CLIMBING THE SUMMIT

1. Introduce the theme by sharing what Climb means to them. This theme is about climbing the mountains of our spiritual habits so that we can reach our intended summit. Explain that to climb any “mountain”(goals) in our lives we need “tools”( action steps). use mountain and tools as the language for this activity as it will stay themed towards climb.
2. Identify your summit
   1. Hand out pieces of paper to each participant, explain that we are going to focus on four “mountains” in our lives that we feel are important to climb: Faith, Family, School,Work. (If one of these mountains doesn’t apply, help them come up with something more relevant)
   2. Draw four small mountains (simple triangle) on your piece of paper. Each mountain pertains to an area of focus.
   3. Write the “Summit” or specific goal for each mountain. For example, for Family the summit might be “Feel closer to my parents” or “be there for my siblings.”
   4. Inside of the mountain drawings, write down things they do to strive towards that summit in their current life. For example, “take my little brother out for ice cream,” “go on walks with my parents.” etc. These should be things that they are doing now, not what they think they should do.
3. Discuss in small groups:
   1. Which summit are you furthest from? Which one needs the most work?
   2. Which mountain do you feel you are climbing well right now? Which area of your life do you feel good about?
   3. [Some kids might feel good about a mountain they didn’t write much down under. that’s fine. We just want them to determine where they are feeling lacking and where they are feeling fulfilled]
4. Share your tools!
   1. Have everyone write down the name of the mountain they need to work on the most. Underneath that name (like Faith), they should write their summit (like feeling God’s presence). Leave the papers anonymous and place the papers on a tape facing up.
   2. Explain that we all have tools that can help each other and now we are going to share those tools. If a youth is doing well in school and see’s a paper themed towards school on the table (meaning someone else needs to work on that area of their life), they can write down tools that are helpful for them in that area so that someone else can benefit from them. Basically one person’s weakness is another’s strength!
   3. After everyone is done writing on the papers they will have a list of tools that can help them in these areas.
   4. Explain that nothing gets better without work and that we need to climb to our goals and push ourselves to get to our summits.
   5. Have everyone pick up their papers and take a look at the tools shared with them.
   6. Explain that now we have actual action steps that have worked for other people in these areas. These are actual things they could do to improve their area of struggle!

Submitted by Sasha Drost, Josh Hunter & Maryland Youth Ministry.