Youth Group Discussion Topics
The purpose of a youth group is to foster discussion with young people about their lives and how their faith develops. You can help young followers make intelligent decisions and overcome the pressures they experience in their daily lives. It is through these youth groups that people can learn more about themselves and feel confident about who they are. These participants can also feel more in touch with their faith.
You can plan youth group discussions with various themes where you will discuss many aspects of their lives. The discussion topics you can design can be very interesting, so look carefully at what suits your participants. Establishing a discussion with the right topics can influence how well a discussion can run, especially surrounding how today’s youth feels about various concepts.
Create Smart Questions
You’ll get the ball rolling in a youth group by coming up with appealing questions, but you should plan them well. The questions you ask should be inviting and ready to let people talk about things that interest them the most.
These questions can include many concepts:
- What people could change if they could change something about their lives
- Things that annoy people the most
- The one word someone uses to desire themselves
- Things people do for fun
- Points about people that are unique or might make someone feel different than others
You can use these questions and others as starting points to initiate the conversation. These ideas can also help the participants open up and feel more confident about interacting with you during the discussion.
But whatever you do, make sure you keep the questions as open-ended as possible. Avoid any possible single-word answers, as you need to give your participants the ability to share their thoughts.
Incorporate Relevant Topics
Next, there’s the need to look at how you’re introducing your topics and how you want to discuss these points with others. You can start bringing in essential and relevant topics to the youth work discussion after a while. These topics can incorporate various concerns that younger people have.
You can incorporate many worthwhile topics like drugs and alcohol, bullying, internet addictions, and body image in your discussions. Your participants might have dealt with various forms of pressure and stress over the years, and talking with them about what they are experiencing can be helpful in establishing a positive discussion.
Some additional topics may also involve how younger people might struggle to prepare for certain things in the future. Many youth group members are uncertain about how they are handling themselves, as they might not understand all the concepts they’re entering into.
Understanding the Self
The self is the next aspect of a discussion to explore. One helpful part of planning a youth group discussion involves how you’re encouraging the people in your group to talk about who they are and what they are feeling. You can ask questions in a group about:
- What people feel about their faiths
- How people first started thinking about God and how God wants people to live their lives
- How people choose their relationships and friendships, including what people see in others the most
- What do they think about others and how do they see different points of view
Encouraging people to talk about their feelings and what they think about themselves and their views can go a long way in promoting a positive discussion among everyone. It is through understanding each other that people can learn to be better.
Your topics about understanding the self don’t have to directly involve anyone’s faith. But the ideas you include can help spark a discussion about someone’s faith and how it works. You can use as many ideas in this situation as possible, but make sure when getting something ready for a discussion that you’re planning a smart approach to recognizing the needs someone might hold.
Accepting the Self
As you discuss the self with others, you can invite group members to talk about the ways how they can accept who they are. But it is often hard for people to accept themselves because they feel they are often being judged by others for who they are.
You can talk in your discussion group about what it takes to be more accepting of the self. You can discuss concepts like how to manage peer pressure or what the Bible says about respecting people and understanding that it is vital to provide forgiveness to those who are different.
Can Theological Topics Also Work?
While they are not always necessary, you can incorporate theological topics into your work. You can talk about many points surrounding faith, including figuring out who God is and what the concept of Heaven is like, among other topics. Such ideas can be open-ended while providing people an opportunity to share what they are thinking about their faiths.
Introducing theological ideas can help youth group members learn more about their faith and understand what they are trying to manage in their lives. Members can start to discover different things they could follow while feeling more confident in how they are carrying out their lives.
This approach is more direct than other ways of how you can communicate with others about their faiths, but it’s a plan that can be reasonable if planned well. Make sure when coming up with theological topics that you have a clear idea of how you want to introduce them and that you know where to go with the content.
Conclusion
Your youth group discussion plans can incorporate many ideas or thoughts, so knowing what it takes to create something worthwhile is important. Be specific when planning your group discussion sessions that you look at the right topics and find ways to encourage people to start talking.
It becomes easier to have a more productive session when you have the right ideas for what you wish to discuss with your group members. You can create an inviting environment, and everyone will appreciate what you are trying to get out of the meeting.
