Youth Group sessions on Vocation

Here are some suggestions for youth group sessions intended to explore the theme of vocation from different points of view.  All have been tried and tested in one form or another – you may want to change some of the activities according to the age and interests of your youth group, or adapt those suggested for children’s groups. 

Session 1: What does a vicar do all day?

This session provides an opportunity to dispel the mystery once and for all! 

If possible, get hold of some video or DVD clips of vicars in the media (Vicar of Dibley, Postman Pat, vicars in soap operas).  You might also try to find some newspaper clippings about vicars and the church.  If you can, also get hold of the Manchester Diocese ‘Exploring vocation’ DVD.

Start the session by looking at the DVD, clips, or newspaper articles.  Use these as a basis for discussion: what is the popular image of the Christian minister?  Where does this image come from?  What do the group think Christian ministers / vicars do all day?  What sort of person becomes a minister? 

Invite a panel of guests (eg a Priest, a Reader, another lay minister such as a parish evangelist, a pastoral assistant etc, a church army officer if you have one etc) and get each to say a few words about (a) what they like best about their ministry; (b) what they find hardest; (c) what surprised them most and (d) how they got into it in the first place. 

Give an opportunity for any questions, and encourage everyone to be as honest and candid as possible.

It might be worth leaving some time for the young people to talk to the guest speakers one-to-one.

It might also be worth finding out in advance whether any of the guest speakers would be willing to offer opportunities for work experience or shadowing.

Ask your Diocesan vocations advisor or DDO for some literature on vocation that can be handed out at the end of the session.

Session 2: Planning a youth service on vocation

Vocation is an excellent theme for a youth service, because life choices are uppermost in many young people’s minds as they contemplate leaving school or college and looking for a job, or choose subjects for GCSE and A level, or what to study at college or university.  Any of the above youth group sessions might provide a way in to planning a service, particularly if there has been an exercise or discussion that has really captured the imagination. 

Drama is often a popular activity, and can be a useful vehicle for presenting ideas in a striking way, as well as giving scope for creative talents in writing, acting, stage-management etc.    One youth group wrote and produced a short drama entitled ‘deal or no deal?’ based on the popular TV quiz.  In the drama, instead of the contestants’ boxes containing amounts of money, they opened to show different job titles, of varying ‘status’.  The culmination of the drama involved a final choice between ‘prime minister’ and ‘teacher’ with the expectation that the prime minister box would be a ‘better’ result – in the end, the contestant won the teacher box, and although the crowd were groaning in disappointment, it turned out that the contestant had used the game as an opportunity to think about what she really wanted to and to be, and she had realised that teaching was something she would really enjoy, that it would use all her gifts, and that it was what God wanted her to do. 

Music is an essential element of most services. Some youth groups are used to singing worship songs and hymns, but others prefer to take inspiration from popular music.  Can they think of any contemporary tracks that explore themes of ‘being yourself’ of ‘making choices’ etc?  Such music could be played in the background during times of reflection or prayer.  ‘Music to move the soul’ by Steve and Ruth Adams (Authentic Media, 2003, distributed via ‘Youth Work’ magazine) gives ideas for how to use popular music, and provides notes on several songs on the theme of vocation and life choices.  It may be that there is a member of the group with the gifts and confidence to write and perform a song themselves.

Youth Groups are often very imaginative when it comes to ways of praying; graffiti boards can be a good way of encouraging people to express their prayers in a way that is public while remaining anonymous.  Making paper chains from strips of paper on which prayers have been written is also effective, especially as it emphasises the way that each person contributes to the whole. 

One exercise which has also been used with adults uses pebbles.  Each person at the service is encouraged to select a pebble from a pile – the stones are all different colours, shapes and sizes, some are smooth, others are rough, and some look like they have been damaged or broken in some way.  Each person spends some time with ‘their’ pebble, and reflects on how it might represent themselves, what they have to offer, the ways in which they are broken, polished, sharp or smooth etc.  Then, if they wish, they are invited to come forward and place their pebble in a bowl as a sign that they are offering themselves to God.  It can be particularly powerful for the pebbles to be dropped in water, so that the ripples can represent the effects of the person offering themselves on the wider community.  Alternatively, they can take their pebble away and keep it in a pocket to remind them of the service and of what they have to offer.

Another similar exercise that has worked well with Youth Groups is to give each person a brick (preferably old and worn, a bit chipped or with mortar still stuck to it from its previous use) and invite people to reflect as above and then to come forward and add their brick to a tower or wall (with a reading from 1 Corinthians 12.12-31 or Romans 12.4-8).

Youth services tend to work very well when the content of the service is developed by the young people themselves, and when it addresses themes that are close to their hearts.   A youth leader or minister who is experienced at planning worship can be there to help facilitate discussion and draw things together in a way that will work.  If the group has never planned worship before, try to get them thinking about what the essential elements are in a worship service, and then set about reinterpreting them in their own style. Don’t forget to advertise the service in local schools and colleges; anywhere where young people gather.

Session 3: What do you want to be when you grow up?

The classic ‘careers lesson’ that young people are subjected to in school rarely looks at the question from a theological or pastoral angle.  This session looks at career choices in terms of gifts, and ‘becoming who you really are’, and challenges the traditional views of high and low status jobs, hopefully enabling young people to think about what kind of job would really suit them, rather than trying to do what they think they ought to want to do!

Opening exercise

Stick to the back of each person a card with an occupation written on it (eg firefighter, factory worker, postman, lawyer, politician, teacher, etc).  By wandering round and asking questions of each other, each person has to guess what occupation they have been allocated.  Try to include a range of different jobs, some with a ‘high status’ and some with a ‘lower status’.  You might include ‘vicar’ as one of them, but not necessarily so…

Variations: play Pictionary or Charades with the same job titles with each person taking it in turns to draw or mime a clue for the occupation on the card while the others guess.

Initial discussion

All sit down and have a look at the range of jobs and careers on offer.  Pick out some of them and get the young people to talk about what skills and talents would be needed for each.  What would be the best bits about that job?  What would be the challenges?   What sort of person becomes a lawyer / postman / factory worker / full-time parent etc.  Are there any prejudices that are being upheld or challenged?

Bible-based activity

On a large piece of paper draw round one of the group members, and talk about the church as a body (1 Corinthians 12.12-end).  Society and communities could also be described as bodies, in that each require a range of different people with different gifts in order to function, and in that some of those gifts and talents are valued more highly than others.

On the outline of the person, ask the young people to write their own name or initial on a part of the body that they associate with one of their own gifts or talents (eg a good footballer might write their name on the foot, a singer on the throat or mouth, a writer in the head or on the hand, a good listener on the ear; someone who is patient and hardworking might even write their name on the bottom, to represent being able to sit still for long periods!).  Some people find it hard to identify their own gifts, so perhaps other members of the group could help – discerning the gifts of others is a gift in itself!

Look at the body that has been created.  Which parts are missing?  Who does them in real life?  Which parts are over-represented?  Why?

Closing discussion

Have any of the young people changed their minds about certain jobs or occupations?  Does anyone already have an idea of what they want to do when they leave school or college?  What are they really looking for when they decide what to do with their lives?  Ask them to put the following in order of importance:  money, working conditions, prospects, job security, fulfilment, making the most of your talents, compatibility with Christianity, etc (make up more things yourself!).

Closing prayers

Give thanks for our differences, and for the contribution each person makes to the whole.

Have some time in quiet, in which the group members are encouraged to think about what matters to them when it comes to career choices. 

Give an opportunity for them to speak or write any particular concerns they have.

Pray that everyone may discover what will make them fully alive.