This is a question that we are asked a great deal. At this point in time there are essentially two options, namely run the 4 week course yourself, or get the SRT434 Team to come and run the course for you!

Both options have pro's and con's and we will try to lay out both options here for you.

Running the Course Yourself.

This is not as daunting as you might think. SRT434 is designed to deliver the Silver Ring Thing training right out of the box. Everything you need is provided in the SRT434 Leaders Pack, with the SRT UK team providing an additional CD of additional material that will help you deliver to a UK audience.

Because the SRT434 Programme operates out of a box you can deliver the material in anyway you wish that meets the maturity of your audience. This may be a small group of 6 people in your lounge or in an "Alpha" style around tables in groups of six each with a table leader.

Because the SRT434 Programme provides a Parents Programme you are encouraged at the same time as you run the students programme, to run a Parents Programme. This does mean that you need a number of leaders to do this, but when our church first did it we got the pastor and his wife to do the parents and the youth leaders did the youth. This allowed us to get "buy in" from the leadership of the church too.

The advantages of this is that you can run the course as many times as you wish, just buying additional students packs for the new students, learning each time you go. For smaller groups this is perfect, easily achievable and with all of the material something we are confident you can do as well as we did when we first started and others are doing around the country.

The disadvantages are you have to learn by your mistakes. You have to learn everything from the SRT materials and the supplementary information from the UK SRT Team (which contains a timed agenda for each session) and go for it. Each time you do it you learn, and of course become better and better!

So, all you need to run the course is a Leaders Pack and as many Student Packs as required. You can buy these up front, during the course as you run it, or indeed at the end. Just visit the shop for more information on the various packs.

We run the course for you.

If you have a particularly large group either of your own youth, or would like to get together with other churches in your area and the SRT434 programme over a Friday Night and Saturday then we can come and run everything for you.

Normally we would only consider this for groups in excess of 70 young people.

There is a charge for this of £5 per student attending, plus traveling and accommodation expenses, although we are happy to stay with families in the church. Our team would vary in size depending on the size of the event we are supporting. All of our team provide their time on a voluntary basis and the fee paid goes right back into providing more marketing, materials, exhibitions and generally spreading the message of the Silver Ring Thing.

We run the sessions very much as a front led programme with the discussion occurring in small groups of 6 or 7 young people and an adult group leader. Usually these group leaders would be provided by you in the form of your youth leaders. These groups are typically single sex and contain individuals in a similar age group or maturity level. This allows you to invite other churches as their own youth leaders can lead their small groups and provides training for you and them should you decide to run the programme again.

The advantages to this approach are:

1. We have done this before and we can provide a polished and knowledgeable programme.
2. We use young people aged 17 to 24 to deliver the front led elements of the programme who are credible and living the life; there is even a couple dating who can speak from real experience on many of the issues discussed.
3. We can provide a simultaneous Parents Programme with a slightly more mature team !
4. We provide all of the lighting, projection equipment, PA needed to provide a front led programme
5. Young people can sign up and receive rings on the day as we can measure them up there and then.
6. We bring all of the Silver Ring Thing Materials for sale (Leaders, Student and Parents Packs.
7. We bring all of the Silver Ring Thing merchandise (T-Shirts, Hoodies, Hats, Stickers, Badges etc).
8. You see the programme in operation and can learn from us, not from your own mistakes.
9. We look to train you and your team so you are able to run future programmes yourself.
10. We have journalists and individuals with experience of the press so can help you make the most of this potential publicity.

The Disadvantages of this approach:

1. Costs: for a group of 70 there is a fee of £350 as well as our travelling expenses which may be cost prohibitive, although young people are often happy to bear the £5 cost of coming to an event over a Friday evening and Saturday.
2. Hire of a Venue: If you do not have your own venue to host this you will need to hire one, which again may make this option cost prohibitive.

Read more about booking the SRT Team for your event here.

Conclusion
At the end of the day the decision really rests with you. The SRT434 Programme is well delivered in the Box and with the supplementary material we provide you will be more than equipped to deliver the programme.

The key factors are how many do you have in your youth group; if it is large, then it may be worthwhile us doing it for you if you would prefer.

Either way we would be more than happy to discuss this with you and help you decide what is best for you. Click here for our contact details and give us a call.

Read more about booking the SRT Team for your event here.