Youth, on Youth Group, part II

What makes youth group special? We asked the ones who know best: our youth!
Here is the second article,  in a series of three:
CONTENT by Sam
WUSYG (the Winchester Unitarian Society Youth Group), like many other youth groups probably, creates a covenant at the beginning of the year. Contained in our covenant is our understanding that a group cannot function without dedication. We believe that trained and experienced leaders who model and build that dedication among us are absolutely crucial to creating a strong and committed youth following.
WUSYG has both a ¾ time youth director and a 1/4 time assistant youth director who are a part of the church’s payroll. For us, a youth group without experienced leaders is like a choir without a music director, or a congregation without a minister, and just like hiring a music director or searching for a minister, hiring the right leaders for a youth group is an extensive process that must be completed carefully and with input from the youth; youth group leaders need to understand the workings of a group and group development and dynamics, and must also be passionate about working with youth and knowledgeable about ministry to teens.
WUSYG’s leaders – Jessica and Sean – are not there to reprimand or control the group, but rather to guide and aid the group’s growth and provide knowledge, skills, and focus for the youth. We think that often, group leaders spend too much time focusing on just providing fun stuff to draw youth in, and not focusing on the culture or the dynamics of the group. Or, at the opposite side of the spectrum, they run youth group like an extension of RE classes and just try to teach us stuff that we may or may not be interested in. Other youth groups may just be left to fend for themselves, and develop their own programming and lead their own meetings and worship and activities with some help from adults. Because we have experienced leaders who share a full time job, we have a large program that offers us a little of all of that: social events, small groups, worship, education, service trips, community-building activities, and leadership opportunities. And, in turn, we have a very large and diverse group of youth. Whatever it is they’re looking for in a youth group, they can probably find it at WUSYG because we offer a little of everything.
As a youth director, Jessica spends a lot of time working on ways to develop leadership opportunities for youth. She does not rely on the same people to head each project, but rather encourages many people to lead activities, worship, fundraisers, etc. When a youth member leads a project for the group, he or she develops a strong dedication and loyalty to the group that can only grow, and gains skills that he or she will later pass along to new members. At the same time, Jessica doesn’t let us lead everything, and we don’t spend the majority of our time working on projects or planning things.
For example, weekly Sunday meetings for WUSYG are almost always leader-led and focused on a certain thought or theme which forces us to analyze current events and think about relevant issues. Our leaders create an environment where youth are free to express opinions and respectfully debate ideas with one another.
So, we don’t plan or lead our Sunday meetings… so what do we do, and how and when do we do it? Youth in the group organize and plan quite a bit on our own, and the largest influence on our organization for WUSYG is an e-mail list. This has been key for organizing events and letting everyone know what’s going on and what we need help with.
Of course, we can’t accomplish everything we need to do on computers. When we need to meet and organize, we’ll often use Wednesdays for that. If it’s a smaller group that needs to meet, they’ll all communicate and figure out when is best for all of them.
For us, leadership comes in as many different forms as we have different kinds of people in our group. While some people organize large-scale fundraising concerts, others participate in discussions and provide thought-provoking ideas. Some group members lead silently through their complete dedication to the group, and attend almost every single group event. Others lead by taking charge when no one else will. Our adult leaders do lead, and not just advise, but our youth all lead and advise as well, and it’s the balance that makes it possible for our group to do as much as we do, and what makes our group work so well.