Lovely as a Tree: Adventist Youth Program Idea #6

The AY leaders at our church designed our AY programs for this entire year to be spread across five major themes:
1. Nature Study (obejct lessons, etc)
2. Health (Health Principles, Anatomy, Natural Healing, etc)
3. History of Redemption (Bible stories/characters, Adventist History, etc)
4. Christian Home (Love, Courtship, Marriage, Family Life, Christian Association, et)
5. Christian Living (Dress, Recreation, Music, Values, Christian Lifestyle, etc)

This allows us to more easily narrow down brainstorming ideas for a particular Sabbath while better ensuring that no important topics are left out. Leaders then have the privilege of coming up with specific programs and content to go with the theme. I, for one, have a tendency to have small group discussions and activities.

The Sabbath before last, we did "Lovely as a Tree," a nature study on- tada!- trees. I'm sharing here how we did it, along with some content, in the hope that it would be of help to you and your church.

PROGRAM IDEA: LOVELY AS A TREE

OBJECTIVE: To encourage the youth to study more closely the objects in nature and its revelations of God's character and will.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Discussion questions written or printed on sheets of paper

OUR VERSION OF THE PROGRAM (You can always vary this according to your needs and preferences)

First, there was the usual opening ceremony. We sang songs, and offered prayer. It would be very nice to sing songs that are related to trees or that mention trees in the lyrics. One song I would recommend is the scripture song from Psalm 1:1-3 (I think I have an mp3 of this somewhere. message me!).

Then we had one of our young girls read a poem, Trees! by Stephen Henry Thayer, on the lessons we can learn from trees. I found this in a booklet included in the SonLight Education Ministry curriculum.

Our young people then stood up to offer a song about the God of creation and nature, then proceeded to one by one give object lessons we can learn from trees.

Examples:
1. Trees receive "waste matter" (like decaying leaves, etc) and still give back good things (like fruits and oxygen, etc)
2. Trees planted too close together become stunted or barren. Our associations with other people require "proper distance" and sometimes even separations for us to be fruitful.
3. People throw stones at fruitful trees. If you do well, expect criticism.
4. It's hard to bend a grown tree. But trees that are bent when young remain bent for the rest of its life. Curb bad habits early. Also, educate children toward good while they are still young.
5. A tree's sweetest fruits are those that receive the most sun. When we constantly have the light of Jesus shining on us, we develop sweet characters.
(This list can go on and on)

Small Group Discussion: Trees in the Bible

Divide the congregation into four (or as many as you see fit). Each group receives a card or sheet of paper on which is written a specific tree mentioned in the Bible and a set of questions pertaining to that tree that they have to discuss among themselves. We usually have four or five groups. This time, we had four.

1. Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - Genesis 2:8-17, Genesis 3:1-7
    a. Where is this tree located?
    b. Describe this tree and its fruit.
    c. What was God's instruction regarding this tree? How did Adam and Eve come to partake of its fruit? What was the result?
    d. How does worldly knowledge/education lead us away from obeying God?
    e. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

2. Nebuchadnezzar's Tree - Daniel 4:10-33
    a. Describe the tree that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.
    b. What happened to the tree?
    c. What did the dream of the tree mean?
    d. What did Nebuchadnezzar do that triggered the fulfillment of the dream?
    e. What lesson can we lessons can we learn from this tree?
 
3. The Barren Fig Tree - Luke 13:6-9
    a. Describe the fig tree told in this parable.
    b. What two things can possibly happen to this fig tree?
    c. As the dresser of the vineyards of our souls, what has Jesus done for us that we may bear fruit?
    d. What fruits are we as Christians expected to bear?
    e. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

4. Tree of Life - Genesis 2:9, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 22:2, 14
    a. Where is  this tree located?
    b. Describe its physical attributes.
    c. What makes this tree special?
    d. Who alone will have right to partake of this tree?
    3. What lessons can we learn from this tree?

Allow 10-15 minutes of discussion, then ask the group to choose a representative to share their discussion with the rest of the congregation. Set a specific and reasonable time limit for this.

Another variation to this group discussion is to set up "trees" in different areas of the hall. Label them according to the Biblical trees you will discuss, and have one teammate stationed at each one. Divide the congregation into as many groups as there are "trees." Each group will have ten (or so) minutes at each tree to discuss the questions, with your teammate as moderator. At the end, all the groups will have gone to all the trees and there would be no need to "report" the group discussions to the larger congregation. You may also decorate the trees accordingly in advance.

Close with a short message about how we can be lovely like trees based on Psalm 1 or some other related message as you see fit.

Check out our other AY Program ideas here, and feel free to share your AY Program experiences or your own program ideas in the comments below.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of some of our young people rendering a song during an AY Program.

Have a blessed AY Program!

Adventist Youth Program Idea #5

Personal testimonies should have a special place in the Sabbath program. Each Sabbath, the congregation should be encouraged and educated in a way that throughout the coming week they will be able to live and create fresh experiences that will strengthen their personal bond with Christ. These experiences, when shared with the church in the Sabbaths to follow, will in turn inspire and encourage others in their daily walk with the Saviour.

More often than not, though, the program leader will have a problem finding someone from the congregation to share an inspiring experience with the church. There are two possible reasons that could account for this.
First, the members do not have such experiences. Second, they are too shy to come up front and share the experiences they do have.

One way to deal with both problems is through this simple activity.

PROGRAM IDEA: Group Testimonies

Objective: To encourage the congregation to share their personal experiences as a Christian.

Materials Needed: None

Mechanics:
Divide the congregation into as many small groups as reasonable. Ours did well with four. Instruct each group to gather experiences from the members for each of the following categories:
1. Answered Prayer
2. Helping Others
3. Witnessing to Others
4. Conversion
5. Overcoming Temptation

You could also add other categories or come up with an entirely different set of categories. Give the group about ten minutes to gather these experiences. Time pressure is sometimes necessary to motivate the members to volunteer their experiences. Also, dividing them into smaller groups will encourage them to contribute. Plus, there’s the assurance that he/she won’t be the only one to do it.

At the end of the allotted time, have the group representatives come up to share their experiences with the bigger congregation. It’s also advisable to set a time limit for each group to present. The adult males at our church had more than five representatives, and we only then discovered that the “quiet” ones have a lot happening in their lives that are worth hearing!

At the end of the afternoon, we heard at least 20 different experiences from our members, most of them sharing for the first time.

Optional: Have the entire group come up front at the beginning of their turn to sing a hymn, serving as intermissions between the mini-speeches. We did this at our church so the non-representatives could still take part in the larger program.

I hope this helps your AY Program plan for this coming Sabbath. If you do use this program idea, do share how it goes. I would very much love to hear from you.

God bless!

Check out other AY program ideas in this blog by clicking here.

Youth Convention 2013

Without really planning (much less, preparing) for it, I travelled all the way to Bataan to attend a weeklong youth convention with four of our teenage girls from church.

The youth convention, the fifth one organized by the Seventh-Day Adventists Present Truth Believers, was held May 14-19 at the Nuclear Power Village in Bagac, Bataan. It was also the first time the youth from our church were exposed to as many as 102 other young people receiving the light of the present truth in a gathering specially organized for the purpose.

We arrived in Manila May 13, 11 pm and were met by Pastor Dave Matudan and his son Jedd. They took us to dinner and, after vainly insisting on bringing us to a more comfortable place to stay, hesitantly agreed to bring us to their headquarters (called “mission house”) in Quezon City where we slept for about four hours.
In the morning, we had early morning worship before heading out for groceries, getting shocked at the poor quality of the veggies at PureGold and amazed at the low prices at a Korean store.

At around 1:30 in the afternoon, we (jamee and i) headed off to Bataan by bus with about 40 other delegates. Sadly, I slept through most of the trip so I didn’t get to see much.

The venue for this year’s convention was an old village originally designed for employees of the Nuclear Power Plant of the National Power Corporation. The organizers rented about eight houses that could accommodate around 20 persons each, distributing them across four airconditioned rooms in each house.

There’s a common kitchen, dining area and living room. Two rooms share a toilet and bath.
We were housed with the delegates from Bulacan and Palawan, with Pastor Michael Matudan as house pastor.

We woke up at 5:30 each morning for devotionals held at the driveway of our assigned house. After that, we went about preparing breakfast, taking turns using the shared toilet and bath, eating, and getting dressed for the morning session which began at 8:00. Some days the girls got to go out and tour the venue.

Morning sessions consisted of two topics discussed by different speakers. The group would then break up for lunch and come back at 2:00 pm for the afternoon session, which covered just one topic.

The convention’s theme was “God’s Special Force: Called to Stand Apart” and the topics dwelled on how SDA youth should be different from the world, not taking part in their dainties, working for the Master and making special preparation for the coming of Jesus. The topics discussed throughout the entire YC were:

• Called to Stand Apart - The call for young men to duty
• The History of the Church – How true religion calls you to be separate from the world
• God’s Special Force – A call for dedication of our Time, Talents, Treasures, Soul Temples
• Strength of Character – The power of will and the power of self-control and the danger of turning back against God
• The Everlasting Covenant – Yielding of the will and the heart in obedience to the will of God
• Love’s Twin Sister – The importance of coupling love with a sense of duty, diligence and thoroughness in small things, especially in home responsibilities
• Standards of Success – How our obedience unlocks God’s blessings
• Sanctuary and Atonement – The plan of salvation illustrated
• Creeping Compromise – The importance of being able to recognize the clever camouflage of the enemy
• Remember – The importance of the Sabbath and how it ought to be kept by God’s professed people

The rest of the afternoons were spent out in the field, playing team building games, which proved to be so much fun for everybody and provided for a much more comfortable environment for interaction and acquaintance among delegates.

The main event of these outdoor activities was apparently the kadang challenge held on Friday, the highlight being the all-star round with the pastors composing one team and the boys’ selection composing the other. The boys finally ended the pastors’ four-year reign as champions.

After the outdoor activities came the joint sundown worship, except for the Sabbath sundown worship which was conducted by house.

On Sabbath, the topics discussed throughout the week were summarized and condensed into three basic distinctions between the Seventh-day Adventist Youth and the world – distinction in DOCTRINE, PRACTICE, and CHARACTER. In the afternoon the group was broken into small groups, each group composed of members from different churches, to discuss the topics and how they can be applied in the day-to-day life of the average Seventh-day Adventist.

At the end of the Sabbath came the most-awaited topic of all – LCM or Love, Courtship, and Marriage. The discussion put forward the principles and safeguards that should be adopted by ever SDA youth if he/she is to have a happy, Christ-centered marriage and family life. The discussion ended at almost 12 midnight!

And thus ended the Youth Convention. The following morning, we slept in a little longer and had morning worship in the room. We then packed everything up and got ready to leave – which we did early afternoon. That gave us ample to time to take last-minute  photos and just bond with the other delegates.

The trip back to Quezon City took us about four hours and many stopovers, made easy by the presence of new friends.

Pastor Dave took us to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner, and then to Mount Clemens Church where we would spend the next two nights before our flight home to Davao.

Most of the pastors and workers were there to send us off at the airport. In all of our prayers throughout that memorable week, we always thanked God for the hospitality and kindness offered by our brethren in this part of the country. We were very well-taken care of and no week-long stay in a strange place could have been more comfortable.

It was a wonderful new experience for the five of us – new places, new friends, new learning, renewed faith and zeal for service. I keep praying that the things we have learned will help us to grow in our personal relationship with Christ, to relate ourselves more efficiently as Christians to a world coming to its end, to come to a clearer understanding of our responsibilities as a chosen people, to realize our opportunities and possibilities.

May this passage be instilled and realized in each of our lives, and may we live to fill the greatest, though often unseen, want of the world.

What a lifework was that of these noble Hebrews! As they bade farewell to their childhood home, how little did they dream of their high destiny! Faithful and steadfast, they yielded themselves to the divine guiding, so that through them God could fulfill His purpose. The same mighty truths that were revealed through these men, God desires to reveal through the youth and the children of today. The history of Joseph and Daniel is an illustration of what He will do for those who yield themselves to Him and with the whole heart seek to accomplish His purpose.The greatest want of the world is the want of men--men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall… Every youth, every child, has a work to do for the honor of God and the uplifting of humanity.  {Ed 57 - 58}

***If you are, in any way, impressed to attend next year's youth convention, feel free to contact me so I could get you in touch with the organizers. God bless you. :)

Adventist Youth Program Ideas

Idea # 4: A Church Ministry for You

Objective: To find a place for every church member in the work of God. This is also useful for Ministry Heads to identify possible recruits for ministry projects.

Materials Needed: A list of all the ministries in your church (Prison Ministry, Radio Ministry, Publishing Ministry, Welfare Ministry, etc.), active and otherwise. Names of the ministries written in individual signboards. You can also have the option to make a list of the activities, projects, and plans of that ministry to go along with the signboard.

Mechanics:  Before the start of the activity, group seats according to the number of ministries in your church and place a signboard at each seat group. Have assistants stationed at each location. It might even be better if you can ask the Ministry Heads to act as your assistants for this activity. Begin by saying that the Church is organized for missionary purposes and that every member is called upon to be a missionary. Briefly introduce the ministries you have at your church. Instruct the congregation to take a tour of the different stations and find the ministry they feel they are best suited for. They are then to stay at that station with the others who chose the same ministry. When everyone is already seated, the assistants/Ministry Heads will begin to ask each person at his station to say why he/she chose that ministry and what he/she thinks he/she could do to contribute to that ministry. Ideas for new projects may also be gathered. Allow about 20-40 minutes for the discussions, depending on the size of the groups. If you have small congregation (like we do at my church), you can skip the regrouping and just ask the members to come up to the microphone one by one. When everyone has had the chance to share, end by saying that there is a place in the church's work for everyone and that God would be very happy if all would enlist and share in the burdens and joys of the church.

And that's it. Everyone participated, everyone found out what they can do for the church, and the ministries found a fresh batch of possible recruits. Make sure to do a follow up with the Ministry Heads regarding projects and activities.

If you try this at your church, I'll be glad to know how it goes.

Enjoy your AY Program!

Adventist Youth Program Ideas

Idea # 3

Music is a huge part of any worship service. It is a gift that God wants us to use and enjoy to His glory. These days, the gray area between good church music and otherwise has widened along with the musical generation gap. It probably also happens in your church: the older members complaining that church music now just isn't as good as in the old days. But God has bestowed musical talents just as wisely on this generation as in previous ones. So this is what today's AY program idea is about: bridging the musical generation gap.

MUSIC: OLD AND YOUNG

Materials: writing board and chalk or papers and pens (for copying song lyrics)

Mechanics: Group the congregation into two or more (depending on the size of the congregation). Make sure that each group has enough young members as well as older ones. Instruct the older members of the group to teach their younger members a song from the old days - one that the youth are not familiar with. Also, ask the youth to teach their older members a song that is from their generation. Allow practice time. Now, each group will be given time to perform both songs - the older ones singing the new song, and the younger ones singing the old song.

Now you have young people learning and singing old songs and older people learning and actually singing new songs! This may just start everyone on a road to appreciating music from different generations. Plus, you   just gave them an avenue to interact and work with each other toward a common goal.

At my church, everyone enjoyed the activity, especially the older ones as they sang their newly-learned song while their young teachers looked proudly on.

The important thing to emphasize here is that the sacredness of the musical gift cuts across generations. God designed for music to be as much a part of worship as is prayer. In the words of the Apostle Paul:

I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. 1 Corinthians 14:15

What do you do to bring out the good music at your church?


Check out other AY Program Ideas in this blog by clicking here.

Adventist Youth Program Ideas

Having been thrown into AY leadership at the age of 15, with virtually no leadership education and no idea what to do, I basically know how it is to dread Adventist Youth Programs that I have to plan as leader.

So here are a couple of ideas that I hope will help leaders out there to make programs interesting and educational without taking away the sanctity and solemnity of a Sabbath afternoon. Both these ideas are centered around an exploration of the Bible, with the congregation working in small groups. Groups can be made according to the seating arrangement, age levels, gender, existing grouping, or whatever works for you.

Program Idea #1


MY BIBLICAL BODY

Materials: White Board and Marker (or Chalk board and chalk), Eraser, several Bibles in each group, pen and paper

Mechanics: Have groups look up Bible verses that mention different body parts and how these parts are supposed to be used to glorify their Maker. Give a few examples. Allow about ten minutes for this. After ten minutes, have a representative of one group come up front to read their collection of verses. Another group member will be assigned to draw on the board the body parts they found verses for until they can complete a whole human being. When all the groups have had their turn, check to see who has the best and most complete drawing. Close by reading Psalm 139:14, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, Matthew 18:8, 9.

Important Note: Take care to clarify to the groups that the verses must not only mention a body part but also contain a message on how that body part is to be used or not used or how it is to be taken care of. For example, Daniel 2:32-34 isn't valid because it only mentions the body part but there's no message on how that part can glorify God. Also make sure that they look up verses that refer to HUMAN body parts. One group in my church used Genesis 1:2 which mentions "FACE of the WATERS."

Examples of valid verses:  
Job 31:1 I have made a covenant with mine EYES...
Psalm 51:15 O Lord open thou my LIPS; and my MOUTH shall show forth thy praise...
Ephesians 6:15 And your FEET shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace...
Psalm 144:1 ...which teacheth my HANDS to war and my FINGERS to fight...
Revelation 2:7 he that hath an EAR let him hear...
Ezra 9:5 i fell upon my KNEES...

How the drawings turned out at my church. Thanked God for designing me. :)

Program Idea #2


BIBLE STORIES FROM NATURE


Objective: To refresh the congregation's minds about Bible stories and to help them see objects around them as reminders of our God's power and our Biblical heritage.

Mechanics: Have each group choose an object of nature (e.g. soil, rock, flowers, tree/branch, leaf, water, etc) obtain a sample of such object. Each member of the group must now recall one or two (depending on the number of members and the time available) Bible story/ies that involved that object. Give the groups 7-10 minutes to list down the stories. At the end of time given, have one group come to the front with their sample. The first member holds up the sample and recalls a Bible story involving the object, beginning with "This is the rock/flower/soil/water/etc....". The sample is now passed on to the next member who also shares another story and so on. Have the other groups do the same.

Example: Water
The group can bring a glass of water.
Member 1: This is the water that Jesus turned into wine at a wedding in Cana. (passes the glass to Member 2)
Member 2: This is the water that Elijah poured over the altar he made for God in Mount Carmel. (passes the glass to Member 3)
Member 3: This is the water that Jacob drew from a well to feed Rachel's animals. (passes the glass to Member 4)


I hope these ideas help somehow. If you have more ideas, please do share.