Author: mikedicker

Application Pictures

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Ask the group “what situations would it be useful to know this memory verse?” and then draw pictures of those situations on the white board/butchers paper. The aim is for them to see how memorising the bible is useful in life.

-20 Note: If you have time on your side, you can split into small groups and have each group come up with their own situations and pictures, then present it back to the group. Add approx 5 minutes per group to the running time for this activity (eg. 4 groups will add 20 mins)

Memory Verse Relay

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Form teams for a relay race where each team member has to run up to the whiteboard and write one word of the memory verse (in correct order) until the entire verse is written. If time permits can do multiple rounds with different instructions e.g. Hop/jump to the whiteboard. Can also do with a memory verse jigsaw puzzle.

Pass the Ball

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See who knows the memory verse, then write it up on the board. Get everyone to stand in a circle and have a ball to pass around the group. As you catch the ball you say one word of the memory verse and then pass it to another who says the next word, and so on till the memory verse is said in full. Time how long it takes to say the memory verse and try and see how fast the group can say the memory verse. Try to beat the previous time.

Newspaper Slice

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Divide the memory verse up into sections then divide the youth group into smaller groups. Hand out a newspaper to each group and give 10 mins to slice up words and/or letters out of the newspaper to make up their section of the memory verse and glue onto a piece of paper. Awards for most creative.

Memory Verse Song

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Split into groups (approx. 10 people) and have each group do the memory verse in a different music genre (eg. Advertising jingle, high school musical, rap, soap opera TV theme song, Opera, Country and Western etc). Record the songs if you have the technology and use them in the coming weeks to remember the verse.

50+ Note: If you have 50 people or more, just use a memory verse song already written (eg. Colin Buchanan) to teach the memory verse. You can play the song on CD and sing along or play it live! (playing live might be best, because the CD can be a bit lame).

Pass the Parcel revision

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Teach the memory verse to the group. Make a parcel with prizes in each layer. Have the group sit in a circle and pass the parcel around the group while everyone says the memory verse out loud, whoever has the parcel when the memory verse has been said through gets to unwrap a layer. Repeat the process saying the memory verse each time until all the layers have been unwrapped (some kids will miss out on a prize, but this will teach them that life isn’t always fair… they’ve got to learn somewhere!).

Total Recall

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See who can recall both the memory verses for the term. For an extra challenge you can see how many verses they can recall from the year! Do this activity near the end of term, and even get them to do it in groups sometimes so they can work out the memory verses together by writing down as many as they can recall on a piece of paper.

Popcorn Prayer

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This is just random free flowing prayer time! Just get people to pray out loud in no particular order. Can be about anything people want to pray for. This segment gives people the freedom to pray spontaneously and without any regimented structure, it teaches them that prayer doesn’t need to be orderly.

Target Prayer

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Draw 3 circles on a white board with the circles representing world issues, local issues, and individual issues respectively. After the group comes up with some prayer points for each category, pray one point each out loud as a group.

target_icon 40+ Note: If there’s more than 40 people, then select just 1 person per category to pray the prayer points in each circle.

Prayer Barrel

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(We made a lucky dip barrel for this at our youth group)

Ask the kids to each come up with a prayer topic (eg. Youth group, government, Africa, non Christian friends, war, etc.) Write the topics on pieces of paper and put them in the barrel (or on the wheel). Choose someone to come and spin the barrel and then pick out a topic. Repeat the process till you have 3 or 4 prayer topics and then ask the group for prayer points under those topics. When there is enough prayer points, pray through them as a whole group out loud.

40+ Note: If there’s more than 40 people, you can either: 1) limit the to just 2 topics; 2) select just a few of people (maybe 1 for each category) to pray the prayer points on the board; or 3) split into small groups to pray.

Bite Size Prayer

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Bite size is designed to help people who don’t usually pray (or have never prayed), to pray out loud. Bite size prayer works by writing up two categories on the white board (usually ‘thanks’ and ‘ask’) and when the group has enough prayer points on the board for each person in the group to pray one, delegate the prayer points to everyone in the group. Go around the group and pray one bite sized prayer each – that means short i.e. “Thanks God for the rain, amen.”

30+ Note: If there’s more than 30 people, then select just a few of people (maybe 5) to pray the prayer points in both columns.

Prayer Card Shuffle

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Prayer card shuffle is designed to help people who don’t usually pray (or have never prayed), to pray out loud. Give everyone a card and ask them to write a prayer for themselves in the 3rd person (eg. Mike writes on his card “dear God please help Mike…” etc). Then shuffle the cards and redistribute them. Pray out loud by going around the group one after the other, so that everyone ends up praying for another person. Ask the youth group to hold onto the cards and prayer for that person during the week.

40+ Note: If there’s more than 40 people then after the cards have been shuffles and given out, just allow 5 minutes for people to pray through their card in silence rather than out loud.

Bible Secret Sounds

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This activity takes a bit of preparation!

This works much like “Who am I?” except the clues are given as sounds, and you use Bible stories instead of characters. Choose a Bible story. Prepare about 12 audio clues (starting with harder clues and getting easier). Split everybody into groups and play the audio clues pausing after each clue in order to give the groups a chance to guess. Once a group has made their guess, that’s it for the game. Have a range of prizes to give out depending on how many clues were heard before the Bible story was guessed.

Bible Charades/Pictionary

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Just like the game charades or pictionary. Divide the group into teams. Make list of about 10 scenes, things, or people from the Bible. Each team nominates one person to go up first and be told the first item on the list. They return to their group to act out or draw the Bible scene, thing, or person that was given. When someone guesses what it is, that person then goes back to the leader running the game and gets the next item off the list. The process repeats until all the listed items have been guessed. The team that finishes the list first is the winner.

Variation: Can also be done with playdoe – sculptionary.

Protect the truth (poison ball)

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This game is a variation of  poison ball. Using masking tape, chalk, or rope, mark out an court to play poison ball (the court should be rectangle and divided into 3 equal thirds). Divide the group into 2 teams. Team ‘A’ will stand in the middle section of the poison ball court and the team ‘B’ will stand each side. Like regular poison ball, team ‘B’ needs to eliminate team ‘A’ by throwing a ball and hitting each member below the knee. The added twist to this is that one member on team ‘A’ is given a Bible and given the title: “the truth”. Team ‘A’ needs to protect the truth at all costs. If “the truth” gets hit below the knee by the ball, not only are they out, but the whole team  is out. The game goes for 3 minutes, and if team ‘A’ is able to protect “the truth” for the duration of the game, they win. Play this game as many times as you like and swap the roles of the different teams and who plays “the truth” each time.

Note: This activity requires a durable environment and lots of space.

Draw your swords

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The aim of this game is to help everyone navigate their way around the Bible better. Give every person in the group a Bible to tuck under one arm. Call out a Bible passage to the group (eg. Jeremiah 31:31) and the first person to open their Bible, find the passage and read it out is the winner. Repeat again until satisfied.

World Map

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Split everyone up into groups. Give each group a massive round weather balloon (preferably filled with helium for some extra excitement!) and a couple of textas. In a time frame of about 5 minutes, each group needs to draw (and label) a world map on their balloon as accurately as possible. The group with the most accurate world map is the winner.

Important! Have information sheets prepared before hand that focus on a particular country and perhaps a missionary there. Give an information sheet to each group to discuss the country, find out about its environment, politics, issues, religion, and then pray for that country.

Bible Skit

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Split into 2 groups and make a skit on the Bible teaching passage. Give each group about 5-10 minutes to work out a 2 minute skit and then perform it in front of the whole group. This will really only work with narrative parts of the Bible.

Note: This activity requires at least 20 mins.

Memory match card game

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(This game really only works with a small group, otherwise it takes forever…)

Each person is given 2 cards that they write their name on, and  something unique or interesting about themselves. All the cards from the group are mixed up and put on a table face down. Each person in the group then takes turns at trying to find a set of matching cards by selecting 2 cards and turning them up the right way. If a matching set is found, that set is taken off the table and that player gets another turn. If a matching set isn’t found, those cards are returned face down to the same position and the turn moves on to the next player.

Variation: Each person is given 2 cards to write 3 unique things about themselves (the same on each card) and without writing their name on the cards. All the cards from the group are mixed up and put on a table face down. Each person in the group then takes turns at trying to find a set of matching cards by selecting 2 cards and turning them up the right way. When a set of matching cards is found the player who found them must guess who the set belongs to before taking the set off the table and having another turn. If they guess incorrectly the cards are turned back over and the turn moves on to the next player.