Training Your Young People?
planning, the teens have a month in which to prepare one program, you get more variety in the programs be cause more teens are involved, and you build better- quality programs because of a competitive spirit between planning groups. You do not need a large group to have planning groups. If there are only eight or ten teens, you can divide into two planning groups, each group being re sponsible for a program every other week. If yours is a large group •— 50 or more you could have as many as six planning groups. An alternative is to have half of the teens on planning groups and half on committees such as these: social, missionary, enlistment, newspaper, li brary, etc. Many regular-size groups of 20 or 30 youth have each teen on a planning group and also on a com mittee. Give this plan a try in your local group. The interest of your teen-agers will increase quickly, and they will begin to develop leadership abilities. 3. Use your young people in presenting the programs. For interest-packed meetings, use your young people themselves. Urge them to express themselves in lively discussions. Involve them in debates and interesting pan els. Plan symposiums, “ buzz” groups, interviews, tape recordings, reports, role-playing, skits, brain-storming. Use every young person, insofar as possible — the shy, the popular, the talented, and the untalented. A good rule to follow: Do nothing yourself, as a sponsor, that you can train your young people to do. But how can you get young people to participate? See that they understand the purpose of youth groups. When they see that the meetings should be geared for train ing, and not just fellowship or a good time, they will begin to see why they must participate and not just “ spectate.” Also, use your top leaders as planning-group chairmen — to begin with, anyway. Do not expect a shy young person to moderate a debate on the Bible and evolution the very first time he attends your youth group! Give him a smaller responsibility at first — making a poster, distributing the songbooks, running the filmstrip projector, making phone calls. Eventually he will take on greater responsibilities. Follow these three basic principles for solid youth training. As a sponsor, you have the responsibility before God of doing your utmost to bolster the spiritual living of your youth. Do your very best to mature and train each young person in your group. If you are a Sunday School teacher, encourage your teenagers to participate in the meetings. Work closely with your sponsor. If you are a superintendent or pas tor, recognize that a training program for your youth in an indispensable factor in your church program. It aug ments the Sunday School, it develops future leadership, and it leads young people toward maturity in Christ. Be satisfied with nothing less than genuine spiritual results. Go all out to make your youth program a training program!
1. Choose young people’s topics that have built-in training. Help your young people choose subjects in which they are interested. Then tailor the programs around these subjects to meet the specific needs of your group. Focus on solid topics such as, “How to win souls,” “Where we got our Bible,” “ How to know God’s will,” “How to have devotions,” and “What it takes to be a leader.” Debate whether or not teen-agers should go steady and whether young people should go to a Chris tian or secular college. Discuss how your local church functions, what people of false cults and religions believe, how to live with parents, how to make the best use of time, talents, and money, how to face decisions, and oth er “ live” topics. Have a couple programs on how to win Catholics to Christ, in which the teens learn the principles and then “ practice” witnessing to Catholics. Spend a couple Sun days on the problem of juvenile delinquency, nationally and locally, and what your teens can do about it. Plan a program on how Christians can be popular, another on how to worship, and another on how to overcome tempta tion. Provide serious, solid, practical, and challenging meetings. Make each youth meeting a time in which your young people come to grips with Bible truths, grapple with live-wire issues, and gain in leadership ability. 2. Assist your youth in planning their own programs. Some youth sponsors act as “ clowns,” entertaining their young people with jokes, novelties, quizzes, etc. Some are back-pew chaperons who accompany the group on their socials but fail to train them through purpose ful programing. Other sponsors spoon-feed their young people with sermons each week. A good sponsor works behind the scenes. As a coach, he assists his young people when necessary but lets them “ carry the ball” as much as they are able. As a result, his young people are being trained for dynamic, spiri tual living and high-fidelity Christian leadership. Help your young people to schedule youth-program subjects for at least three months in advance. Many youth groups are successfully using the planning-group idea. It works like this: Divide your group into four smaller groups, and ap point a capable leader for each group. Each planning group is responsible for planning and presenting one program a month. Many youth groups have found that the planning- group idea is the most effective organizational plan they have tried. They declare that it is better than having a program committee of a handful of youth planning every program, week after week. By having planning groups, you interest a maximum of teens in program
Dr. Zuck, a graduate of Biola, serves on the staff of Scripture Press. His complete article on this subject appears in the March, 1961 issue of LINK.
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MAY, 1962
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