innovation activities.

4. For those who once listened to “Aria” and “Master”

   Document

5. Topic: Civil society, its origin and features. Features of the formation of civil society in Russia. PR structures and media as elements of civil society

   Document

   Topic 1. Civil society, its origin and features. Features of the formation of civil society in Russia. PR - structures and media as elements of civil society.

1) The easiest option is to prepare some a passage of Scripture with several interesting, debatable questions. It happens that while reading Scripture an interesting thought was born, but the material is not enough for a full conversation, then you can use this form. A passage and questions about the passage - that’s the whole recipe for preparing a youth one. The main thing is to choose interesting questions, then such an express analysis will be easy. Although, of course, for the most part, the foundation of any quality analysis is good questions. But I'm not talking about deep theological issues. In principle, you can ask young people to highlight some elements in the text, or vice versa, look for questions in the provided passage.

For example, you can take chapter 23 of Matthew and identify with the youth the characteristic features of Pharisaism, write them down on the board, and then think about how they can manifest themselves in our lives. I got the following features:

• the Pharisees strive to take the place of teachers (verse 2),
• the Pharisees “speak but do not do” (verses 3-4),
• the most important thing for a Pharisee is the approving reaction of people (verse 5),
• the Pharisees strive to measure spiritual characteristics by numerical methods (verse 5b),
• love praise (verses 6-7),
• are an obstacle to others on the path to God (verse 13),
• for them the form of prayer is more important than its sincerity (verse 14),
• spread their pharisaism with enviable tenacity (verse 15),
• for them the form is more important than the content of the Divine Service (verses 16-22),
• change the places of the main and secondary (verses 23-24),
• the outer side of spiritual life is more important than the inner (verses 25-28).

If you also ask the youth to select an example from Scripture for each characteristic, I think that the usual two hours of youth training will not be enough for you.

2) Another version of express parsing could be this option: divide the youth into groups and give assignments based on the text. For example: John 2:1-11 This text describes a miracle that occurred. Each group of youth must highlight in the text the necessary conditions for the fulfillment of this miracle; find an example of a miracle from the Old and New Testaments and check whether the highlighted conditions are met. I came up with the following conditions: Jesus must be called, must have faith, the right hour must come, there must be obedience to the words of God.

Another example: Proverbs 2:1-5 The path to the Fear of God and the knowledge of God. Give the groups a task - to highlight the steps proposed by Solomon on the path to the Fear of God, to select examples from life.

3) In general, group work is very effective and always resonates with young people. Feel free to divide groups, if you don’t have time to prepare, there will be more opportunities to conduct an interesting youth activity. The main thing is not to get carried away too much by the form, and choose high-quality content. Another option for express analysis: select paired texts, divide youth into two groups. Give the first group one of the texts and ask them to use it to create as many questions as possible for the second group. The second group is given another text and asked to make up as many questions about it as possible for the first. You can even arrange a kind of competition, and award points to a group for each question that the other group could not answer.

4) Another option for working in groups is group topic analysis. It’s just important not to choose a topic that is too broad, but to narrow it down as much as possible. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to lead the discussion when summing up. As you know, a topic can be explored “horizontally” and “vertically”. That is, either talk about various aspects of the topic, or deepen the content of the topic.

For example, examining the topic of meekness in Everyday life, you can give a task to groups: the first group to find in Scripture how meekness should be manifested at home, in the family. The second group - how meekness should be manifested in the church in communion with the saints. The third group, how meekness should be manifested in the world. This is a horizontal disclosure of the topic. For many topics, the formula can be applied: home/church/world.

Also an example of a horizontal disclosure of the topic of prayer: personal prayer, public prayer, prayer of repentance, intercessory prayer. Assign each group of youth to a subtopic and give them a task - select scriptures and give examples from life.

Vertical disclosure of the topic implies deepening into the subject of study. If we are talking about some characteristic of a believer, or about some commandment, then we can differentiate the topic as follows: the first group explains the basic concepts, the essence of the phenomenon on the basis of Scripture. The second group, based on Scripture, finds out how it is practically expressed in life. The third group examines what the Bible says about the blessings of a given quality or commandment. The fourth group examines the issue of punishment or consequences for failure to keep a commandment.

This requires some preparation, but it won’t take much time if the topic is clear to you and has been thought through before. Or, for example, you recently read a good book on this topic - you can also safely discuss the topic with young people. What to spend time on when preparing youth in this form? We need to prepare tips. It will be difficult for young people to immediately orient themselves correctly in the topic, and you must be ready to tell them where to “dig.”

In group work, the leader himself should not be involved in direct discussion. The task of a leader, as we know, is to lead. He must move from group to group and listen carefully to the discussion. If necessary, help organize the discussion with correctly posed questions. If things are really bad, give some advice unobtrusively. When dividing young people into groups, try to do this so that the groups are more or less equal in quality of composition. So that each group has active and sociable youth members, so that communication in the group does not stop. It is imperative to organize the atmosphere correctly - arrange the chairs in such a way that everyone in the group can see and listen to each other. Groups should not be larger than 12-15 people, because it is difficult to organize reasoning in large groups. When working in groups, be sure to discuss the conclusions reached by each group at the end of the meeting. It is necessary to allow time for this, because during the discussion there may also be a small debate, especially if the conclusions on the same issues differ among different groups. In any case, the leader must put an end to the discussion. Summarize - in a clear and unambiguous formulation.

5) An interesting option for holding a youth event without preparation could be discussion forms of work. I will write about them in more detail, I will not repeat myself.

6) Don’t neglect game forms of work. Of course, you can’t abuse them, but sometimes you can use them. Games are especially good because they can be prepared in advance and used at any convenient time. Whether the youth gathered spontaneously after a meeting, or at someone's house... instead of allowing the youth to make jokes and talk about "nothing", it is better to encourage the youth to play some kind of spiritual game. Some of the leaders manage to use board games, giving them a spiritual meaning, or replacing questions from quizzes with Biblical ones.

I hope these ideas will help you and inspire you to come up with something of your own, even more interesting, exciting and useful. Of course, the methods that are proposed here are just some options that a leader should have “up his sleeve.” Nothing can replace a well-prepared and conducted analysis. In any case, the situation when there is no time to prepare is abnormal, and we should not justify ourselves in this. Youth is a purposeful meeting, working with a target group in the church. We have a responsibility to prepare quality spiritual food.

In the next letter I will try to talk about other non-standard forms of holding youth events, but which require quite diligent preparation and time.