Guest Friendly Youth Ministry

I'm always impressed by students who come to youth group for the first time by themselves.  We often get guests that come with their friends, and that is fantastic, but to be a teenager and walk into a large group of other students knowing no one would be very scary for me.  So I tip my hat to the student who takes that risk.

How does your youth group treat the "newbie"?  Is the "newbie" made to feel welcomed by other students?

This is something we have been working on with our youth group.  We don't always pass the test but more and more I see students making the effort to reach out to the "newbie."  Several of our students have caught on to welcoming guests.  Some are still wrapped up in their own little world and group of friends that they aren't even aware when there are guests but that comes with the turf.

How do we create a welcoming youth group?

1.  Look for opportunities to teach about welcoming guests and truly loving others

2.  Look for a match.  Find a student that has something in common with the newbie, same grade, gender, school, sport, etc. and introduce the two.

3.  Set the example by welcoming the newbie yourself and take a student or two along with you when you do.

4.  Create some hang out time into your youth group gathering so students have time to get to know each other.

5.  Acknowledge students when you see they are welcoming.  "Hey, I saw you talking to the new kid.  Thanks for caring enough to reach out to him.  You are awesome!"

There are some newbies who don't want to be reached and could careless if someone talks to them or not.  I recently witnessed at our youth group.  A young lady obviously didn't want to be at youth group and when another girl went and talked with her the newbie was very cold towards her.  Sometimes parents don't think the youth group was welcoming when in fact their own child was cold as ice and hard as a rock.  Encourage students to not give up on reaching out when they encounter an unfriendly newbie.