Discuss the Youth Meeting Template Summary. How would this help in making sure that your meetings reach there desired outcome? What are ways in which you saw this work well? What were some times where you wish the leader would have used this approach?
Sorry this is a little late.
ReplyDeleteThis template is a good guide for planning your youth group meetings if you aren't good at planning or if you have never planned a meeting before, but I question its value for those who are already good at planning agendas. I don't feel like for these people it will add much value.
I think that starting with the end in mind is something that many people overlook when planning their meetings, and is definitely an idea with merit.
Incorporating the loop is something I am less enthusiastic about. As I have stated before, the learning loop has a couple steps that should be combined and in my opinion if reflection and review are not happening automatically then you have deeper problems a loop cannot fix.
My home church had a youth pastor a while back who wascompletely disorganized in his meetings and I feel that this method would have benefited him since he had no style of his in which to organize meetings.
I definitely agree with Aidan in that this may work for some but not all. I've been in my share of meetings where it seems like the leader has no goal in mind whatsoever. That's not only frustrating to leaders but also to students. It seems kind of pointless to go to a meeting where not even the leader knows what is going on. That's where starting with the end is really important - in fact, I would say that it is the most important factor when planning any kind of meeting or curriculum (right, Developmental Missions people???).
ReplyDeletekeeping the end in mind is very improtant becasue you need to have a direction. i think that most minstry ppl have this idea and know it when they speak, teach, and lead meetings. however, there are those few who do not and you can really tell when they don't have a clue as to what their end goal is - they pretty much just jump from subject to subject and their is no order.
ReplyDeletewhen it comes to youth meetings you need to have the end in mind b/c you don't want to confuse teens by being all over the place. Most teens need to focus on one thing at a time and not a bunch of things at one time. Plus, teens might get less out of the lesson if you don't have order to your meetings.
Using a template is a great tool in planning for youth ministry events. At times planning can become hectic and crazy, and a template (even though we can alter it) can greatly reduce stress. When planning for a retreat, mission trip, etc., it is crucial to set spiritual goals and allow God to work in the teens. Using an effective template can help reach those goals. In the past I've experience retreats that were completely disorganized and it was evident that there was no vision or goal by those who ran it. We need to use such resources (not always, only when needed) because it helps with out planning and organization.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone, having a goal and focus of a meeting is vital. Without it, why would you have a meeting. I don't think leaders really think about their meetings besides possibly a list of things that they need to do, which is the goal, but they dont have the loop. I know some people do not like the loop, but putting some version of the loop in a meeting setting would make it better to understand and more organized.
ReplyDeleteI as well agree with everyone on how having a goal or some type of object oriented goal pattern us vital and can be succesful. BUT as some people discussed alot of times the leader or pastor do not come prepared as well as they should and just have random ideas and dont think about the end.
ReplyDeleteThe end is so key. Like Luke said though, it is okay that these ending goals or whatever can change. Nothing is going to ever work out perfectly as planned and sometimes that can be a good thing. It is definitely good though for the youth group leaders and/or pastor to have an itinerary and some sort of template to go off of.
Again, i agree that the template is good for some and not for others. some people know exactly the point that they want to get to and know just how to do it. others need to have it all mapped out so that they don't get confused. also having a template that others can see will help them stay focused on the topic at hand and not get confused.
ReplyDeleteOne place i really saw this work well was when i served on youth councils and at the beginning we would receive and itinerary that broke down the discussion topics. this helped us to stay on track and not lose our main goal for the end of the meeting.
i think its been said meetings with no point have no point! i hate goin to them and listening to people act like they know what they are talking about and getting off topic all the time and really just talking about what everyone else wants to talk about! it drives me nuts! if all you talk about is what they want to talk about than no one gets anywhere and you sopend your time fighting for "air time".
ReplyDeleteI think that the template can be a benefit to someone who is uncomfortable with meetings such as this. People who are at home in settings like this don't have a whole lot to gain.
ReplyDeleteI think that a person who is very task-oriented probably has something like this template already going on mentally. For those people, it's just a lot of preparation already, so writing it out to organize goals seems redundant on some level.
For people who are very scattered in their thoughts, who tend to fly by the seat of their pants, this will be something that helps them to stay "on task", and to reach (hopefully) their eventual goal. That takes the pressure off of the conversation, and allows it to move in a pre-ordained direction. If that direction is one that is good, then the conversation will be also.
I agree. A template is a great tool that gives direction to any type of comings together. Although you use a template you are not confined to it as Sarg stated. you are able to tweek it to your group.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that is what curriculum was intended to be was a template. It was a template of direction so that a class has somethin to go on. but now people have gotten lazy and just do the template instead of putting some original thought into it.
I think templates serve to coordinate actions, but the ideas going into the templates should be exciting to fill out, not just to be filled out because thats what we have to do. Thats why these things get the bad rep of producing dull events. It is not the templates fault, its the fault of the person filling them out for being dull.
ReplyDeleteTemplates set up a standard to follow so that a meeting flows through effectively. Making sure that the meeting stays on track is a hard task. Especially along the lines of meetings with your NYI Council, teens love to talk and a template could help keep them on track as well as yourself.
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