Yes / no game
A game that encourages teenagers to avoid being monosyllabic. Good luck!
10 mins
Get two volunteers to stand facing each other, with you as a leader in-between them. Explain that you will be asking them questions alternately, and that the only rule is that their response must not include any ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers.
If you want to use this as a simple illustration at the front, just use two volunteers and see who can last the longest without using yes or no in a head-to-head competition style. Alternatively if you want to get more people involved get everyone to queue up, and as soon as one of your questionees uses a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response replace them with the next person in the queue. For added youth work payback, use a water sprayer (the kind you’d use on house plants) to squirt your participants in the face every time they use yes or no, or if they take too long answering a question.
Tips: use a real variety of questions; switch quickly between the competitors so they don’t have time to pause and think; follow threads of questions through with each competitor, and then confuse them by asking a question which connects to their rival’s questions; if anyone is doing too well, ask them a couple of questions in succession which don’t have a potential yes/no response, before suckering them with a quick yes/no question. (E.g. Who do you think is the greatest footballer ever? Which football team do you support? Why do you think Sir Alex Ferguson resigned now rather than next season? Was he right to resign now?)
Evangelistic connection: People say things like: there might be a God, or there might not be; Jesus was a wise teacher, but not the Son of God; that they think Christianity might be true, but they aren’t entirely sure about it so they don’t want to commit. However, sometimes in life, unlike this game, you have to decide on a simple yes or no.
Billy Graham* rating: 7/10
Back writing relay
Think this game is about writing backwards? Think again.
10 mins
Divide your group into teams of about half a dozen or so, and get them lined up facing the front, as if it was a relay race. Give the person at the front of the line a pencil and piece of paper and explain that you are going to show a simple picture to the person at the back of the line. They then have to draw that picture onto the back of the person in front of them using their finger, and the person in front then has to draw the picture they felt on their back onto the back of the person in front of them and so on, until it reaches the person at the front who then draws what they think the picture is onto the sheet of paper. Reveal the correct image, and see which team is the closest. Repeat a couple of times, increasing the complexity of the pictures each time, and allowing different people to have a turn at being at the front.
Evangelistic connection: What we think a message is, and what the message really is, are sometimes two entirely different things. Is what you think about Christianity the truth behind it?
Billy Graham* rating: 9/10
Jaffa Cake jelly
You know the good bits of Jaffa Cakes? NONE OF THAT BIT FOR YOU.
5 mins
A fun activity, good for a group session, this is a game that you and your youth group may have played at some stage without being aware of the rules. Divide your group into teams, and give each team several packets of Jaffa Cakes (cheaper, non-branded alternatives may well be your friend budget-wise, and are just as effective). Explain that the competition is to eat the biscuit and chocolate, and to leave as much jelly as possible. Collect each team’s jelly innards and weigh them to work out who has the most jelly. Let the group know that you will be really strict on removing any bits of jelly which have the chocolate biscuit still attached. The team with the smallest amount left wins!
Evangelistic connection: The ultimate identifying feature of a Jaffa Cake is that it has orange jelly in the middle of it. The biscuit and chocolate are great, but the point of a Jaffa Cake is the orange jelly. Getting to the heart of the matter is important; not getting distracted or put off by the stuff that surrounds the truth is absolutely vital if we’re going to find out what really matters.
Billy Graham* rating: (Tenuous connection) 2/10
If you love me baby, smile
A way of spreading love and peace throughout your group. Or one that may result in arguments.
10 mins
Get your group sitting in a circle and explain that communicating with each other is important, as is love, and that you want your group to love each other. Explain that the first person needs to turn to the person on their right and tell them, with a completely straight face, ‘If you love me baby, smile’. At this point that person has to reply, without smiling, ‘I love you baby, but I just can’t smile’.
If they manage this then they pass it on to the person on their right, saying, ‘If you love me baby, smile’ etc. If they fail and start laughing or smiling they are eliminated, and the person who is saying it to them then has to say it to the next person in the circle who again has to keep a completely straight face and reply. Explain that your group is allowed, even encouraged, to try and make the people who they are speaking to laugh, with funny faces / voices etc. - as long as they don’t smile or laugh while doing so.
Keep it going around the circle until you find the most controlled people in your group.
Evangelistic connection: The word we translate as ‘gospel’ comes from a Greek word which literally means ‘good news’ - in fact it is the best news, the most exciting and important news that humanity has ever received. God loves us, and showed it by sending Jesus, who conquered death and sin for us. If you love this news baby, then smiling is the least of the responses that we can ultimately offer.
Billy Graham* rating: Amen, brother. Preach it. Good news. 10/10
