Insight

Rethinking Christmas

How much do you really know about the first Christmas? Perhaps we’ve heard the story so many times we know it well. Or do traditions sometimes overtake the truth?

‘Rethinking Christmas’ is a chance to explore the Bible narrative with your young people through games and creative activities.

CHRISTMAS RUN-AROUND

Ideal for younger teenagers. This active ‘run-around’ quiz will test your group’s knowledge of the accounts in Matthew and Luke, providing a platform for further discussion or reflection.

Set up four zones in your room or hall (zone A, B, C and D.) Ask the group to gather in the middle of the hall. Explain that you will ask a question about the Christmas story which has four possible answers (A, B, C or D.)

Then on your signal (a whistle is good) the young people have 10 seconds to run to the zone which they think represents the correct answer. Once everyone is in a zone, the whistle blows again and they have 5 seconds (if they wish to change their mind) to change zones.

For example; With what words did the heavenly host of angels praise God?

A Joy to the world, the lord is come
B O little town of Bethlehem
C Hark the herald angels sing
D Glory to God in the highest

Find out by downloading Rethinking Christmas (pdf) which contains this complete article including the ‘run-around’ quiz questions and an alternative (or additional) word search introducing the main characters and places in the nativity account.

Trinity - a youth group discussion starter

'Trinity' is not a word found in the Bible, but it’s used to describe the essential Christian belief that there is one God who exists as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person equally and fully God.

How can we help young people to begin to appreciate and understand this foundational and yet mind boggling Christian belief? How can three persons be one person? Sometimes it helps to think outside the box.

NINE DOTS PUZZLE

Draw nine dots on a whiteboard. The challenge is to connect all the dots by using only 4 straight lines, connected end-to-end. See if your young people can complete the puzzle. Most will only be able to connect 8 dots. The last one seems impossible.

What is God like? - a youth group discussion starter

People have different views about God. What do your young people think? What is God really like? What does the Bible tell us about his character? What does that mean for us?


SYMBOLS QUIZ

Draw, photocopy, or present a number of brand symbols which represent retailers, consumer products, computer or telecoms companies, transport or car manufacturers, banks, record labels, national flags etc. Around 20 brand symbols should be enough.

Invite the group to participate in a quiz to identify each of the symbols. This can be completed individually with pen and paper or as two teams competing against each other.

Ask the group why they think symbols are so widely used? (Symbols are used to represent, identify or associate with larger pieces of information.)

GOD IS

Give everyone a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Invite the young people to draw their own symbol to represent their own understanding, belief or unbelief in God. They cannot use words, lettering or numbers. The picture should represent what they think about God. Emphasise that you are not looking for a work of art!

Allow three minutes to complete the symbol and ask the young people to reveal their picture to the rest of the group. Invite the youth group to guess what they think each symbol represents about God, after which the 'artist' can confirm if anyone got it right.

Salt and light - a youth group discussion starter

Jesus’ words about being ‘salt and light’ to the world is a challenge to think about discipleship. How do we help young people to be ‘salt and light’? What does God want us to be like and to do as his representatives in the world?

BLIND TASTE TEST

This is a fun icebreaker based around a blind taste test. It will require some preparation (see your taste test items below) and you will need some small disposable bowls and a teaspoon for each volunteer. The food must be kept hidden until the volunteers are blindfolded.

Invite three volunteers to participate in the taste test where they will compete with each other to demonstrate their knowledge of food and tastes from around the world. Blindfold each volunteer and bring the numbered (1-15) food samples out for the taste test.

The first contestant selects a number from 1-15. They are fed a small sample of the chosen number with a teaspoon and asked to guess what it is. Aim to have a five rounds and give the contestants a drink of water between each round, especially if they have just swallowed the curry paste! A point is given for each correct answer. Select 15 ‘tastes’ from the sample list below,

Orange juice, Ice cream, Cold coffee, Tomato ketchup, Vinegar, Cold rice pudding, Toothpaste, Yogurt, Salad dressing, Mustard, Bolognese sauce, Brown sauce, Milk, Mayonnaise, Curry paste, Marmite, Golden syrup, Cottage cheese, Beaten raw egg, Water, Cold baked beans, Branston (sweet) pickle, Cold chicken soup, Soy sauce, Cold tinned custard, or anything else you can think of!

To keep the rest of the group engaged with the icebreaker, use a flipchart to write up the food item chosen by each contestant, and let them hear the groans and laughter.

Using the Bible to help us pray

Sometimes when we pray we quickly run out of words to say. We find it difficult to express how we really feel. Or our thoughts drift to other things. Prayer can be hard work.

Fortunately, the Bible provides a wealth of material to guide our prayers, help us express our feelings and enrich our personal prayer life. Using the Bible can also provide a focus and a framework to help young people and small groups pray more effectively, when their own words are difficult to find.

PRAYING THE PSALMS

The Book of Psalms is really a book of prayers. From praise and giving thanks, to asking forgiveness, overcoming temptation, dealing with discouragement, facing fear, finding guidance, seeking wisdom or gaining courage. No matter how we feel, in the Psalms we find words to express every human condition and they teach about how God wants us to communicate with him. It’s reassuring to know that the psalmists had the same feelings we do, and weren’t afraid of expressing them to God!

SHARE A PSALM

When words are difficult to find or the pressures of events distract my thoughts I find it helpful to share a Psalm, making the words of the psalmist my own prayer or request and applying them to my own situation. Here are a few examples of where I look for help in the Psalms when I feel,

• Afraid 3, 91
• Alone 27
• Envious 73
• Like giving up 34, 43
• Sad 13
• Weak 40, 121, 142
• Worried 37
• Tempted 141
• Unimportant 139
• Like praising God 96, 100, 145

First impressions - a youth group discussion starter

Image is king in today’s culture. Perfect people populate the teen magazines. Appearance is everything. But what can we know about someone from only their outward appearance? How do we accept or reject people? How does God view us? A youth group discussion starter on image.

IDENTIKIT

Collect a selection of glossy fashion magazines and teen magazines for this activity. Provide scissors, glue and some large pieces of white card. Invite the group to divide into pairs and ask them to cut out and create an identikit picture of the perfect man or woman. This may be only a face or the whole body.

Display the pictures for everyone to see and encourage the group to discuss the questions below. The conversations may go in different directions, so be flexible. Add your own supplementary questions where appropriate.

• What are the common factors in the pictures?
• Do you think glossy images of ‘perfect’ looking people in magazines make you more or less happy about the way you look? Why?
• How important is image to you?
• Can we do or say things which damage people’s image of themselves?
• How important do you think your looks or outward appearance are to God?

Before moving to the next activity, ask the group to quietly consider if they think it is right to accept or reject a person, only by the way they look?

Surprised by an award!

I don’t usually include personal news on ‘Insight.’ However, I wanted to let you know that I recently won an award at the UK Christian Blog and Web Awards!

The ceremony was hosted by the UK’s Premier Christian Radio and sponsored by several prominent Christian agencies and organisations. Lured to the City of London venue by the promise of a free meal :-) and the surprise of being shortlisted in one of the categories, I was looking forward to the evening.

I was genuinely shocked to win the ‘Most Inspiring Leadership Blog’ category, sponsored by Willow Creek. You can check out all the winners and runners-up in each category at the Christian Blog and Web Awards.

So thanks to everyone who reads ‘Insight’, now an award-winning blog! The glass engraved award sits on my desk inspiring me to serve you better in the future.

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.

Praying for your youth group

The Apostle Paul prayed faithfully for the Christians in the church at Colossae, even though he had never met them. How much more should we devote ourselves to pray for the young people we meet personally every week?

But sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start and what to pray for.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians can also provide a simple model or pattern for our own prayers.

The Christian youth leader and prayer

As many of us are beginning a new youth group year, I want to consider the priority of prayer in our own lives and for our young people. If our personal relationship with Christ is also the engine which drives our ministry and leadership, then time with Christ in prayer must be one of our core ministry activities.

It’s easy to be busy in youth ministry, but someone once said, ‘If you’re too busy to pray, you’re too busy!’ The psalmist reminds us that ‘unless the Lord builds the house its builders labour in vain.’ (Psalm 127:1) Yet we still don’t always feel our biggest job is to pray. But isn’t the real effectiveness of our ministry to young people founded on our relationship with God?

The Apostle Paul encourages us to, ‘Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere.’ (Ephesians 6:18.)

Our own example is probably the single most motivating factor to encourage young people to pray.

Praying for others - 10 creative ways to help young people pray

10 creative prayer ideas to help your young people engage in praying for friends, family, community, nation and the whole world. The ideas use visual or activity prompts to encourage individual and group prayer.

Several can be used together to develop extended times of creative prayer with your group.

‘I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.’ 1 Timothy 2: 1-4

BIRTHDAY PRAYER BOARD

Put up a wall calendar and ask the young people and leaders to write their names beside their date of birth. Include other members from the church if you wish and any significant dates from the church and youth group calendar. Each week use this visual prompt to stimulate small group prayer for individuals and activities.

PRAYERS IN A HAT

Ask everyone in the group to put their name on a piece of paper. Place the pieces of paper into a hat or another convenient container. Then pass the hat around the group and ask each young person to take out a piece of paper. Encourage them to pray for that person during the coming week.

THE PEOPLE CROSS

Ask each young person and leader to write the name of a friend, work colleague or family member they wish to pray for, on a piece of paper or card. The young people then place the papers on the floor in the shape of a large cross. The group then stands in a circle around the cross and pray for the person they named. Invite them to softly speak out their individual prayers together. Encourage them to pray,

• For any needs that each friend may have
• That each friend will become more open to God
• That each friend will become a follower of Jesus
• That God would use you to reach your friends.

Helping young people to pray

How can we help young people to pray? We all know that sometimes when we pray distractions come and it’s hard to stay on track. At other times we just end up with ‘shopping list’ prayers.

Here are four simple ideas or guides which I’ve used with young people who have wanted to be more effective in their prayers.

The first two examples are acrostics. Acrostics have been devised throughout history from the ancient Greek and Latin writers, through renaissance poets and medieval monks, right up to modern times. An acrostic poem is where the first letter of the line in the poem works together to spell a word.

In these examples each letter of the four letter word, forms the initial letter of another word or phrase to guide the direction and focus of the prayer.

Sin and forgiveness - a youth group discussion starter

A youth group discussion starter helping your group to understand the way sin operates in our lives and God’s solution.


THE S WORD

Ask the young people to call out the first word that they think of when the word sin is mentioned. Write the answers on a whiteboard. Usually they will come up with a list of actions: stealing, adultery, murder etc. Make the point that these are just some of the results of sin, but the Bible reminds us that the cause of these actions lies deep within the nature of everyone (Mark 7: 21-23).


THE GRAVITY GAME

Stand a volunteer on a chair, holding one end of a broom or pole. Another volunteer stands on the ground, behind a line drawn a metre in front of the chair, holding the other end of the pole.

Explain to the volunteers that they must not let go of the stick, but by pulling and twisting, the first volunteer is to try and pull the second over the line. At the same time the second volunteer has to try and pull the first off the chair. Try this couple of times with different volunteers of similar height and weight.

The person on the chair will usually lose. This is because the volunteer on the floor has the extra benefit of gravity, a powerful force pulling downwards. The Bible also describes sin as a powerful force, pulling us down, and separating us from a relationship with God.

10 ways to encourage discussion in your small group

It’s not always easy to engage with young people and encourage discussion. Here are 10 simple points to help your small group discussions.


1. A POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Try to provide a comfortable and casual atmosphere. Is there adequate and comfortable seating? Is the room warm – but not too warm zzzzzzz! Are there any distractions? Are you building in the right amount of social time and using it effectively to make connections and build relationships?

2. BREAK THE ICE

One of the best icebreakers I know is food! Providing and sharing snacks before your study time is a simple and natural way to break the ice with young people. Or, what about a meal or a barbeque?

Simple icebreakers and games can also get things moving and encourage interaction. They can help provide positive momentum for small group study and discussion by,

• Helping new members to integrate into a group.
•  Helping young people feel comfortable together.
•  Encouraging cooperation.
• Encouraging listening to others.
• Creating a good atmosphere for learning and participation.

Use icebreakers which encourage everyone in the group to talk or share non-threatening information about themselves. Download the free eBook ‘40 Icebreakers for Small Groups’ for lots of simple game ideas.

3. IT'S OK TO TALK

Perhaps an obvious point, but clearly explain that your study time is meant to be a discussion. Some young people need ‘permission’ to talk! Encourage every group member to participate.