Preteen Events Don't Have to Be Scary | Preteen Ministry Bible Lessons

Preteen events don’t have to be scary.

As the holidays begin to creep up on us, we are knee deep in planning events for our preteen ministries.

Events can be scary and overwhelming, but they don’t have to be.

I think we put way too much pressure on ourselves to have these huge, super-awesome, amazing events all of the time.

Lately, my outlook on why we do events has changed.

I always thought events should be over-the-top, memory-making events that our preteens would talk about when they are adults.

Our preteens would bring all of their friends and they would all love it so much that they would start coming to church.

Boy was I wrong! Sure, big events have a place, and I am totally on board with them.

But, they take a ton of planning and extra volunteers to pull off.

Rather than focusing on how awesome an event is or how many kids will come, events should be used to build the relationships the preteens have with each other and with leaders.

When I realized that building relationships with preteens was just as important as teaching them to love God and live for Him, it changed how I thought about events.

Rather than doing BIG over the top events, I decided to host simple events, more often.

This strategy helped leaders build relationships with preteens and allowed preteens to build relationships with each other. We noticed that the closer preteens are to each other and leaders, the more open they are when learning about and discussing their faith on Sundays.

We now host one preteen event the second Friday of every month. Parents absolutely love having it scheduled in advance, so they can plan for it.

We send reminders each month, but they already know there will be something safe and fun for their preteen on that set day.

This also makes it easier for our preteens to invite their friends in advance, so that they can get their parent’s permission.

The big question is, “How do you pull off an event every month?”

Here’s what we did.

1. Plan Ahead

We knew the events needed to be simple, but we also knew they needed to be more than just hanging out.

We marked the dates on the calendar and brainstormed what can we could do that was fun, allowed for relationship building, and didn’t require a lot of planning.

We planned out the entire year in advance, so we knew what needed to happen each month.

This also allows you to recruit parents to help. When they know what is going on each month, a parent is more inclined to volunteer to help.

2. Feed them, and They Will Come

Preteens get excited about food, so feed them 🙂

We have budget concerns just like any other church, so how do we feed them every month?

Don’t be afraid to ask for money. $2-$3 dollars a preteen will buy a lot of Little Caesar’s pizza.

You could also ask parents to donate meals or help prepare food.

Don’t get crazy. Remember what preteens eat: pizza, mac n cheese, tacos, spaghetti, etc. Add chips and lemonade and your cost is pretty low.

3. Change Up the Location

Next, we started having events in different places in our church.

Change is good.

For example, we decided to have some of our events in the youth ministry space. The preteens thought it was really cool to be able to hang out in the youth room.

The more you change up the location, the better.

Event Ideas

We always have a kick-off event for back to school time. Since it is still nice weather here in Michigan around that time, we play outside games: 9 Square In The Air, football, a giant Jenga game, and bean bag toss. Make sure your leaders are playing with them.

We’ve also have done movie nights. Preteens bring camp chairs or blankets to sit on, and we use a projector and show a movie on the wall. We have popcorn, candy, and snacks of all kind. They love feeling like they are in a movie theater. This past Christmas, we showed the newest “A Christmas Carol” movie. We had hot chocolate and asked preteens to bring their favorite Christmas Cookie to share. Yum 🙂

Minute to Win It games are very popular. The preteens come up with team names and compete in many different events. You can make an entire event out of it.

Board Game Nights is a great idea. Preteens bring their favorite board games, and everyone plays together.

Since we have started doing these simple monthly events, parents have told us how much they love them. Their preteens really enjoy coming and bringing their friends.