Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

5 Things Youth Pastors Need To Do This Summer - Youth Ministry Strategies

• Kristen Lascola • Episode 190

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Summer is coming, and with it, the usual youth ministry challenges—inconsistent attendance and scarce volunteers. However, we're here to tell you that keeping your youth group thriving through these warm months is not only possible but vital. In this episode, we have 5 things that youth pastors need to do this summer in their student ministry to be a lifeline for building momentum, deepening relationships, and fostering discipleship. 

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We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a weekly basis to be that coach and mentor you may not have, but desperately need.
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You may also enjoy these episodes:

(#108) Summertime Event Ideas for Youth Ministry

(#098) Get More Sign Ups for Your Youth Ministry Summer Camp

(#053) How to Plan a Low Cost Summer Camp for Youth Ministry

(#043) DIY Church Camp Planning - Youth Ministry Summer Camp Checklist

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Speaker 1:

If you have 50% of your kids not be there, you still have 50% that are there. Don't give up. Don't let that be the reason you quit youth ministry in the summer. Keep going Even if attendance is low, even if your leaders are gone. Do not look for excuses to cancel. Keep it going when in doubt. Have youth group. It's going to pay dividends in terms of the vibe of your youth group, the connection, making this their home, making roots here and becoming disciples. Ultimately, today we're talking about five things you should make sure you do this summer in your youth ministry.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where every week, we bring you actionable and practical tips that you can implement into your youth ministry. My name is Jeff Lascola and this is Kristen Lascola. And at the time of filming this is April. So the topic of today is what should you be doing, or what should you have already started doing, to prepare yourself for summertime and youth ministry?

Speaker 1:

Yes, great question. It is April, which is not too early to be thinking about summer. In fact, my summer camp signups went live today, april 1st, and I sent the email this morning, probably about nine o'clock. It's one o'clock already. I'm my first signup, so they are ready and eager for summer. I think this is like we just got off spring break and everyone's like oh no, this was the last little like taste of vacation before summer.

Speaker 1:

So what does that mean for us in youth ministry? Well, number one stop doing youth ministry in the summer, just shut it down, cancel. Just April Fool's, april Fool's. Yeah, so it's April Fool's today, and Jeff found that out when there was garlic salt in his water bottle.

Speaker 2:

My children put garlic salt in my water. I was like what is?

Speaker 1:

this. I could have warned you, but I did not.

Speaker 2:

Thanks.

Speaker 1:

They swore me to secrecy, I'm like, eh, I'll let it go. So, anyways, we do not stop. Yeah, okay, that is number one. There is this idea. Hopefully it's outdated and long in the past and nobody actually does this anymore, but there was a time where people would shut down youth ministry for the summer, and I think the reasoning behind that is because summer, obviously, if you've been in youth ministry for more than a year, you've noticed your attendance does dip in the summer. Yeah, not only with your students, but it's hard on our volunteer teams too, like trying to finagle all these leaders who are gone and then like, oh, how do we lead small groups and how do we do this? And I'm missing half my team. Like there's been nights during the summer for youth group where all of a sudden I'm like I have like 25% of my leaders here tonight. Like what do we do? Don't give up. Don't let that be the reason you quit youth ministry in the summer. Keep going, even if attendance is low, even if your leaders are gone. Do not look for excuses to cancel. Keep it going. When in doubt, have youth group. Okay, summer is a perfect time. Even though the numbers dip and people are out of town. It still is moving, it still is a part of your momentum building. So here's why.

Speaker 1:

Here's what I personally believe is that people make you a part of their routine and when you stop and you are no longer a part of their routine, they make a new routine that does not include you. They realize, oh, you know, that was a season we filled our Tuesday or Wednesday night with something different. Now we're sort of in a different routine and maybe somewhere down the line they'll think of you again. But I like, when people think of our youth group, it's like I know they're there Tuesday night. Six, 30 to eight, 30, unless it's Christmas, they are there really. I mean, we're gone at winter or summer camp for that one Tuesday I still have most of your kids with me at summer camp and then two weeks off for Christmas.

Speaker 1:

Other than that, even Thanksgiving, spring break, you know, uh, president's day week, you know, sometimes ski week, whatever your school district calls it. Sometimes I'll get these random emails from parents or texts like is there still chaos tonight? And I'm like, of course. And then I look at the calendar. I'm like, oh, it's because the schools are out. They think we're out. Nope, we are there, and so I want to eliminate that question from their minds and I want to have as much momentum as possible. It's like a business when we've talked about this before, like when it's clear, like you're going to be open from this day to this day.

Speaker 1:

But then you hit a few times where you show up to your favorite restaurant, oh, they're closed on monday shoot well, you find a new restaurant. They become a part of your routine and you know I I just want to be there as often as possible yeah, so it's predictable and you can count on the fact that I know for you.

Speaker 2:

I know tuesday night is always going to be the night we have youth group, no matter what. And so cause in the summertime, obviously, like what you're saying is, families go on vacation, kids are off, so there's a lot of turnover and change in in routine. But if you can have those certain anchor points, everyone still knows where Sunday is, you know. You might midweek, you might like what day is it? I don't know, you know, but their parents probably still know, and so if they can kind of keep on track and say, hey, this is always like the anchor points of, yes, you still have youth group in the midweek and yes, we still go to church on Sundays. You know that doesn't change. It's a good point of consistency in your ministry to continue that momentum.

Speaker 1:

And overall, I mean, if you have 50% of your kids not be there, you still have 50% that are there, you know, and I've found that like sometimes a smaller group, it's a cool dynamic and all of a sudden, people who normally don't talk or participate all of a sudden there I'm like have you been here this whole time? But they like kind of hang back because it's so big or loud or, you know, some of the other kids are more aggressive or outgoing and now they have a chance to shine and be comfortable and it can just create new dynamics. So why risk, you know?

Speaker 1:

And then you have to do a whole big reboot every year instead of like, no, we've been here the whole time. Because if you stop for the summer, then every fall you're like you should be furiously communicating. Here's where we're meeting, here's what we're doing. We're having a big event. You've got to do a restart. And I don't want to do a restart every year. We're always here, join us or not, but we will always be here. So that's number one. Number two what you can do this summer in your youth ministry is see your students more, and for some of you you're like how much more could I possibly see them. And here's just a few ideas, since the summer schedule is a little lax and it's just people are sometimes less available, but some people are more available.

Speaker 1:

Not everybody is going on vacation. You know, sometimes it's like guy we got to get out of the house and what do we do? So here's a few ideas for us. We do beach days because we're right on the coast, and so we'll take a few Thursdays and just do a beach day. We're all meeting down at the Harbor for like addition to normal youth.

Speaker 1:

Yes, Not taking the place of it. So youth group is on Tuesdays. We do a beach day on Thursday just for another outlet to see each other, to hang out their home and available anyways, and it varies. Some weeks we have a ton of kids and some weeks it's like where is everyone?

Speaker 1:

Oh well, I'm at the beach, so who cares? And you don't have to do a whole lot for that. It's like where is everyone? Oh well, I'm at the beach, so who cares? And you don't have to do a whole lot for that. It's like they bring money, we walk down and get ice cream. They pack a lunch. We go right by the lifeguard tower so that I'm not like nervous the whole time of like having to watch all these kids in the water but have some professional help there.

Speaker 1:

So beach days is a great one, another great one that our senior pastor recommends every summer. He tells us, guys, you have a youth room, you could just have it open and tell people, hey, feel free to come and hang out, bring a friend, between the hours of 11 and three, you know, and we'll order pizza or play some games or watch a movie or you know, just kind of a lazy afternoon in the youth room. I don't know about you guys, my kids love being in the youth room, my students. They want to play the video games. I have a basketball hoop. They're always playing one-on-one and we have our four square thing. Then we have, like, coloring books or we always have a treat. I mean, I usually have to kick them out after church and finally just say I am leaving, I am locking the doors, you have to leave too.

Speaker 1:

So imagine having the youth room open and like, hey, it's, it's open for hours. Come and hang out. If you have a sweet youth room, that could be a great selling point. And again, that's really little effort for you. All you're doing is showing up, turning the lights on turning the video games on. You don't really have to do anything except community and be there, almost like a Boys and Girls Club kind of teen hangout feel and get creative. You can do. There's a really cheap and easy way to do Boba that I did with my students with Sprite and you order the Boba on Amazon and then Sprite, and then you order the straws and then you can add the pump syrups like strawberry, watermelon, whatever, to make it a flavor. That's a great summer easy idea. You could sell them for a dollar if you can't foot the bill for it, so it's just easy.

Speaker 1:

Another thing you could do that I've tried in the past and it went well. I think this works better for high schoolers but having an extra Bible study during the week, so I would do Monday afternoons from like three to four, 30. And my my angle was I was going to teach them how to study the Bible on their own. So I would show them the different commentaries and how to use an online commentary and how to do a word study and how to cross-reference, and then I'd give them like a topic and I'd say, okay, build a little mini course, sermon or Bible study around this, based on the tools I just gave you. Our high school ministry had really great success with that. My junior hires. I think they wanted to like it, but it was. It was like when do we play the game?

Speaker 2:

You know, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

It was a little harder of a sell for them. But, um, if you do high school ministry doing an extra Bible study and and it's not another program for you because you don't have to do all the frills that go along with program and to make it magnetic you tell them what it is like. This is a Bible study. Now, caution here Don't ever replace your normal youth group with.

Speaker 1:

We're just going to go bare bones Bible study, and the reason for that is not because there's anything wrong with studying the Bible. I'm a pastor, that's you know what we live for to get students to do. But it is very hard to use that as an outreach. So your youth group should be a place that works for both the brand new, the seeker, the window shopper and the devoted follower, and you have to catch all of them with one program and that's youth group. Now if you want to do just a bare bones Bible study, do that in addition to that, because then there's nothing to invite people to Someone who's window shopping Christianity. If you just invite them to a hardcore, all right, sit down everyone and open to first Peter three. It's like I have no relationship, I have no context. I have, like you know, and maybe one in a hundred kids that would work for, but I think don't I. I just my opinion. I don't think it's best to replace.

Speaker 1:

I've seen youth pastors do that before and it's like we're getting rid of all the the hype and the frills and we're just going straight to the Bible, which is so good for people who are following Jesus. Problem is, we're trying to catch people who aren't following Jesus yet, and then they will get to that point. So what do we have for them? We can't leave them out. That's part of our job, right? So that's number two. Number three think outside the box with your youth group. This is, with no early mornings and, like I said, a more relaxed schedule. You could be a little creative. Here's some ways that I do it.

Speaker 1:

Number one during the summer, and only during the summer, I have an event called super chaos. So the name of our youth group is chaos. We have super chaos, which means this is going to go an hour longer. So our youth group goes six 30 to eight 30. Super chaos goes till nine 30. Now, during the school year that's not really an option. Parents don't want their kids out till nine 30. By the time you get home, it's 10. What if they still at homework and showers and all that? And that's getting really late. But during the summer it's great because students, they love our youth group so much. They always tell me two things why don't we have chaos more than once a week, and why is it not longer?

Speaker 2:

And what is your real job?

Speaker 1:

True, I just make it look so fun, don't I? So I'm like, okay, I see you, I hear your requests. Let's do it once during the summer. So we'll do basically normal youth group for the first two hours, just like how we always do. And then it's this extra excitement. It's really hard on the small group leaders because we have small group and instead of going out to pick up at the end of small group at 830, they come back into the auditorium and we play another hour of games. Add a little just dance in there, add a little candy in there all their favorite things. So that is super chaos. You could do that very easily.

Speaker 1:

One thing our high school ministry does I don't do this, but I've seen it work really well for them is called swim and study. So every Wednesday night that's when their youth group is they pick a different student who has a cool house that could host and they have youth group there at the at the house, and it's a pool party. They'll order like in and out and everyone pays ahead and someone goes and picks it up and then they have a guest speaker and they do worship outside and it's really fun it's. It's the hard thing with that is, making sure everyone's in the loop. If you're constantly changing locations, if you find one house that is willing to host the whole summer um.

Speaker 2:

start willing, they may not end willing.

Speaker 1:

I've had those people hey come over with the students anytime. And then you do, and you never hear from them again.

Speaker 2:

One and done, that's fine.

Speaker 1:

I got my jewel on my crown, that's it, I don't need more. So, yeah, those are some options to kind of make it a little more summery. Yeah, we're having youth group, but it's always a pool party, good food, something fun like that. And then another thing we do to think outside the box is one of my Tuesdays. I do chaos at the beach, so, um, and it's the same. Well, I do adjust the time a little bit because the kids like to come early. So I say I will be there willing to supervise you, starting at like five o'clock and then we go till eight, 30. So we do youth group, we like play the games, let them swim. We do a barbecue. We don't do s'mores anymore because Southern California can't have open fires on the beach anymore. You can't have a fire pits. Now sometimes we try to do them on the grill. I don't know if you have a new dessert idea for me on the beach, let me know. Uh, and doing worship on the beach is so just beautiful, it's sunset and it's just this one special night a year where we're at the beach. It's right before they go back to school in August and it's so much fun. So, um, those are some ways to think outside the box and do something a little different. That was number three. Number four this one is so important this summer.

Speaker 1:

Make sure you welcome your new class in really, really well. So if you're a middle school ministry, that means reaching out to those fifth grade parents Like if you haven't yet, it's April, like now is the time you should have been reaching out to them and little sprinkles all year long, giving them your summer camp dates, telling them about when the kids are transitioning up to your ministry, and stuff like that. But it's only April. So if you haven't done it yet, get on it. Okay, so I just sent the fifth grade parents my summer camp link and said here's the video from last year, if you want to see what it's like. Here's the website of the camp. Here's the link to register. If you have any questions, please reach out. We're going to have a parent meeting, so they should be hearing from you. So, along with that, it's really cool If you do some kind of welcome event for the new class too, so you can get creative with this. What I do with junior high is something called the Royal Rumble and it's kings versus queens, boys versus girls, and they have like three weeks of competition. The winning team just gets an ice cream party served to them by the losers and we kind of hype that part up and it's super fun. But it's a way that they come in and they're already excited.

Speaker 1:

And this is even another reason why you should keep small groups going and keep youth group going in the summer. So some people will say, well, we'll do youth group but we don't do small groups. How are your new kids going to get connected? They have to get connected immediately and not just be a wanderer. I have tried this both ways and, hands down, would never, ever, ever stop.

Speaker 1:

Cancel small groups during youth group in the summer again, because nobody got to know each other. You didn't see connections happening. Naturally, adults had a harder time getting to know students because it was more of like a cold call kind of thing, like hello, I'm Andy, what's your name, instead of hey, I remember you from small group, you know. And so then you set everyone up for relational success. When you keep small groups going, especially a brand new kid trying to find their way in a new youth group, you're just making them like, okay, sixth grader, go introduce yourself to people and it's just so much more ideal to have them in small groups.

Speaker 1:

So think about your new class coming up. How are you welcoming them? How are you making it an environment that they are ready to engage in and thrive in? Because summer is such a great harvesting ground for connectivity that's going to help you ride into fall, with it already being established. Not like, okay, it's fall, now let's build from zero up. So then, when your new class graduates, if you're not doing youth group, where do they go in the summer? They're just kind of in no man's land. Like, get them involved, get them connected, get them plugged in and excited for their new ministry.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And fifth and finally, hold on before you move on to the next one.

Speaker 1:

I'm so sorry, no please, the listeners want to hear from you?

Speaker 2:

Yes, well, I don't know about that, but maybe they would. So when exactly do you promote up your class? That's coming in Like the fifth graders becoming sixth graders. When is that? Great question.

Speaker 1:

Does that?

Speaker 2:

go with the school year.

Speaker 1:

Kind of. So we have eight campuses. So it's really not up to me, it's up to our global connections department, and it's usually right around June 9th and 10th, whatever the closest weekend is to that Yep.

Speaker 1:

So when the school year ends, that is when they're officially invited to start coming to their new class during weekend services. However, I promote them early midweek so they're excited to come up to junior high. They're not officially junior hires yet. We do the Royal rumble in may, a month before they officially promote. So I say you get to start coming to chaos a month early and then in June you'll come into junior high for the weekend services and then the eighth graders go up to high school. I just like doing that to give them a little taste of junior high and youth group and get them excited and by then they're all really ready to come to our ministry anyways and it's just kind of a fun bonus for them to look forward to yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:

So fifth and finally is camp. And we know, I know what we've mentioned it a little bit on this episode, but I I hope and pray you have a camp. So summer you need a camp, a retreat, at least an overnight, something that is a trip that makes the summer so full of connection for your students. So, like I said, my signups already went live. It's April 1st. My camp isn't till July 11th and we've already started signups.

Speaker 1:

So make camp a big deal in your ministry, promote it, make posters about it, put stuff in your room about it, like, make it so that it's always on the forefront of people's mind. Because here's what I always say about camp camp is worth six months of attending youth group in terms of relationship. So that one week, that seven or eight days, what gets built spiritually and relationally in that amount of time? It would take you six months of just attending youth group and attending a small group to be able to get to that point. And we're going to pack that in in eight days. So you want your students to get there. It's going to pay dividends in terms of the vibe of your youth group, the connection, the investment people bought in people loyal, like, making this their home, making roots here and becoming disciples.

Speaker 1:

Ultimately, you know, because that's the goal, we don't do youth group for the sake of youth group, like come to my youth group so that you can come to the youth group. We want to make disciples, and the more we can keep them connected and anchored and this is your home they're going to make roots and learn how to be a part of the body of Christ and they're going to learn how to be a part of the church. They're going to learn how to use their gifts, like it only ripples out from there. So do something. If you're freaking out because it's April and you're like I don't have a camp, what do I do?

Speaker 1:

Find someone who does and ask if you can just go with them and say I'll pull my weight, I'll help in some way. But that's your best bet this late in the game pro tip. Just ride the coattails of someone who's got it together and do your best to be a good guest, and maybe they'll have you back another year and just be at their beck and call for hey, what can I pick up, what can I order, what can I plan, what can I do? And just be their gopher for this time around, and then maybe you'll be ready to plan your own next year. But you could partner with another church in your town. You could partner with another campus if you're at a multi-site church. A lot of our smaller campuses they combine and they're like I can't pull off a whole summer camp with like eight kids so come with me, come with that campus, do whatever, and, and it works.

Speaker 1:

And then their kids get to be a part of a really great camp. That would have been impossible, being a super small youth group. So that's what I did for years. You know I was like, hey, you're having a sweet event, I only have 12 kids, can we just come? And they'd be like sit in the back.

Speaker 1:

Sure, you won't even know we're there until they start chanting our campus name and there are have so much pride in our campus. I'm like guys, we're the small guys here. I love it, though they get so excited. We're from fall, so so, anyways, those are our five tips for this summer.

Speaker 2:

It's coming quick people and if you guys were going to be doing a summer camp on your own, like diy style, we do have an episode and you can click on that in the description below. Also, if you're looking for fun events to do, there's the ones that kristen mentioned, but there's also we did a whole episode on that too, so make sure you guys check that out also. It will be in the description below, whether you're watching on youtube or listening on the podcast player. All right, so let's do the question of the day. This is for all you who have a smartphone, which is probably all of you see, if you can see, if you can look at it like if you don't know how to look into your phone I did it.

Speaker 2:

Look, look in your in your phone like you're gonna send a text message and go to frequently used emojis which we were talking before this episode started.

Speaker 1:

It really is more, most recently I think it is most recent, but there's maybe it's a combination, maybe there's an iphone algorithm that decides.

Speaker 2:

But what are your top three as of right now?

Speaker 1:

can I give you my top row? Can I give you six? Okay, if you really need to give me six, go ahead and give me six okay, first is the crying, laughing face the original, not the side one, just the original. Then it's the eee, oh face like where he's cringing or like oopsie, I don't know, I love that one. Then it's the mind blown, the brain coming out, then rolling eyes when he's like looking up, then wink, winky guy, and then basic smile. That's my top row okay.

Speaker 2:

This is why I think this might be flawed, because there's one of these that I don't think I've ever used, so the first one I have is the same crying, laughing, yeah, original. The next one is the clapping hands, which I've used that. The next one is the barf face not the nauseous one, but the actual barfing, and I did use that today, so I see why that one's in there. The next is the weird man.

Speaker 1:

These are horrible he's like crying, like, but no tears, yeah, just like oh no, this one.

Speaker 2:

I don't think I've ever used this one because I don't even know the, the, the uh, circumstance you'd use it. But the hands that are like palms, not together but like the bottom of your palms together, I don't know what that even is Weird.

Speaker 1:

I've never used that.

Speaker 2:

I've never seen that, so whatever that one is, maybe it wants you to use it. It's encouraging me. And then the next one is the shrug shoulders. I love that one.

Speaker 1:

You want to know why I don't use it very often. It is actually one of my favorites. I can never find it. I like scroll. I'm like where, like where is that lady going?

Speaker 2:

like I don't know, but I can't ever find her, so whatever, yeah, so put your. You know you can just put top three. If you want to put all your top six, go ahead and do that, but put the top three in the comment section. If you're watching on YouTube, we'd love to see what are some of the frequently used emojis out there.

Speaker 2:

Next, we're gonna do a community comment of the day and this comes from the average Joe vlog who says oh, and also this is coming from the episode we did on, I think, seven youth ministry tips for middle school. Okay, he says amazing, we have a similar structure to our group, but these tips are going to help us leaders dial it in. Thank God you're here with all the awesome resources.

Speaker 1:

Oh, average Joe, you're going to make us cry.

Speaker 2:

Put that in your emoji Cry face, cry, face.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thank you, average Joe. Thank you, I love it.

Speaker 2:

Thank you guys, so much for watching and listening, and we'll see you next time. Thank you.