Olympics
Young people like to compete - we youth leaders know this. The challenge is for us to create a competitive program that meets the threefold test of a successful youth program, a program that:
Is fun and leaves youth with a desire to return and bring friends to subsequent meetings.
Promotes the building of lifelong Christian friendships.
Provides opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in a personal and effective way.
The Olympics program does all three of these more effectively than any other program I have used over the thirty three years I have been involved in youth ministry.
To describe the program in detail is not possible on this website. It is described in the eighth chapter of the book "Not the Same Old, Done-it-before Youth Meetings" (pages 55-65)
Click "Youth Olympics"
Olympics of Hope 2011.
This year's program will include nine weeks of activities over an eleven week period. It is entitled "Olympics of Hope" and we will intersperse activities that bring hope to the world amidst the competitions. It is a new way of conducting our olympics. In addition, we will recruit several adults of the church to play the role of Judges but before they judged events, they were given a couple of minutes to share personal testimonies with the young people.
This years olympics schedule is as follows:
March 20th ...
Volleyball and Spelling Bee
March 26 ...
Hope for the Hungry - youth work at a New York City soup kitchen and get points for their olympic team
March 27th ...
Darts and Charades
April 3rd ...
Pool and Domino Stacking ...
Hope for Friends - youth write to Bible penpals in Uganda
April 10th ...
Bowling, Puzzle Making and Treasure Hunt
April 17th ...
Listomania and Pie Eating
April 24th (Easter) ...
Hope for Faith - youth present Easter dawn service at beach for the group and the church membership
May 1st ...
Soccer, Ping Pong, Musical Chairs
May 8th Mother's Day (no meeting)
May 15th ...
Track and Limbo
May 22nd ...
Bible Trivia and
Hope for the Elderly - youth visit a local senior citizens center and read, play a game with, lead a sing-a-long with an elderly person
May 29th Memorial Day weekend (no meeting)
June 5th ...
Finale - Skits, Songs and Banner competition. For this competition the youth teams have to organize themselves and create a banner for themselves which is judged and for which they receive points. They also have to write a skit and a song which is performed and judged at a final performance for parents and youth members to attend. Many youth have developed new friendships while doing these activities which require planning, cooperation and practice.
For every athletic competition there is a non-athletic competition so everyone finds an event that they will do well in. For example, every Olympics since the early 1970's began with a volleyball game followed by a spelling bee. See the link above for more ideas of events to hold in Olympics.
For more information on Olympics read chapter eight of "Not the Same Old, Done-it-before Youth Meetings" Click: More on Olympics