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Gift Giving Activity

We have told our young people that there is much more to gift giving that the presentation of a physical gift. He is an exercise we have done to help them identify these gifts. new Christian youth group ideas It is suggested as an effective activity to discuss when discussing gifts we share and the gift of Christ God gave to us. Although a New Years Activity in our youth group, this can be used any time during the year..

Click: New Year's Youth Activity


I am co-leading a youth group in the (Episcopal) church near my home in Silver Spring. It is a two year commitment (at least) and the other leader is a married woman in her 30's whose four children are all under the age of eight. Obviously, she wanted to try working with children of a different age. The group this year only had two to five members each week and my step-son, Neil, who will be entering 8th grade in the fall was the only junior high student, albeit an occasional one due to visits with his father every other weekend. Even though it's a fairly decent sized church of about 150 to 200 and in a growth mode, there are few adolescents involved. We met between the 8:30 and 10:30 services this year.

I did order your book today and am familiar with much of it through having lived it for years. I am happy that you finally got around to putting it all down for posterity. I've thought of some of the activities over the past year but never actually implemented any of them. I'm sure it will be helpful for us next year and maybe we can pass it on to those who follow us.

I am a warden in my church and rather active there. Currently we are planning on forming a church team and joining an adult co-ed town softball league in the fall. I asked one of the girls from the youth group, who will be a senior in the fall, to be the manager. I think that by being the youngest and leading a group of adults can be a great learning process.

How about this though: within an hour of ordering your book I got an e-mail from a stranger that I thought was one of those related ads that the internet generates. Instead it turned out to be someone from another Episcopal Church in Silver Spring (it's a pretty big town with about 5 nor 6 E.C.'s). He is re-starting a youth group there. In addition to offering to correspond or talk with him about the group from our church, I recommended your book.

Looking forward to sharing more ideas and thoughts in the future

Sal Campo
Silver Springs, Maryland

Editor's Note: It was so good to hear from Sal, who was present at the very first meeting of the Deer Park Coffeehouse in July 1973, and who is now taking on the joys and challenges of building a youth group in his home church in Maryland. We look forward to hearing from Sal and, hopefully, some of the young people from Silver Springs in the future..

More ideas ... try our newly formed website .... Not the Same Old, Done-it-before Youth Meetings: Site Two at ... Site Two

The following story was forwarded to me by one of our youth members, Michelle, whose testimonial can be read on the Youth Speaks Out page. Michelle found it on the internet and shared that it was too good not to pass along. I agree. We are including it as an adult testimonial because it is by an adult reflecting on a special Christmas event in her childhood. It is well worth sharing with everyone at this time of year.

The Christmas Coat

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!" My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store that had a little bit of everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's. I was only eight years old and, though I'd gone shopping with my mother, I never shopped for anything by myself.

The store seemed big and full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby D. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, who sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's second grade class.

Bobby D. didn't have a coat; I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby D. didn't have a cough. He didn't have a coat! I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby D. a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby." The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible). Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby D's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent beside my Grandma, in Bobby D's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share and always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

Thanks, Michelle, for passing on a very special holiday story.

Please view our Testimonial page for more adult testimonials.