The Monday Morning Debrief: Friday Night Hangout

Ever since we have been in the nZone, New Life’s Student Ministry has been doing a thing on Friday nights called “the Hangout”.  It’s simple really.  We get together on Friday nights and play games.  Usually they are turf games but we also have a Wii and/or movie playing.  I did something like this when I was at another Church but nothing where I had the ability to use multiple turf fields, basketball courts and a multipurpose room.  The response has been overwhelmingly good and we are currently looking for different ways to improve it and make it even better as more and more students come.

The reason why we started this is because we wanted to provide students with a fun, safe place to go on a Friday night.  Teens desperately want to do something on Friday nights.  They’ve had a long week and they want to get out with their friends and socialize.  Despite all the mischief students get into on the weekends, I don’t believe that all of them desire to cause trouble.  It just happens, especially when there isn’t something out there for them to do.

That is why we started “the Hangout”.  We wanted to provide students with a safe option on a Friday night. We wanted to provide them with a fun environment, parent free (well mostly parent free), where they can horse around (we like to play variations of dodgeball) and just be themselves.  Again, it has worked out great so far and has also been a good bridge to our “regular” youth program.  So, we are excited about what has been happening and really curious to see what becomes of it down the road.

This is just one idea we have had for a Friday night.  Have you tried something else?  TAKE A MINUTE and share what you are doing to offer a safe place for students to go to so that all of us can benefit and possibly try it.