Buy, Borrow, Beg (and steal) Ideas

Where do you get all of your creative ideas for your youth group? Easy! Buy, borrow, beg, or steal. Here’s what we mean.

BUY

If you’re looking for creative ideas for your next sermon series, find one of the many resource providers online that have a good track record of resources that work in your context. The best resources are ones you don’t have to edit too much and are close to ready-to-go right out of the box. Over time, as you purchase a few resources, you’ll discover ones that are written more in “your voice” than others, too. For TONS of great resources go to www.simplyyouthministry.com.

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BORROW

Use your local youth pastor network to get a hold of some great ideas or resources. Challenge everyone to email around their latest series or start a shared Dropbox of goodies for everyone to borrow from regularly. Don’t be afraid to borrow a great event idea from someone else, or use a resource that seems outside of the normal for your group – you might just stumble on something that really works well!

BEG
This is really just an extension of “borrow.” Have you noticed that some folks just aren’t as generous with their ideas and ministry tips as others? If your first attempt at borrowing isn’t met with the enthusiasm you hope for…crank it up a notch! When somebody has information you know your ministry needs, be like the persistent widow and beg until you get what you need!

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STEAL

Don’t shoplift … but use other people’s ideas without their permission! We love seeing a student ministry take a series or event idea we did in the past. We love seeing someone leave a comment on a blog post saying, “stealing this idea” because that is one of the key reasons why blogs exist—to give you stuff to steal. (But make sure you’re just stealing general ideas and making them your own…)

Where do you get your best ideas and creativity?