Do you ever wish your session plans could be a bit more ‘creative’? What if the sessions you run inspired creativity in the young people you lead? Sounds good to me, plus I wouldn’t have to keep coming up with ever more tenuous creative prayer activities… there are only so many times you can set fire to peices of paper containing things you have done that you know are wrong.  

That is where the good people at Youthscape might be able to help out (I mean they employ and entire ‘creativity and innovation team’ so I’d hope they were ok at it)! They have produced a resource that aims to help youth leaders to empower young people to “explore and unleash their creative gifts”.

The other thing it is trying to do away with is the need to encourage young people to sit quietly while we teach them the Bible. This for me is a massive win… I cringe every time I hear myself say ‘come on guys… listen’.

In their own words:

“SHOWCASE PROVIDES YOU WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF IDEAS FOR HELPING AND MOTIVATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN CREATIVE PROJECTS, AND FOR THEN FINDING A MECHANISM TO EXHIBIT WHAT THEY’VE MADE. IF THIS IS ALL YOU CHOOSE TO DO WITH THE RESOURCE, THEN IT WILL CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN WORTHWHILE. THIS IN ITSELF WILL HAVE A RANGE OF BENEFITS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, FROM CONTRIBUTING TO THEIR EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING, TO GIVING THEM THE CONFIDENCE TO SHOW AND TALK ABOUT THEIR WORK TO OTHERS. IT’LL UNEARTH TALENTS AMONG YOUR YOUNG PEOPLE THAT YOU — AND PERHAPS THEY — NEVER KNEW WERE THERE. AND IT WILL ADD AN ENERGY TO YOUR YOUTH ‘MEETINGS’, WHATEVER FORM THEY TAKE, WHICH COMESFROM THE COLLABORATION AND DEMOCRATISATION OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS”

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not the answer in itself to the eternal question of how to run the perfect small group session – but if you are planning ahead for September and looking for inspiration or thinking about how to freshen things up, then this resource might well be money well spent.

Its fairly cheap at £10.99 and its available on Youthscape’s website