April 29, 2008...8:16 am
Chairs, Couches, and Cliques: Does Set-Up Really Matter in Youth Ministry?
I‘m very excited to welcome Aaron Kingsbury as our guest writer. Aaron was a youth pastor for 4 years and has been a youth ministry consultant for 6 years. He is heavily involved in running a youth camp in Southern California and is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met in youth ministry. You can contact Aaron at Akingsbury@wol.org.
Chairs can be one of the most important tools in your ministry. You may, however, meet together in a place that has only pews, or benches, or some other immovable seating. If that is the case, the principles you find below may be helpful with a few tweaks or changes.
Many youth ministries rise or fall based on how the leaders use their seating. The danger in not being intentional with your chairs is that you can lose control of the room before you even get your meeting started. You may already have the typical scenario in place; two chatty girls come into the youth room and set their stuff down on “their seats”. At the same time, that couple (who wishes their parents would allow them to get married at age 15) sits down in the back where they know they can make out without too much interruption. Before you know it, you have several pockets of troublesome youth who are in their seats, don’t want to participate, always talk too much and seem to own more influence than you.
The ministry of chairs will force you to initiate changes before your youth come into the room. If you rearrange your seating, not only will the troublemakers be confused, and realize that you are in control, but there will be several fringe benefits. Many of your students are coming in to your ministry after a hard day at school. They are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Moms and dads are fighting, brothers are getting arrested, sisters are getting pregnant, they had fire drills and bomb threats and school shootings this week, and now they are coming into your church to spend just a few moments in a safe place.
When you mix your seating, you instantly level the playing field for each of those teens. Everyone must choose a seat, or you may be choosing one for them. You may start out with all chairs facing each other in a circle, and move them around during the singing, and move them again for the message. Each time you move your seats, you should move your students as well. By the time you get to the message, the happy couple will be sitting next to total strangers, and the chatty girls will be so far apart, they will either have to yell or pay attention.
As guests come in to your meeting (hopefully this will be a regular occurrence), they will tend to feel more comfortable if the regulars are just as surprised as they are with the agenda and the seating for the night. If you start your meeting with an ice-breaker (recommended for most every meeting), you will melt away the cold walls of their hearts and the issues of life, and give your ministry a better chance to affect change in their lives. I suggest that you assign someone the responsibility of the ministry of chairs. This might also be someone who is in charge of the ice-breakers so they can work these two pieces in together. A good ice-breaker is one that involves every student, takes no longer than ten minutes and is cut short just when it starts to get exciting. This leaves your students hungry for more action and ready for the next piece of your meeting.
When I was a youth pastor, we met in a room that was long and narrow. This forced us to be very creative with our seating. I challenged myself to have our chairs in different positions every Wednesday evening (for four years). One of the first things that we noticed was that the troublesome kids were now starting to pay attention to us, and the cliques seemed to disappear. Our guests always loved the interaction they had, and they never felt out of place or embarrassed. We also started to place a couple of chairs in the back of the room and invited parents to come “watch” for the night. This went so well that we scheduled parents to come on certain nights. We had two chairs in the back of the room for them to be out of the way and observe. The parents who did come ended up communicating with us on deeper levels and participating more in our activities (especially when we needed volunteers).
When your teens know that you have taken the time to arrange the chairs, they also assume that you have taken time to invest in the message and other components of your meeting. This is very important to the effectiveness of your ministry in their lives. They will know that you are not just “winging it” or unprepared; and they will listen when you speak.
There are several ways to arrange your chairs that lead to great ice-breakers at the start of the night. One classic is the circle or semi-circle. I love ice-breakers, and one of my favorites is called “shuffle your buns.” (see the rules and explanation here) Once again, play this one until it starts to get fun, then end it and move on.
If you cannot move your seating, you may find that moving the group around works just as well. You could use one room for games, fun and music; and a different room for teaching. You will find that this brings a certain expectation in participation and attentiveness, especially if you have your teaching room decorated with scripture and outfitted with teaching supplies.
Suggested seating arrangements:
· Circle (teach from the center of the room on a swivel stool)
· Half/Semi-Circle
· Square (Rectangle)
· Chairs facing one direction when students come in, then at some point, each chair must be turned around backward. (The back is now the front)
· All chairs facing outside walls in circle, square or other shape
· Flying V’s
· Spell a key word for the night with your chairs
· No chairs. All students bring pillows and wear pajamas
· 2 long rows (or 1 very long row)
· Several short columns
· 2 sides (Girls-Boys, Jr – Sr. high, Jeans – no jeans)
· Sit with your small group (Small group leader in front)
· Sit for a bit, move away the chairs and stand, then sit again.
· 2 chairs facing each other all over the place
· All chairs back to back
Brandon Collins
Lindsey
Ray Deck III
Ben Bacon
Tyler Collins
Nathan
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