{"id":45616,"date":"2018-05-08T14:31:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T18:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siteground.stuffyoucanuse.org\/?p=45616"},"modified":"2018-05-08T14:31:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T18:31:40","slug":"host-youth-group-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_video _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/268884069″ \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/ideaspotlight.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” alt=”idea spotlight banner preceding description of how to host youth group in your home” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n

This week’s idea spotlight is from Thomas Osterkamp, Pastor at Good News Baptist Church<\/a> in Cedar Rapids, IA. Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? This change of scenery is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment.<\/p>\n

Host Youth Group in Your Home:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It can be easy to get into a routine week after week, but\u00a0doing something out of the ordinary can\u00a0help re-engage the\u00a0teenagers in\u00a0your group. For Thomas, this oftentimes looks like hosting youth group in his home. It’s\u00a0important to help teenagers\u00a0learn to open up and vocalize their\u00a0faith, and\u00a0many teens feel\u00a0much more comfortable\u00a0sharing thoughts and questions in a home environment than they would otherwise.<\/p>\n

Tips for Hosting Youth Group in Your Home:<\/h2>\n

1) Try Other Locations<\/strong><\/p>\n

What happens if you don’t have the space\u00a0to host youth group in your home? That’s okay! There are still plenty of ways to shake things up and take your youth group off campus.<\/p>\n

One option would be to take your students to the park. Enjoy some fun outdoor games and then find a comfortable place to circle up and go through the night’s lesson. This is a great way to engage students who recognize God’s glory most strongly while in nature.<\/p>\n

Another option is to coordinate with a volunteer, parent, or member of the congregation who has the space to host youth group at their home. This is an especially wonderful way to engage adults who are gifted in hospitality<\/p>\n

2) Have Food & Drinks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students love food. Adults love food. Having tasty treats set out for students to enjoy is a surefire way to start the night out right.<\/p>\n

3) Invest in Some Awesome Board Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fun breaks down walls and helps convince students that you like them, so it’s a great idea to start the night out with some fun & games! We’ve put together a podcast for you of 8 must-have party games, and you can check it out here.<\/a><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/students2.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” alt=”students playing game during youth group at home” \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/29542741_10156848088390839_7439814000266311549_n.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” alt=”students gathered in a circle” \/][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/students3.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” alt=”students in youth group at home” \/][et_pb_image _builder_version=”3.0.106″ src=”https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/students1.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” show_bottom_space=”on” alt=”students listening to message during youth group at home” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_layout=”light”]<\/p>\n

Every week, we feature ideas we find on social media from real youth pastors at real churches. To subscribe to the\u00a0Use it! Newsletter<\/strong> to receive more great ideas\u00a0and stuff you can use every week,\u00a0Click Here!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div> This week’s idea spotlight is from Thomas Osterkamp, Pastor at Good News Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, IA. Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? This change of scenery is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Host Youth Group in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-idea-spotlight"],"yoast_head":"\nHost Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stuff You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-08T18:31:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Noah Hinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Noah Hinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/\",\"name\":\"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-08T18:31:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8b15bafe41654ad25b02d1c0e7c2c9c5\"},\"description\":\"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/\",\"name\":\"Stuff You Can Use\",\"description\":\"Helping Churches Grow\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8b15bafe41654ad25b02d1c0e7c2c9c5\",\"name\":\"Noah Hinson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0384ab3053de4ade67219c510e720c65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0384ab3053de4ade67219c510e720c65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Noah Hinson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/author\/kennycampbell24\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use","description":"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use","og_description":"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!","og_url":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/","og_site_name":"Stuff You Can Use","article_published_time":"2018-05-08T18:31:40+00:00","author":"Noah Hinson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Noah Hinson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/","url":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/","name":"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp) - Stuff You Can Use","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-08T18:31:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8b15bafe41654ad25b02d1c0e7c2c9c5"},"description":"Have you ever wanted to host youth group in your home? Hosting youth group in your home is a wonderful way to shake things up and engage students in a much more relaxed environment. Here's how!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/host-youth-group-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Host Youth Group in Your Home: Use It! Newsletter Idea Spotlight (Thomas Osterkamp)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/","name":"Stuff You Can Use","description":"Helping Churches Grow","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8b15bafe41654ad25b02d1c0e7c2c9c5","name":"Noah Hinson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0384ab3053de4ade67219c510e720c65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0384ab3053de4ade67219c510e720c65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Noah Hinson"},"url":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/author\/kennycampbell24\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuffyoucanuse.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}