Tag Archives: values

Icebreakers

Shadrach Meshach Abednego

Leave a comment

Materials
Get enough chairs to have one for each participant then remove one chair.

Icebreaker Description
In this icebreaker / crowdbreaker, youth will learn the names of others in the group.

Preparation
Arrange the chairs in a circle.

Icebreaker Activity

  1. Each participant is called Shadrach. The one sitting on his right is Meshach. The one sitting on his left is Abed-nego. Someone who is “It” stands in the center.
  2. There are three possible scenarios:
    • If “It” calls, “Meshach!”, before everyone can count to ten (vary time for faster groups) you must give the real name of the person on your left.
    • If “It” calls, “Abednego!”, before everyone can count to ten (vary time for faster groups) you must give the real name of the person on your left.
    • Now and then the person in the center may try to fool participants by calling out “Shadrach”. When he points to you and calls “Shadrach” you must give your OWN NAME.
  3. Any mistakes or failure to call out the correct name in the indicated time and you forfeit your seat to the person in the center and you become “it.”

Optional Debrief

  1. Who were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego?
  2. What are some of the things society today asks you to bow down to?
  3. What are some of the fiery trials you have needed to face in life?
  4. How would you describe your life at this time: a spring breeze, Warm, Hot, or Fiery?

Conclusion
Shadrach, Mechach, and Abednego were three Jewish friends of Daniel that were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. It was a difficult time. If you dared to say what you really believed or to stand up for what you thought to be true, it might literally be the last time you ever stood or the last words you ever spoke. But they were not afraid to stand for God. They refused to bow to anyone or anything else, even when their life was on the line.

Application
In what situation is it most difficult for you to take a stand for what you believe? What will you do the next time you are faced with this situation?

Scripture
Daniel 3

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Icebreakers

Scruples Shuffle

Leave a comment

Materials
None

Icebreaker Description
Youth will answer questions of scruples in this group icebreaker.

Preparation
Create a list of questions that test the integrity of a person but do not have easy black and white answers?

  • A fellow student offers to sell you the answers to last years test for $20. You know the test is different each year. Do you buy them?
  • Is it OK for a Christian man to wear earrings?
  • Is it OK to have devotions in the evening instead of the morning?
  • Is it OK to hunt for sport?
  • Is it OK to screen my telephone calls and not answer, even though I’m really home?
  • You e-mail your picture to a gorgeous person you met on the Internet. Do you mention you gained 30 pounds since the picture was taken?
  • You know your best friend and fellow employee is stealing from the cash drawer. After a year the owner makes you a manager. Do you fire your friend?
  • You made personal Christmas Cards on the company copier. Do you pay for the copies even though no one knows?
  • You work in a store and catch a fifteen-year-old shoplifter. He says it’s his first time. Do you give him a chance or prosecute?
  • You work in a video store. You’re out of stock on a particular item. Do you send your customer to your competitor?
  • Someone drops a $20 bill on the floor. Do you try to find the owner or do you keep the $20?
  • Your friend helped get you a job at a music store. After three months you find out that he’s been stealing CDs. Do you report him?
  • You’re a waiter in a restaurant. You see the cook drop a steak on the floor. He cooked it well over a fire. Do you serve it to the customer?

Click on the word “comments” in the box below this idea to share your own great questions!

Icebreaker Activity

  1. Have youth form two circles, one within the other. The students should be facing one another.
  2. The inner circle of students move counter-clockwise while the outer circle moves clockwise.
  3. When you call “Stop!” each youth should face a new partner.
  4. Ask a question and the youth should discuss the answer with the partner they face.
  5. Go from easy questions like “What’s the best ice cream” to hard ones that involve scruples.
  6. Keep rotating and asking new questions for discussion.

Optional Debrief
What was the most interesting answer you heard during the icebreaker?

Conclusion
Scruples are personal principles about practices that are essentially neutral in themselves, and are not shown to be morally wrong or black-and-white in Scripture. Sometimes there may be conflicting principles at work. For example, “smuggling Bibles” into a country where Bibles are illegal is seen as wrong by some believers, based on the clear Scriptures that deal with deception and lying. Other Christians see Bible-smuggling as morally right, fulfilling the Great Commission, and obeying the clear teaching of Scripture that “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Romans 14 gives us some principles for dealing with such situations.

Application
A morally neutral practice can become morally wrong for us if we disregard the teachings of Romans 14 and fail to “act in love” towards others! So let’s show love and patience with each other as we seek to sort out lifestyle and behavior matters in the light of Scripture. Let’s make sure we apply the principles of Romans 14 when it comes to scruples!

Scripture
Romans 14:1-3

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Icebreakers

I Never

Leave a comment

Materials
Enough sturdy chairs for all participants to sit in a circle

Icebreaker Description
In this high energy icebreaker, youth learn a lot of fun facts about each other pertaining to the things that they have never done.

Preparation
Place enough chairs in a circle to have one chair for each person then remove one chair.

Icebreaker Activity

  1. Choose one person to be “it” and stand in the center of the circle.
  2. The person in the middle of the circle names something they have never done. (e.g. “I have never… been water skiing.”)
  3. Then, anyone who has done the thing that was mentioned has to get out of his/her chair and find another empty chair to sit in. They may NOT sit in the same seat. Whoever is “It” tries to grab one of the empty chairs during the chaos.
  4. Whoever is left without a chair become “it” and must stand in the middle of the circle. They then state something they have never done and try to get a chair.
  5. If a person has been in the center of the circle at least 3 times and can’t think of anything they’ve never done, they can “holler train wreck.” EVERYONE has to move on this one. Don’t let them call this out too many times or you loose all the fun of it.

Variation
If a person ends up in the center of the circle three times, they must perform a forfeit for the group. This forfeit could be to dance, to sing, to tell a clean joke, etc.

Caution
Be careful to not allow youth to name things that might be an embarrassment to others.

Optional Debrief

  • What are some of the things that Christians should do, but most never do? Why?
  • What are some things that you fail to do in your own Christian walk even though you know you should do them?
  • Have you ever found yourself doing something that you promised yourself you would never do?

Conclusion
Traditionally there are two types of sin: Sins of Commission and Sins of Omission. Sins of commission are the things that we do that are wrong. Whenever we break one of the commandments or do anything that the Bible forbids it is a sin of commission. Sins of Omission are those things we know we should do, but fail to do. Scripture puts it this way: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17).

Application Point
What is something you haven’t been doing in your Christian walk, that you will commit to start doing this week?

Scripture
James 4:17

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!