Similar to many youth ministries across the United States, ours traditionally ramps up activities during the summer months. Students are out of school and want things to do. Parents are still working and want things for their kids to do. Youth workers want to cultivate relationships and know this means spending time with students. We spend May and June planning a jam-packed calendar. Then we spend July and August executing all our activities—day trips or week-long mission trips. We busy ourselves and our students with paintball, bonfires, baseball games, movies and pool parties. We mean well by doing all of this, but we often arrive at the end of the summer and the start of the new school year exhausted.
A couple years ago, our summer ministry team was in the thick of planning a busy summer schedule. Our teaching theme for the summer was Christian Practices, and we all agreed one practice our students sorely needed was Sabbath. How do you teach Sabbath to a group of young people? After much discussion, we decided the best way to teach it was to do it. Then we looked at our calendar and realized we probably were doing the opposite of Sabbath.
Our two interns that summer looked at this conundrum as an opportunity. They decided to bookend the summer with two identical events. We called these events Days of Rest, and the idea was simple. We would open the church during the day, order something for lunch, and offer students the opportunity to come and rest. Our time together would run from around 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students could bring book or board games, take naps, play dodgeball—whatever they wanted. We didn’t structure the time. In fact, we didn’t ask students to do anything, we just wanted them to come and be together.
As students began to arrive, the questions all fell into the same vein: What are we doing today? Our response was deeply honest: Nothing. At first, students were confused and several of them were more than a little disappointed. They had come expecting to be entertained, but we were giving them open space, time and ourselves. Slowly students began to relax. A few took naps. One had brought a book. A couple others played some board games. At one point, about half of us went outside and played kickball and gravel. The only structured activity the entire day was eating together.
By the end of the day, we had no complaints. In fact, we did a survey in the fall of that year and found that of all our summer activities, the two Days of Rest were the highest-rated events. The same students who had been confused at first found that Sabbath was a practice they deeply needed. During the past couple years, we’ve continued to do periodic Sabbath days, and students continue to like and request them. More important than student response, however, is that these days allow students to practice rest in a very real way. These times allow our students open spaces to play, rest and meet God.
Our youth ministry has a tradition of doing fun nights every month or so during the school year. These range from hayrides and bonfires to laser tag and movie outings. During the past year, I’ve wondered how it might change us if we replaced these events full of entertainment with unstructured times simply to play and relax. Although we haven’t made the decision to do so yet—tradition can be strongly embedded, even in a youth ministry—I think doing so might help us know ourselves, one another and God at a much deeper level.
Sabbath may be one of the most important themes in the Bible, as well as one of the most relevant to our modern context. Even so, it is one of the easiest to miss in the midst of our busy calendars, as we create a multitude of events and activities in an attempt to love students and help them meet God. Ultimately, however, Sabbath helps us get out of the way and let God act in the lives of students. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the best activity might be no activity.
Calvin Park, M.A., in biblical languages and Old Testament from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is the director of youth at Gaithersburg Presbyterian Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
