I want to begin a series that seeks to help answer the question, “what should we do each week in youth group?” As many of you know, it is my aim that we strive to have solid content in an enjoyable atmosphere. Or, let me put it another way: Let’s make the fun stuff Christian and the Christian stuff fun! The goal must be to run a weekly program filled with Christian content such as Bible study, prayer and activities that promote Christian things such as fellowship and love. With this in mind lets talk about how to start your weekly youth gathering with a rousing welcome.

The welcome is crucial. It must send out the signal that says “we are a Christian group, tonight is going to be worth your while, and we are going to enjoy being together as we get to know Jesus and each other better.” To do this, don’t start your time together by simple forming teams and playing a mindless game. Similarly don’t bore them with a long prayer or theological treatise on why we are meeting together. Here’s what you do:

  1. Either have them sit in the normal fashion (I’m assuming chairs or couches in rows or a semicircle). Or, have them stand in one large circle.
  2. Say “Welcome”! You could even have them say a brief welcome to the person(s) next to them.
  3. Proceed to your “welcome activity”

You will then move on to an activity designed to help the group to catch up and get to know each other a bit better. Here are some great welcomes that should be sure fire ways to start the gathering well.

  1. 1-2-3 You start by saying “in a second I’m going to say “Welcome to youth group. You respond by shouting back “Welcome to youth group” and then you must: 1. Give one person a handshake, two people a fist bump and three people a high five.” You then shout “Welcome to youth group.”
  2. 10 x High 10s Start in a similar fashion to #1. However, instead of doing 1-2-3, they simply give 10 people high tens and then sit down.
  3. Make a noise. Stand in a circle and have each person make a ‘note or noise’ that describes their week. (High = good, low= not so good.) Go around the circle and have each person make their note. At the end, have everyone make the sound together. If the group is comfortable with each other, go around the circle one at a time and listen to each other’s note. If the group is not so comfortable, you can have everybody make the note at the same time. You could then ask particular people why they made the note they did. (If you want the group to do it one at a time, you could give each person the option to pass if they felt uncomfortable.)
  4. How’s your week- get high, get low! Ask the group to rate their week by height—a great week means getting as high up as possible (like standing on a chair) a bad week = lying on the ground. You can then ask certain individuals to explain their “height.”

After the welcome, say a prayer committing the night to God and then move on to your next activity. Hopefully the goal is clear—start well, reinforce the fact that this is a group wants to get to know each other and God better.

Next, we will look at mixers that really mix!