A Thanksgiving Challenge for Your Youth Ministry

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Here is a quick idea and challenge for your youth ministry to help your students realize they have much to be thankful for and how to express their thanks.

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Video Transcript

We are coming up on the Thanksgiving season, and we often tell our students to be grateful. One of the things that I think they need to really look around and see is that there are people who are serving them all year- ministry leaders, pastors, people who are helping them that they don't always think to thank.

Here's what I would like you to do. Why don't you try a writing assignment, get some pieces of paper and pens, and the first 5 minutes of your group, when they're walking in, say "Listen, we're going to do something just to bless a pastor at our church." You may only have one pastor, so write to that person. You may have multiple pastors, so then let them choose which one. Just write a note of thanks saying, "Hey, listen. We know that you serve us all year. We know that you work hard to make sure that we're cared for and we hear God's word and we're connecting with one another in community." Let them take a few moments and jot down some thoughts about why they're thankful for their pastor. Put them all together, and right around Thanksgiving, give them all to the pastor all at once, just a big package of them. Let them draw on them and decorate them and make them fun, but help them to understand that there are people that are serving them all the time, and that they need to keep their eyes open, that they need to be grateful to those people.

There are people all around you, and truthfully, I don't know if you can ever say "Thank you" enough.

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