Category Archives: Object Lessons

Object Lessons: Ken’s favorite word pictures to teach Biblical principles and stir the imagination of your youth. They also make great Children’s sermons. Christ often used them in his teaching, using common objects like a mustard seed, a fig tree, a grain of wheat, a drink of water, stony soil, and more.

Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Bruised Bananas – Object Lessons from a Banana

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Bruised Bananas

Bananas are enjoyed all around the world. They are full of goodness, but they are easily bruised and can quickly turn to mush. Like many fruits, they can be extremely sweet and a delight. But they can also be easily bruised and turn rotten. They make a great object lessons on how we look at the outside to judge the inside and also on how we treat one another, how we express the fruits of the spirit to others, or we cause hurt to others.

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Games using Bananas

Warning: Bananas are easily bruised and can quickly become a pile of mush and peel. These games have a tendency to be messy so you will want to play them in an area where it is easy to mop up the mess. You’ll also need a lot of bananas. You can also use plastic or toy bananas for some of the games as this will reduce the number of bananas and can tie in to the later discussion. But real bananas are so much more messy and fun! Green bananas will last a little longer and be a little less messy.

  • A Peeling Bananas – Youth must peel a banana and eat it with hands tied behind their backs.
  • Banana Bites – Give each youth a banana, or choose a representative from each team. The objective is to peel and eat the banana while holding one hand behind his/her back. In other words, the youth must peel the banana with his or her teeth, then eat it. The first to do so and whistle, is the winner.
  • Banana Circle Race – Everyone takes off their shoes and sits with their team in a circle on the floor. Youth must pass a banana around the circle from person to person using only their feet. Each successful pass to a person adds a point but teams lose a point if a hand is used or if the banana is dropped. Once the time is up, the team with the most points wins.
  • Banana Duel – Have everyone pair up and tie their left wrist together with a bandana. Give each a banana to hold in their left hand. When you say “go”, they peel the banana with only their right hand and try to push it in their partner’s face/mouth. You may want to do this blindfolded to add excitement. First to do so wins!
  • Banana Eating Contest – This is the typical peel the banana and eat it contest with a twist. Youth must put one leg of a pair of new nylons over their face. The first person to eat the entire banana through the nylon wins! It can be done but be prepared for a mushy mess!
  • Banana Footrace – Girls must peel a banana and feed it to their team mate using only their feet. You can break the stalk so that the start is easier.
  • Banana Grab – (Played like the game of spoons but with bananas) – Have everyone sit around a table and put one banana for each person in the middle of the table. Take one Banana out so there is one less banana than the number of people. Have one person deal four cards to each player. The goal with the cards is to get four of a kind (4 Aces, 4 Kings, etc.) To start the game the dealer will take one card from the remaining deck. They must decide if they want to swap the card out with one of theirs or pass it to the left. If they swap it out, they must pass one of their previous cards to the left, leaving them always with four cards. The person to the left does the same thing with the passed cards and the cards continuously go around the table. When someone has four of a kind they can grab a banana. Once one person has four of a kind everyone else can grab a banana at the same time. Shuffle and deal again, removing one spoon each time and eliminating a new player!
  • Banana Mascots – Each team is given a banana and a bag of random items (felt, foil, beads, etc… BE CREATIVE). They must create a personality and appearance for their banana with the items they get. One volunteer from each group gets up and introduces their banana mascot to the group. It’s better if each group gets different items for variety.
  • Banana Necking – Youth line up single file in teams. Without using hands, they must pass the banana down the line by trapping the banana under the chin.
  • Banana Olympics – Prepare a copy of the tasks for each team and place them in a bag in the middle of the room. The teams should sit at the side of the room. Allocate a bag to each team. Give each team four bananas. One player from each team runs one after the other to their bag and pulls out a piece of paper with a task written on it then runs back to their team. The player reads out the task and performs it. One leader per team should make sure that this is done correctly. The first team to complete the tasks has won. Sample tasks: Drop a banana under your clothes from collar to ankle, Hold two bananas like horns on your head and act like a bull, Tickle a players bare feet with a banana, Throw a banana to the ceiling and catch it again, Sit on a banana and squash it, Walk out of the room with a banana between your knees, Balance a banana on your finger for 5 seconds, Balance a banana on your face for 5 seconds, etc.
  • Banana On a String – Tie strings around several peeled bananas and hang them from the ceiling. Ask for volunteers to race to see who can eat the banana first without touching it with their hands. Increase the difficulty by using unpeeled bananas.
  • Banana Relays – There are a lot of different relay ideas you can do: Carry the banana under your armpit and hop on one foot, Hold the banana between your knees, two teammates toss the banana back and forth down the field and back (designate a minimum number of tosses), Leapfrog formation and first player hops over players while holding banana and then tosses banana to next player in line to do the same. Do them as individual races or combine them all together for each person in line to do something different
  • Banana Rugby – Teams of youth must score goals by throwing a banana into a bucket which is guarded by a goal keeper. Split the group into two equal sized teams who each choose a goal keeper. The keeper will be placed on a stool holding a bucket on the opposite side from his team. Players may not run with the banana. You cannot touch the player in possession of the banana. You can only pass the banana with your hands. A team loses possession of the banana if a member takes more than one step before passing it. Players have a 10 second count to throw or it is an automatic turnover. If a pass is intercepted, is batted to the ground, or goes out of bounds it changes possession. The opposing team starts their turn from where the banana comes to rest. More than one banana in the game means more action! You can also make sure the girls are included by requiring each pass from a guy to be made to a girl and vice versa or only allowing girls to score.
  • Banana Scavenger Hunt – Divide the youth into teams and give them a list of items that can be measured with bananas. Alternatively, you can provide the measurements and they have to find out what was measured in banana lengths. You’ll want to use bananas of the same size, but you can adjust a little by cutting the end of the stem. You can do it at the church, or with permission you may also be able to do something in a public park or shopping mall. You’ll need to get permission for management for shopping malls or places of business, but some will be happy to allow you to do so. (By the way, you can use a tape measure to measure all the items yourself and just divide it by the measurement of your standard banana to get the banana lengths.) Give extra point for the team that eats the mushed banana at the end. You can measure signs, streets, sidewalks, objects, people, places, buildings, etc.
  • Banana Shuffle – Divide your youth group into relay teams with 3 or for persons per team. the first person on each team must run to a designated location and back, holding the banana like a runner’s baton, then pass the banana off to the next team member. Continue until you have a winning team. Variation: Before each runner begins to run they must peel a section of the banana, break off that section and eat it. Enough banana must be left for the last member of the team. You can make it more difficult by turning the race into an obstacle course in which they have to go over, under and around various objects.
  • Banana Slap – Peel a bunch of bananas and hand out the strips of banana peels to everyone. Then you have them partner up and grab a hand of a partner. Play some music. When the music stops, the object is to slap someone in the face with the banana peel before someone slaps you. The winners move on and the losers are eliminated. Last standing wins!
  • Banana Split Bonanza – Create a giant Banana split using a rain gutter. be sure to clean it with soap and water or line it with plastic wrap first.
  • Bobbing for Bananas – Follow the same rules as you would in bobbing for apples, but use bananas instead.
  • Behind the Back Banana Peeling Contest – With hands tied behind their backs using a bandana, team members must race to a pile of unpeeled bananas, select a banana and peel it completely and drop it in a bowl. No hands are allowed. Youth then return to the line where the next member’s hands are tied and sent off to peel a banana. These peeled bananas can later be used in the banana splits-as long as they don’t touch the ground!
  • Doctor Banana – Each team peels and cuts up a banana into equal pieces. Then tell them they must put the banana back together using string, toothpicks, sticky tape, rubber bands, etc. The team that produces the best reconstructed banana wins.
  • Head over Peels – Teams must lie down on their backs in a long line (one persons head at the other persons feet). The person at the front starts with a banana in between their feet and must lift their legs up to pass it on to the next persons feet. The first team to get the banana all the way back to the end of their line wins!
  • Hidden Banana – The youth must stand in a circle with their hands behind their backs. One stands in the middle of the circle. While the person in the middle’s eyes are closed, walk around the outside of the circle and quietly place the banana into someone’s hand. The person in the middle is then allowed to open his or her eyes. The banana is secretly passed from person to person around the circle. The person in the center must study people’s faces and work out who has the banana. If caught with the banana, the person holding it must then replace the person in the center.
  • Instant Banana Splits – A girl from each team makes a banana split in in a teammate’s mouth (guy). Cut a hole in the garbage bag and put it over him so only his head is exposed. The guy lies on the on the floor. Girls stand above him and with hands straight out must drop a slice of banana, a bit of chocolate syrup, some whip cream, chopped nuts, and a cherry into the guys mouth. First guy to eat it and whistle wins. You’ll need some wet towels to clean up.
  • Quickdraw Bananas – Two teams face each other in parallel lines. The people have to put their banana in a pocket. When the signal is given, the people must draw their bananas like guns and instantly peel it and eat it as fast as they can. Whoever has their banana eaten first wins.
  • Steal the Banana – Divide the youth group into equal teams on opposite sides of the room. You can play with more teams so that one team is on each wall of the room. Within each team ask the youth to number off. Place a banana in the middle of the room, halfway between the two teams. Teams must start out touching the wall. Call out numbers and the youth on each team who has that number must run to the banana grab it and bring it back to their team. The first team to collect three banana’s wins.
  • Tallest Tower – Each team of youth sits in a circle with 6-10 bananas. Within a given time limit the team that builds the tallest tower using the bananas wins. You can make it more challenging by requiring that only one banana is allowed to touch the table.
  • Whole Bananas – Divide into teams and then members of each team pair up with a partner on the same team. Provide one banana for each pair who will peel it and then place opposite ends of the banana in each persons mouth. Then they run together around a chair placed about 10 feet away and back to their team. Then the next two people peel their banana and the relay continues. Each pair scores 3 points for the team for completing their run without breaking their banana and 1 point for making the run with a broken banana. The first team to have all its pairs complete their runs gets 5 extra points. Highest score wins!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

For added spiritual application you can prepare one or more of the following props. These can each represent a possible spiritual condition as indicated in the parenthesis. Keep it simple for younger age groups, or expand it for those who are more mature.

  1. Place a banana in the fridge for a couple days, the skin will turn black, but it will still be fine inside. (Outside it looks a mess, but inside it is still wholesome.)
  2. Just before your meeting, carefully squeeze and bruise a banana so that the inside is bruised and mushy, but the outside skin is still whole and unbroken. (Outside looks fine but inside it has been bruised)
  3. Add a plastic or fake banana (It’s fake)
  4. Let one banana rot (Rotton both outside and inside)
  5. Green Banana (Fruit is not fully expressed yet… it is still growing)
  6. Ripe banana that is perfect for eating (Sweet and enjoyable)
  7. Banana that which was used in the games and is now quite a mess. (Abused, injured, bruised by others)
  8. Label from some other fruit on a banana (Labels, name calling, not true)
  9. Before the lesson, get a banana & a sewing needle. You insert the sewing needle into several spots through the banana skin and sort of “swish” it back & forth, so that you cut the banana into pieces inside its skin. (Looks fine on the outside, but is all cut up on the inside.)

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  • What was the key ingredient of the games?
  • What is a banana?
  • What are some characteristics of a banana?
  • In what ways could what happened to the bananas, be similar to what can happen to people?
  • Have you ever been hurt or injured by someone? Even if it was just a game, can people still be bruised and hurt?
  • What does this tell us about how we treat people?
  • Scripture says that Christians are known by their fruit. (Matthew 7:20) How do we evaluate whether fruit is good or bad?
  • How can these Banana’s (refer to props) represent spirit conditions of a person?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What are the first things that come to mind when you consider the question: “How is your spiritual life going these days?”
  • What are some of the things that people use to determine the quality of a person’s spiritual life?
  • How do you know if a person is a Christian or not?
  • What are some of the things that people use to evaluate if a person is a Christian? Of the things that you have listed, which are actions, words, thoughts, values?
  • Are the things in the list mostly internal or external things?
  • What are some of the fruits of a Christian’s life? (see Galatians 5:22-23)
  • Are these internal or external, or both? Explain.
  • Which traits of the fruit of the Spirit are easiest for you?
  • Which ones are the biggest areas of growth for you?
  • The list in Galatians was not meant to be the total list as other qualities are also mentioned in scripture like holiness, humility, compassion, generosity, contentment, thankfulness, mercy, grace, sincerity, and perseverance. Which trait(s) on this “expanded” list of the fruit of the Spirit come easiest and hardest for you?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • Take time to discuss ways youth have shown the fruits of the spirit or have experienced them. Also, discuss experiences that have bruised us and hurt us. How did each of these experiences make us feel? What can we learn from them? How does it affect you or others?
  • Which of fruits are lacking in your life? why?
  • What do you need to do to grow and become more fruitful?
  • What can you learn from this lesson in how you personally treat others?

SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM BANANAS

Be Careful How We Treat Others
Bananas are really fragile fruits that need careful handling and preparation. You have to handle bananas gently so you don’t bruise them. The same holds true for the way we treat others. Our words and actions towards others can leave bruises upon their hearts just like bruises on a banana that has not been handled with care. Sometimes, a person who has been treated unkindly for a while can become angry and bitter inside. He starts to decay from the inside. But even if the fruit becomes rotton, the seeds can be planted in good soil and new and wonderful can grow out of it. God has the power to come into our lives, to give us new life, and the opportunity to abide in him and produce good fruit.

Don’t Judge by the External
Unfortunately there are also those who try to fake the fruit of the spirit in their lives. Fruit is a natural product of drawing from the source (John 15) You don’t force fruit. It is the outflow of abiding in Christ. Some people pretend that they are loving, kind people, but they are really angry bitter people on the inside. Some people try to pretend that they have joy because of material things, but really they are unhappy miserable people. You can’t always tell the quality of fruit by it’s outside. What you look like on the outside is not what is important to God. What your heart and life look like on the inside is what is important to God. How do we know if a banana is good? First we look at what we can see. Then we open it up and look at the inside. How do we know if a person is a Christian? We look at their lives that we can see, but that doesn’t always tell us accurately. As Christians we should not only have good outsides, but we should have good insides. People we are around look at what they can see so we need to be sure we are acting the way Jesus wants us to. God looks at the inside so we need to make sure that we are acting the way Jesus wants us to!

SCRIPTURE VERSES

  • Psalms 34:8 – “O taste and see that the Lord is good! How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him”
  • 1 Samuel 16:7 – “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
  • Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
  • John 15

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Teddy Bear Faith

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Teddy Bear Faith

When you were younger did you have a teddy bear or another cherished possession? Did you hold it, talk to it, hug it close? Did it comfort you, give you courage? If you couldn’t find it, did you turn everything upside down looking for it? Teddy Bears remind us of a childlike faith. They remind us of the sense of security and comfort we gained simply by their presence. God loves us more than any beloved Child’s possession. And His constant companionship reminds us of the comfort, the security, and love that can only be found in Him.

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The Story of the Teddy Bear

In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, went hunting in the woods but didn’t kill anything. Before he left, one of his aides found a lost bear cub and offered it to him. But Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear, saying it would be unsporting. The next day a cartoon depicting the president having mercy on the cub appeared in newspapers across the US. A New York candy shop owner, Morris Mitchtom, saw the cartoon, asked his wife to make a toy bear to put in the shop window alongside the cartoon, and gave him a name: “Teddy’s Bear”. Mrs Mitchtom’s bear proved so popular that within a year she and her husband closed the candy shop and founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, now one of the biggest in the world.

Games using Teddy Bears and Stuffed Animals

Note: Get teddy bears and stuffed animals cheaply at the nearest Goodwill or Salvation Army store. You can always donate them to a children’s charity or back to where you got them after your event. Giant stuffed animals and bears increase the level of fun!

  • Back to Back Bear Race – Split the youth up into partners however many as necessary. The players have to put a teddy bear between both of their backs and walk to the finish line and back to the team. First team to finish wins. You can make it more difficult by making it an obstacle course rather than a simple race. If the bear is dropped they must return to their team and begin again.
  • Hot Teddy Bear Attack – This is a variation on the old “Hot Potato” game. Give each youth one of the animals and have them stand in a circle. One or more Teddy Bears are the hot potato. Use more than one if you have a large group. While the music is playing, the youth must pass the stuffed animals in one direction around the circle as fast as they can. When the music stops, the people who are left holding the Teddy Bears are out. All of the rest of the people at that time get to attack the ones who are out with their animals by hurling them at high velocities. (Make sure the animals have no hard eyes etc so that no one get’s hurt) Once everyone who is still in picks up an animals, start over again. Make sure you include the Teddy Bears back in the game for each round.
  • Stuffed Animal Charades – Place a variety of stuffed animals in a box or king-sized pillow case. As each player takes their turn, in another room or away from all the other players, he or she blindly reaches into the box or pillow case and takes out a stuffed animal. The player acts out the animal while the other players try to guess what animal is being portrayed.
  • Stuffed Animal Personalities – Place a large collection of stuffed animals in the center of the youth group. Begin the conversation by asking your participants to share with you personality traits of each animal. During the discussion ask the participants to be thinking about which animal reflects some traits of their own personalities.
  • Teddy Bear Dodge Ball – Play a traditional game of dodge ball, but with Teddy Bears.
  • Teddy Bear Flag Football – In flag football, instead of tackling, you pull the flag from a person’s pocket. A flag can be a piece of cloth or a bandana. If your youth don’t have pockets, you can also attach a strip of cloth to a clothespin and it can easily be inned to a shirt tail. You’ll need a room large enough for running and passing. Place goal posts made from crepe paper on opposite walls. Field goals are awarded if the bear hits the wall inside the goal posts. You can use masking tape or crepe paper for goal line markers as well. You may want to include a girls-only quarter, follow boys-only quarter.
  • Teddy Bear Hat Trick – Position teddy bears or stuffed animals of various sizes and point values on the other side of a starting line. Teams toss a hat onto the targets. Team with the most points wins.
  • Teddy Bear Pass – Played just like Hot Potato, youth must pass a teddy bear around the circle when the music starts. When it stops whoever is holding it is eliminated.
  • Teddy Bear Pinata – Get a Pinata in the shape of a teddy bear and tie it to a rope that is hung between two trees. Youth are blindfolded, given a plastic baseball bat, and get three swings to break the pinata.
  • Teddy Bear Rescue – All youth stand around a blanket holding an edge. When you toss individual bears high into the air, the youth must try to catch the bear in the blanket.
  • Teddy Bear Targets – Position baskets or rings of various sizes and point values on the other side of a starting line. Teams toss stuffed animals or teddy bears into the targets for points. Team with the most points wins.
  • Teddy Bear Toss – Divide the youth into pairs. Each pair is a team. The winning team is the team who can throw and catch their bear over the greatest distance. Giant Bears make the game much more fun! Have participants start 10 metres apart. After each throw each member will move further apart. The team members alternate their throwing and catching roles after each throw. A bear catcher may not move from his/her starting position until the bear to be caught is in the air en route to that catcher. The pair that manages a successful toss of the greatest distance is judged to be the winner.
  • Teddy Bear Volleyball – Divide into teams of two, each person holding a towel at the corners. Teams stand on opposite sides of a volleyball net or some kind of divider. Each team must use the towel to toss a bear back and forth with another team. Continue playing until the bear is missed and a point is scored. You can play according to traditional volleyball rules on serving and scoring.
  • That’s My Teddy – Ask each youth to bring a teddy bear or stuffed animal to the party. (At the end you can even donate some of them to a needy children) At one point, put all of the stuffed animals into a pile and bring in each youth one-by-one and blindfolded to identify his/her stuffed animal from the pile, using only the way it feels as a guide.
  • Ultimate Bear – Play like this like Ultimate Frisbee but replace the frisbee with a bear. Form two teams. Players must move the bear by tossing it from one player to another until the bear can be passed and caught across the goal line. You cannot run with the bear and must plant one foot and pivot when you are holding it. If the teddy bear is intercepted or falls to the ground, the other team takes possession.
  • Warp Speed Teddy – Arrange participants in a circle, not too close, not too far from one another. Toss a teddy bear to someone else in the circle. If you receive it, toss it to someone else in the circle not immediately on either side of you. That person will toss it to another person who has not yet received it and again not immediately on either side of him or her. Once you have received the bear and passed it on to someone else, put your hands down to your side to indicate you have already received it. Throwing continues until the last person tosses the ball back to the first person. They must remember who they tossed to because they will try to recreate the pattern in the next run, only faster.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL – Lessons from Teddy Bears

1. Love

God Loves you more than a Teddy Bear – When you were younger did you have a teddy bear or another cherished possession? Did you hold it, talk to it, hug it close? Did it comfort you, give you courage? If you couldn’t find it, did you turn everything upside down looking for it? You loved it in precious, innocent way that a five-year-old loves things? You always wanted it with you. God loves you far more than you ever loved your teddy bear. God has so much more love for us than we could ever imagine. In fact, he loved us so much he gave himself for us, to pay our debt of sin, by dying in our place that we might live with him in heaven. As we have grown out love has grown as well. But the truth is we can never love more than God.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • In what ways do we underestimate God’s love for us? Why?
  • In what ways does God show his love for us?
  • How should we respond to God’s love for us?
  • Explain, “We love God, because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19
  • What lessons about love can we learn from 1 John 4:7-21?

2. Value

The Bear’s value wasn’t based on its cost. In fact, you probably had no idea of the cost of the bear. It may have cost very little, but in your eyes it had great value. It’s value was not based upon what it was made of, how nice it looked, or how what it cost to make it. It’s value was based on how much you as a child cherished it and loved it, how dear it was to you. You loved it because it was yours. In fact, in time the bear probably lost a lot of fur, became tattered, dirty, and maybe even started to fall apart. But you loved it all the same. The same is true of you. God loves you and your worth is found in how dear you are to him. He made you, he bought you, and he loves you. Sometimes your life may become a little tattered, dirty, and even seem to be falling apart. But God loves you even more than you loved your teddy bear. To the world you may seem insignificant, worthless, falling apart, but to God you are everything, you are cherished, you are loved, simply because you are his.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • How do you decide if something is valuable?
  • What decides the value of something?
  • How valuable are you to God? What was he willing to pay for you?
  • How does knowing that God CHOSE you make you feel?
  • How can realising God’s value for you and the price he paid for you motivate your life?

3. Comfort and Security

As children, a Teddy Bear gives us comfort and security. It is a constant companion. We cling to it in times of fear. We cherish it, and give it a special place in our lives. But as we grow older, our simple faith matures and the comfort and security is found in parents. But soon we also must move beyond that and we realise we can only find true comfort and security in God. True security and comfort can only come from our relationship with Him.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • When are times that Jesus can be a comfort to us?
  • How can we be a comfort to others?
  • What comforts you and gives you security?
  • Why are we safe in God’s hands?
  • How can knowing that God is always there for us help us to live a better life?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • How can you rest in God’s Love? His Comfort? His security?
  • Knowing that you are precious and valuable to God, what does this knowledge motivate you to do this week?

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SCRIPTURE VERSES

————————————————

  • 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
  • Psalm 62:1-2 – “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”
  • Psalm 112:8 – “His heart is secure, he will have no fear.”
  • Psalm 16:5 – “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.”
  • Isaiah 41:10 – “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
  • Romans 8:15-16 – “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
  • Ephesians 1:4-8 – “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will– to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
  • Hebrews 13:5 – “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
  • See also PSALM 91:1-16

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MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Lego Instructions for the Christian Life

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LegoInstructions

LEGOs are one of those toys that are universally loved around the world by all ages. They are simple building blocks in a variety of shapes and colors, but with a little creativity and imagination they can be put together in unlimited combinations to create masterpieces. They are a great metaphor for each of us in the body of Christ. And if we follow God’s instruction we can be used to create and do incredible things.

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Games using LEGOs

  • Blind Builder – A player is blindfolded and must construct the item solely from verbal directions from the team. First to team to complete it wins.
  • Blind LEGO Construction – Blindfold each team and ask them to build a Lego sculpture using a pile of Lego pieces in front of them. Give awards for the most like a real object, funniest, tallest, longest, most creative, etc
  • Fast As You Can – In this game you call out a simple object that can be created from LEGO’s. Each team has three minutes to make one as fast as they can. At the end of the three minutes have a judge decide who sculpture most resembles the object. Play a couple of rounds so there are more chances for winners.
  • Guess How Many LEGO Bricks – Guess how many bricks in a lego jar? The winner could go home with the jar of LEGOS.
  • I Spy The LEGO Guy – Get several LEGO guys and hide them in various places around the room. The youth or team to locate the most wins.
  • LEGO Car Race – Divide the youth group into teams and provide each team with a duplicate pile of plastic LEGO building blocks and four LEGO wheels. Within a given time limit, the team must build a car, create a nickname for the car, a racing team name and choose a mascot. Allow each team to line up their racers on a starting line and race them down a makeshift ramp. Your ramp can be a long table propped up on one end, or even a wide board or two. Have challenges or race all at one go.
  • LEGO Chopsticks – Place two bowls in front of each team: one filled with LEGO blocks, and the other empty. Give the youth one minute to move as many LEGO blocks as they can from the full bowl to the empty bowl using only the chopsticks
  • LEGO Identity – Give each group an assortment of peices with the instructions to build something that represents them as a group.
  • LEGO Me – Have youth select a specific lego piece that represent them as an individual and explain it’s significance. Then have them use all the pieces to build one object.
  • LEGO Memory – Before the game, build a structure with Legos (the more complex the structure, the more difficult the activity). Then put the youth in small groups, each group with a bag of Legos (each bag contains the same size, color, and quantity of Legos and has identical stock as that of the structure you built). The group has to exactly replicate the structure you already built. But, the structure to replicate is located outside the room or behind a screen, only one person from each group may look at the structure at a time. They cannot draw or take a picture of the structure to communicate it – they have to use their memory. Each team can look at the structure as many times as they want, but only one person can look at it at a time. The first to replicate the structure – exactly with the same size and color Legos wins.
  • LEGO on a string – Have the youth form a circle, facing inward, with one youth in the middle. String a LEGO piece with a hole in it on a long piece of string and then tie the ends of the string together. Place the string inside the circle and have each youth hold it with both hands . The idea is to pass the LEGO around the circle from hand to hand, unnoticed by the youth in the middle . He tries to guess where it is by pointing to the hand he thinks is holding the LEGO. If he is correct, the LEGO holder goes to the middle and the guesser takes his place in the circle . The youth in the middle must keep guessing until he locates the LEGO.
  • LEGO Scavenger Hunt – Hide an assortment of LEGO bricks and the youth search for them. You can award point values to the different brick colors and have them compete for a high score.
  • LEGO snapshots – Take pictures of simple LEGO structures, and have the youth try to duplicate it from the picture only. You might need a photo from more than one angle to get all the pieces.
  • LEGO Tongue Tower – To win this game, the a youth must first put a tongue depressor (or plastic spoon) in their mouth then build a tower of five loose Legos on the tongue depressor (still in their mouth) and then keep the LEGOS balanced for ten seconds.
  • Lose the LEGOS – Tape an empty tissue box the rear of each player with the opening facing away from the player. You can do this with team representatives or individually if you have enough tissue boxes. You can also have timed trials to determine the fastest. Once the tissue box is taped on, the time will start and the player must shake their rear to be the quickest to get all of the LEGOS to come out of the tissue box.
  • Quickest LEGO Builders – Get a brand new small box of legos, with a picture on the front of the completed set, for each team. Pass it out to the teams and on go they must build the set. Quickest to do so wins. You can also find blueprints for a variety of lego projects at www.letsbuilditagain.com
  • Strongest LEGO Bridge – Give each team of youth a set amount of time to build the strongest bridge. Then line up and test them. You can use ziplock bags filled with rice (250grams), soft wrist weights or anything which will not damage your floor when in falls. Amazingly they have been known to hold 5kg (11.02 pounds) so make sure you have enough weight to test them.
  • Tallest LEGO Tower – See which team can build the tallest tower in a predetermined time limit without the tower falling over.
  • What am I? – Divide the youth into teams and supply each team a pile of Lego parts that include pieces to make cars, trucks and people. Have everyone write down a name of a person, place or thing on a small slip of paper (tell them not to show anyone else). Ask each youth to fold his or her slip of paper and place it in a hat. Mix the slips of paper and ask one member from each team to randomly select one slip of paper. Tell the team member not to show the paper to his or her teammates. Set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes and tell the team member who chose the slip of paper to build whatever was on that slip of paper. It is up to his or her teammates to guess what he or she is building based on his or her creation. No talking or gestures are allowed. The first team to correctly guess the right answer wins that round.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Debrief

  • What do we need that will help us turn a pile of pieces into a specific shape?
  • Do you have to build exactly what is on the LEGO box or in the instructions?
  • Can we use the pieces to build other good things as well?
  • (If it has step by step instruction) Do you have to follow the instructions?
  • What is the advantage of instructions?
  • How does a photo, an example or instructions help?
  • What could have happened if we didn’t follow the manual?
  • How did the groups go about assembling their Lego project? How did each person participate?
  • What was frustrating about this activity?
  • Why was it difficult/easy to communicate instructions?
  • What are other situations that happen in your life where you have to rely on others to communicate information or instructions to you?
  • How do you make sure that you understand them completely? What can you do as the person with the information to get your message across to others?
  • How do you know where a brick belongs and how it fits into the overall plan?
  • Is it sometimes possible for more that one brick to fit in the same?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  • What spiritual lessons can we learn from LEGOS?
  • What could happen if you don’t follow the instructions?
  • How is this like the choices we have in life?
  • Were you created with a purpose?
  • What other projects or things have you done that require an instruction manual?
  • Are there instructions for us to follow in life? As a Christian?
  • What are some of the world’s instructions? Those from the Bible?
  • How is a lego set like the body of Christ?
  • How is the Bible like an instruction manual?
  • How is Christ a model for us to follow? (1 Corinthians 11:1)

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

A LEGO manual shows how each piece fits together to form the completed shape and the order or sequence.

How is a lego set like the body of Christ? the youth group?

  1. made up of many parts.
  2. Christ is the cornerstone
  3. The parts fit together to make a whole
  4. if one part is missing, the whole suffers – to be complete they need each other
  5. no piece, is more important that the others.
  6. some relationships are closer than others
  7. together they form a picture / object
  8. they didn’t have the instructions or a picture on a box so it was sometimes difficult to know what they were forming
  9. different people acted as leaders to help them form the picture
  10. The pieces support each other
  11. there are different connections – shapes – that connect each
  12. each piece is different / unique
  13. Each piece is identified by where it fits into the whole
  14. Some pieces are easily identified but not more important

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • How can we learn where we belong in the church and the role we each should fill?
  • After this activity, ask each youth to take back their LEGO piece as a reminder of the lessons.

SCRIPTURE

  • 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 – “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”
  • 1 Peter 2:4 – “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual housea to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
  • Ephesians 2:19-22 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

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MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Spiritually Measuring Up

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Spiritually_Measuring_Up

It’s back to school time. Time to get all your school supplies and meet new friends. These games all have a ruler as the central prop and serve as a discussion start for measuring up to God’s standards. I remember the days of using a ruler to create a growth chart on the door frame. But how do we measure our growth as Christians?

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Games using a Ruler

  • Back Flip Rulers – Back flip rulers is a variation of the minute-to-win-it game “Back Flip” The objective is simple – palms down, rest several rulers on the back of your hand. Now flip them up and catch them all in the same hand. Person who can catch the most rulers at once wins.
  • Dice it Up – Another Minute-to-win-it game, youth must place a ruler into their mouth and stack a die on the end of the ruler. The die is not allowed to touch a youth’s nose or face. If the die falls off, the youth must choose another die to put on the ruler. Once the first die is in place, the player can pick up another die and put it on top of the first die. He has to continue adding a die until he’s stacked six die on top of one another. The dice have to be balanced for 3 seconds at least. First youth to be successful wins.
  • Feather Relay – Give individuals or teams a ruler with a feather, leaf or some other light object on it. The idea is to see who can go across the room and back again, keeping the elusive object on his or her ruler. If the object blows off, it must be replaced before the contestant can continue.
  • Herding Cats – Ever tried to herd a cat? They have a mind of their own. Give each team of youth one ruler and a cat (a lemon or raw egg.) Teams line up at the starting line, than at the signal, the first player pushes the cat to the goal and back using only the ruler. That player passes the ruler to the teammate who is next in line, and so on until all youth on a team have run. The team that finishes first wins. Other variations are to set up an obstacle course.
  • Longest Line – Give each group a ruler and a few school supplies if you have some. Then give the following instructions – “Using what you have, create the longest line possible.” The key to this game is they have more than the objects you have given to them. They can use a belt, a shoe lace, keys, coins, paper money, etc to create a long line of objects. We often look to God to give us resources to get things done, but we often have more than we realise if we expand our thinking.
  • Peas on a Ruler – Place a pile of peas (equal number of peas in each) for each team at one end of the room and an empty bowl for each at the opposite end. Give the first person in each line a ruler. Youth must run to their pea pile and scoop up as many peas on the ruler as they can, and bring them back and dump them into the empty bowl. They then give the rulers to the next person in line, who repeat the process. The first team to transfer its peas from the pile to the bowl is the winner. Any peas which fall along the way must also he picked up on the ruler and brought to the bowl. Players may have more than one run until all the peas are transfered, but must continue in the same order as they inititially began. They may not put the experts at the beginning of the line the second time through.
  • Ruler Catapult – Take a ruler and a square rubber pencil eraser. Place the ruler on the edge of a book or table. Place the eraser at one of the ruler and slam the other end of the ruler towards the floor. HARD. Whoever can get the eraser to fly the furthest wins!
  • Ruler Delivery – Choose a collection of objects of increasing size to be passed from the front of the line to the back of the line for each team using a ruler in each person’s mouth. First team to pass all the objects to the end of the line wins. Here are some ideas for objects: Cotton Balls, Ping Pong Balls, an egg (raw or hard boiled), marbles, lemon, apple, inflated balloon, ice cube.
  • Ruler Fencing – Players hold a ruler with a square rubber eraser on it in one hand. In the other hand the players hold an empty ruler. Then they try to knock the opponents’ eraser off the ruler without losing their own eraser.
  • Ruler of the world – roll a marble down a ruler and into a bowl. First team to do it successfully wins. Make it more difficult by using a yardstick or meter ruler.
  • Rulers – This is the game of spoons but played with rulers. Depending on the number of players, you need at least one deck of cards, and one ruler less than the number of players. Players sit in a circle with the rulers in the middle of the circle with their ends touching. To begin, each player is dealt 4 cards. The first player picks up a card from the top of the pile, and can choose to keep it, or pass it to the person on his or her left. Players can only hold a maximum of four cards. When someone gets four of a kind, he grabs a ruler. Once one person grabs a ruler, everyone else also grabs one until all the rulers are gone and 1 person is left without a ruler. Play resumes with one less player and one less ruler. Play continues until there is only one player left, the winner.
  • Standing Broad Grin – Measure everyone’s grin with a ruler to see who has the widest smile. Offer first, second, and third place prizes to the biggest smiles.
  • Tallest Tower – Bring in a variety of school supplies, including a ruler. Each team of students must create the tallest tower using the supplies you have provided. Then bring the school supplies back together and command the them to create the tallest tower. Of course the tools will simply lie where they are put. NOTE: These tools are very useful, but only when they are in someone’s hands. The same thing is true of us. We can be useful to God, and be used to teach others life changing truths, but only when we place ourselves in God’s hands.

Main Lesson Idea – Measuring Up

Measuring Up – Participants must scour the room and use a ruler find objects that match the measurements they are given… first to get them all correct gets a prize. You must first of course, make a list of measurements of various items found in the youth room or throughout the church.

Rules

  1. Teams must stay together as a group. You may not split up.
  2. Stay within the designated game area. Any group found outside the game area or in banned areas will be disqualified.
  3. No communicating or collaborating with other teams.
  4. Be respectful and courteous in everything you do. Crude language, inappropriate behavior, and offensive actions are not allowed. Respect other people’s property. Do not destroy things. When the hunt is over, there should be no sign that it took place.
  5. Respect each other. Do not cheat. Do not hinder other teams.

Scoring

  1. Only one submission for each item on the list. Multiple submissions are not allowed. Label submissions with corresponding numbers so the judges know which items are intended for which things on the list. You are not required to complete every item on the list.
  2. Teams can only qualify once for each item on the list.
  3. Stick to the Time Limit. A penalty will be imposed for each minute after the deadline that you are late. In case of a tie, the first team to finish wins.
  4. How to Win? Points will be assigned to these based on the difficulty to accomplish each, creativity and the fun factor. The team with the most points wins!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  • What are some things people use to measure or evaluate living a good life?
  • What are some things people use to measure other people?
  • What are some things people use to measure themselves?
  • How do we measure a person as a success or failure?
  • What are some of the standards of measurement from God’s Word?

You might give them some helpful scriptures to write on their rulers:

  • Love – I Corinthians 13:4-7
  • Holiness – Hebrews 12.14; Revelation 21.27
  • Righteousness – 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:23
  • Christian Living – Romans 12:10-21
  • Maturity – Ephesians 4:1-13

Discussion: If your ruler had been marked wrongly, you would have found it difficult to find any of the objects. When our measurements of obedience, ourselves (pride), expectations (jealousy), comparisons with others, and timing (patience) are wrong it messes up our results. Our standards for measurement must be exact and based on God’s Word or every measurement we make will be wrong. God’s Word is to be the ruler for our life. When we use other things as rulers our measurements come out wrong.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

In the Old Testament, the focus on godliness was living by God’s Laws and commandments. But as a Christian, the focus of the life is no longer the laws and standards, but instesd focused on a person – Christ. It’s not a set of rules but a relationship. We are to follow Christ and live for Him.

  • Romans 6:14 “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
  • Romans 8:1-17
  • What difference does it make in the way you live your life to know that you are no longer under the law, but under grace?
  • Under the law you are fearful of making a mistake, but under grace you are focused on pleasing God and acting out of gratitude. How does this make a difference in how you live life?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • How do you measure your life? How do you measure up?
  • What are some of the things you use to measure your spiritual growth? Your spiritual journey?
  • In what way does Grace give you freedom to live more effectively for Christ?

SCRIPTURE

Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” – We don’t measure up to God’s standard.

Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Because we don’t measure up, we cannot boast. This free us to advance in good works, not out of striving to be worthy.

Ephesians 4:11-12 – “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” – our goal is to measure up to the life of Christ.

Galatians 2:16 – “know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Hebrews 12:1 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race MARKED OUT for us.” God still marks out a direction for us to strive toward as Christians.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – We don’t have to measure up to righteousness because we wear Christ’s righteousness.

Colossians 2:13-14 – “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” – God wiped away the shortcoming so that before him we measure up in Christ.

2 Peter 1:3-9 – “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” – Now we are measure by growth in the our journey to becoming more and more Christlike.

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MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Spiritual Hoopla?

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Spiritual Hoopla

Is the excitement of serving God a whole lot of Hoopla – unnecessary excitement and fuss? These games using Hula Hoops are sure to create excitement but can also be used to create discussion on living as a Christian youth within God’s boundaries.

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Games using Hula Hoops

NOTE: If you can’t find hula hoops, plastic tubing can be shaped into a circle and secured with duct tape. For some of the games a circle of rope will also work.

  • Antigravity Hula Hoops – 5-10 youth form a circle, putting their hands out in front of them parallel to the floor – index finger extended (as in a kid making a gun). Tell them you will be placing a hula hoop on their fingers and everyone’s index fingers must stay in contact with the hula hoop. The task is to lower the hula hoop to the floor. It will inevitably go up immediately. The only way this works is if they remain calm and there is no blame.
  • Hula Hoop Hand Tag – Choose one player to be “It” and 4 additional players for each hoop. Have “It” stand in the center of the Hula-Hoop and the other players outside the circle. The players alternate holding the Hula-Hoop first with one hand and then the other while “It” tries to tap a hand. Those on the outside try to avoid being tapped. The game is over if players drop the hoop. Three rules: 1) the holders must each have one hand on the hoop at all times, 2)the person who is “It” cannot tag a hand that has been lifted from the hoop, and 3) whenever a person is tagged, he or she becomes “It.”
  • Hula Hoop Stuff – How many youth can get at least part of their bodies into a Hula Hoop? Count fingers, toes, ears-whatever. Better yet, how many youth can fit inside a Hula Hoop so that their bodies don’t touch the ground outside the hoop?
  • Hula Hoop Tag – Spread a few Hula hoops around the ground. The hoops are safe zones where youth cannot be tagged. The idea is to run between the safe havens without getting tagged. Set a time limit on how long people can stay in the safe zones, and make sure you have plenty of space between the hoops.
  • Hula Relay – Each youth on a team must take a Hula Hoop and hula while walking or running to a certain point 20 feet or so from the team and back. If the Hula Hoop drops, the player must stop, get the hoop going again, and continue. First team to finish wins.
  • Hula Slide Relay – Put the youth in groups of up to four and have each group step inside a Hula Hoop. The youth must move their hoop on the ground from one point to the other. If someone trips and steps out of the hoop, the team has to start over from the beginning.
  • Hula Tangled – Gather the participants in a circle and make them hold hands right at the center. Let one person wear the hula hoop on the arm. Without letting go, youth must pass the ring to one another, until it comes back to the person who first had it. Variation: do it without talking.
  • Keep the Hula Hoops Up – Every youth needs their own hula hoop. The goal is to keep the hula hoops spinning as possible using the traditional method of swinging it around the waist. A youth is out of the game when their hula hoop completely hits the floor. The last person with their hula hoop moving wins the game. This can also be played in teams.
  • Lava Flow – Scatter hula hoops around in a large open space. Everyone playing has found out that the floor has become covered in lava, but only when the leader calls out “lava flow.” In the meantime, the youth are supposed to wander around the room. When “lava flow, 3-2-1” is called, the players need to find shelter inside a hula hoop before the countdown ends. As time goes on, the leader removes hula hoops and the game gets more and more difficult as there are more people per hoop. Feet must touch the ground inside the hoops to be safe and everyone must be safe in order for anyone to win.
  • Lion tamer – Youth step through a hoop that get’s progressively higher off the ground – It is similar to limbo but keeps getting higher rather than lower.
  • Musical Hoops – This has the same basic rules as the traditional game of musical chairs except no one is ever out. Spread hula-hoops on the floor and play lively, fun music. As you remove the hoops, let the group know that no one is out. Let them figure out that they may share the hoops in order to remain playing. It’s fun to see how many people can share a hoop.
  • Sharks – Hula Hoops represent islands. Everyone mills around the sea until SHARKS is called out – then everyone has to get onto an island (in a hoop) to be safe, anyone not on the island is eaten by a shark and so out of the game. Remove islands at your pleasure forcing more and more people out of the game until you have a champ!
  • Simon Says – Play traditional Simon Says, but using the hula hoop as a prop. “Simon says• jump in/out of the hula hoop, lift it over your head, put your hand in the hoop, balance it on your foot, etc..”
  • Shoes in a Hula-Hoop – You’ll need 4 or more hula-hoops depending on the number of groups you want to have. Each group is given one Hula Hoop. The 4th hula-hoop is placed in the middle of the room and all of the participant’s shoes are placed inside of it. Announce: “The purpose of the game is to have ALL of the ping pong balls in your hula-hoop.” On “go” all the youth will scramble to collect as many shoes as possible. In the midst of the chaos, the leader will stop the game and send people back to their groups to deliberate on how to better capture all the shoes. Continue the game as before. After a while, stop the game again and mention teamwork, and the need to join forces in order to have all the shoes in one’s hoop. The answer to the game is that all of the teams put their hula-hoops together, on top of the Shoe filled hula hoop in the middle of the room.
  • Up, Down, Under, Over – This hula hoop game is also for a group of players. Have three or four youth stand inside a large hoop, holding it up at waist level without using their hands. Challenge them to lift the hoop up to their necks or down to their ankles – hands-free. Or, see if they can get the whole group from inside the hoop to outside, without grabbing the hoop or letting it touch the floor.

Main Game – Hula Hoop Circle

Ask the youth to stand in a big circle, slip a hula hoop onto one youth’s arm, and have them all join hands. They then must find a way to move the hula hoop all the way around the circle without letting go of each other’s hands.

Basic rules:

  1. The object of the game is to pass he hoop around the circle as quickly as possible.
  2. Youth may not let go of the hands they are holding at any time. If they lose their grip or let go, the hula Hoop must start back at the beginning again.
  3. Fingers cannot be used to grip or move the Hula Hoop
  4. The youth must remain in a circle. Players bend and twist their bodies through the hoop to get it around the circle.
  5. The fastest group wins.

Important Notes:

  1. Glasses may sometimes fall off and break so those youth wearing glasses need to remove them before the game starts.
  2. Make sure the hula hoop you use is big enough for everyone in the group to fit through so that there are no awkward moments for larger sized youth.
  3. Youth should be in generally good shape as some flexibility and balance will be needed to complete the task.

Youth may question whether this challenge is possible, but assure them that it can be done. Repeat the process until the team is satisfied with their time and their system. Generally, groups get it down to less than 2 minutes. The people directly involved work together to fit their body into the hoop and those waiting for the hoop to get to them, watch, give suggestions and encourage. Once it has made it around the circle, the task is complete.

Variations:

  1. Provide two Hoops for each team. Start the Hoops in the same location but ask the group to pass one in a clockwise direction and the other in a counterclockwise direction. When they get to the midway point there is usually some confusion.
  2. Time the group as they pass the hoop to see how long it takes them to get it all the way around. Allow another attempt to break the “record”.
  3. Try to do it as one big group.
  4. Ask players to stand with their back toward center of the circle.
  5. Ask the youth to complete the task without talking or while blindfolded.
  6. Do it sitting down
  7. They have to pass it 2 persons at a time, 3 at a time?

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Have you ever heard of the phrase “Jumping through Hoops”? Know what it means?
“Jumping though hoops” has typically meant “going to great lengths” or “much effort” in order to accomplish something.

People jump through hoops on a regular basis. Either to fulfill some kind of requirement to gain acceptance into a group, to meet some kind of standard to satisfy others, to follow some set of rules.

  1. What are some of the hoops in your life that you have had to jump through?
  2. Are there hoops we jump through as Christians? In the church? In the youth group?
  3. What are the expectations for each of these groups?
  4. Are these hoops good or bad? Explain.
  5. Do some people have more to deal with than others? If so, why?
  6. Are hoops necessary? What hoops would you add/remove from/to your life if you could?
  7. What is the purpose of rules and expectations? How are they useful / harmful?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

In the Old Testament, the people of God went to great lengths to be accepted by God. To be accepted by God required jumping through a lot of hoops – following a long list of God given laws, and requirements in order to be accepted by God. To make matters worse, by human standards, it was impossible to be accepted by God, because the hoops were beyond the ability of the people. And on top of that, tradition added even more rules and expectations so that by the time Christ had his encounters with the Pharisees, it was an even more impossible burden.

“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)

I wonder if any of these hoops sound familiar? Christians must not drink. They must not smoke. They must dress appropriately (according to a myriad of opinions of what is proper). They must be timid, and peaceful and submit when others want to walk over them. Youth cannot have tattoos, or earrings, or unnatural colors in their hair. You must be in church every time the doors are open. You must give to every cause. You must put on a smile even though you are deeply hurting and tired and weary. The list goes on… We sing about grace, yet are quick to condemn, proclaim the blood of Christ in forgiveness, yet hold grudges, preach of freedom in Christ, but add a plethora of rules and expectations. The Bible is full of imperfect people resting in the loving care of a perfect God, many of which would never be allowed in any kind of public position in the church of today. But is a list of rules what defines the Christian? What does define a person as a Christian?

A look at Ephesians 2:1-10 and Romans 5:6-8 makes it clear that Christ loved us and died for us even though we were ungodly, sinful, and dead in our trespasses. We were unworthy, yet God reached out to us.

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  1. What are some of the things that you do simply for show?
  2. In what ways do you conform to expectations?
  3. How can you personally focus more on the relationships rather than the rules and expectations?

Most people would prefer to follow a bunch of rules, to “jump through hoops” as it were, than to actually give up their own lives and follow Christ. Yet Jesus did not call us to a set of rules, but to a relationship. He asked people to take up their cross and follow Him. But it’s so much easier to carry a hoop than a cross.

“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

More Spiritual Lessons from Hula Hoops:

  • A circle is a symbol of eternity. It has no beginning and no end.
  • Staying in your hula hoop can represent minding your own business and protecting your boundaries.
  • We are only responsible for the things God places in our circle of influence.
  • When we are properly focused on our own lives, our energy is used to keep our hula-hoop spinning. When we drop it and step out to try to control someone else’s life, our life suffers.
  • Will you trust God to take care of the stuff that is outside of your hula-hoop?
  • God is inside with us at all times
  • In hula hoop you have to find a rhythm to keep it going. We must understand that God has a perfect rhythm set up for our lives. Pushing ahead too fast or lazily moving breaks that rhythm and things fall apart.
  • It takes energy to get started
  • Momentum helps it keep it going

SCRIPTURE

  • “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30
  • “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”- Luke 9:2
  • “They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” – Matthew 23:4
  • “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”- Ephesians 2:8-10
  • “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:6-8

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Spiritual Tag

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Spiritual Tag

Our spiritual walk is in many ways like a game of tag. There are three key components to any game of tag: 1) You chase or pursue 2) You flee or run away 3) People get tagged. Spiritually, because of our disobedience to God we are tagged as sinners. And like those in the game we are stuck in our current position and unable to break ourselves free. Only when Jesus frees us are we able to be truly free. Unfortunately, sin often touches our lives again and we find ourselves back in the same condition. Because of this the Bible gives us a number of things we should flee. But at the same time it gives us things we should chase after, things we must pursue. So are you ready for a game of tag?

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Games of Tag

  • Amoeba Tag – Begin with two youth who hold hands and chase the rest of the participants. Any person they catch joins the chain by linking hands to form a bigger circle. When another person is caught the whole group can stay together as one or split into two circles with 2 youth in each circle. Amoeba’s can only split on on even numbers and can link together back together any time. Play the game until no one is left or award the last person as the greatest survivor!
  • Back to Back Tag – Two youth hold join one set of hands and then try to tag any other player using only their free hands. When they tag someone, that person joins onto them by holding hands. You’ll eventually have a long line of youth holding hands with a person on each end with a free hand. Remember, they can only tag someone with the free hands on each end. Players can make themselves safe from being tagged by finding another youth and standing back to back with them. The maximum time they can stand back to back is 10 seconds and then they can be tagged again. The game continues until everyone is tagged.
  • Bandage Tag – When tagged you must cover your “wound” with one of your hands. When you get tagged a second time, you must cover your “wound with your remaining hand. The third time you are tagged, you are out. In another variation, whatever limb is tagged becomes numb and you cannot use it and must keep it straight. If you ran out of forearms, shoulders, and legs, you have to lie there, until someone tags you and then you are completely out of the game. Variation: Two other people come over to a person who is injured and “operate.” The two other people need to tag the frozen person at the same time and count to five and the other person is fully healed.
  • Bump Tag – Have each youth buddy up with a partner and spread out in pairs. One person is it and another is the runner. While being chased, the runner can go up to another pair of buddies, and “bump” one person by grabbing an arm on either side of the pair who is holding hands. The other buddy then is released from that pair, and becomes the new person being chased. If the person who is IT tags the RUNNER, they immediately switch roles, and the original runner now tries to catch the original “it.”
  • Bumper Tag – You can play any variation of tag, but instead of tagging other youth with your hands, you must tag with your hips. Only a small bump is allowed to avoid injuries.
  • Cooperation Tag – In this variation of tag, whoever is it, chases people and tries to tag them. But a person is safe from being tagged if they are holding a special object (one or more rubber chickens or some other unusual object works great!) if anyone is tagged and is not holding the special object they become it and the game continues.
  • Cyclops tag – Everyone has to play tag with one hand covering an eye.
  • Dead Ant – When someone is tagged, that youth must lay down with both hands and feet sticking straight up, like a dead ant. But the youth can bring a dead ant back to life by have four people each taggin one of the outstretched limbs. Once someone has been a dead ant 3 times they become “it”. It is possible to have multiple people become “it” which adds another dimension to the game because it becomes confusing who you need to run from.
  • Dragons Tail – Split the youth into teams of six to eight persons who will form a dragon by hanging on to the waist of the person in front of them. The object of the game is for the head on one dragon who has his.her hands free to tag the tail of another dragon. The rest of the people in the team try to protect the tail without letting go of the person’s waist in front of them. If a dragon breaks they are out. if a tail is tagged that team is out.
  • Everybody’s it – Proclaim, “everybody’s it!” in an open space and the participants begin trying to tag others, while avoiding getting tagged. If someone is tagged they must sit down where they are. Once sitting down, they can extend their arms and try to tag those left running around. If they manage to do so they can join back in the game. If two person’s tag another person at the same time, they both must sit down.
  • Freeze Tag – This common game of tag, forces a person to freeze in place, when tagged. Other people who are not frozen can unfreeze a person by tagging them.
  • Giants, Wizards and Elves – Split the youth group up into 2 teams. You will also need a safe area for each team with a no man’s zone in the middle. Each team huddles up and picks what they want to be as a team, a giant, a wizard or an elf. Giants put their hands up over their heads making them taller, wizards put their hands our straight in front of them wiggling their fingers, and elves make pointy ears on their head with their pointer fingers. One a team has decided, they line up face to face with the other team in the middle area, then on a count of 3, everyone does whatever action their team picked. Giants beat elves, elves beat wizards and wizards beat giants. The winning team chases the other and tries to tag as many members on the other team as possible before they reach the safety zone. Anyone who is tagged becomes a part of the other team until everyone is on one team.
  • Heads and Tails – Make a Giant coin from a frisbee, paper plane or garbage can lid. mark it so that it is clear which side is heads and which side is tails. This is played like Giants Wizards and Elves but one team is heads and the other is tails. Whoever wins the toss chases the other team to tag them.
  • Hug Tag – This is your classic tag game with one exception, people are only safe if they are hugging someone else. You can only remain in a hugged position for 5 seconds.
  • Loose Caboose – Split the class into teams of 3 or 4 youth. Select 1-3 players to each be a “Loose Caboose.” (these players will be playing as individuals and do not have a team at the start of the game). The teams of four form a train by placing their hands on the hips of the player in front of them. On the signal, each “Loose Caboose” will attempt to run and latch on the back of another train (the trains are trying to keep this from happening). If a “Loose Caboose” is successful in latching on to a train, the engine (front person) must leave the train and become the new “Loose Caboose” and attempt to join onto a new train. You can play this game for a given time period and not worry about winners.
  • Meltdown Tag – Whenever a youth is tagged, they must begin to “melt down” by slowly lowering themselves to the ground over the time period of ten seconds. If they are touched by another player before they reach the ground they are free. If they melt all the way to the ground then they become another “it”. Play continues until only one person is left.
  • Secret Tag – Call three youth to the front and whisper a position in the ear of each person. One person is “It”, another is “normal”, and another person is “the doctor” who can rescue those who are tagged to put them back into the game.
  • Slow Motion Tag – Ask each player in the group to find their own personal space within the boundary area. Make sure there is enough room so no one is able to take one step towards someone and tag them. Every time you call out “step” every player moves ONE of their feet in any direction they want. The objective here is to tag other players any where below the neck. When tagged, you must sit down right where you are to become an “ankle biter.” Ankle biters can only tag others below the knee. Play down to the last two players.
  • Toilet Tag – When someone is tagged, they must squat down to form the “toilet” and hold one hand out to the side, like the “handle”. To get back into the game, someone must “flush” the frozen person and make a loud “Woooooosh” sound.
  • Triangle Tag – Begin with groups of four to five people in small groups and one person alone who is “it.” Within each group one person is chosen to be in the center and the others hold hands and form a circle around the chosen one. When play begins, the person who is “it” will try to identify and tag the person inside a circle. The other players will twist and turn to try to protect the person in the middle from being tagged. The circle must always remain intact. If the protected person gets tagged, everyone changes groups and the tagged person becomes it.
  • Tunnel Tag – Whenever someone gets tagged, they become frozen until someone, who has not been tagged, crawls through their legs.
  • Watch-Your-Back – The object of the game is to tag as many people as you can without getting tagged yourself. When tagged drop one knee and freeze. But if the youth who tagged you gets tagged you can get up and start tagging again.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

There are three key components to any game of tag:

  1. You chase or pursue
  2. You flee or run away
  3. People get tagged

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

In life, we may sometimes be pursued or chased and at other times we may be doing the pursuing.

  • What are some things that we pursue in life?
  • What are some things we flee?
  • What are some things that we get tagged with?

Verses

  • In 2 Timothy 2:22 we read “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
  • 1 Timothy 6:9-11 – “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

Tagged – In many tag games, once you are tagged you are either out of the game or stuck until someone frees you. As God’s creation we’ve also been tagged – not by a person, but by our actions. Because of our disobedience to God we are tagged as sinners. And like those in the game we are stuck in our current position and unable to break ourselves free from the oppressions in our lives. Only when Jesus frees us are we able to be truly free. Unfortunately, sin often touches our lives again and we find ourselves back in the same condition. Jesus says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:31-36) True freedom comes from being set free by Jesus Christ. True freedom is freedom to be myself as God made me and meant me to be. This freedom comes only when we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus and invite Him to be our Lord and Master of our life.

  • I John 5:8 – “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

Flee – In tag games, you must flee. In these games we flee from someone who is “it”. James 4:7 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” So when we pursue God and resist the devil we need not flee. In fact he will flee from us. But the scriptures are also full of things we should flee from so we are not touched again by sin.

Here are some of the things the Bible says we should flee

  • Fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18)
  • Idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14)
  • Love of money (Mammon) (1 Timothy 6:11)
  • Youthful lusts (2 Timothy 2:22)
  • All appearances of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22 TLB)

Pursue – Another aspect of tag, is that when you are chosen to be it, you must chase after others. Scripture also gives us some things we should pursue.

Here are some of the things the Bible says we should pursue.

  • Love – 1 Corinthians 14:1
  • Peace – 1 Peter 3:11; Psalms 34:14
  • Righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness – 1 Timothy 6:11
  • Righteousness, faith, love, and peace – 2 Timothy 2:22
  • Peace, Holiness – Hebrews 12:14
  • Prize – Philippians 3:12-14
  • Righteousness – Proverbs 15:9; Romans 9:30-32; Isaiah 51:1
  • Peace, Things that build others up – Romans 14:19
  • To Know God – Hosea 6:3

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • Which of those things we are told to pursue do people find difficult? Why?
  • What stops people from pursuing these things of God?
  • When you think about your relationship with God – faith, endurance, righteousness, piety and holiness, how do you think you measure up?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • What are you currently pursuing?
  • How can you direct that pursuit in a way that is honoring to God?
  • In what areas does your life – thoughts, attitudes, actions – need improvement?

SCRIPTURE

  • “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” – 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NASB)
  • “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” – 1 Peter 3:11 (NIV)
  • “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” – 1 Timothy 6:11 (NIV)
  • “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” – 2 Timothy 2:22
  • “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” – Hebrews 12:14 (NASB)
  • “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
  • “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.” – Romans 9:30-32 (NIV)
  • “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” – Romans 14:19 (NASB)
  • “Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.” – Hosea 6:3 (NKJV)

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Volleyball Christians

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Volleyball Christians

A common summer game is beach volley. But you don’t have to be at the beach to enjoy the sport. You don’t even have to be outside. Besides the official rules, there are also an infinite number of variations and other games that use the volleyball net, ball and court. And after you have played a game, there’s a lesson on what it means to be filled with the things of God so he can use you for the purpose he created you for.

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Volleyball variations

NOTE: If you want to make these games a little less intimidating and a bit easier, use a beach ball to replace the volleyball.

  • All Hit Volleyball – This game follows the rules of volleyball, except; every group member must hit the ball before it goes back over the net to the other team.
  • Ball Over – Divide the playing area in half with a line in the sand, a piece of string, or with markers on the side of the field. Teams are placed on each side and are not allowed to cross over to the other team’s side. Blindfold one youth and provide him with a whistle. When the whistle is blown play begins. The blindfolded youth can blow the whistle whenever he pleases. The object of the game is to keep the ball in the opposing team’s territory. One point is counted against the side that has the ball whenever the whistle is blown. The lowest score wins. For variation, have four or five players touch the ball before it can be returned to the other side. Or create a ‘no-man’s land’ along the dividing line. Teams, in getting the ball over, must bounce it into ‘no-man’s land’.
  • Double Dipped Volleyball – Start with two teams each on a side. These teams begin hitting the ball back and forth over the net. when they are ready to begin, they yell “start”. from that point on, when a player from one side hits the ball to the other, she must dash under the net to the other side. Every time a player hits the volleyball over the net they must dash under the net to the other team.
  • Battle Ships – This is like the board Game ‘Battle ships’ where you have to try and sink all the opposing team’s boats. First, you need a divider of sorts, about the height or a volleyball net or higher, so that each side cannot see the other (eg. a rope tied at each side of the hall and a large sheet draped over it or big boards put up in between). Next, have each side find a spot where they are not allowed to move from. When the game starts, each side is given a volleyball and then proceeds to try and hit the other team with the ‘bomb shells'(balls). If someone is hit with the ball, catches it or moves from their spot, then they sit to the side until the game is over. Note: each side needs people (runners) to fetch the ball once it has bounced and give it back to the Ships.
  • Bounce Volleyball – This is played just like normal volleyball, but the ball is allowed to bounce on the ground once before it is returned to the other side.
  • Chair Pass Ball – Divide the youth into two teams. A firm chair is placed at either end of the room or a designated outdoor playing area as a goal for each team. A person from each team stands on a chair as goalkeeper. The volleyball may only be passed from hand to hand. To score a goal, it must be thrown to the team member on the chair and caught by him. No running with the ball is allowed. Players are also not allowed to snatch the ball from other players. Change the goalkeeper after each goal is scored.
  • Challenge Volleyball – Allow the team who is serving to call a name of a person on the other team who would be out if the serving team won a point. Upon winning the point on a serve the person called is out. The team continues to call names and knock out players until the serve is lost. The other team upon gaining the serve may call back the lost players or knock out some of the other teams. This brings great intensity to a game, and a team may get down to one player and come back to win. We still play to 15. The players picked on are the athletic players and the less athletic can become the heroes. To play a quick game don’t allow knocked out players to be called back in.
  • Crazy Volleyball – Play Volleyball with four hits per side and a bounce on the ground considered a hit (it cannot hit the ground two times in a row). This makes it so anyone can have a chance of doing well with the added one bounce.
  • Island Volleyball – The objective of this game is to keep the ball in the air and off the ground for as long as possible. All players must have at least one foot inside a hoop at all times. Once a player has put a foot inside a hoop, he/she cannot change hoops until the next round. Any player within a hoop may hit the ball, but two players from the same hoop may not hit the ball consecutively. If players from the same hoop make consecutive hits, the score returns to zero. If a player steps out of a hoop during play, the score returns to zero. You may not hit the ball back to the hoop from which it came. Penalty – Score returns to zero. Scoring: Total number of consecutive hits before the ball hits the ground. If you don’t have a hoop, you can use circles of rope.
  • Maximum Score Volleyball – Instead of scoring a single point as with normal volleyball, the score is determined by the number of times the ball goes across the net to the other team. The normal rules of volleyball still apply.
  • No Jump Volleyball – Play a normal game of volleyball, but no one is allowed to jump before hitting the ball.
  • One Sided Volleyball – In this volleyball variation, all the youth start on one side of the volleyball net and no one is on the other side. The objective is to get everyone to the other side. Someone on the team hits the ball up to another player and then crosses under the net to the the other side. Every time someone hits the ball, they move to the other side. The last person hits the ball over the next and then the game begins again on the other side. Each time the team entirely crosses over they get a point. Anytime the ball hits the ground, play must start over, with people who haven’t touched the ball yet going first.
  • Sitting Volleyball – Using the rules and set up for volleyball along with a net set up inside. Place chairs in volleyball layout on each side of net. Have people sit in the chairs and using belts or some rope tie each person into the chair (going under the chair and over the persons lap). Then play volleyball.
  • Switch Sides Volleyball – This game follows the same rules as volleyball except that players rotate to the other team rather than to their same team. People become much less concerned about the score and more concerned about having fun, which is the entire point anyway.
  • Walleyball – In this indoor version of volleyball, set up volleyball net or a rope across the room so the top of the net is about 5 feet above the floor. (Choose a room with nothing breakable. Teams should be 20-25 youth per team as they must sit on the floor with their legs crossed in front of them. Because they cant’t move, you need to fill the play area with as many people as possible. Don’t worry about how many hits per side. For safety you may wish to use a beach ball instead of a volleyball. Variation: Hang a sheet so they cannot see what is happening on the other side of the net.
  • Watch the Net – Don’t have a a volleyball net to play this version of volleyball. Instead of two teams, split your youth into 3 equal teams, at least 4 per team. Choose 2 of the teams to play against one another just as you would in normal volleyball. With one team left, you add the twist. Have the last team stand within arm length of each other representing the net. The “nets” can only take 1 step forward or backward. The “net” can hit the ball anywhere on the court. If the “net” hits the ball out of bounds, re-serve. Now, when it comes down to game point and the ball is in motion, watch the net!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Flat Volleyball – This should be the last game or the last round of one of the above games. Play the game with a volleyball that is flat – only partially inflated.

  • When this ball was created what was it’s purpose?
  • What was the ball expected to do?
  • What was it created to contain?
  • Why can’t can’t this ball fulfil that purpose at this time?
  • How could the ball get in such a situation?
  • What needs to happen for this ball to fulfil it’s purpose?
  • Could a volleyball be filled with water? Is water a bad thing? But would it then fulfil its purpose?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  • As Christians we are also created with a purpose. For what purpose are we created?
  • What things do we fill the emptiness in our lives with?
  • When we were created, what did God intend for us?
  • What needs to be in our life for that purpose to be fulfilled?
  • What happens when we fill our lives with the wrong things (not necessarily bad things)?
  • Just like the volleyball, we may be empty, or we may fill our lives with other things, but this prevents us from being used to our full capacity for which we were created.

Blaise Pascal said that we have all been created with a God-shaped vacuum that only he can fill. We will only find true meaning and purpose when we let God fill our lives to accomplish his will here on earth.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What are some of the purposes that God has for Christians?
  • How can we be filled with the things of God?
  • How do we get God in our Lives?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • The easiest way to find that purpose, is to yield to God. What is an area of your life that God has been speaking to you about yielding to him?
  • Ask God to use you this week in a way that glorifies him and gives you a clearer understanding of his purpose for your life.

ADDITIONAL LESSONS

  • When we think of volleyball there are a few keys to scoring: set, dig, block, serve, and rotation. When you think of each of these terms, how do they apply to us spiritually?

When the ball is hit over the net, three shots are expected for a team to score a point. The first is called the dig. Digging is grunt work. It usually involves getting on your knees and absorbing a spike from the other team.

DIG – I compare digging to the unpleasant, often painful, formation of a person’s character. A good dig puts the ball in play and allows a team to go on the offensive. So it is with a godly character. The youth who is sincere, honest, loving, and faithful puts himself in a position to influence others for Christ.

SET – The second shot is called the set. Setting is a strategic move, requiring precision and finesse, and it sets the stage for the spike. Time spent in God’s word is like this strategic set. We must train and discipline ourselves in the way of godliness.

SPIKE – After the dig and set and only then are we ready for the spike. The spike is an aggressive, powerful play to score for your team. It drives home our purpose with unmistakable certainty. A score could be victory over a habit, the start of a new habit, winning someone for Christ, or simply being God’s salt and light in the world.

SCRIPTURE

PURPOSE

  • Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
  • Romans 12:1-6 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God•this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is•his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
  • Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
  • Colossians 1:27 – “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
  • Philippians 2:13 – “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
  • 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)- “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

FILLED

  • Ephesians 3:16-20 – I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,”
  • Ephesians 5:18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,”
  • Philippians 1:11 “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”

SET

  • Galatians 5:1 – “For freedom Christ has SET us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
  • Colossians 3:1 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, SET your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
  • 1 Peter 1:13 – “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, SET your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”
  • Galatians 5:1 – “It is for freedom that Christ has SET us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

SERVE

  • Matthew 20:25-28 – “Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
  • Hebrews 6:10 – “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
  • 1 Peter 4:10-11 – “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

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Beach Ball Goals

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Beach Ball Goals

Beach balls are great for the beach, but you don’t need to be at the beach to play these games. The final game explores both personal spiritual goals and goals for the church youth group.

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Games Using Beach Balls

  • Beach Ball Balloon Basketball – Use laundry baskets or large waste baskets as the “goal”. Divide into teams and play like regular basketball. Balloons must stay in the container for points to be scored.
  • Beach Ball Dodge ball – Use one or more beach balls to play a game of dodge ball. Whoever is hit is out. The Goal of this game is to be the last person standing.
  • Beach Ball Icebreaker – A beach ball with icebreaker questions written on the ball. In a large circle, someone tosses the ball to another person to catch. The person that catches the ball calls out the question closest to their right thumb. The youth then answers the question and throws the ball to another participant. Continue until everyone has had a chance to answer a question.
  • Beach Ball Relay – Create a relay course with start and finish lines indicated by tape or chalk. Players must remove their shoes and then stand at the starting line in teams. One member of each team must wear a pair of sunglasses and hold a beach ball between his/her knees. Team members race to the goal line and back without dropping the beach ball. The players then pass both items to the next team member, and the team to finish the relay first wins the game.
  • Dragon Dodgeball – Have the entire group make a circle. Pick four to five people for each team. The first team goes into the center of the circle and forms a line by attaching their hands to the waist of the person in front of them. The people who make up the circle throw the beach ball at the “dragon”, trying to hit the last person below the waist. Once hit, the last person returns to the outside circle and players continue to hit the new person at the end of the dragon until there in only one person left and they too are hit. A new team then goes into the middle. Time each team. The Goal is to see which team can last the longest.
  • Hunter Ball – A hunter tries to shoot other players by tossing a beach ball at them. The player who is shot is out if hit. If the player catches it or if the beach ball hits the ground first there is no kill. He may then throw the ball wherever he wishes. Goal is to be the last person standing.
  • Moonball – Teams compete with the goal to hit a beach ball up in the air as many times as possible before it hits the ground with the following rule: a player may not hit the ball twice in succession. Count 1 point for each hit. To make it more difficult you can add additional rules: 1) a group’s score does not count until everyone has hit the ball once 2) Players can only hit the ball with their hands or head and 3) players cannot “punch” the ball.
  • Rabbit and hunter – A player (rabbit) is in the middle of the circle. The hunter on the outside of the player must try to hit the rabbit with a ball. The time is recorded how long it takes before a rabbit is hit. The goal is to be the rabbit who held out the longest.
  • Scatterball – In this version of dodgeball no one ever really gets out. Throw the ball in the air, and someone grabs it. They have 5 seconds and can take 3 steps before throwing the ball. If you get hit, you sit down. If you are sitting down and a ball comes near you, you can pick it up and throw it at someone standing up. If they get hit, they sit down, and you are back in.
  • Speed Ball – Divide the group into 2 equal circles. Give each group 3 beach balls. The object is to pass the balls around the circle at the highest speed possible. Whenever someone drops a ball, they leave the circle. At the allotted time, the team with the most players left wins.
  • Steal the Bacon – Divide the youth in half and line them up on either side of the room. Have them number themselves off starting at one and going up. Each side will have one of each number. Put the beach ball in the middle. Call out a number, for instance, 3. The number three from team one and the number three from team 2 go toward the beach ball. Points are awarded in 3 ways. They can either pick up the beach ball and run it back to their team for one point. They can tag the other person as they try to run it back, one point. If they pick it up and drop the beach ball, one point goes to the other team.
  • Tunnel ball – The team makes a tunnel with their legs spread apart. A beach ball must be rolled through the tunnel. The last player collects the beach ball and runs to the front to roll the ball through the tunnel again. You can either have 3-4 rounds where the fastest team wins or the teams must complete a certain distance. The first group to reach the goal line has won.
  • Ultimate Ball – divide the youth group into two teams. Find something you can use on either side of your room for a goal. This can be basketball goals, chairs, a spot on the walls, or the walls themselves. The goal for each team is to pass the ball to their team mates and work the ball down the room until someone can throw it and hit the goal. Play just like ultimate frisbee. A player cannot dribble, or run with the ball, they must pass it to their team mates. If the ball hits the ground, the other team takes possession and try for their goal.

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If you are limited on time, just use this game…
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Life-Size Foosball – This game can be played in any open space and some indication or marking of a goal at each end. You can use stakes and string to mark any field. Indoors you can use masking tape to tape the string to the floor. If you are at the beach, just draw your lines in the sand!

Played like foosball (also known as table soccer) this game is a less strenuous form of soccer that almost anyone can play.

Preparation
If the field is not marked off into lines do so in such a way that there is one goalie for each team and the other players are evenly distributed across the field. Players must stay within their marked off boundary. The more narrow the field, the less they will have to run from side to side. If you have a small space, you can even play sitting down.

How to Play

  1. Divide the group into two teams.
  2. Allocate the area between lines on the field so that the players are evenly distributed across the field with 2 or three players inside each area. Alternate areas between teams.
  3. All of the members of one team face toward the opposing team’s goal. Rows can be very close or several feet apart, depending on the size of the chosen field area.
  4. Players may move freely to the right or to the left, but they may not move forward or backward at any time. Players must remain inside their designated area between the two lines.
  5. Play and score the game just like regular foosball. A point is scored for each time the beach ball goes over the opposing team’s goal-line or hits the opposite wall.
  6. If the beach ball is kicked out of bounds, it is tossed back into the game by any player.
  7. A coin toss decides the 1st serve.
  8. The goalie on the serving team tosses the ball into play with his hands.
  9. Other players try to kick the ball into the opponents goal.
  10. If a player steps out of his boundary box, the ball goes to the opposing team.
  11. If a goal is scored, the team last scored upon gets the serve.
  12. The opposing team also gets to serve after a ball is out of play, or after a neutral dead ball.
  13. You can decide whether the goalie can use hands or not to block goals. Use of hands makes it much easier to block.
  14. The first team to score 10 goals wins.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

What is our goal as a church (or youth group / cell group)

In our group, each of us has areas of responsibility. Sometimes these areas are shared. Our area of responsibility will be based on God’s calling, his gifts, and even our personal interests. Whenever something falls into our area, we are responsible for handling it.

What is the result of someone not handling their area in this game? How does it affect others on the team? How is this similar or different to the body of Christ?

In our own group, do we ever step into other people’s areas of responsibility? Why do we do so? What are some of the possible consequences of stepping into other people’s areas of responsibility?

(They don’t have the opportunities to develop their own gifts and skills for ministry, we may neglect our own area, we burn out, we lose focus)

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

What are some of the areas we need to cover in order to achieve our goal or goals as a group?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What do you see as an area you can take responsibility for in our group? Why do you see yourself in this area? How will serving in this area help you to grow and develop your own gifts?

Action Point
Find your area and commit to covering that so that as a group we can achieve our goals!

SCRIPTURE

I Corinthians 12 – The Body of Christ

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Flying Disc-iples

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Flying Disc-Iples

These games are all played with a flying disc which also goes by the brand name ‘Frisbee.” Supposedly the name was derived from the Frisbie Pie Company whose round metal pie tins were used as toys by Yale University students. Over time the metal edges would become sharp so plastic versions were created in the 1940’s. Fred Headrick is credited with creating the modern day frisbee in 1967.

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Games Using Flying Discs (Commonly known as Frisbees)

[NOTE: For some games, to avoid injury, you may wish to use a soft nerf style flying disc rather than a hard plastic one.]

  • Bocce Frisbee – The object is to get the Frisbee as close to a designated object as possible without touching it. Make it more difficult by increasing the throwing distance.
  • Bottles – Two teams of six face each other in a line, with each player having an empty soda bottle in front of them. Each player starts with three lives and each time a players bottle is knocked over they lose a life. Each team gets three discs. Discs must be thrown from behind the bottle, and players may only throw a disc when their bottle is upright. When a player loses all three lives, they are out of the game and must sit down. Any player may retrieve a disc from the area between the teams, but cannot go behind enemy lines. You cannot block a disc and cannot touch a moving disc until it passes beyond the the line of bottles.
  • Call it – Any group size forms a circle. One person throws the disc straight into the air, ideally flat and with spin. The goal is to catch the disc using one-hand. If the disc is caught everyone who made any move to try and catch the disc must leave the circle. Whoever caught the disc is now the server, they are not allowed to catch their own serve. The game continues until only on person remains. In the event that it becomes a duel between two people a outside person will become the server. In the event that one player simply refuses to make an attempt at catching the disc a rule can be invoked such that the player will forfeit if they do not make no attempt X times in a row.
  • Disc Dodge Circle – Make a circle of players with one player in the middle. Circle is wide enough so there is at least 10feet to the person in the center. Person in the middle tries to dodge the throws coming at them. People in the circle can either throw at the center or toss to someone else in an attempt to flank them. If you hit the person in the middle you are in the middle. Play goes on as long as your willing to get hit with a disc. Use a soft nerf disc to avoid injuries.
  • Disc Dodge – There is one thrower and the rest of the team is in a box of cones, size of the box depending on the size of the group. When the disc is in the air each person must decide if they can catch it. If you move for the disc than you HAVE to catch it. Each catch is a point and you need 3 points to become the thrower. If you move or if the disc hits you and do not catch it then you are out. Once you are out you go to the Mac line. From here you can go for a disc after someone in the game moves or you can hit the disc into the box to hit other players. If you mac the disc into someone then you are in and they are out. We also allowed Bidding for discs to get back in, but not everyone does.
  • Disc Dodge Ball – Same basic game play as dodge ball, but with frisbees. Of course, head shots put the tosser out on the sidelines.
  • Disc Golf – Disc golf is played much like traditional golf but instead of a ball and clubs, players use a flying disc or “Frisbee”. In disc golf targets or holes can be almost anything – a tree, a rubbish bin, a lamp post, a bucket, a flower pot, a net, or even a patch of the sidewalk. Each shot must be made from behind where the disc lands. Like golf you want to get to the target using the least possible number of throws. You include special conditions like requiring the disc to go around a tree or through a fork in a tree before hitting the target. If a tree is designated as the hole, the target is typically assigned as hitting the tree trunk below the first tree branch so that leaves and low branches do not count. You can have a marked out course or after each hole someone new can choose the next target and the conditions.
  • Discathalon – A trail is marked out through a park or open area, around natural obstacles and to a finish line. All the youth, each with a disc, begin behind the start line and race to the finish line, following the designated course. Each successive throw must be taken from behind where the disc last stopped. The winner is the player whose disc first crosses the finish line.
  • Five Hundred – Groups are separated by a distance of about 20m. One group throws a high disc above the other group. If someone catches it, that person scores 100 points. That group then throws another high, throw back and the other team gets to try to score points. The winner is the first person to score 500 points. The game is non-contact; no pushing or holding is allowed.
  • Frisbee bowling – For this game you need a plastic bottle. Turn it upside down and push the neck into the sand. See if you can knock it over with your frisbee! Challenge yourself by putting more bottles in the sand and seeing how many you can knock over.
  • Frisbee Relay – This relay type race is best for 8-12 people, divided into two teams. Two Frisbees are needed, one for each team. Each team should spread out in a line about 50 ft. (or more) apart from each other. On “GO!” the first person in the line of each team throws the Frisbee to the second person. That person allows the Frisbee to land, goes to where it landed, then throws it to the next person in their line, and so on. The object of the frisbee game is to see which team can throw the Frisbee the furthest in the fastest time (to the last person in their line).
  • Gritz – Gritz is played on a regular volleyball court and scores similar to volleyball (score on serve, 3 touches max, rotation) Players cannot touch the ground and the disc and the same time. The disc must not be travelling downwards at the point of release. No serves are allowed where the disk is thrown overhand and perpendicular to the ground.
  • Monkeys in the Middle – Form a 20m square with the 4 cones. The aim of the game is to retain possession of the disc by passing to teammates for as long as possible. As in ultimate, players may not run with the disc and cannot hold it for more than 10 seconds.
  • Passing Relay – Divide the youth into teams. Each team lines up in a straight line, at least arms length apart. Place a disc halfway down the line and about 5 meters to the side of the line. On “go” the last player in the line runs out to the disc and tosses it the to the 1st player in the line, who passes it back. Then he tosses it to the 2nd player and so on until the end of the line is reached. When the last player catches the disc, they run out the front to become the person tossing the frisbee and the previous captain runs to the front to become the first receiver. If a player has to retrieve a disc, they must return to their place before throwing the return pass. Continue until the original captain runs out the front again and the whole team sits down to finish.
  • Rounders (Disc Baseball) – Set up a diamond, similar to baseball. The rules are similar to baseball and the position are also the same except there is no pitcher. All players must be at least 5 meters from the batter. In each play, the batter tosses the disc from home base keeping it in bounds. It must travel at least 5 meteres or it is considered a foul. The batter is out on the third foul or if their toss is caught. Runners are out if the disc reaches the base they are running towards before they do. Only one runner can be on a base at a time. Only the basemen may run with the disc and everyone else must throw the disc to other players. The batting team earns a run each time a runner runs around the bases and reaches home base. When the batting team gets 3 outs the teams switch positions.
  • Sidewalk Seven – This is frisbee game that is played on a sidewalk, usually on the way to somewhere. It is best with two to three players. Each player throws a frisbee, trying to land it inside a sidewalk square and as far away as possible. For each square away from the player that it is thrown, the player earns one point. The frisbee is considered in the square if it is more than 50% in. If it lands off of the sidewalk, the player earns zero points for that round and the next round begins. If the frisbee lands seven squares away, the player earns zero points for that round.
  • Statue Frisbee – Pair up in teams of two. See how many times you can consecutively catch the Frisbee without moving your feet. Advanced rules: Set a time clock and go for points. Each valid catch equals one point. Catches under a leg or on the tip of a finger earn two points. When the buzzer rings, the team with the most points wins. Variation: If the partner catches it without moving, then they both take a step back. If a person drops the Frisbee or has to move their feet, they are out of the game. After each successful round, each team must take a step back. Whoever lasts the longest in the game, wins.
  • Throwing Race – Split the youth up into pairs. All pairs are competing against all other pairs. Pairs line up across from their partners so that all the youth are in two rows. During a set amount of time, the youth in a pair must complete as many passes as possile. If a disc is missed and must be retrieved, the pairs must get back into their original positions before they can toss the disc again. If you want to increase the difficulty, then add a rule that the receiver may not move their feet to catch the disc.
  • Touch it – Line of players with a thrower/receiver at each end, a few metres off. Disc is thrown down the line, players need to touch it without catching it, then the receiver has to catch it one-handed. If you successfully touch it and then it’s caught, you get through the round; if you knock it enough that the receiver can’t catch it, you’re knocked out. Repeat rounds knocking out the last X people each time. You can also just do it by points.

MOST OF THE LESSONS ARE APPLIED TO THIS GAME

Ultimate – The Field is rectangular shape with endzones at each end. A regulation field is 64m by 37m, with endzones 18m deep. Each point begins with teams lined up in the front of their own end zone. The defence then throws the disc to the offense. A point is scored each time the offense completes a pass in the defences’ endzone. The disc can be passed to a teammate in any direction who must catch it. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower counts out the 10 seconds. When a pass in not completed (e.g. goes out of bounds, touches the ground, is blocked, or intercepted), the defence immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense at that location on the field. No physical contact of any kind is allowed between players, regardless of whether you have the disc or not. When anyone makes physical contact a foul occurs and if it results in a turnover to the other team, the team gets the disc back. Players call their own fouls.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

* What comparisons can you make between this game and and living as a Christian?

When we look at Ultimate, here are some of the things that are similar to spiritual truths:

(Running, Standing Firm, a Goal, winning and losing, Struggle, Opposition, Spectators, teamwork, passing it along, fouls and rules.)

  • We pass it along – When we pass along faith or the gospel, we must deliver it in a way that it can be easily received, and the person must be ready to receive it.
  • Field – Our field is the world (Mat. 13:38), and our goal is to win it for Jesus Christ. Everyone is called onto the field to play and we have to do it together. You must rely on your team mates to move things forward on the field together with you in order to reach the goal.
  • Rules – The rules keep us focused and set the standards for how we act on the field. There are also boundaries. When we break the rules or step out of bounds, there are penalties. Yet when we compete according to the rules, and are victorious in our efforts, we will receive a prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
  • Time – In most games of ultimate, like life, we don’t know how much time we have on the field. This makes it even more important for us to make the most of it. The Bible commands us to redeem the time, to make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16) rather than waste it.
  • Goal – It is not enough to simply be in the game. It is not enough to simply overcome the opposition. Our goal is to score one for the team. And another one. And another one. “Press on toward the Goal.” – Philippians 3:14.
  • Team – We don’t play alone, but play as part of a TEAM. In Ultimate, once you receive the disc, you have to stand firm with it and pass it on to someone else. You can’t do it alone. Every believer has a part to play as we pursue the goal (1 Cor 12:4-6; 12-20)
  • Offense and Defence – Sometimes in the game we must be on the offence and at other times we must defend.
  • Our actions affect others – When you drop the disc during a game, the possession turns over to the other team and you and your teammates suffer the consequences alongside you. They must now run the length of the field again, this time on defense.
  • Getting fouled – Sometimes in the game, bad things happen to you of no fault of your own. It is your responsibility to call the truth of what happened but the game still continues.
  • Taking risks – Sometimes you have to take risks to reach the goal. Push yourself a little harder, stretch for the goal, pass the task to someone else on your team completely out of your control. The same is true of our walk and also of evangelism. It is said that it usually takes 20 interactions before a person accepts Christ. And while some skills may be clumsy and awkward at first, with practice we can be much more effective.

Make it Practical

  • What are some of the difficulties in faced in this game that remind of us of difficulties in the Christian’s life? In evangelism?
  • How is the teamwork in this game similar to the body of Christ?
  • Read 1 Corinthians 3:4-9. How does this relate to the game?

Make it Personal

Are you in the game?
No one in the crowd ever makes progress on the field. No one in the crowd ever adds a single point to the score. The game is played and won by the players on the field, and not by anyone else. Are you in the game or a spectator? Just being a Christian isn’t enough. You are called to be on the playing field, not in the stands or on the sidelines. Are you on the field playing the game and gaining ground for Jesus Christ or are you merely watching the game? The clock is ticking away, and time is running out. Get in the game before you lose your chance forever!

SCRIPTURE

  • 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
  • Hebrews 12:1-2 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
  • Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
  • 2 Timothy 2:5 “Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.”
  • 2 Timothy 4:7-8 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
  • 1 Corinthians 3:4-9 (NIV) – ‘For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
  • 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 (NIV) – “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
  • 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV) – “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
  • Philippians 4:9 (NIV) – “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Broken Water Balloons

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Broken Water Balloons

You can’t have summer without at least one water balloon fight. Water Balloons have a purpose – to be filled with water. As God’s creation each of us also has a purpose. Pascal said that all men were created with a God shaped vacuum – an emptiness in our lives only GOD can fill. When we try to fill that emptiness with things other than the Living Water, we will always feel empty. We will always be thirsty.

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Games Using Water Balloons

  • Back to Back – Split the youth up into partners however many as necessary. Then put them next to a bucket of water balloons. This is a relay race so have another bucket abouy 15 feet away. The players have to put the water balloon between both of their backs and walk to the other bucket. If your balloon breaks you must go back and get another balloon. Set a time limit and when the times run out see which team has the most water balloons in their bucket.
  • Beach Towel Toss – Divide into teams of two, each person holding a towel at the corners. Standing six feet apart, each team must use the towel to toss a balloon back and forth with another team. After a successful toss, have the teams move farther apart. Continue playing until the balloon breaks.
  • Blanket Water Balloon Toss – All youth stand around a blanket holding an edge. When you toss individual water balloons high into the air, the youth must try to catch each water balloon in the blanket.
  • Hot Potato, Water Balloon Style – Played just like Hot Potato, youth must pass a water balloon around the circle when the music starts. When it stops whoever is holding it has the bust the water balloon on their own head.
  • Soaker – one person throws a water balloon high in the air and calls out another player’s name or number. The player so called must catch the balloon. If the player succeeds at catching it unbroken, she gets a free shot at the thrower who called her name and gets her turn at throwing a water balloon up and calling another’s name.
  • Water Balloon Pinata – Fill regular sized round balloons up with water, and tie them to a rope that is hung between two trees. You are blindfolded, given a plastic baseball bat, and get three swings to break a balloon.
  • Water Balloon Shot Put – see who can toss a water balloon the farthest. For added incentive, have a leader stand just out of reach of the players for a target.
  • Water Balloon Squat – Relay. Run to the line. Sit on a water balloon. Return to the team.
  • Water Balloon Stuff – Get two sets of those long johns and a bunch of water balloons. Get two volunteers and assign them a team whose job is to stuff water balloons in the long johns. When the designated time is up you count the balloons and the one with the most balloons wins. The winner and his stuffers get to throw all the balloons at the loser.
  • Water Balloon Toss – Form two lines of paired players, facing each other. Have each pair toss a water balloon back and forth, taking a step backwards after every two tosses. The further back you step, the further the toss and the more likely the water balloon will burst. The last pair to have their water balloon intact wins.
  • Water Balloon Toss Relay – Form 2 or more even teams. As in any relay race, have a starting line and a finishing line. Spread each member of the team about 3-5 feet apart. Each member must toss the water balloon to the next team member. If the water balloon breaks or falls onto the floor they have to start from the very beginning. The object of the game is to send 3 water balloon successfully down the line and into their team bucket.
  • Water balloon volleyball – Set up a volleyball net or string a rope between two posts, and then split the youth into groups of two. Give each group a towel or sheet and instruct the teams to hold it between them to create a landing mat for water balloons. With one team on each side of the net, the players use their towel or sheet to toss the balloon over the net to the other side. Every time a team drops a balloon, the balloon breaks or the balloon doesn’t cross over the net, the opposite team earns a point. Play to eight points before switching out teams.
  • WATER BALLOON FIGHT – have a classic water Balloon war between two teams.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

At the end of your water balloon games, take a hose and squirt a leader or volunteer down.

  • Compare a water balloon and a hose? In what what ways are they similar? Different?
  • Describe a time when you were really thirsty?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

During the time of Jeremiah much of Israel had turned away from God. They had turned away from the Fountain of living water and were looking to other things (broken cisterns) to satisfy their spiritual thirst. A cistern was basically just a hole in the ground with some kind of lining meant to hold stagnant rainwater. They were broken from the very day they were built. Only God Himself can quench our spiritual thirst. (See Isaiah 55:1-2, John 4:10-14, John 6:35 and John 7:37-38.) Imagine yourself as a very thirsty person in a parched land, turning away from a bubbling spring of cool water to shovel out a cistern in the dirt, under the parched sun, in the hopes of collecting some rain water! Many people today are also busy digging cisterns. We are not so different from the people of Jeremiah’s day. The one thing that is different is that we have more things available to us with which we try to satisfy the deep longings and thirsts of our lives.

  • Discuss as a group how cisterns were constructed and the constant effort it took to maintain them vs. get refreshed from a natural spring of water.
  • Digging cisterns is like going our own way in life. How do our own plans take constant effort to maintain?
  • What are some of the things people seek for pleasure, happiness, to fill the emptiness of our days?
  • Why do people insist on building broken cisterns rather than drinking from the spring of living water that will never run dry?
  • Why do people look for other sources? Why aren’t people happy with the Living Water?
  • Why do we run from one thing to another, never finding satisfaction, but never running to God?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • How do we know if we are seeking the things of God or broken cisterns?
  • What is it in us that makes us prefer to do things our way rather than accept God’s way?
  • Is it possible for us to be so busy doing things that don’t really matter that you never became involved in the things of God? Can we do good things and yet still neglect God? Spiritual things?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • Describe a time when you sought God to fill a void in your life that seemed impossible to face?
  • What do I not have in my life that, if I only had, I believe would make me happy?
  • What do I now have, that, if taken away, would leave me unhappy or devastated?
  • What do I have now that I spend a lot of time maintaining and would struggle to keep?
  • What is it that I now have in my life that I can’t live without?
  • Are you so busy repairing and refilling your broken cistern that you never took advantage of the fountain of life God offers?
  • God is asking you to see what you have been doing with your life. How are you spending your time, your money, your abilities, your resources?
  • Are you wasting your life and ignoring the many opportunities to be used by God?
  • Where are you going to drink today, this week this month, the rest of your life—for all of eternity? The spring of living waters or the cisterns of this world?
  • Ask God to show you the broken cisterns you have in your life. Surrender them and ask Him to satisfy your soul with Himself alone.
  • What are you consuming that masks your inner thirst? What deeper needs do you sense in yourself? Ask God would to show you how He can meet that need.

SCRIPTURE

  • Jeremiah 2:13 – “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
  • John 7:37 – “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink”
  • John 10:10 – He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”

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