RE-LEARN EVERYONE’S NAMES
It’s super awkward asking a young person for their name, particularly when they’ve been in your group for years - but the summer does funny things to our brains. Fortunately, the first session back after the holidays is a great opportunity to re-introduce young people. So under the guise of helping them get to know each other, stick a name badge on all of them and BAM - you’ll know your your Pauls from your Ringos.
TIDY UP THE OFFICE
There is another name for a youth worker’s desk during the summer months: General Dumping Ground. Whether it’s those stacks of paper plates you dug out from the darkest recesses of the cupboard and then forgot to take on camp, the lost property from said camp, or indeed a young person abandoned at the camp – something needs to be done about this junk mountain. If you choose to ignore it, the chances are that the beast will grow and slowly take over the entire office. Another option is to throw everything (minus the young person) out, and blame it on someone else. Or implement one of these creative ideas to erode it down to a manageable size: host a paper aeroplane evening; construct a large bonfire; make a den; wrap everything up and give items to your young people as welcome-back presents. (‘Parental consent forms…? Oh, you shouldn’t have!’)
PLAN THE TERM
You’ve got three months of content to plan, and a lack of ideas. Obviously your first port of call should be
Premier Youthwork, but if you’re still short of ideas, all you need is a dice and the table below to construct your session plan. Simply roll the dice twice, and take the two numbers to comprise a session. Simples. (Obviously, if you roll a three and then a two, you may wish to discard this roll.)
REBRAND YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY
Is your youth work in need of some sparkle and shine? Time for a quick rebrand. The easiest way to do this is to change the name of one of your groups, including numbers and colons wherever possible. Reducing phrases to the absolute minimum amount of syllables is key - young people don’t have time for full words! Remove the ate from Activate and bish bash bosh - you’ve got the super hip, cool and trendy Activ:8. Elevate becomes Elev:8 and Elasticate becomes Elastic:8. Huzzah! (Please don’t call your group Elastic:8.)
START PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS
Before you know it, it will be Christmas – and what better time to start planning than September? If Santa [SPOILER: actually, never mind] is already doing the bulk of his work, it’s time to get started with yours. Plan a beach-themed nativity, BBQ your Christmas dinner and go carol singing in the sea… before realising you’re only planning Christmas in September, not celebrating Christmas in September.
