11-18 | Sunday Provision

Sunday Morning provision can be an opportunity to encourage 11-16s to learn about what it means to follow Christ in their every-day lives, not just on Sunday. Dont shy away from the tough topics it is through exploring these in a safe, friendly environment like Sunday Morning provision that the foundations for life-long faith can be laid.

Developing good Sunday morning work is about more than just a curriculum. Reflecting together on some key aims that you and your team can agree to can make significant difference to how you run your youth provision on Sundays. Below are some things churches may wish to consider when developing youth provision on Sundays:

Purpose 

Like all provision for young people, it is essential that you have a clear purpose for why you do what you do. This benefits everyone as:

• Leaders to have a clear aim If your group runs in parallel to the adult service on Sundays, for example, you might choose to develop aims like:
  • We will make our young people to know that church is a safe space to come into.
  • We want to follow what the adults are learning in the sermons, except for when we explore the following topics…
  • Over the next 6 months, we will have offered to pray for every one of our young people.
  • We would like X number of young people to choose to follow Jesus Christ in the next year. We will pray for this to happen, and work for it by…
• Young people know what theyre getting involved in if young people learn that they can expect leaders that know and care about them to be there each week and that these leaders will be with them to help them read the bible, play games, pray, chat and generally have fun in order to learn about what it means to follow Jesus Christ, then they are more likely to prioritise attending regularly. It also makes it easier for them to invite their friends.
  

Remember, if you are setting targets, be sure to make them Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-specific (SMART). For more detailed thought around developing your youth provisions purpose and plans, see Sustainable Youth Ministry, by Mark DeVries (details below).

Dont be afraid to do Christian things

Our aim for Sunday morning provision must be to enable 11-16s to explore what it means to be a Christian, and to work out whether this makes intellectual and emotional sense to them. This means we must, in amongst other things, provide our 11-16s opportunities to:

Worship God either during the service or in the group, either as sung worship, or some form of liturgy or multi-sensory activity.

Read and learn from Bible usually in the session with your young people, through activities that (often) have a link to a message pitched to the age and stage of those in attendance, allowing participants to explore the meaning of the passage, its effect on what they believe about God, the world and themselves, and what to do about it in their day-to-day lives. This could be done through things like

• Discussion
• Craft
• Drama
• Games etc.

Pray This might take the form many things, but if we are to create disciples of Jesus Christ, showing 11-16s how to pray, and giving them opportunities to have a go are highly important. Opportunities might include:

• Praying together in small groups.
• Using imaginative contemplation.
• Creating a multi-sensory prayer activity.

If you would like to learn more, we would highly recommend Mark Yaconellis book Helping Teenagers to Pray (details below).

Why not pray right now?

If youre talking with one of your young people and they mention a situation that could do with prayer, offer to pray for them right there and then. If they say yes, pray for them in a sentence or two using simple language. Make sure they know it is okay to say no and that will be received without judgment or anger etc., and if they do, just continue the conversation as before. Be sure to consider safeguarding when praying for young people: stay in a public place with your young people, dont be alone with them, and be respectful of boundaries, especially regarding touch.

Develop a routine and culture for your group

Create a rhythm that the young people know will happen every week (exceptions like special events etc. are allowed). Despite being older, routine is still important for 11-18s and can help them feel settled and may make it easier for your young people to bring their friends to. Things to consider include:

• What happens when your young people arrive?
• How are the young people are greeted?
• How do leaders behave towards each other and the young people?
• How do this groups leaders handle discipline?
• When and how will this group will finish?

Prioritise learning, and do it in different ways

It is important that in our Sunday Morning provision we commit to offering opportunities for our 11-16s to engage in learning and not just to be entertained. The majority of people use a mix of visual (sight), kinaesthetic (touch / movement) and auditory (sound) input to learn, but often have one particular method of learning that is dominant over the others. Making the most of the opportunities to use all three neednt be hugely demanding: most pre-written curricula / resources for 11-16s offer opportunities for young people to engage through all their senses. It may be worth considering what preferences you and your team have and how you might offer different types of learning experience through surveys you can find online.

Similarly, Dave Csinos, a Canadian childrens ministry expert and researcher talks about spiritual styles. Writing for lectionary-based childrens and young peoples resource Roots, Csinos describes these 4 styles as:

• Word engaging with liturgy, the words of hymns, writing, listening to readings
• Symbol wondering about God, being alone, enjoying nature, examining pictures or objects that tell us about God (like icons).
• Action engaging in campaigning, welcoming others to church, serving refreshments
• Emotion sung worship, being connected to church groups or clubs, enjoying religious art, connecting with people (especially knowing how they feel).

Again, 11-16s are capable of using all of these styles, but are likely to feel most comfortable with just one or two. Remember: this may not be related to churchmanship, as often young people that turn up to church come with their parents or family members, rather than make a choice about where they might choose to attend.

Exposure to different learning and spiritual styles provides opportunities for us and our 11-16s to encounter the breadth of the Christian tradition. Be bold and to experiment using different spiritual and learning styles. As you do, try to notice how your young people react do they have a preference for one particular style over another? What was it about one particular activity that made them struggle or flourish? Why?

Be aware of exams

Exams can be a large weight to bear for many 11-18s, and require much preparation and revision. Young people can respond to this in a number of ways. They may, for instance:

• Attend irregularly just before and during peak exam times, young people may not be able to attend because of revision pressure (self-, parent- or school imposed).
• Behave strangely during stressful periods previously chatty and laid back young people can become irritable, sullen or snappy.
• Believe untruths Ive done badly in the past, so its obvious that Ill ruin these exams, too… or Im so stupid Ill never pass this exam are untruths that young people can rehearse to themselves.
• Allow their judgment to be dictated by their emotions I freeze and feel this knot in my stomach when I sit down to revise, so Im not going to do any.
• Feel pressure from their families My sisters are geniuses and got all As. Unless I get the same, my family will think I have failed. Perceived or real, these feelings can weigh heavily on siblings.

Naming these behaviours and feelings through our provision, offering practical tips for revision and exam stress, and unpacking what the bible tells us about Gods love for us regardless of our exam performance can really help us to lessen the impact of these challenges on the lives of young people.

Making Space for Wondering

When developing sessions in your provision for Sundays, be sure to include enough time to pause for reflection. This could be as simple as leaving a 7-second pause at the end of the story or passage of scripture you read or posing a question beginning with I wonder…. For more advanced or older groups why not offer them an opportunity to complete a variety of activities related to the story or passage youve just explored? This might be reading the passage again alone, prayerfully journaling what they are discovering, painting or drawing what the story means to them, or just being still for a moment. Mark Yaconellis Helping Teenagers to Pray (details below) is a brilliant read for leaders wanting to help develop prayerful reflection amongst their young people.

Value your Leaders

Every person involved in 11-16s provision on a Sunday is a part of Gods mission to tell the next generation about Him. The faithful hours, money, energy that our youth workers, volunteer and paid, invest into our 11-18s should be regularly acknowledged and celebrated. We recommend a once-a-year celebration and commissioning of all those working with children, young people and families. Its an ideal time to invite your young people to thank their leaders what a difference they have made in the previous year.

Acknowledge young peoples context and experiences

The 11-16s coming to our churches at whatever time exist not in a void or vacuum, but a real-world context, connected to people and institutions, with their own experiences and perspectives. Their opinions will be rich and varied, and they will bring these with them to Sunday mornings. Rather than empty vessels to be filled, it is important that we work with them to hear about these challenges or problems and to overcome them together through a cyclical process of action and reflection. This concept by Latin-American educationalist Paolo Friere is called problem-posing education, a form of teaching where

The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teachers, but one who is himself [or herself] taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow. In this process, arguments based on authority are no longer valid; in order to function, authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it. Here, no one teaches another, nor is anyone self-taught. People teach each other...

(Paulo Friere (1993), Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Penguin, p66)

This may all sound very conceptual and complex, but the reality is simple:

• We start from where our young people are in terms of their understanding and interests
• We work with them to help them articulate what problems they want to solve
• We commit to working with them to solve them, becoming learners as well
• Together we commit to taking part in action that informs reflection in a cyclical manner

In practical terms, this might mean different things for Sunday mornings:

• The 11-14s Sunday Morning Group want to learn about prayer, so you explore Lk 11:1-13 (the Lords Prayer and 2 short related parables) with them. After exploring what it might mean to pray the Lords Prayer, and how it relates to vv5-13 (reflection). You might discuss ways to learn to trust Gods goodness more, and encourage them into action throughout the week to experiment with what happens in when they pray. You return next week to reflect some more, and work out the next thing to do during the week.
• The 14-16s Sunday Youth Cell discuss (reflect) on the state of the multi-use games area (MUGA) at the local park it needs paint and minor repairs. Acting together, you encourage the council to do this, including writing letters asking councillors to visit and raising some money to make it happen. Throughout you are able to talk about the Kingdom of God with your young people, that Christians are meant to love both God and neighbour, and that we should pray about these things to God and work to make these things better. When its complete, you could have a community party to celebrate the hard work that went into getting the work completed, and think about what next to do.