Christmas Ideas for Youth Ministry

Christmas always seems like a tough time of year to get lessons and stuff off the ground. In a sense it's easy because you know the topics, you know the stories, but it consistently comes to the point that you feel like you say the same thing over and over again.

We as youth pastors also have a tough time as to make this timeless truth timely and relevant to the lives of our students.

I've been developing some cool things that I hope will help you along your journey this Holiday Season. I took a break from Old Skool Jesus posts (which will resume tomorrow, with a double portion!) so that I could share this stuff with you.

As I sat down to think about this season, I asked myself what do these Middle Schoolers need to hear about the Christmas message? Some things came to mind: Jesus is "the reason for the season" type stuff, Drop materialism, seek God this Christmas...all of those ideas came. however one thought was pervasive: Christmas and the reality thereof is shrouded in darkness. The true heart of Christmas has been darkened by the evil one...we must turn on the light to our teens understanding about Christmas.

It isn't just about telling nice pretty stories about Jesus and Mary or the Wise men and the Shepherds, it about Turning the Lights on to what Christmas foreshadowed, what it means to the heart of humanity...not what it means to the heart of consumerism.

So, I thought about Rudolph and how when he turned on the Lights, he saved Christmas...why can't he do it again?

Dale Harris (one of my Middle School Leaders), myself and a group of teens put together a video, which will foreshadow this whole theme for our BIG Christmas party on December 23, 2009. Below is episode 1...I will leak more as time goes on. This is my take on what God has for teens this year: Turn on the Lights ("Save Christmas, Save the World")