The strategy aims to grow the Teens on Fire Youth Group by expanding student participation through engaging events and purposeful activities. Organizing themed Friday night hangouts is one approach. This involves planning monthly events with distinct themes, integrating students into the planning process to boost interest, and creating promotional materials. An example could be a game night with themed decorations and related devotionals, boosting camaraderie among attendees.
Implementing midweek summer activities offers another avenue, utilizing local venues like movie theaters or trampoline parks. Through careful planning and effective promotion, these activities can create exciting alternatives to draw in students. Participation can be encouraged with incentives, while feedback collection aids improvement.
Facilitating service projects and mission trips provides meaningful experiences, fostering teamwork and community involvement. Projects can be coordinated with local organizations, emphasizing student benefits and instilling a service ethic. For instance, a quarterly local project might include helping at a community garden, with follow-up reflections enhancing learning and growth.
The strategies
⛳️ Strategy 1: Organise themed Friday night hangouts
- Schedule monthly hangout nights with specific themes
- Involve youth in the planning process to generate interest
- Create a budget and secure funding or donations for each event
- Arrange for food, decorations, and games that fit the theme
- Develop promotional materials to advertise on social media and in local churches
- Incorporate opportunities for socializing and group bonding
- Include a short teaching or devotional session related to the theme
- Encourage students to bring friends to each event
- Gather feedback after each event to improve future hangouts
- Track attendance to measure growth and engagement
⛳️ Strategy 2: Implement midweek summer activities
- Identify local venues such as Got Air or Hawkins Movie Theatre for activities
- Plan and schedule activities for each week during the summer
- Negotiate group rates or discounts to minimise costs
- Promote each activity through flyers and social media
- Arrange transportation if necessary to ensure accessibility
- Designate leaders or chaperones for each outing
- Create a registration process for students to sign up in advance
- Organise a brief group discussion or prayer before or after the activity
- Encourage participation by offering incentives or rewards
- Evaluate the success of each activity by collecting feedback
⛳️ Strategy 3: Facilitate service projects and missions trips
- Research potential service projects in Yuma that align with the group's values
- Schedule quarterly service projects in collaboration with local organisations
- Coordinate logistics including transportation, supplies, and safety measures
- Promote projects to instil a sense of purpose and community impact
- Encourage students to participate by highlighting the benefits of service
- Organise an annual missions trip with a clear mission and objective
- Fundraise for missions trips to support costs and involve students
- Incorporate preparatory sessions to educate students about the missions trip
- Establish a follow-up process to reflect on service experiences
- Track participation and impact of service projects and missions trips to assess growth
Bringing accountability to your strategy
It's one thing to have a plan, it's another to stick to it. We hope that the examples above will help you get started with your own strategy, but we also know that it's easy to get lost in the day-to-day effort.
That's why we built Tability: to help you track your progress, keep your team aligned, and make sure you're always moving in the right direction.
Give it a try and see how it can help you bring accountability to your strategy.
