The Christmas TV programming schedule was filled with its now usual range of festive assortment from reality shows, movie premieres to, of course, an abundance of repeats.
So what does this all have to do with youth ministry? When something goes well in our group there is a massive motivation to repeat it again immediately.
The leaders of our 11-14s group in our church organised a sleepover in the church hall last term. It was the first time that this had happened (as far as I know, anyway) and it went fantastically well. So much so that the leaders wanted to hold another sleepover the following month. But would this be the best thing to do? If we repeat things too quickly or too often, the chances are that the 'specialness' of the event wears off. It's interesting how often attendance at a once per month event has higher attendance than weekly events. One reason for this is that if I miss one week there's always next week, but if I miss a month then it's a long time to wait until the next time.
But we must not underestimate how important space to live off the last event is to young people, to relive the memories and part of this experience is when we leave enough time between repeating events. So maybe instead of repeating the sleepover the following month, leave it a term and then as we promote it next time the memories from the last event come flooding back, and so do the stories (often embelished!) and so creating an expectation and excitement for the new event.
Conversely, one evening the leaders of our 14-18s group asked a couple of young people if they would lead some sung worship as part of their group meeting. It went really well and as a result they have introduced sung worship on a fortnightly basis. This was essential to create enough momentum for this to become the norm in the group. If they had left this longer it would be much harder to develop this aspect of the ministry.
I think the difference between these two examples is one is a memory maker, the other develops a core value. For memories to be most beneficial, they need time to develop and lodge in our memory banks, for values to grow they need to repeated often so it becomes the accepted norm.
Finally, sometimes it is easier to live off what worked well last time rather than create new things. Sometimes we need to look at what worked well and see what can be learnt from it rather than simply repeating. So in the end we are not repeating the sleepover this term. We are taking all the young people, 11-18, away for a whole weekend instead!
Andy
Repeats are interesting, aren't they? Of course on the one hand they make for cheap television as the broadcasters roll out old material but they also do get good viewing figures generally so people do want to watch them. The massive market for DVD sales of TV shows highlights this desire to watch our favourite shows more than once.
TV schedulers are clever people. Have you noticed how some programmes seem to be repeated forever, and yet others never seem to be on? Then, after years, they bring something back for a season and we love reliving the memories from the first time around.
So what does this all have to do with youth ministry? When something goes well in our group there is a massive motivation to repeat it again immediately.
The leaders of our 11-14s group in our church organised a sleepover in the church hall last term. It was the first time that this had happened (as far as I know, anyway) and it went fantastically well. So much so that the leaders wanted to hold another sleepover the following month. But would this be the best thing to do? If we repeat things too quickly or too often, the chances are that the 'specialness' of the event wears off. It's interesting how often attendance at a once per month event has higher attendance than weekly events. One reason for this is that if I miss one week there's always next week, but if I miss a month then it's a long time to wait until the next time.
Sometimes, our memories are important drivers for helping us make decisions about the future. If the young people look back on the last sleepover with delight and affection, they are more likely to sign up for the sleepover the next time.
But we must not underestimate how important space to live off the last event is to young people, to relive the memories and part of this experience is when we leave enough time between repeating events. So maybe instead of repeating the sleepover the following month, leave it a term and then as we promote it next time the memories from the last event come flooding back, and so do the stories (often embelished!) and so creating an expectation and excitement for the new event.
Conversely, one evening the leaders of our 14-18s group asked a couple of young people if they would lead some sung worship as part of their group meeting. It went really well and as a result they have introduced sung worship on a fortnightly basis. This was essential to create enough momentum for this to become the norm in the group. If they had left this longer it would be much harder to develop this aspect of the ministry.
I think the difference between these two examples is one is a memory maker, the other develops a core value. For memories to be most beneficial, they need time to develop and lodge in our memory banks, for values to grow they need to repeated often so it becomes the accepted norm.
Finally, sometimes it is easier to live off what worked well last time rather than create new things. Sometimes we need to look at what worked well and see what can be learnt from it rather than simply repeating. So in the end we are not repeating the sleepover this term. We are taking all the young people, 11-18, away for a whole weekend instead!
Andy
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