In youth ministry, there’s no question of whether or not games, social gatherings, or even the occasional all-nighter should be included in the regular run of things. As an adult, you have to be crazy to help out at an all-nighter. Well, if you are not already, you’ll become crazy, waking up on an odd-smelling pew in the back of the auditorium around 8am to kids running circles around you, still making use of the Mountain Dew high that peaked around 4 in the morning. 
That’s my experience anyhow. I gave in to the pleading for an all-nighter, which kids might claim to be the true “life-changing” event of our time, because it’s one of the events they have always done as a youth group. So who I am to stop it? I mean, I’m sure the parents just love the seemingly useless, zombie-fied status of their post-all-nighter children for the next 48 hours, right?
So it’s a regular occurrence for students to ask me what the next fun event will be or to give me new ideas for one. In a sense, this is good because, of course, kids want to do fun things together and they are investing their thoughts and ideas in the youth group. But when does it become too much? At what point do we have to say, “Alright, hold up, what about us carrying out the calling of Christ outside these four walls? What about living a life of service and reaching out to the poor, the broken, or our next door neighbor?”
Recently, I heard a pastor say that a church’s greatest mission should be to get people to move OUT, to live out the Gospel. He followed that by clarifying that this might mean saying no to the kind of programs that essentially keep people IN. So there’s a tension in youth ministry, between the building of relationships through fun, highly-social events (which also can hopefully satisfy the cravings of the wild teenage spirit) and the pursuit of living a missional life outside of these events. Perhaps one of the greatest goals any youth ministry could have is to direct the wild teenage spirit to be poured out and into mission, thus relieving the tough balancing act of the time we spend inside of and then outside of our four walls.
I am sure that you already have seen this idea, but I feel compelled to share it. World Vision has their 30 hour famine program which is an all-nighter fund raiser for World Vision! Pretty sweet deal considering kids get the all-nighter that they wanted and it ties their fun to a missional activity. I enjoyed it as a middle schooler.
Would the creation of friendships with others from different socio-economic backgrounds be a good way to get youth to live missionally? If so, hosting a series of public parties in a neighborhood park (in another part of town from the youth group’s church) during the summer could spark friendships between youth from different neighborhoods and of different socio-economic backgrounds. This way the youth get to wholly utilize their seemingly endless amounts of energy with friends! I know that it is not very service oriented, but it is missional in the sense of building relationships that may not exist otherwise.
This is a difficult question. In many cases, youth group is a great way to reach out as they start bringing friends to hang out, but when does it become more than just a fun hang out? Sometimes there isn’t much focus on the Word, let alone reaching out missionally. How can the leaders take the group out into the community in a way that helps the kids learn and impact their hearts, also considering the possibility of being regularly involved?