More Than Pizza and Lock-ins:
Building a Youth Building or sustaining a youth program.
Seems like a huge job, right? You have to consider all of the plans that go into each event and make your schedule open to actually be at all of those events, not to mention get to know and invest yourself in the lives of multiple different youth. Big job—but oh, so rewarding. And when you start to break down some of the important things to know about it all, it seems just a little more manageable.
Navigating Today’s Demographics The first thing to consider is the generation of kids that you’ll be working with. All of your youth will now fall solidly within Generation Z. The kids in this generation were born around 2000 and after. One of the biggest touchstones of this generation is their comfort with technology and all it can do. It’s commonplace
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for a 10-year-old to be walking around with an iPhone that is just a generation or two behind, knowing how to use every aspect of it confidently. And with that technology comes information. They have access to any information they could possibly want (and perhaps don’t need): the answer to any question, the ability to view all of your friends’ and frenemies’ social
media presences, and so much more. It can all be overwhelming. They are so oversaturated with information that they simply know more than any previous generation did at their age. But how do they handle it? After all, a 13-year-old now is developmentally the same as a 13-year-old from 30 years ago. How can we guide them through this? Another thing to note is that this generation does not have the same brand loyalty as generations before them. This generation, always being able to access something different and better via technology, has no qualms about moving on to something that may fit their desires a little more. How does that play out in church? How do we encourage them to realize that church isn’t just another brand, but rather the place that God has promised to deliver life and salvation, through the person and work of Jesus Christ? You can’t just move on from that.
