5 Tips for Creating an Awesome DNow Schedule
Here are 5 helpful tips to help you craft a DNow Schedule that makes for an awesome weekend.
#1: Set Your Goals
What do you want your DNow to do for your students and student ministry? This is the essential question where all DNow planning must begin. Is the goal of your weekend that your students better understand the Book of Colossians, that your students become a community, or that your students have a fun weekend off of school? Your answer to this question is crucial to how you shape your DNow schedule.
#2: Focus Your Schedule Times Around Your Goals
Once your goals have been set, you should make your schedule reflect your goals. If your goal is to help your students better understand the Book of Colossians, you may want to spend most of the weekend in Bible study. If your goal is to help your students build community, you may want to have additional “hang out” or recreation time so that students can bond. If your goal is to have a fun weekend off of school, your DNow will need to be filled with games and hours of endless fun. Let your goals form the bulk of your schedule.
#3: Don’t Forget The Power Of Down Time
Down time is a much neglected art in student ministry.We have many events that are driven by activity and energy. Activity is not bad, but it’s in the down time when students will be able to truly connect to God and each other. During down time, students can take time to listen to God through devotions and time in His Word. They can also connect to others through the conversations that naturally take place in the midst of a DNow. Don’t let your schedule rob your students of this crucial time.
#4: Build Community
DNow is a rare event because all of your students are together for an extended amount of time. Don’t miss this opportunity to build community. In a student ministry, community is primarily built through recreational and service opportunities. These are moments that force students to get out of their peer groups to meet other students. The community that is built at DNow can transform your student ministry forever. Don’t miss the opportunity for transformation.
#5: Be Flexible
Life happens. You may have spent hours planning the perfect DNow schedule to have one of your groups sleep through breakfast. Let your schedule be a guide not a guardian. Realize that God is in control, and ultimately, your DNow is operating on His schedule, not yours.
Ben Birdsong works with middle school students at First Baptist Church in Pelham, Alabama. Ben loves to minister to students and challenge them to become campus missionaries and to live out their faith.
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