Defining and Finding Fun
And why it matters for youth ministry
We’ve all had the conversation about the place of fun and games in youth ministry, and that’s not something I’m trying to re-hash today. Even while steering clear of an “attractional” youth ministry model, fun has its proper place in youth ministry (and really, in any ministry), because fun was God’s idea. I’ve written elsewhere about how fun is a form of rest and something we will enjoy in the new heavens and earth, and I believe that fun can facilitate relationships and a sense of community.
Here’s what I want to talk about today: Has anyone ever asked you to define “fun”?
For ever a decade, part of my job was facilitating fun for students, and yet I had never thought much about how to define fun. Recently, I discovered Catherine Price’s definition of fun: playful connected flow. That is, the most fun times involve 1) a light-hearted playfulness, 2) connection with others, and 3) a sense of flow (that state of being so engrossed in an activity that you may lose track of time). Price refers to this as “true fun” as opposed to “fake fun.” (“Fake fun” could be something like bingeing Netflix - think more entertainment and less that-was-so-fun!-type activities. To hear more about her understanding of fun, I’d encourage you to check out her TED talk, Substack, or a podcast she’s been on.)
This definition has benefited me personally in a number of ways, as I’ve been looking to add more fun to my life. Heck, I’ve even had fun sharing these concepts and telling others what I’ve discovered is truly fun for me (through a short fun assessment Price offers as part of her “Fun Starter Kit”).
And then I got to thinking - how might this definition help in youth ministry?
First, I think it helps us understand the importance of true fun. If we think of true fun as Price defines it - playful connected flow - then there’s something uniquely beautiful and good about it. Playfulness involves vulnerability. Connection builds relationship. A state of flow implies being fully present to an activity. Isn’t that what we want in the community of our youth groups - vulnerability, connection, and presence? As I think on the current landscape of youth culture and its technology-saturated realities, this is exactly what many of our youth are missing. I’d also argue that true fun activities offer a kind of implicit learning experience about the nature of God’s kingdom. Biblically, true fun matters!
Furthermore, if you dive deeper into Price’s resources (like that assessment), you may be able to make some better decisions for you and your youth group, because it can help you identify what sorts of activities and settings are most likely to facilitate this “true fun” kind of experience. Price argues that you should focus on the ingredients of fun - in other words, what is most likely to facilitate playfulness, connection, and flow for you and your people? Find activities where those ingredients overlap for you, and you have an activity highly likely to create fun.
You may be able to choose better games for your youth as you think through their preferences for fun. For example, you may have students that prefer smaller groups for connection, or other students who love being the center of attention. Take that into account. Sometimes, I’ve seen games fall flat (even though they sounded great!) because they failed to take into account the students’ preferences for fun.
You may also get a better idea of what is fun for you as a leader, which also matters. Because ministry is hard, you need fun in your life outside of ministry to sustain you as a leader. Additionally, if you’re only ever leading activities for your youth that aren’t actually fun for you, it may put a damper on things. Fun can be infectious, and so can un-fun, for lack of a better word. (For example, I loved things that involved themes and costumes, but I have another youth ministry friend that hated them. When I stopped loving these things and putting my all into them, it was actually a sign that something in me had changed. They became obligations rather than something I could enjoy, and it was harder for me to foster enjoyment amongst the students as a result. )
Finally, you might be able to learn something about what works and what doesn’t work for you as you lead games. The more I become in charge of things, for example, the more it’s possible for things to become less fun for me… which, again, may make it less fun for students. When I have bombed games I was leading, it was sometimes because I got stuck in the leading and wasn’t able to be playful and have fun myself.
As I’ve talked with others about these concepts, they have often made new discoveries for themselves. So, if this intrigues you at all, I’d encourage you to look into it further, and then consider: what does this mean for you personally? What might it mean for your youth ministry? What might you do less of, and what might you do more of?