Insight

Would you believe it? - a youth group discussion starter

I've not linked this humorous discussion starter to a particular topic. Use it to stimulate and generate questions from your young people. Find out more about what they find hard to believe or understand. What are their barriers to faith? What questions do they have about their Christian life?

These are genuine statements found on insurance claim forms, where car drivers attempted to summarise the details of an accident in the fewest possible words.

• Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have. 

• I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.
  

• I collided with a stationary truck coming in the other direction.
  

• The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
  

• I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
  

• The accident happened because I had one eye on the lorry in front, one eye on the pedestrian and the other on the car behind.
  

• In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telegraph pole.

How do you spend your time? - a youth group discussion starter

MY WEEK – MY LIFE

For this discussion starter you will need paper, pens and several pocket calculators. Ask each young person to write down ten things they have done the previous week. For example, watching TV, eating breakfast, cleaning their teeth, talking to their parents, talking to friends on the phone, playing sports, going to youth group, shopping etc. Then ask them to estimate the amount of time (in hours), they spent on this activity. Five minutes a day adds up to 35 minutes a week, about ½ hour.

Multiply the time in hours by 0.42 (using the calculators) and you get the number of years you would spend on that activity in an average lifetime. So, someone who looked around the shops for three hours a week would spend 3 times 0.42 years of their time shopping in a life of seventy years. For the calculation to work properly remember to work in hours and not in minutes.

Ask the young people to share some of their results and write these up on a whiteboard or flipchart. Some of the results will amuse, while others may be a surprise. Don't make any judgments on the results. Instead use them to facilitate a discussion on the use of our time. For example;

Choices - a youth group discussion starter

A simple discussion starter looking at the choices we make and how God can help us make the best choices for our lives. Good for younger teenagers but can be adapted to a wider age group.

ROCK, SCISSORS, PAPER

This is a simple game involving random choices. Ask 4 volunteers to play the game of rock, scissors, paper. They pair off and face their partners with their left palm open flat and their right hand made into a fist. As you give the signal 1, 2, 3, everyone acts together. On the 1 and 2 each person hits his palm with his first. On 3 he either keeps his hand as a fist (symbolising a rock), points out his index and middle fingers (scissors) or opens it flat (paper). Depending on the symbols his partner forms, a person wins, loses or ties.

The rules are as follows. Rock smashes scissors (scissors lose), scissors cut paper (paper loses), paper covers rock (rock loses). Start as a best of three competition and then the winners of each pair play each other.

We make lots of simple choices every day. Ask the young people to list the kind of choices they made today. Write the answers on a whiteboard or flipchart. For example, what clothes to wear, what TV programmes to watch, what food to eat, what music to listen, what sport or games to play etc.

Sometimes we have to make more important choices. Ask the group to give examples. Write the answers on the whiteboard or flipchart. Will I lie or tell the truth? Will I be hurtful or kind? How will I treat this person? What career will I pursue?

Make the point that some choices are small, others are much bigger and can shape the way we live for the rest of our lives.

The future of youth ministry - youth pastor or event manager?

In one of my first blog posts 'What is Christian youth work?' I asked, What are we trying to achieve in youth ministry? What is our goal as a youth pastor or Christian youth worker, whether we're paid or a volunteer? I suggested four insights which have helped me in charting my own course in youth ministry. You can read them here. I'm firmly convinced that the main goal of Christian youth ministry is making disciples.

'So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me.' Colossians 1: 28-29

However, it's easy to fall into the 'numbers' trap. Wishing my youth group was bigger. Designing programmes to attract more young people. Dreaming of what it would be like to have a 'mega' group and the accompanying status from our church and peers. Haven't we all thought like that from time to time? I know I have. I purposely use the word 'trap' because following the numbers agenda can so easily distract us from our primary purpose of disciple making.

Discipling young people is time intensive and a huge investment. It takes time nurturing young people to bring 'each one into God’s presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.' Now I'm not saying there's no space for fun stuff and crazy games, young people aren't just 'souls on legs', they have physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs (just like you and me), but we need to stay laser-focused on our goal.

What do we think of when we think about discipleship? A programme? A curriculum? A confirmation course? Finding a process which is helpful to the spiritual growth of your young people is important, but I want to suggest we also reflect on the outcomes. What do we want to see? If our goal is spiritual maturity how do we measure it? What does a spiritual mature person look like?

Belief into faith - a youth group discussion starter

TRUST ME I'M A YOUTH WORKER!

Ask for two volunteers from your group. Pick people who are smaller than you. Ask one to leave the room for a few minutes. Ask the other to stand upright, facing a wall, with feet touching the wall.

Ask your volunteer, 'Do you BELIEVE that I have the strength to catch you if you fell backwards from the wall?'

If the volunteer answers with a 'Yes' (and encourage this response) then follow with this second question, 'Would you TRUST me to catch you if you fell?'

After encouraging a positive response, ask your volunteer to fall back, keeping completely straight (stiff) as they fall. Ask the group to count slowly to seven, telling your volunteer to fall on the count of seven. Naturally you must be ready to catch them, but do not do this until they are at least 45 degrees from the vertical.

By then most young people will have started to bend their knees and put out their hands to cushion their fall, rather than keeping straight as you requested. Call in the other person and repeat the activity.

Using this activity as an illustration, explain to your group about how 'faith' works. Faith has three ingredients:

The future of youth ministry - 5 reasons for mission.

In two previous 'future' posts, 'consumers or servants' and 'learning to serve', I suggested that guiding our young people away from a consumer mentality into one of discipleship, engagement and mission is one of the biggest challenges youth leaders, certainly in the west, face today. I'm confident that our teaching would bear more fruit, our prayer be more vibrant if witness, mission and social action were an integral part of youth ministry.

Here are my 5 reasons to help answer the question, 'Why should I be involved in mission?' Use this as a personal reflection, as part of a presentation or perhaps an outline for a youth group study.

Living By The Rules - a youth group discussion starter

The first in a new series of discussion starters for your youth group. Use to introduce a study evening on the Ten Commandments and take as little or as much as you need.

We encounter directions, instructions and rules every day. Do they help us? If we had the power, what rules would we make? Does God have instructions for our lives? What are they? Why are they important?

CAN YOU FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS?

Ask for four or five volunteers and direct them to sit behind a table in front of the rest of the group. Explain they have volunteered to do a short exam! They need to take it seriously and normal examination conditions will apply i.e. no talking and leave the test papers face down until the start. Stress that they have only five minutes to complete the test. Ask the rest of the group for complete silence to help them concentrate, as time is short. Tell the candidates that when they finish, they must not talk or seek to communicate to any other person in the room, until the five minutes are over. Distribute the papers (see below) and in a solemn voice instruct them to begin.

Most, if not all the young people, faced with the time pressure will plough right through the test ignoring the first instruction and not become aware of question 20 until they have completed 1-19.

Fantastic Food Night - a themed evening of icebreakers, games and talk ideas!

What can you do with some liquorice, spaghetti, flour, chocolate, jam doughnuts, sweets, coke, crackers and marshmallows?

A fun evening which is excellent for 11-14's and works well with a small group. Remember, always be enthusiastic and join in yourself.

Read the 10 icebreakers and games carefully before you use them. Select the ones which will work best for your youth group. Many are based on common party games and adapted through generations of youth leaders.

It's probably impossible to say who first thought up any of these games, but whoever you are, thanks!

FOOD ALPHABET

A simple introductory game to play as everyone arrives. Give each young person a sheet of paper with the alphabet written down one side. They have to add the name of a food to each letter of the alphabet i.e. a=apple, b=bread. There is one point for each answer. Select a few letters for a triple point score. I suggest, Q, U, V, X, Y, Z. The highest score wins an item of food of your choice!

For those who are thinking it can't be done, Q is for quiche, quail, quince; U is for uglifruit, unpasteurised milk (OK, I'm stretching); V is for venison, veal, vermicelli, vinegar, vol-au-vent, vomit fruit (honestly, Google it!); X is for xigua (OK, really struggling here, but this is a Chinese watermelon!); Y is for yam, yogurt, Yorkshire pudding; Z is for zucchini, zabaglione sauce.

SPAGHETTI STUFF

Invite three or four volunteers to sit at a table facing the rest of the group. Then bring out a large plate of spaghetti for each person. Explain that the first person to finish the spaghetti wins. However, they must eat it without the use of a knife, fork or spoon and their hands must be behind their back! A great spectator sport. Have your camera ready for a picture spread in the church newsletter! The winners prize - a packet of spaghetti.