Does your church have a solid youth group for teens? A seperate youth pastor?

yes we do. We have a youth pastor and several groups depending on age.
one specifically for teens. they have their own building and rec center right on our church campus.
they do all sorts of activities, including put on plays for the congregation, have their own band & sometimes lead the worship, camping, sports, etc.
It's a good thing!

Yes, our church has a children's pastor and a youth pastor. Both are new this year, but they have already made some great changes! The children's and youth programs was one of the main things we looked at when we changed churches. My kids love going to church now!! :)

We have a youth pastor and a kids church director.

:) We have a youth group and it is very active too. We also have BIBLE BOWL GROUPS too and they each have there own leader with this and I am happy to report that my children when they were younger we very active in our churchs YOUTH GROUP and so ... since they are grown and on there own well ... my daughter helps out when she can. I only wish her brother's did at that age :(

Our associate pastor is also the youth pastor. We have a fairly active youth group and my teen has been attending for several years now. More recently though he has been looking into another church's youth group. He likes that one, too. So, now he attends both. :)

We have a Youth Leader/Youth Group, but I am not terribly impressed with it. The leader is a terrific guy, but the kinds of activities the group provides are not terribly relevant, IMO. Attendance at events and activities is extremely low, with only a handful of the same kids all the time (and those kids all go to the same high school!).

We need to see more community service activities for the kids, as well as really fun things to do. I've seen some churches where youth participation is HUGE, and the kids are drawn to the group because of a really effective leader and/or relevant things to do. Something is missing in our church Youth Group. Maybe it's because everybody is so busy with other things . . .

our church has two separate groups-one for 7-8gr and then one for 9-12. They just restructured how they were doing things and they are now getting the kids more focused on the world and the issues that are out there ie child slavery, and poverty--around the world and around our city. They present them with a problem and read scripture, and have them pray and brainstorm and think of what they could do to help. It helps to see that they can be part of the solution. My daughter(13) loves it. Over christmas they adopted some families and went and got them christmas gifts and delivered them. My son(16) does not go to his. I made him attend for a few months and he wouldn't really engage. He struggles with joining groups and making new friends. I honestly got tired of the fight and it seemed to be a waste of time. So he attends the main service and I told him that he would have to volunteer somewhere in the church to give back. That hasn't started yet.

As I stated earlier, we just got a new youth pastor not too long ago. I am happy to say that he and his wife have really connected with the youth at our church. Our pastor announced yesterday that since his hiring, 12 new teenagers have accepted Christ! :praise::clapping::praise::clapping: My kids are still little, but I'm hoping that he's still there when my kids reach that age.

thats awesome.:praise: It sounds like you've got someone that really connects with the kids! Our church is really big and there is a group of leaders, and although they are the same ones every week it would be easy to hide I think.

we are in between churches right now. I was letting Heather attend YG at the church we just left. But as of this Sunday she will not be going there. Changing churches is so hard on the kids. It is a bummer

We have a very small church in a very small community. Our church, however, has a very active youth group program. Our Jr. Youth group is for kids in Gr. 6-8 and our Sr. Youth program is for Gr. 9-12. We have a youth pastor who heads things up, and our senior pastor works closely with the Jr.'s. There is also a Kids Time event that happens on Tuesdays for kids in Gr. 1- 5. The youth program touches alot of lives in the community. It takes alot of volunteers from the congregation to keep things working well and to ensure that people don't get too overworked. I have two teenagers myself and I have been a youth group volunteer leader for several years now. I really enjoy it and love to see how God uses us and moves in this bunch. :)