Insight

Who am I? - a youth group discussion starter

A youth group discussion starter on identity.

Begin with one or two icebreakers on the theme of ‘who am I?’ and ‘identity’ i.e. ‘Fact or fiction’, ‘If’, ‘Would you rather?’, ‘Masks’, ‘Flags.’

These can all be found in my previous posts Icebreakers for small groups and More icebreakers for small groups.

Alternatively, download the free eBook ‘40 Icebreakers for Small Groups’ from the sidebar, where you will find these and many more icebreakers.

Lead into the next activity by explaining how the icebreakers remind us that everyone is different. We each have a unique identity and there is no one else like us with our blend of looks, personality, character and background.


THIS IS YOUR LIFE

Ask for a volunteer. When they come up announce dramatically and solemnly, (Grahame) this is YOUR life. Reveal a previously hidden folder and proceed with the description of early human development. Stress the statistics. Pause between each and emphasise the final paragraph.

• From the 266 days from your conception to your birth, one single fertilised call became a staggeringly complex organisation of some 200 million cells.
• Your growth rate was such that if you had continued to grow from birth at the same rate, then you would be 75 feet tall and weigh several tons by the age of 16.
• Each cell as it divided exactly copied your unique genetic code, so that each cell would now be uniquely you.
• To view the code from just one cell would require watching 5 million frames of a TV.
• Each one of us has between 10 and 15 billion brain cells. If each cell were a person, then they would populate two planets the size of earth.
• Your heart began beating after about 21 days when you were only 3mm long.
• You could hear your mother’s voice after 16 weeks and also had your own unique fingerprints.

YOU ARE SPECIAL. There is no one else in the whole world like you.

Just another number - a youth group discussion starter

Are we important? Are we special? In an impersonal world this youth group discussion starter helps young people to consider their value and significance to God. It’s the first of three discussion starters on value, identity and image.

THE AMAZING SQUARE

Explain to your group that you are going to perform an amazingly complex mathematical problem without the use of a calculator, or a computer, or a safety net! This first activity helps to introduce the initial theme of numbers. It’s optional, although it will impress your group! Also a great party piece if you ever need it!

download The Amazing Square (pdf)

LIVING BY NUMBERS

Numbers are important. Ask the group if they can think of ways we use numbers every day? What about the rest of their family? How are numbers used to identify us? Write the responses on a whiteboard.

You can probably think of many examples of number use, but here are a few to help you get started - dates, time, speed, distance, computers, scientific equations etc. Numbers are also used to personally identify us – birthday, mobile phone number, passwords, driving licence, credit card, bank account, tax, health insurance, electoral (voting) number, personal measurements etc.

Numbers identify us, categorise us and in some ways define who we are. We hear people complain that they are ‘just another number’ in some big computer and no one really cares about them as a REAL person. It’s tempting, too, to think that if there is a God who is looking after millions and millions of people on earth we cannot really be very important. We’re just another number in God’s cosmic filing cabinet.