Sometimes when a youth group is small and has been together for awhile they become very close and there’s a chance that they like it that way.  They’re afraid if they invite others to the group it will “ruin” it for them.  This can be discouraging to your efforts to grow your youth group.  Here are some suggestions to help:

1. Hear your kids out first.  Listen to their deeper concerns.
2. Tell your kids that you understand that they want to keep their good friends and the close-knit tenor of the group and assure them that’s not going to change.
3. Reassure them that if kids come into the youth group and begin to disrupt it, you will deal with that.
4. Remind your kids Jesus Christ died on the cross for a lot of people and if the youth group is to have the blessing and favor of God on it, it needs to reach out to more than “my four and no more.”
5. Host a “Paul Revere Meeting” for your key influencers and enlist their help.