Summer Ideas for your Student Ministry

Summer is coming! Are you ready? While the Summer is a great time for you to recover and refresh, there are great ministry opportunities for you outside of going to the pool (still one of the best places to do contact work over the summer). In fact, summer provides some unique ministry ideas that you can do for your student ministry.

But what are those opportunities? If you are looking for a place to start to get good ideas, look no further than those you are ministering to. I would suggest you get feedback from parents and students first and foremost. Why? Because those are the people who will be coming to your event before anyone else. If they aren’t excited about your event(s) then they won’t be coming and neither will their friends. So poll them either at a youth activity or with an online poll and see what kind of input or ideas they have for you. I am sure there are some good ideas out there.

Now, even though you may get a good response from this poll, you still may be searching for ideas. So here is a list of  ideas that have been tried and tested over the years that always seem to work well.

• Movies $5 movies. Movie theaters want you to come to the movies. They need your business! So, usually, they will have a $5 (or some variation) movie day where movie tickets that day are that reduced price. Pick a time in the middle of the day (it’s less crowded then) and enjoy the movie with the students.
• Amusement or Water parks. Whether it is an amusement park or water park, see if there is a place within 2 hours of your area to take students to the park. Students often jump at an opportunity to go to the park durning the summer, especially if you plan it towards the end of summer.
• Pool or lake party. As mentioned above the pool is a great place to do contact work during the summer. So you can go and hang out with students there just on a whim. Or, you can organize a pool party where you get students together, order some pizza and hang out for a few hours at a particular pool. Depending on how many communities your Church serves, you can rotate and do a few pool parties throughout the summer. If you live by a lake that people often go to to swim, then organize a trip to go do that.
• Water or Jello Wars. Water wars or even Jello wars are fun ways to spruce things up on a regular youth group night. Either one of them is a perfect activity to do during the summer because of the heat and outside potential. You can get messy and have a ton of fun during a group event.
• Trips into “the City” or “the Country”. If you live close to a city or even a rural community, take a day trip and explore something in the city and eat at a unique place. It could be the Zoo, a Museum, a farm or something else entirely.

Summer time it great! Even though students are on vacations or away at camps some of the time, summer provides a ton of great opportunities that you don’t have during the other seasons of the year. Use this season to think creatively and outside the box to see what works best in your area. It can be an amazing time of year for you to build relationships with students and develop momentum for the school year.

What about you? Are you ready for the Summer? Share your summer ideas below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.