| Yes, we do a New Year's celebration every year or almost every year |
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Sometimes we do a New Year's celebration of sorts, but not on a regular basis |
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No, we see no need |
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The more i have been thinking about it, the less inclined i am to do a lock-in (or any other major activity) for New Years in the future. The town that i am in has had a lock-in at another rather large church every new year for a very long time. They always made it a very big deal, but due to other issues they are not doing anymore lock ins.
As i have been planning this i have been thinking about the very premise of a new years lock-in. I have been posing it to people as a safe alternative for teenagers. It keeps them off of the streets and away from partying and getting drunk for new years. The more i have been thinking about it though, the more it has been nagging on my mind that maybe it isn't such a good idea.
I'm working with Jr. and Sr. Highers. If we do a New Year's celebration on an annual basis, it puts the youth into the mentality that New Years is a big deal and that they need to go out and celebrate it each year. When they go off to college, or they go somewhere where there is no "safe" alternative, won't they be much more likely to find an "unsafe" alternative to the churches "safe" party? Isn't doing a big celebration every year just setting them up to be in the habit of going to a party each New Years whether it is safe or not. Do we want to build that mentality into our youth?
It's a great chance to minister to the youth, and especially to youth that don't go to church on a regular basis, but is it worth the possible consequences of creating a need for a New Year's activity?
What are your thoughts? Do you do a New Year's party? Why or why not? Leave a reply with your reasoning.
Masterpiece in Progress - Building masterpieces one person at a time.
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We go to Winterfest at Liberty University and see in the new year with several thousand students, a bunch of bands and some awesome preachers. We have done it several years now and I wonder what will happen if one year I announce that we aren't going because I would like to spend the new year holiday with my family?
Andy
Reaching Students to Discover Life in Christ
www.theaddyouthpastor.com
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| We are doing a lock-in this year for several reasons. The main one is to keep the kids safe. But they kids have never had one (crazy, I know) and some have never even been to one. So I opted to do one this year. I am new as a leader (about 9 mths now) at this church and am loving it. The youth has grown from 5 to 13, which in the small town is great! But we are doing an ice cream bar, games, Wii, and before the countdown we are doing a devotional about the year ahead. Then we will commense to more games and shananigans.  Not only is it fun for the kids, but they have an opportunity to invite a friend that may not come to church regularly and also gives us, as leaders, a time to bond with the students.
 ~Misty from Indiana
Non-conformist!! Romans 12:2  Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!
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I think that lock-ins should be separate with gender.
We will never have a lock-in at our church... However, we do other activities instead.
We have a party from 7:00pm - 1:00am
Food, Worship, Bible Study, games, and tons of fun. Just enough time to hang-out and not enough time to cause problems. We run 50 students, so this fits our style better. I can only imagine having 50 students running around our church for 12 hours. That would be crazy no matter how man sponsors you set up.
If you have your mind set on a lock-in, just have a schedule for the entire night and tons of rules. Never give them "free time" just make it seem they have to pick from 5 or so options. If you call it free time they will do what they want. If you give them 5 options to choose from, then they will stick with what you want.
The more control you have over the program the better. Also always do a Bible study, heck do 2 Bible studies. The more the better.
Also, have one sponsor for every 6 students. Don't count yourself or your spouse.
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| I have no problem doing a lock-in bc our kids are great. However, that being said....we plan out every moment from 8pm-8am. Everything is group activities, everyone stays together. I had a "code of behavior" sheet made up and had the students and parents sign it stating was was accepted and what was not and should we encounter an issue, the parent will be called to pick up the child---no exceptions. Whenever we have done lock-ins, we have a "relaxation time" (usually around 3 hours before the end time, in this case around 5:00am)...no activities are going on (except maybe a movie) and each gender is seperated to their quarters, either in seperate buildings (we have two) or seperate floors. That gives those that want to sleep a chance to sleep and those that don't a chance to just relax and talk. The chaperones stay with the students at this time and if a chaperone is tired, they sleep in shifts so that one is always awake and vigilant at all times.
It has always worked out well....and I expect this year will be no exception.
~Misty from Indiana Non-conformist!! Romans 12:2 Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth!
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Excellent idea on the code of conduct form.
Andy
Reaching Students to Discover Life in Christ
www.theaddyouthpastor.com
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| I think "safe" activities for our kids is a very healthy thing to do for them. I believe if you handle it correctly, they will know that we CHOOSE to do something other than just going out and getting blasted on New Years Eve. If you create an environment that says, "This is the best thing to do on NYE" then perhaps they'll start the trend when they go off to college, instead of settling for what all the other kids are doing. When I was in high school, we did an annual lock-in.. it was GREAT! There were 500 of us.. with about 20 chaperones.. The best activity I remember was writing four letters to myself that night.. after our bible study time... In the four letters were the goals I hoped to achieve that year, and my "benchmark" goals, one for each quarter of the year. So, in March I got a letter from myself... in June, in Septemer, and again in December... reminding myself of the promises I'd made to God and to myself for that year. It was extremely powerful. (just an idea!)
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