25 Creative Church Ministry Ideas during COVID-19 (Part 4)

Children’s Ministry

19. Obstacle course. Thrill the kids in your children’s and/or youth ministry by challenging them to construct an obstacle course and compete against each other on Zoom. You’ll first construct a test obstacle course from common objects. When you’re satisfied that it works, take good measurements between each obstacle.

Take photos of how the course is arranged and the supplies needed. Put this information together to make clear instructions for recreating it, set a date and time for the challenge and announce it to the kids and their parents.

The younger ones will need to work with their parents to construct it. This has the potential to occupy the kids for quite a while and will get the parents involved. The day of the challenge, make sure everyone can get on Zoom (or a similar platform) and have the parents video their child as they race. You might have someone do play-by-play on Zoom and give out prizes.

Record the whole thing so it can be played back.

20. Scavenger hunt. Create a scavenger or treasure hunt for your children or youth, incorporating a Bible story. Enlist parents to gather the items from the story and hide them (ex: smooth stones from David and Goliath).

You might create images of some items, email them to parents, and have parents print and hide those. Try gathering the kids and parents on Zoom at a specific time to kick off the hunt, then set a time for everyone to rejoin an hour or so after they’ve completed. Incorporate a devotional and reactions from the kids.

21. Pet fashion show. What child hasn’t tried to dress up their pet? If they don’t have a pet, they might use a doll, stuffed animal, or willing sibling. This one requires adult supervision so no pets are harmed in the making, but the results can have the kids in stitches. You might use Zoom again as your platform, let the children take turns describing their looks and have a witty adult or teen play the announcer/commentator. Make sure to record this so it can be replayed for the family.

22. Surprise your youth. Surprise each member of your youth ministry personally each week using the platform of choice during the quarantine. You might create a shipwreck or “Castaway” narrative and send out zany videos using a free app like Marco Polo, a sort of video voicemail for your phone that allows you to add voice and graphic effects.

Youth Ministry

23. Virtual flash mob. (See #18 for a definition of a flash mob.) Invite your youth to create uplifting flash mobs on Zoom, record them and send them out via a Dropbox link. They might start by acting like they are having a regular Zoom conversation, then one of them could break into a song while the others look on in confusion. Then more join in and add movement until the whole group is performing.

They’ll need to spend time working out the elements, possibly with the help of a Youth Pastor. They might create some of these for specific people—like someone who desperately needs encouragement—singing their name. Again, recording the Zoom meeting is key. This can eat up a lot of time and keep youth busy.

24. Caravan flash mob. If you live in a state that is not under a “stay at home” order or that allows you to be out if social distancing is observed, a caravan flash mob might be a fun possibility. You would invite drivers to gather somewhere—observing social distancing and/or staying in their vehicles—and then follow each other on a predetermined route to drive past homes of church members, hospitals, apartment complexes, etc. in a caravan. Your drivers might honk, play music, or wave signs with encouraging messages as they drive past.

You’ll want to stress safety, observe noise ordinances, and limit your caravan groups to less than 10 cars or so, and go in the daytime. A sudden appearance of honking vehicles with smiling, waving young people slowly driving through your apartment complex will tend to lift one’s spirits in these isolated times.

But only if your community allows it.

25. Physical spiritual warfare. Teens have lots of energy that needs to be channeled and they need to know that they matter. You might address both needs by organizing a regular time of intercession via Zoom where they act out spiritual warfare with movement. Your youth pastor might invite them to gather, then talk to them about the historic times we are in and how God is inviting them into a heroic role of interceding for others and resisting the enemy. He might lead them through motions of putting on spiritual armor, then lead them in interceding for anything that comes up. After each prayer of faith, they might make a physical movement (a karate kick, an air punch, the breaking of a stick, etc.) that expresses faith and signifies God’s action in the spiritual realm.

Other ideas include hosting a virtual graduation banquet for your graduating seniors, inviting people to prayer walk their neighborhoods together while praying and connecting on Facebook Messenger or Zoom, and inviting people to record and share short video testimonies during the week to be played during the service.

The church as we knew it may never be the same after this crisis. We could be on the brink of a new renaissance of creativity and connection as we accept the challenge to innovate and learn to utilize the tools available to us.

May God increasingly bless you with creativity and grace as you explore new ways of interacting with your congregation and sharing his love with your community.