Creative Youth Ideas

Sheep and Wolves

March 28, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Central Truth
God wants us to help when we see others in trouble

Materials
1. Large open area…
2. Identifiers for participants as follows:
white armband – sheep
Black armband – wolf
Large Doggie bone on a string – Sheep Dog

Scripture
Read the 23rd psalm or have a participant quote it. Sometimes we call the 23rd Psalm “the Good Shepherd Psalm” because it teaches us that God is like a shepherd and we’re like sheep. We aren’t told if sheep dogs were used in Bible times, but today it’s very common for shepherds to have sheep dogs.

Teaching Activity
Play a game of tag with the following rules:

Setup
1. All sheep must wear a white armband. The only sound they can make is a “baa”
2. Wolves must wear a black armband – there should be two or more wolves depending on the size of the group. The only sounds they can make are a growl and snarl!
3. Sheepdogs wear a big bone around their neck. Get a large rawhide bone from your pet store or make a large bone from a piece of posterboard. There should be two or more sheep dogs depending on the size of the group. The only sounds they can make is to “bark” like a dog.
4. Designate an out of bounds area for those that are eliminated.

Game Play
1. Wolves may tag sheep. If tagged they are out of the game.
2. Only Sheep dogs may tag a wolf. If tagged they are out of the game.
3. If two or more wolves tag a sheepdog at the same time the sheep dog is out of the game.
3. If the wolves are eliminated the sheep win the game.
4. If the sheep are eliminated the wolves win the game.
5. Vary the number of sheepdogs and wolves to change the game play. 6. You might give sheepdogs some time to develop strategies to protect the sheep while the wolves develop their strategies to attack the sheep.

Debrief
1. What strategies did the wolves have to eliminate the sheep? How are these similar/ different from Satan’s strategies? (See also Matthew 7:15, Matthew 10:16, Acts 20:29, 1 peter 5:8)

2. What does a shepherd do? How do sheepdogs help a shepherd? What function did the sheep dogs serve? How are sheep dogs similar/ different from spiritual leaders and mentors in the church?

Key Points
A. We’re all God’s sheep, and Jesus is our Good Shepherd. But sometimes God needs us to be sheep dogs.
B. Sometimes sheep wander away or are separated from the flock and become more vulnerable.
C. Shepherds and sheepdogs help keep the flock together and protect the sheep, but they can also be attacked.

Twas a sheep that strayed away

Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;
They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when sheep are lost, what a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay!

Author unknown

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Teaching Illustrations

Dealing with Setbacks

March 28, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

After William Carey, the Father of Modern Missions was well established in his pioneer missionary work in India, his supporters in England sent a printer to assist him. Soon the two men were turning out portions of the Bible for distribution. Carey had spent many years learning the language so that he could produce the scriptures in the local dialect. He had also prepared dictionaries and grammars for the use of his successors. One day while Carey was away, a fire broke out and completely destroyed the building, the presses, many Bibles, and the precious manuscripts, dictionaries, and grammars. When he returned and was told of the tragic loss, he showed no sign of despair or impatience. Instead, he knelt and thanked God that he still had the strength to do the work over again. He started immediately, not wasting a moment in self-pity. Before his death, he had duplicated and even improved on his earlier achievements.

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Children's Sermon

Telling the Easter Story

materials
Egg (Hollowed out)

Carefully poke 2 holes in an egg, one at each end, and blow out the contents. After it has dried inside, take a lot of 1/4 inch wide slips of paper, write on them such phrases as ,”Jesus loves you,” “Jesus died for you,” ‘Jesus lives” and so on. Thread the slips of paper into the egg. You can get many inside.

Ask children what they think of at Easter. Many will say, Chocolate, Eggs, Candies, Bunnies etc. (some will make the right connection) Hold the egg and talk about how the egg was an Easter symbol – portent of new life and that Jesus’s rising from the dead meant that we too could have new life. I then said, “If ever I heard somebody give me the right answer right away, I would clap my hands ….” clapping my hands and squashing the egg. The children’s faces will be a mixture of horror and glee as they imagined your hands covered with goo. Instead, imagine their surprise when the egg contains, not yolk and stuff, but messages that tell the Easter story.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

Get more than 80 creative ideas for planning a Youth Easter celebration or Easter Party. You can immediately download my best Easter Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Easter

Children's Sermon

Funeral Wrappings

Note: This one is not an original, but I cannot find the source. If you know the source I would be happy to give credit.

Materials
a pencil and bandage

As Christians we celebrate one day of the year more than any other. Do you know what day? [Easter] Easter is the day when Jesus rose from the grave. Today I want to share part of that story with you. [Read John 19:38-39]

On the Friday that Jesus was crucified Joseph of Arimathæa got permission from Pilate to bury the body. Nicodemus came with a large mixture of myrrh and aloes. The custom of the Jews was to take one-inch strips of linen and wrap them around the body. This was the same way Jesus was wrapped “in swaddling clothes” when he was born. Then burial spices were poured over the strips of linen and hardened like a plaster cast hardens around a broken bone. (John 19:40)

Watch this. Let’s take this pencil and pretend it is an arm. Now let’s wrap the bandage around it. [Do not wrap with the sticky side facing down. Wrap it with the sticky side up around the pencil and catch the leading edge as you go.] This is the way Jesus was wrapped in strips of linen and then aloes and spices were poured over the linen. Then one long linen sheet was laid down. Jesus was laid on this sheet so that his body was completely covered by it. Now let’s set this pencil aside until we hear more of the story.

Joseph and Nicodemus did not have time to finish the job before the Sabbath started. The sun was setting so the women who followed them saw where Jesus was buried and returned home. The would bring spices to finish the job later. Early on the first day of the week (Sunday), the “Spice Girls” brought their spices to put on the body of Jesus. They saw the stone was rolled away and entered the tomb but Jesus was not there. [Read Mark 16:5-7] Jesus had risen! They ran to tell the disciples the good news. Peter and John ran to the tomb. [Read John 20:5-8] The Bible says that John saw and believed. What did John see that made him believe that Jesus had risen? One thing was that Jesus wasn’t there. He also saw the empty linen strips without a tear in them. When Jesus rose from the dead his new body was able to pass through things (John 20:26). His body went right though the burial clothes without tearing them.

[Slip the bandage off the pencil and hold the bandage so they can see the hole in the hollow area where the bandage was.] The clothes were there but Jesus was not. He had risen!

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

Get more than 80 creative ideas for planning a Youth Easter celebration or Easter Party. You can immediately download my best Easter Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Easter activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!

Children's Sermon

Easter Joy

The excitement and apprehension of the disciples on Easter day can be re-created among the children. One of the cardinal rules of most sanctuaries/churches is NO RUNNING. Imagine people running up to join the church or running up to take Communion! Begin the Easter story with Mary running to tell Simon Peter and the other disciple that the stone had been removed. Then Peter and the other disciple were running to the tomb, but the other disciple outran Peter.

Pair the children off and let them run a race from the back of the sanctuary to the front. Take all the children who lost their heats and identify them with Peter. While reminding them of the empty tomb, allow them to go somewhere special in the sanctuary, where you have placed an empty white sheet rolled up in a place by itself. Then invite the winners to join you as you continue the discussion of the empty tomb. Depending upon the size of the group and the abundance of Easter dresses, you may want to use some of the girls to play the part of Mary Magdalene, running to tell the others ( a starting gun) and the subsequent weeping.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

Teaching Illustrations

Easter Symbols

The cross
Not just a symbol of Easter, the cross is probably the most common symbol of Christianity. It symbolizes the sacrifice Jesus made to die for the sins of mankind. An empty cross—without the figure of Christ crucified—reminds Christians of Jesus’ victory over death and the new life and hope this victory brings to those who choose to follow him.

The lamb
Jesus is associated with the lamb. Jews celebrate the festival of Passover to commemorate the blood of the Passover lamb, which caused the angel of death to “pass over” the Israelites. John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Easter lily
This flower has long been a symbol of the new life of Jesus, trumpeting his resurrection.

Easter eggs
Ever since the chicken or the egg came first, people have decorated eggs to celebrate continuing and renewed life. Christians began using eggs to symbolize the rebirth of mankind, and they liken the egg symbol to the tomb from which Christ arose.

The donkey
Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. While many believe that Christ rode on a donkey as an example of humility and meekness, others observe that it was a perfectly respectable ride. While horses were animals of war—the mounts of conquerors—donkeys were ridden by non-military people of rank. So Christ came, not as conqueror, but as the message-bearer of peace.

The name “Easter”
This word has an uncertain origin. Some believe it’s derived from Eastre, the name of a Teutonic goddess of spring. Others claim it comes from the old German word for “dawn.” Whatever its origin, it has clearly come to be Christianity’s greatest event, an annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

Nails and Wood

Materials
Nails, wood.

Activity
Ask kids what can be done with nails and wood. Ask them to give some examples of what you could build.

Debrief
Explain that nails and wood are very important to easter too.
– Does anyone know why?

Tell the story of Christ’s crucifixion. Then teach children the sign language for “I Love You.” Explain that “I love you” was what Jesus was saying when he died on the cross.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

He is Risen

Materials
Two large signs, one reading ‘possible’ and the other ‘impossible’

Your plan is to ask a number of questions to which the answer will be either ‘impossible’ or ‘possible’. Show the two cards and get two volunteers to come and hold up whichever the audience calls out. Be prepared with a list of questions. Here are some examples:

Can a fish live out of water?
Can a person get younger instead of older?
Can a person make a million dollars starting from just one dollar? Can a person turn his or her head 360 degrees?

You might like to look in the Guiness Book of Records for some unlikely stories which are actually true. Your final question will be: Can a dead person live again?

Debrief
God did the impossible by raising his Son Jesus from the dead. All who believe this to raise their hands.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.

Balloon Hunt

One day as a child and her grandmother were taking flowers to the cemetery they passed a newly dug grave. “Grandma, look!” Nicole exclaimed. “One got out!” Jesus Got out!

Materials
Before the meeting, hide deflated red, green, black, white, and yellow balloons in the room or outside. With each balloon, place a long piece of string.

Divide the participants into groups of five; have the groups choose names such as “Egg Raiders.” Ask each team to line up. Have the members place their hands on the waist of the person in front of them. The last person in line will give verbal instructions to the team, trying to get them to hop in unison. The first person is the only one who can touch the balloons.

The object of the game is to hop around the room in a connected line and find the balloons. Each group must find one balloon of each color. The first person blows up the balloon, ties the string to it, and places the balloon between the teeth of the second person. This process continues until everyone has a balloon in his or her teeth or until time is called.

Play songs such as the “Bunny Hop” or “Peter Cottontail.” After five minutes, call time and award 100 points for each balloon; 500 points if thery have one of each color. Award prizes such as chocolate Easter bunnies and color-dyed, hard-boiled eggs. You also can make awards by blowing up balloons and using a marker to write titles such as “Most unique hopper” or “ ‘Hoppiest’ group member.”

Debrief
Use the colored balloons to share the message of Easter. Black represents sin, red represents the blood of Christ shed on the cross to wash away our sins, white represents the life cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice, green represents new life in Christ, and yellow represents heaven which is now accessible to us through the death of Christ on the cross.

Easter Collection
Games and Activities in celebration of Easter.