Insight

Talking to God - three youth group discussion starters on prayer

The landing gear wouldn't lock down and the plane had to make an emergency landing.

Over the intercom the pilot addressed the passengers, 'We are beginning our final descent. At this moment in accordance with International Aviation Codes established in Geneva, it is my obligation to inform you that if you believe in God you should commence prayer.'

What do your young people think about prayer? What does the Bible tell us about prayer? What did Jesus say?

View and download the 8 page pdf prayer discussion starters containing three group discussion starters on prayer.

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Getting started - three youth group discussion starters

You ask a question. They stare back quizzically at you. You ask another question. Silence. You awkwardly try again. Embarrassed shuffles and whispering.

How do you get young people engaged in meaningful conversation and discussion? It's not always easy. Building relationships is important. Group size and venue is important. Asking the right questions is important. Sometimes a simple creative activity or discussion starter can help break the ice and encourage group communication.

'Consequences!', 'Getting to know you?' and 'What's puzzling you?' are three discussion starters which give an opportunity for your group to share their own thoughts, opinions and ask their own questions.

The discussion starters are flexible in their application. Discover more about what your young people really think! What's important to them? Where do they struggle with the Christian faith? Use these starters to get to know your group better and provide a launch pad for further discussion and bible teaching.

View and download the 12 page pdf 3 discussion starters for youth groups.

MORE DISCUSSION STARTERS

For more, click on discussion starters in the category list.


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Each month I add more youth ministry resources and personal reflections on youth ministry and leadership. May I encourage you to subscribe to INSIGHT and you won't miss a thing.

Would you believe it? - a youth group discussion starter

Use this humorous discussion starter 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 the 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

How do you spend your time? Does it matter? This discussion starter considers our responsibilities as Christians and asks how we set our priorities.

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 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.

Belief into faith - a youth group discussion starter

A discussion starter investigating the difference between belief and faith.

 

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:

Living by the rules - a youth group discussion starter

The first in a new series of discussion starters for your youth group. Use this discussion starter 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.