For a free pdf download of this resource click here
PREPARATION
You will need: a pack of Top Trumps, an electric shock gadget, a Jedi outfit (or brown dressing gown), a light saber (or paper sword), Nerf gun and bullets (or sponge balls), chilli peppers, some extreme sport videos and nail varnish (only joking!). It’s up to you when you read out the three statements of how the girls define their identity as well as the answers to the boy’s questions from the week before, but it’s important that you do it.
TOP TRUMP KNOCKOUT
15 mins
Get a set of Top Trump cards (Marvel or DC superheroes work really well but any pack will do). Deal out three cards to each person and then get them to randomly walk around the room. When you call out a category (e.g. speed) they have to duel with the person next to them (or in a group of three if necessary). The one or two people with the lower value(s) have to give that card back to the leader. Do this a few times with different categories until a winner emerges. Then up the ante with this additional challenge: borrow an electric shock reaction game and get a few guys to play, or get two volunteers to replay Top Trump knockout as a duel with a forfeit of eating a chilli.
RISKY BUSINESS
15 mins
Show three clips of extreme sports from YouTube which are quite different e.g. base jumping, offpiste skiing (the kind where you get dropped on a crazily high peak by a helicopter) and surfing a giant wave. Then discuss the following questions:
• If you absolutely had to do one of those things, which would it be?
• If I said we’re going go and do a parachute jump at our nearest airfield, who’d say yes?
• What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken?
• As guys are we more likely to risk life and limb than girls? If so, why do we do it?
• If you really had to do one of those challenges, say in a few months’ time, how would you prepare?
KEY POINT
do we like taking risks? In part it’s explained by the changes we’re going through. Your brain develops and changes during the teenage years in a way that hasn’t happened since you were a toddler. One of the changes that happens is that you get fired up by peer approval like no other time in your life. In short, your brain loves showing off in front of others. Also, during teenage years there’s a vital bit of your brain missing - the pre-frontal cortex. This develops in later teenage years but it’s the bit of your brain that controls judgement. That means you don’t often think ahead to consequences. Why do people on alcohol think it’s safe to drive home? Because alcohol hits their prefrontal cortex robbing them of good judgement. So in essence we’ve got show off brains that don’t care about the consequences. That’s why although we might not always think it, if we want a bit of direction in life then it’s good to listen to the wisdom of those who are older than us.
SAGE WARRIOR
20 mins
Take a short time for the leaders to share one bit of advice that an older person gave them when they were young that they wish they’d paid more attention to - for example: ‘You buy cheap, you pay twice.’ Then explain that much of the book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom books of the Bible, is about an older man passing wisdom onto a younger man. Read Proverbs 1:1-19 and discuss the following questions:
• If you could be an apprentice to anyone (dead or alive, fictional or real) and listen to their advice for a year, who would it be?
• This passage focuses on advising young men not to be influenced by those who are out to rob and kill. We might not be tempted to do those things, but when have we been tempted to go along with the crowd?
• Think of a time when someone has given you advice and you’ve rejected it, and a time when you’ve been give advice and accepted it.
Tell the group you’re going to look at some advice from the greatest guru of all time! Read Matthew 22:34-40 and ask:
• Jesus offers this teaching as the wisest way to live your life. If you made it your sole purpose to follow these laws what would it cost you?
• What would be the benefit of keeping to these truths?
MAY THE FORCE...
10 mins
If you’ve got a Star Wars fancy dress outfit or just an old brown dressing gown then dress one guy up in it and blindfold them. Hand them a cheap plastic light saber (or paper sword) and insist that they must use the force to deflect the incoming ‘bullets’. Get someone with a Nerf gun to let them have it while someone else tells them which way to swing the bat. Introduce the idea of taking direction from other people in life.
KEY POINT
Blokes throughout the ages have learned how to be blokes from hanging out with older and wiser blokes. It sounds simple but it’s true. Think of films that are essentially a novice to knight story - someone young and experienced learns how to be a better version of themselves by getting training or teaching from someone older and wiser. Harry Potter has Dumbledore, Luke Skywalker has Obi-Wan Kenobi and Frodo has Gandalf. We may choose our purpose in life as blokes by choosing a career path, our choices at school or the decision we make about our first job. Often those choices are influenced by thinking about older people we respect, people who we’d like to model our lives on. As Christian guys, seeking and heeding advice from those who are older and wiser is always good, and modelling our life on Christ is essential if we want to live the best life.
GOD’S GUYS
10 mins
Invite the younger guys to stand in the centre of the room and get the older leaders to gather round and pray for them as they choose to live for Jesus. Then switch over. Encourage everyone to be open to God’s spirit and share pictures and words you may have for each other.
