Abigail Van Buren was the pen name given for Pauline Phillips, the author of “Dear Abby” an advice column that has been around since 1956. As you can imagine, I have been addressed as “Dear Aaby” way too many times to count. Redemption day is here now! Today we’ll use the correct spelling (Aaby) and I’ll offer some advise in response to a great question from a youth pastor, Tom, who wrote:
Dear Aaby,
We’ve been encouraging students to bring their unchurched friends to our regular youth group, but few seem to be finding success. Without blowing a budget do you have any programming ideas that would help our students feel comfortable inviting their friends to our weekly gathering?”
I took the time to answer Tom’s question in the video below…
If you or your students were to put together a very intentional scavenger hunt such as the one I described I’d suggest that you create a list that has a lot of fun tasks, but make sure to reserve the highest point value for “bring a student who was not in attendance at the beginning of the hunt.” Students will likely prioritize the highest valued items.
We found the best way to end the hunt was to have a student share his or her story and the gospel so that these new-high-point-valued students get to hear the points about our most-high God!
How have you seen other common youth group games used for gospel-purposes? What are some other ways to motivate students to bring their unchurched friends to a regular youth group event?
Great creative idea. Thanks Aaby.
Good idea! I can’t wait to hear the stories of how people met Jesus. Maybe we’ll hear about some meeting Him through scavenger hunts like this!
Brian.
Genius. One might get the idea that you have worked with teens before. All kidding aside, you have some excellent ideas for this topic.
What I am struggling with is getting my kids to realize that not ALL of their friends are Christian just because they go to the same school.
El_Jefe, thanks for jumping into the conversation. This may be a great one for me to address as a vlog, but for now and by way of suggestion, it could be fun to do a “talk” at the gathering where you have your most core kids (and if their are unchurched there, that is fine too)… Tell them this is a discussion where you want them to help you answer two main questions:
1. Why do we want you to bring unchurched/non-Christian friends to events?
2. What makes you a Christian?
The answer to the second question will obviously help them understand the importance of the first question. But until you define the second (faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone) students may continue to think that everyone is Christian because everyone here is American.
It’ll be a great way to share the Gospel and help students understand the simplicity and depth of the Gospel!
This is a brilliant idea. My leaders and I have been trying to plan a scavenger hunt based fun event for our youth. It’s a valid point that students know where their unchurched friends live.
I totally know the students will play into the hype of a competition because that’s how I was as a student their age. This is a great resource for us to kick-start our process to get our scavenger hunt night in motion. Thanks for the post!
Thanks Brian! Loving that D2S is pumping out some innovative ideas like this one.
Great stuff Brian! As a youth ministry veteran who struggles with the “silly” but fun side of Youth Min I love the focus on evangelism in this idea. Thanks for sharing! On a side note I think these are a great addition to all the great stuff we get from Greg and Dare2Share!
Thanks Rob!
Great idea, Brian. Mixing the fun and the friendly to get real evangelism. It promotes a very Biblical “Come and see…” atmosphere.