Posted by Scott Rubin
I love reading Josh Griffin’s blog, called “More than Dodgeball”. And I understand the title … that youth ministry is more than activities-without-purpose. But last weekend, our middle school ministry paused our regular rhythm during the weekend service, and we put on The SuperBowl of Dodgeball. Which was a smashing success!
In fact, we thought it might be our last chance for doing this, because the space we meet in is about to undergo a significant change, which could make this hard to repeat. But now we’re saying, “HOW can we make sure this happens again someday?!”… because it was that good.
A few factors that made it work:::
1- It interrupted the regular flow of our weekends … and provided something completely different. Do your students pretty much know what to expect when they walk in the doors? I’d claim that sometimes that’s a good thing; providing some stability can be helpful. But at other times, it’s great for middle schoolers to look around & say “This is CRAZY… I can’t believe we’re doing this!”
2- It was a fabulous chance to invite a friend… especially a friend who’d probably decline an invite to “church”. We told our regular students that we weren’t putting on a dodgeball tourney for “us”… but we were “hosting” a dodgeball tournament for all their friends! And close to half of our students were able to bring someone along with them. I realize that there’s no guarantee how many of them will return… but I know that some will. And that’s exciting.
3- It gave our regular volunteers a fresh opportunity to cheer their students on. As usual, we never could have pulled this thing off without our great team of volunteers. And they really enjoyed the role of coach/cheerleader… and also had a chance for some good connection with students & their friends between games.
4- Parents caught the vision. Cool to talk to a mom yesterday whose son brought his whole basketball team. She picked them all up in her mini-van, threw 3 pizzas in the back, and delivered them to church… all the while thinking, “I can’t believe this is happening”.
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Kurt Johnston leads the student ministries team at Saddleback Church in Southern California. His ministry of choice, however, is junior high, where he spends approximately 83.4% of his time. Kurt is also the founder of www.simplyjuniorhigh.com, and he writes, speaks and looks for opportunities to encourage other youth workers. He likes to surf, ride dirtbikes and hang out in coffee shops. He is married to Rachel, and they have two teenage children, Kayla and Cole
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Scott Rubin is the Director of Elevate, the junior high ministry of Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. He's mostly a middle school pastor, but he also writes some, speaks some, and blogs some. He's the co-author of the book Middle School Ministry, and a few other titles too. He likes sports, summer, his wife Lynette, his 3 sons, and often wishes that Lake Michigan was actually an ocean.
“Exactly Dodgeball” = Genius Title!
I love what you are saying. Sometimes we need to mix it up, Jesus certainly did!