Do you go to a youth group? If so, how often? If you don't go to one, have you ever been to one before?

I've gone to one youth group most Sunday nights for quite a while that I still go to. It's probably been around 2 years. My friend invited me to join him in that youth group at his church!

When my family started going to a different church for Sunday morning services 4 months ago, I joined a youth group there as well, which is held on Monday nights! Now I go to both every week that I can.

The Monday night youth group has retreats multiple times a year, so that youth group has really changed me and made me new friends easily

I might sound ignorant here, but what is a youth group? I looked at the dutch translation and still didn't know what it meant.. lol.

I'm a big part of the youth group at our church, which meets Sunday nights! I'm one of 7 seniors this year, and I play every other week in our youth band. It's really been a community God has used to grow and benefit me, and I'm so blessed to be a part of it.

imamonster : Basically, at Christian churches (I can't speak for other religions), youth groups are basically a program for middle/high schoolers where we can go and grow in our relationship with God with people our age. Similar to school, where you hang out with people your age to learn whatever the teacher is teaching, youth group is a place where we can go enjoy life and learn about God with people our age.

Make sense?

mrfe : Thanks for explaining it! That was way better than I ever could've said it.

That's really neat! At the church that holds the Monday night group I go to, high schoolers (and maybe middle schoolers too) have opportunities to play an instrument with the worship team on stage on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. It's a gigantic church and the worship is basically a rock concert, so it's really cool.

I've never been part of a religious youth group basically because we have none here... at least for high schoolers and below. We now have one in college but I can't really hang out on Sundays anymore given my hectic schedule. I did however join a group in highschool that makes us learn about technology and conducts meetings in different places (kinda like a retreat) to have seminars or events. One time I joined a lego robo battle just for fun and they required us to build a lego robot controllable with a remote beforehand. I just spent the whole day losing, lol, but that was cool.

Juliet : Wow, I didn't think there would be youth groups in college That's neat to hear!

That technology group sounds cool. Even though you spent the whole day losing the lego robo battle that must have been a ton of fun XD

I don't anymore cuz.....well.....I'm not a youth anymore. However, as I am switching to a different church soon, I am hoping to get involved with their youth group there and help out the youth pastor and the kids through growth in truth faith and discipleship.

play4fun : Awesome! I've payed close attention to the adults that help/lead my youth group, and I can guarantee you that if you want to do it, it'll be a lot of fun! Plus it'll really help you grow spiritually, which is the most important part.

I hope none of the ones you ever went to were catholic.

I do not go to youth group, but that's simply because I'm no longer a youth either
I did go to one when I was in middle/high school, and have recently been looking for young adult/college groups to join(recently moved so looking for a new church...still).

I used to go to one a few years ago when I used to go to the church across the street from my house but I've been so busy with school stuff the last few years. I used to go every Friday night from like 8 until 11 and it was fun though most of the people I used to go to stopped going.

Brigand : I'm not sure, but it doesn't matter to me because I've never been a Catholic and I'm staying a Protestant. I found out I'm definitely a Protestant by reading this:

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/catholic_protestant.htm

Also, I only went to a Catholic church service once, and it was with my friend. We both didn't pay attention and goofed off a little in our seats so I never took anything from that. All the other churches I've been to for a service aren't Catholic.

Sincerely_Chris : Good luck finding a new church, I really hope you can. I hope you can find a young adult/college group as well. If you can't find that type of group to join, maybe you can try to be a leader (or adult helper) of a middle school/high school youth group

zanderlex : That's typical. Usually when people start college they move on from things like a church group or they're too busy, but some of them go back to a church group after college as a leader or adult helper 8 to 11 at night? Wow, that sounds fun!

Well, for me its just that my college was 200 miles away from the church.

zanderlex : Oh jeez, that's understandable. There's no way you could go to that church without falling behind in college I guess.

If I did go to it, I probably would have had to drop out of school entirely, it would be a 20 hour bus and train ride, so I would probably have to miss one or two days if class every week.

zanderlex : Whoa. It's a good thing you didn't go then, it's more important to finish college first.

PacmanandMariofan : well I never actually did anything good in college since I kind of got kicked out, but my last college did have its own church that I used to visit every now and then.

PacmanandMariofan :

Txgangsta : I'm aware that it isn't about making friends, but both of the youth groups we go to say that it's an important part of youth group (not as important as studying scripture, learning about God's love, and the other Christian parts of the youth group, of course!).

We spend about 45 minutes learning about God's revelation (in both of my youth groups) and the rest of the time (which is about an hour) is spent playing games and socializing. The Christian part of the youth groups isn't short (like I said, 45 minutes), so I'm satisfied with my youth groups.

However, it is pretty disappointing when sometimes the leaders decide to do something special for youth group and the whole time we aren't doing anything that has to do with God. My Monday night youth group last week decided to play hide and seek the whole time. It's a youth group full of high schoolers so I find that pretty weird.

I only regularly went to a youth group one year when I was about 12 years old. It was a lot of fun from what I can remember. We did a couple projects and we even went on a trip to some kind of youth group gathering. I invited one of my best friends to come with me, and that just made it all the more better. We hung out, played some basketball, and even played some music. I think it was also one of the very first times I was away from my family for an extended period of time. It was a really cool experience in the end.