A youth group discussion starter on the church. Exploring the New Testament images of the church and discovering the importance of each person playing their part in the life of the church. A themed night of icebreakers and activities can also be found in the earlier post The Body of Christ.
TOWER BUILD
Don’t say too much about the theme of the session at first. It is introduced through the object lesson that follows the tower build exercise.
Divide your group into teams of four. Explain the task is to work together to build the tallest free standing structure or tower they can with the materials provided. Give each team an identical selection of materials which they can use to build the tower. This can include a limited amount of,
Cardboard, newspaper, plastic straws, pipe cleaners, lollipop sticks, plastic cups, paper plates, paper clips, cardboard tubes from toilet of kitchen rolls, tape.
Encourage each team to use all of the resources they are given and to involve everyone in the planning and building process.
Give each team 15 minutes to construct their tower. Then ask each group to step away from their free-standing tower to determine the winner. Depending on the size of your group, come back together as a whole (or divide) to discuss any lessons learned from the project.
- How did you decide which way to construct your tower?
- How did you make decisions?
- Can you give examples of how you worked together as a team?
- What role did each team member play in the process of building the tower?
- What would you do differently to build a taller tower next time?
- Did the team who worked best together achieve the best results i.e. build the tallest tower?
Introduce the theme of the session. Explain that the group will be discovering what the New Testament says about the church. The word ‘church’ in the New Testament never refers to a physical building, but always to a group of people who come together for a purpose. The church (people) is so important to God that he planned it from the beginning (Ephesians 3: 10-11) Are we part of a church (and the church) and playing our part on Gods team?
OBJECT LESSON - THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE
Show the closed knife to the group. Who knows what it is? Confirm it’s not just an ordinary penknife but a Swiss army knife. Why is it special? Because of the different tools you will find contained in the base.
The first Swiss army knife was created in 1897. Since then there have been many different variations but they usually include some of the following, a large blade, small blade, corkscrew, can opener, small screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, punch, sewing eye, tweezers, toothpick, scissors, nail file and key ring.
All the tools are useful and all are different, but the great thing about the Swiss army knife is that all the tools are joined together as one unit to use whenever you need it.
This is an illustration of what a church is like. A group of people who love Christ, everyone different , everyone needed, and everyone with an important role to play. A team working together with Christ in command.
REFLECTION
Divide into small groups and read 1 Corinthians 12: 12-27 together.
- Why do you think the Apostle Paul chose to compare the church to a body?
- Is every part needed? What would happen if a part was missing?
- What do you think you can do to play your part in the body?
Paul uses several different images or illustrations to describe what the church is like. Can you find them?
- A body Ephesians 1: 23
- A family Ephesians 2: 19-22
- A temple Ephesians 2: 19-22
- A bride Ephesians 5: 25-27
- An army Ephesians 6: 12-17
- What might these things have in common?
- How does each help us understand the nature of the church?
- Do you think ‘unity’ is important?
- What can we do as a youth group to play our part in the body, the family, the army, the bride, the temple?
End by praying for your church and your part in it. Praise God for everything you receive through it. Pray for needs of your church and God’s church worldwide.
MORE DISCUSSION STARTERS
For more, click on discussion starters in the category list on the sidebar.
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I used this in my summer youth retreat. It was fun and useful to understanding the passage in Ephesians. Thanks
Posted by: Hunho Park | 07/07/2015 at 17:16
its simply superb ! it has blessed me n guided me a lot..dont stop ths great thng kep rockn !
Posted by: beena | 20/06/2012 at 20:01