Today on the podcast, Sean and Makenna discuss small group night that took place in Elevate recently with the 4th and 5th graders.
Over a couple weeks leading up to the event the Small Groups discussed ideas of things they would like to do together as a group on this specific night. For example, Makenna’s small group decided to go to John’s Incredible Pizza which is a all you can eat pizza and arcade type place. Other groups did the mall, ice skating, frozen yogurt and arcade/ Each group chose something they all wanted to do together.
Sean’s group wanted to just hang out at one of the boys houses to eat pizza and play video games and after go watch one of the other boys in the group play in his football game.
Everybody enjoyed themselves and it had a different feel that a normal event night because it was just the Small Group. They are able to bring friends as well.
This is the first time Elevate has done this and they learned some things from this time. On the podcast, Makenna and Sean discuss what they learned:
1. It’s good to have another adult present, whether it is another small group leader or even one of the parents.
2. It is important to know what each of the small group leaders is doing for their event so when parents ask what their kid will be doing you are able to respond with the appropriate information.
3. Give the groups some set choices up front, this is to limit the expense of the event.
Small Group Night was a nice time to have little to no agenda but offer a time to build relationship with the students. It offers a great connection time between leaders and students that will allow for better overall discussion in the long run in their small groups.
Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to podcast@fourfivesix.org. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.