Summer is quickly approaching. We’ve finished our final small group series for the Spring. Next week we’ll do a worship night with prayer stations. Then we are into summer.
Our summer schedule is something we thought about, prayed about and discussed. Should we be more busy in the summer, or take it easy, have less programming and slow down. There are arguments for both.
On one hand we have been going week after week on Sundays and Wednesdays all fall and spring. Our small group leaders, mostly Sr High youth have done a great job with their small groups, however you can tell we’re all a bit weary. It would be nice to take a break, do something different. Plus many youth will be away at other sports camps, vacations, sports leagues, tournaments during the summer.
On the other hand summer provides some opportunities to do some additional things that cannot be done during the school year. And I hate to lose the momentum we had of youth coming Wednesdays and Sundays, just because school is out. In addition for every youth that is away on vacation there are several more here at home looking for something to do.
So we have decided to keep going, but just modify things a bit.
We’ll still do our Wednesday Night small groups, however instead of set small groups we will divide out with whoever is available each week. We’re also giving the band the summer off and will fill in with individual musicians or none depending on what the night calls for.
Sunday nights will run a lot like they do currently with snacks then an activity.
We are also adding a few events during the week.
So what about your Summer. Do you speed up or slow down?
I’d love to hear your plans!
Photo Creative Commons https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/
A little of both, slowing down and speeding up, but mostly speeding up.
The way we slow down is the curriculum/Bible studies we do. We go from very in depth Bible studies to very in depth short devotionals. We will do Video based lessons during Sunday school (this is helpful to our Sunday School teachers) and discuss proverbs or psalms over different topics for a Wednesday Bible study at someone’s pool or starbucks.
We speed up by having something out of the ordinary every week of the summer. Besides our usual meeting times (Sunday School, Sunday Night Worship, etc…) we have a trip/activity planned. These can be big events/activities like going to an Astros Game or Six Flags, Very small and simple like a movie or game night at the church, and even a day mission trip by helping with a local foodbank. Not every student gets an opportunity to go on a vacation so I feel providing things like this can not only enrich their lives but help them have a fun summer too.