Service Fundraisers

Offer a service and ask for sponsors or payment. Some examples include:

Sponsor a Week of Church Lawn Maintenance

Members are asked to sponsor a week of church-lawn maintenance–the service being provided by the youth. Matching funds were also obtained.

Each year, part of the funds are set aside for a) attending District Camp and youth gatherings, etc.; b) some improvement of the church’s facility (e.g. new sign); and c) for the National Youth Gathering.

from Rev. Clare Skov

Parents Night Out

Once a month (first Saturday of every month) or so, host a parents’ night out where the youth group watches the kids and lets mom and dad go out on one of those needed romantic dates. Make sure you have a sign-up so that you know how many youth you need to baby-sit and set time frames and cost per kid (or family). Then set up lots of activities for the kids you are watching and they will want to come back each month.

A variation of this is Christmas Day Out where you do the same thing so mom and/or dad can do some Christmas shopping without the kids.

from 2010 National Youth Gathering Resources

Published April 3, 2012

Fundraising

Related Resources

Counter-Cultural Messages: “You can be whatever you want to be?”

Many ideas initially sound excellent, but we do not take the time to consider them in terms of Biblical accuracy. This article considers the potential impact of the message “You can be whatever you want to be” and how youth ministry may want to share something closer to Scripture.

Working Through a Staff Vacancy

An exciting part of being a rostered church worker is when a Director of Christian Education (DCE) or pastor answers God’s call to serve another congregation. Though it’s an exciting time, it can leave their present congregation with a vacancy and no one to serve in that role. I experienced this twice at the same congregation, and this article describes some valuable lessons.

Youth Adventure Lunch: A Tale of Small Church Ministry Stops and Starts

Programming should be designed for your youth ministry’s size and needs. More importantly, it should be designed to build relationships around Jesus Christ. This article is a great encouragement and idea sparker for those with small youth groups.