How To Do Youth Ministry During The COVID-19 Pandemic

1. EDUCATE YOURSELFLearn from reliable sources how COVID-19 is impacting your community and the recommended ways to handle it. Know the closures and regulations surrounding the virus and which aid or support organizations are available in your community. Be prepared so you can share with those struggling or inquiring.

Links: cbc.ca; https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health.html

2. COMMUNICATEIf you haven’t already, communicate to your students about the church and program changes they can expect over the next few weeks so there are no surprises. At this point the more information you can give surrounding expectations, the better.

3. RECOGNIZE THE OPPORTUNITYWe hear from many youth leaders that their students are over-programmed and under-pastored. With your schedule clear from programming, this is the perfect opportunity to really increase your level of individual care to your students. A great platform for hosting one-on-one calls is zoom.us. One-on-one calls are free and have an unlimited time capacity.

Zoom tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pq4I1urXA

4. MAKE A PLANNow that you have to overhaul your entire calendar for the next 6 weeks (or more) you need a new plan! It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need to be intentional. Your programming will be limited to phone calls, social media and online outlets so, just keep it simple.

5. BRING IN THE TEAMCommunicate your plan ideas to the leadership team, open up the floor to their thoughts and concerns and come up with an action plan to continue in ministry over the next few weeks.

6. BE THE CHURCH!Create opportunities to meet together with your youth community and open up the word. Continue your small groups, but host them online. To do this it will be important to get your leadership team on board so that they can assist in hosting. zoom.us is great for teams as well as individual calls. However, if you sign up for a free account there are limitations on how many people you can have and the time limit is 45 min if there are more than 2 people on the call. Instagram TV is another great option to post messages for your youth.

Instagram TV tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaRxgAW9mUY

7. ADDRESS THE FEARUse social media to encourage your youth. Post funny memes, encouraging scripture, worship songs or post positive topics such as: “Comment below with your favourite quarantine snack” or “Tell us your favourite non-screen pass time”.

Instagram tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wo5C9qh4xEInstagram Live tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kp3n_SguF4

8. CREATE AN ONLINE/SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITYHost games or video conference discussions with your youth to be together as a group. Share experiences, funny stories and concerns. A great game app to play with your youth is ScrabbleGO. We also recommend HOUSEPARTY, a video chat and games app for up to 6 people (Apple & Android)

9. REACH OUT TO YOUR NETWORKYour network can be an invaluable source of comfort, strength and ideas during these unusual times. Reach out, share ideas, concerns and encouragement. Share what works and what doesn’t work. Not connected to a network? Get in touch with us at info@canadianyouth.net. We can connect you!

10. PRAYPray for your country, your leaders, your community, your schools, your church, your youth and your fellow youth leaders.