Youth and Recreation Activity Resource Center
Activity and Resource Center
Organize the best recreation that can be found in the local church. Create a vital ministry that will be considered super effective by every church member.
Why? What? When? Where? And How? These are the questions that every church and minister should answer when considering an emphasis in the Ministry of Church Recreation. The reason recreation is to be used as a vital church ministry should be explored and a mission statement on “Why the church should consider a ministry of Christian Recreation” should be written. Every Youth Minister, Children’s Minister, Senior Adult Minister or Recreation Minister should know why he or she is using Recreation in their program. “Why am I doing what I am doing”? That is a very important question. It is important that a church or you as a minister should answer. If a mission statement is written at the very beginning it will help everyone understand why the Ministry of Church Recreation. is important and why it is sponsored by the local church.
The Christian Knows God As Creator Of All Things. When one becomes a Christian, he is born again or to put it in another term he is re-created. It is therefore basic and thrilling to note that re-creation and recreation are the same base word. As one looks toward recreation as a ministry in a local church, one must look to the God of creation and re-creation as its author. Any recreation program can include sports, drama, crafts, social activities, camping, retreats and music be it at a community center, a boys' club, a YMCA, or a church.
The Church's Ministry of Recreation has a plus that must be there. That plus is a desire to use that recreation to lead people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and to lead those who know Him as their personal Savior to grow in their knowledge of Him and a closer relationship with Him! Luke 2:52 says "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man." The ministry of recreation ministers to the whole man, physically, mentally, spiritually and socially. This approach to the abundant life in Christ is at the heart of a ministry through recreation.
Own Step by Step instructions on how to implement a Church Recreation program.
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Seven Meaningful Approaches of Recreation in Ministry:
- Recreation Is A Channel Of Service And Support. Far from being an end in itself, recreation serves to build up the organizations of the church. The Sunday School department has coffee and doughnuts available on a regular basis for a fellowship time just before Bible study on Sunday morning. The youth in Youth Bible Study take part in a fellowship supper prior to their weekly meeting. Children play games prior to their Bible lesson. Senior adults play charades, sing songs, and participate in mixers before their weekly meeting. The choir has a time of refreshment and fellowship after their weekly rehearsal, the ladies auxiliary has tea before their program, a church committee has refreshments after a meeting. These recreation activities serve as support to these organizations.
- Recreation Is A Catalyst In Outreach. The first requirement to play on a church basketball team is to join and attend regularly a Sunday School class, a weekly Bible study or another church sponsored church group. A couple from the church invites another couple in the same apartment complex over for hamburgers and a time of Bible study, then eventually brings them to the church. A child goes to day camp and meets new friends and is invited to visit the children’s program in the church. A senior adult signs up for the fall leaf tour enjoys the company of those on the trip and joins the weekly senior adult Bible study. A woman attends a craft class and decides to visit the Sunday morning worship service and eventually joins the church. These are just a few of the many ways people are introduced to the church through a recreation activity and who eventually becomes a member of the church.
- Recreation Is A Vehicle For Ministry And Mission Action. A youth choir takes a puppet-team and goes to Mexico or to New York City. The music and the puppets prepare the way for the gospel to be presented. The drama group from a college department of a large church ministers on the beaches during spring break with pantomime, short skits, and monologues. A game wagon equipped with a basketball, snow-cone machine, and books to read ministers in the inner city. A after school day care program offers mothers a safe and enjoyable alternative to children going home to an empty house. A family fall festival offers parents a safe and wholesome alternative to Halloween trick or treating. A weekly senior adult program offers many lonely adults a place to go and fellowship with other adults. A monthly “service your car program” offers assistance to single mothers and single adults by providing oil changes and inspections of their autos. A home repair group helps senior adults, widows and other people in need of minor repairs to their homes. The list is endless. But recreation provides many opportunities for service and mission.
- Recreation Is A Tool For Teaching. A Sunday School class uses role playing to get across a vital truth of the lesson. Another teacher uses aluminum foil to ask class members to show what the new birth means to each one personally. Some Royal Ambassadors or Boy Scouts play a game, then sit down and discuss how that particular game made them feel, as they won and as they lost. A children’s group use puppets to tell a story and then discuss what they learned from the puppets. A girl’s soccer team practices and then discusses how they can be a good witness on the soccer field. A group on a camping trip looks at the stars and discusses the vastness of God’s creation. A group works on a potter’s wheel making pottery and the leader compares the process to God’s work in each individual life. There are endless avenues for teaching through the recreation activities of
- Recreation Is An Avenue For Abundantnt Living. A church sponsors a marriage enrichment retreat, and a couple pledges anew their love for each other. A series of after-church fellowships aids in the healing of a rift in the congregation. A shy young man finds meaning in his life for the first time as a puppeteer. A young man or woman accepts Jesus as his or her personal savior at youth camp. A man learns what it takes to be a Christ led son, husband and father at a weekend men’s retreat. An elderly widow takes a trip with the Senior Adult group and learns that there is a place for fellowship with other Christian women. A young man plays on the church softball team and through the witness of other players learns to enjoy life while controlling his temper. A middle aged woman taking a ceramic class and finds a friend who becomes a mentor and helps her work through depression in her life. Jesus teaches us in John 10:10 that he wants us to live life abundantly when he states, “I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly”. Through play and leisure activities people learn to enjoy life and the church can provide a place and wholesome atmosphere for these activities.
- Recreation Is An Aid To Worship. The pastor has announced that he will preach a series of sermons about men and women who knew Jesus. Before the first sermon begins, a woman in a simple biblical costume comes forward and tells what being the mother of Jesus was like. Perhaps the entire sermon will be a monologue by the pastor. Or a church's drama group can portray dramatically what a choir is singing in a presentation such as Elijah or Celebrate Life. A puppet presentation features bible characters in Bible settings.
- Recreation Is An Environment For Fellowship. The concept of fellowship, the Koinonia, of the early church is exciting, and recreation furnishes a natural environment for it to happen. It may be at an all-church fellowship, at an annual picnic, at a championship softball game, or simply around the tables at a family night supper-but the environment is right for fellowship! So we begin certain that recreation can be a meaningful ministry in any Christian church.
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The Church Recreation Program
The church recreation staff or committee will probably plan many church wide activities and will assist the organizations in planning many more. As you plan, work closely with the church council to avoid conflict in dates. Also consider state, association, and other denominational events; school events; and community events. The following are simply recreation suggestions by the month and by organizations to trigger your imagination. Adapt these and other ideas to your own needs and have a great year of recreation ministry in your church.
The Church Recreation Calendar
October
1. Kickoff covered-dish supper and clinic for Sunday School officers and teachers
2. All-church fall family film festival
3. Retreat for new choir leaders
4. After-game fellowships (football)
5. Senior adult foliage tour
6. Retreat for new puppeteers and drama personnel
7. A “Super Saturday” program for Children
November
1. Youth Thanksgiving breakfast
2. All-church talent show
3. Hayride for singles
4. Stewardship dinner
5. Youth after game fellowship (football)
6. Children’s Hayride and wiener roast
7. Senior adult Thanksgiving luncheon and program
December
1. Department and class Christmas parties
2. Christmas drama
3. Watch Night activities
4. Basketball and volleyball games
5. After Church Christmas fellowship
6. Senior Adult trip to a passion play or Christmas musical
7. Youth winter retreat
8. New Years Eve youth party
9. Youth, children, family or senior adult Christmas caroling fellowship
8. After-game fellowships (football)
January
1. Banquet for choirs
2. Short dramatic features promoting January Bible Study
3. Bible study fellowship
4. Everybody's birthday party
5. Crafts program for senior adults
6. College ski trip or winter retreat
February
1. Sweetheart banquets for youth or adults
2. Valentine fellowships
3. After-game fellowships (basketball)
4. Skating (roller or ice)
5. Adult ski trip
March
1. Fish fry for men's classes
2. Retreat for college students
3. Sports award banquet
4. Senior adult fellowship
5. Church wide skate night
April
1. Easter drama
2. Beginning of spring sports
3. Income tax party
4. Retreat for married young adults
5. Church wide bowling night
May
1. Family retreat
2. Breakfast for graduates
3. Flower arranging for senior adults
4. Physical fitness class for women
5. After church fellowship
June
1. Bus to Ridgecrest for Recreation Leadership Conference
2. Picnic in the park
3. Recreation at VBS
4. Drama at VBS
5. After church homemade ice cream social
July
1. Senior adult retreat
2. All-church watermelon feast
3. Day camp
4. Backyard fellowships
5. Saturday festival of puppets
August
1. Senior adult day camp.
2. Drama festival with other churches
3. Off-to-school retreat
4. Golf tournament
5. Rotation fellowships with nearby churches
September
1. Retreat for new members of recreation staff
2. All-church county fair (begin church year)
3. Back-to-school fellowship
4. Fall crafts class
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Organization Recreation
Sunday School
· Recreation at Youth VBS
· Puppetry at VBS
· Retreat for youth
· Retreat for adults
· Coffee and doughnuts on Sunday mornings
· Dramatic features for Sunday School
· Church Training
· Supper for youth Sunday nights
· Drama for Youth Week
· Retreat for training leaders
· Watch Night
Woman's Organizations
· Mother-Daughter or Father-Daughter banquet
· Mission dramas
· Mission camps
· Breakfast for seniors
Men’s Organizations
· Father-Son or Mother-Son dinner
· Father-Son campout
· Retreat for boy’s programs
· Mission camps
· Craft sessions
· Fishing rodeo
Music
· Pie and coffee at rehearsal
· Choir r retreats
· Choir banquets
· All-church musicale
· Music fellowships
· Music camps
· Choir tours
Ministry Of Recreation: Resources
From Life Way Book Stores
· A Guide to Church Recreation Reaching People Through Recreation
· A Guide to Using Sports and Games in the Life of the Church
· The Volunteer Coach
· A Guide to Church Camping
· Notebook for the Christian Camp Counselor
· A Guide to Planning and Conducting a Retreat Social Recreation and the Church
· Using Craft Activities in the Church Introduction to Church Drama
· Using Puppetry in the Church
· Fellowships: Plenty of Fun for All Fun Plans for Church Recreation
· 52 Complete After-Game Fellowships (10/80) Using Craft Activities in the Church
· 52 Complete Recreation Programs for Senior Adults 150 Ideas for Activities with Senior Adults Indoor/Outdoor
· Singing Is Fun
· Youth Camp Curricula:
· Living the Christ Life (Leadership and Youth Editions) Recognizing Relationships (Leadership and Youth Editions)
· Glory! (Leadership and Youth Editions)
· Children's Camp Resource Book (12/80) Day Camp Director's Guide
· Day Camp Curricula:
· Frontier Series Forest Ranger Series Indian Series
· Hand Puppets People Puppets
· Puppet Scripts for Use at Church (with or without cassette) Puppet Scripts for Use at Church, " (with or without cassette) Drama in Creative Worship
· Extra Dimensions in Church Drama
Read the complete manuel with games and resources for having the Best Run Group ever!!
Save $100.00 off our standard retail price by ordering today Save $100.00 off our standard retail price by ordering today for only $89.00.
Add to Cart
Use your head and Get Started leading you group to gain more value for your cause. Whether it is to increase participation or show more children, youth or adults how to have more fun through Church Recreation. This is a tool you must have.
Adapted from a pamphlet written by Frank “Pogo” Hart Smith and printed by the Church Recreation Department of the Southern Baptist Convention. No longer in print