Preparing a Youth Session

4 Areas to Think About...

1. Prep

2. Structure

3. Content

4. Delivery

Full youth sessions will have the prep, content, and delivery of a Bible study – but will incorporate other forms of engagement too:

What might we have in a youth session?

• Media

• Games

• Quiz

• Worship

• Craft

• Illustrative activity

1. Prep

• Think of your space, how long you have, how many people are you gonna have in the room? (will games or activities work?)

• Resource beforehand 

• Practice the game or activity if needed

2. Structure

• Ice breaker/game/intro activity 

• Opening questions (in pairs/groups) – surface level, then deeper transition (like Bible study)

• Bible reading

• Bible study content

• Application – illustrations, visual, memorable 

• Closing craft or activity 

3. Content

• Games, crafts, media, and activities are NOT pointless – but they should HAMMER the big theme

Remember: GAMES Acronym

-       Gospel centred – serve the truth not distract – game is not the message, it carries the message

-       Active learning – participate not just listen – move, build, experiment – involvement is memorable

-       Memorable moments - when linked well, the memory reinforces the spiritual truth.

-       Every learner – reach different engagement and learning styles

-       Spiritual reflection – what’s the LINK – transition is where the learning happens

4. Delivery

• We must learn to be adaptable

• Read the room

• Can we adapt our prep to reach the people in the room at the time? 

• OR adjust if we’re running short on time

• Can you set the tone of exciemtn and engagement? Whilst also calming them down seriously to read the Word? Both are needed.