Over at YMX there is a lot of discussion about summer in youth ministry. It seems that there are people who either love summer in youth ministry or hate it.
In most youth groups there are two "seasons" where you do things completely different. Summer and School.
- School youth ministry: This is "home base" for most of us. Coming to youth group becomes another cog in the wheel of structured life. What’s funny is that most students feel like youth group is the "unprogrammed" part of their day… so they like that.
- Summer youth ministry: This is "money time" for youth ministry. Students lives are almost completely unstructured all summer long. Because a lot of students don’t work, church and youth group help them keep track of what day of the week it is. By contrast to the school season… youth group may be the only "programmed" thing they attend during the week.
I guess I understand those who don’t like the break in their routine. It’s "easier" to just keep going with regular youth ministry. But I love the change of pace. We use it as a time to rest, revision, increase the connection time with students, and just do everything a little looser. I find this "soft time" of the year to be more productive for ministry. Odd since it’s less structured, but that’s why I like summers best.
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