Church Youth Conference Ideas & Planning
When planning a conference, it’s important to take into account who your audience is. Planning a conference for young people is very different to planning a conference for adults so our event coordinators are here to talk you through some of the options to consider when planning a church youth conference.
Conference Topics
Choosing a theme or topic for your young people is the most important step in planning your youth conference and where your ideas will come from. Firstly, who is your audience, what is their age?
Choosing a topic that resonates with your young people will help to keep them engaged during your conference whether it’s a day-long or a residential conference. Whatever you decide will then need to incorporate age-appropriate activities.
Church Youth Conference Topic Ideas
- Social Justice
- Mental Health
- Spiritual Growth
- Faith & Identity
- Family Relationships
- Dating
- Purpose & Calling
If your conference is for a select group, why not ask them what matters to them or what they would appreciate support and guidance on?
Interactive Workshops
Incorporating interactive activities into your youth conference is a great way to maintain engagement and get the most from your young people, as well as them getting the most from your conference.
- Icebreakers and Team Activities: Start with fun icebreakers to encourage participation and camaraderie. This could be particularly beneficial for a smaller conference size.
- Live Polling and Q&A: Why not utilise polls as part of your talks? Or have a live Q&A where people can submit questions anonymously throughout the day that can be answered.
- Breakout Sessions: Divide participants into smaller groups for in-depth discussions or problem-solving exercises. Whether you give them scenarios or questions, there’s plenty you can do here to encourage conversation.
- Interactive Panels: Allow the audience to ask questions and engage directly with speakers during panel discussions.
- Hands-On Workshops: Incorporate practical activities where participants can apply what they’ve learned immediately. It can also be beneficial to break up a conference with some hands-on activities due to people having different ways of learning.
- Gamification: Introduce games, challenges, or competitions related to the conference topic to boost engagement.
- Role-Playing Scenarios: Use role-play to explore real-world situations relevant to the conference theme, encouraging creative thinking and discussion. This can be particularly useful for younger children to help them understand what is being discussed and what they might be feeling if it was them experiencing it. One of our favourite examples is teaching young ones about Jesus walking on water, testing them to try walking on water themselves with a paddling pool, which is completely impossible for us but totally engaging for children.
- Volunteering: You could incorporate volunteering into your youth conference to put some of the teachings into practice. This can also be an excellent way to include team building within your conference.
Technology Integration
Whilst we can understand if the focus of your youth conference is to encourage your young people to unplug, there can be a number of benefits to integrating technology into your conference if appropriate.
If you’re hosting a large conference, the use of social media or a dedicated app could be beneficial for sharing information with all of your attendees before, during and after.
You could also utilise technology to be able to invite more people to join your conference through virtual conferencing and hybrid events. With space for up to 600 delegates plus the opportunity to host a hybrid event allowing you to invite more guests to join in the discussion, a venue like Kents Hill Park is excellent to welcome more people from all over the world and those that can’t travel to your conference.
Fun and Fellowship Activities
Whether you incorporate games and activities as a way to break up the day or you plan for team building that can strengthen community and fellowship. Getting people into the fresh air and moving their bodies is excellent.
- Local Walks
- Quiz
- Simple Sports – badminton, football, rounders
- Over Under Game
- Pirates Scrub the Deck
- Scavenger Hunt
- Dodgeball
Guest Speakers and Panels
If you want to incorporate more teachings and discussion at your conference, why not invite guest speakers who can relate to and inspire your young people? Asking your children and young people who they’d want to hear from means you’ll get the best engagement during the conference.
Worship Sessions
Creative approaches to worship that appeal to younger audiences, such as contemporary music or interactive prayer stations. Choosing a conference venue that can provide multiple spaces for sessions such as this to run throughout the day is important.
Youth Conference Venue UK
If you’re looking for a conference venue suitable for young people, families or adult faith conferences, Kents Hill Park is a welcoming, flexible event venue in Milton Keynes. Our conference venue is perfect for focus and fun with plenty of outdoor grounds and indoor space for activities, reflection and prayer. We can host communities of up to 600, with onsite accommodation for 300 people.
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