First impressions matter. That’s why planning a kickoff event can be rather stressful, particularly for a youth ministry. To cut through the stress and noise, focus everything you do at this event on one word: connect. That’s your goal. As the youth leader or youth planning team, you want to connect with each student there. You want them to make connections with one another. You want them to deepen in connection to your church and to their faith. You want them to connect with God’s Word. Connection is the glue that helps someone to “stick” with a youth program throughout the year.
With that central goal of connecting firmly in view, let’s look at five different ways to connect as you kick off your youth group. Note: Oftentimes a youth group kickoff happens at the beginning of a school year, but these same principles are applicable any time of the year, such as if you are relaunching a program due to a change in schedule, facilities, or leadership.
Connect Through Invitation
A kickoff or launch event is a perfect opportunity to start everyone off with a blank slate and invite everyone possible to join, especially those who haven’t been a part of the program before. Utilize whatever means you have available: email, social media, mailed postcards, text messages, and even phone calls (which are certainly still effective). But your best invitations will be the ones that are most personal: a handwritten note from the youth leader, a personalized text from a friend, or an in-person invite from a teammate. Rather than a youth wondering, “Am I welcome? Am I invited?” have them wondering, “Why have I been invited so many times? Is my presence here really that important?” The answer to that last question is a resounding “Yes!”
One idea to help with the invitation is to have some kind of a theme to the event. For whatever reason, it is way easier to invite someone to “Water Kickball Night,” “Glow in the Dark Party,” or “NERF Olympics” than just saying, “Come with me to youth group.” They may not know what a youth group even is, but they may want to come to that individual event because they like the theme! That’s why these themes work especially well for a kickoff event but also are great for regular invitations throughout the year. This can help build a culture of connecting through invitation within your ministry.
Connect Through Hospitality
When people feel at home and welcome, they automatically connect better with the space, the group, and the community. Keep this in mind as you prepare for the kickoff. What kind of food will you have? Are there tables or couches where people can mingle while they have their snacks or drinks? Do you have greeters welcoming students in at the door? Can you use name tags or something similar to help people learn names and faces?
It’s important to remember that hospitality is not a one-person job. This needs to be a top priority of your adult leaders as well as the “regulars” from last year’s youth group. Having greeters at the door is great, but even better is having youth and adult leaders that are organically talking with youth and making everyone feel at home throughout the time you’re there, not just when they first walk in the door.
Connect Through Activities
The size of your group, facilities, and weather will definitely dictate your options for the activities you do with your group. I always try to blend both more and less athletic options for the activities—that way there’s something for everyone to connect with. Games that lean heavily on teamwork are preferable.
One movement-based game I’d recommend is called Box Ball. It is best played in a large open space either indoors or outside. You split the group into two teams and have each team come up with a team name. The space is divided in half, and a small box (about three feet by three feet) is created on the ground toward the back part of each half (close to where a basketball goal might be in a gym). I normally create the “box” either out of cones, a rope, or painter’s tape. Each team sends one person into the box on the opposite side. The goal is to throw the ball to your person in the box while guarding the box on your own end. The person in the box cannot step out of the box, otherwise the goal doesn’t count; neither can a defender go in or over the boundaries of the box. If you have the ball, you cannot take any steps and have to throw it to a teammate. If the ball hits the ground for any reason, it changes possession, and the other team picks it up from there and starts moving it toward their box. After every two to three goals, each team rotates who is in the box. This game takes little athletic skill to participate in, is non-contact, and requires good cooperation, so it checks a lot of boxes here! Pun intended. I’ve had great success with this as part of a regular activity rotation for groups anywhere from eight to fifty or more youth. You can use whatever type of ball you want, but I’ve found the best success in using a dodgeball, a foam ball, or even a rubber chicken!
An activity on the less-athletic side of the spectrum that I’ve often used is “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Cup.” This is a simple game where everyone grabs a partner and stands an arm’s length away from them with a cup face down in between. The leader calls out a part of the body (head, shoulders, knees, toes, etc.), and each person has to touch that part on their body with both hands. Eventually the leader will call out “Cup!” The goal then is to be the first person to grab the cup in front of you. After each round or two, have everyone get a new partner, introduce themselves to them, and play again. This is a great way to get to know other people and get a lot of laughs while doing it. I’ve led this activity with a group of four and at a retreat with over four hundred youth!
Again, your group size, interests, and facilities will determine which particular activities you choose, but keep the main theme in focus: connection. How are your youth connecting with one another during the activity? Is everyone included? Are people being built up? Those are the main outcomes you’re looking for in your activities.
Connect Through the Word
It’s so exciting to think about all the activities or other things that you’ll do with the group that you can overlook the greatest connection resource we have: the Word of God. Make sure you give time for your youth to be in the Word together! As you plan your devotion or Bible study for the kickoff event, you may want to plan for a bit less content or questions than normal. This will allow you to really focus on one main theme (maybe a verse or word that is your theme for the year) and hit home a point that your youth will take with them. You want it to be memorable and relatable, connecting to the importance of gathering together regularly in God’s Word.
One way to increase connection for a kickoff Bible study is with a simple icebreaker question. One I like using is this: Share your name, school/grade, and something that you enjoy. Give the group this additional instruction: If someone shares something that you also enjoy, then raise your hand, cheer, or give them a high five. As the leader, you can facilitate additional questions or follow-up, particularly if something is shared that others don’t really know about or aren’t excited about. Again, the focus is on connection, and identifying common interests is a great first step!
During the opening Bible study, it can also be really helpful to give an idea of what you’ll be looking at going forward, such as upcoming topics, chapters in a book, themes, and so on. Doing so builds connection for your youth to the future Bible studies that you’ll have. As an example, I recently started a young adult Bible study at our church, using Ten Lies Satan Loves to Tell by Andrew R. Jones. I closed the first study by reading through the list of lies in the table of contents and asking each person to share which of those lies they’re most looking forward to uncovering. The group responded very well to the question, and there was a mounting excitement about where we’re headed. They saw the relevance of what we were going to study and heard others say they were looking forward to similar topics as them. That’s connection that builds community.
Connect Through Follow-Up
Your connections don’t have to end with the one event. Have a handout that specifically invites everyone to the next group meeting and has information about the next few events after that (ideally, some themed events that are also easy to invite friends to). Send out handwritten thank-you cards to each youth that attended and a “we missed you” card to those who weren’t there. Invite your youth group attendees to Sunday morning worship. The key message is “You’re not just welcome here for special events, but we want you as a part of our community!” The kickoff event is a great opportunity for some initial connections that, Lord willing, will become connections to Christ’s church that will last forever!
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