Excellent Games and Program for A Youth Group Meeting!

It is not easy to bring people to church these days. The church attendance in North America has been dwindling for the past few decades. I feel so sad when I see church buildings everywhere in Canada being sold off to become commercial buildings due to declining attendance.

Churches in Ontario are no exception to this problem and many are trying different ways to attract people back to their Sunday worship. One of the strategies is to bring young people back to church. Consequently, I was invited to start and lead a new youth ministry in Waterloo, Ontario

Last Sunday afternoon, we had our second meeting for the Youth Fellowship Program. Instead of the traditional sermon messages, we tried a different format.

1. Songs - We started with songs and we chose them carefully, taking into consideration the age and the unique problems youths face these days. We hope that these songs would break the ice and touch their hearts.

The Untangling Game

2. Games - Though I have more than thirty years of experience working with students and young people, I understand that young people need good role models and they relate better to their peers. I invited Y., an excellent senior high school student with an outgoing and positive personality to come and lead some program for us.

Y. did an outstanding job and led a few fun games. The ones that really got the youth engaged were:

A. Untangling a human knot - She divided the large group into two groups of six. Members were asked to hold hands from someone standing opposite from them first with their left hands, and then with a different person at least two away from them with their right hands. Then they had to work together to untangle themselves from this human know into a circle.

Young people working hard to get themselves out of the Knot

It was a challenging and fun activity for the youth as they had to work together and plan their exit from their knot.

As an older person, I would not have chosen this game. But I was glad Y. did because the youth really liked it!!

( I thought to myself this is why we must have young people leading the games. They know what young people like!)


B. Staring Down - This was the second game when everyone stood and formed a big circle. Everyone looked down at their shoes. When the announcer yelled "Look Up", everyone looked into the other people in the circle trying not to make eye contact with anyone. If two people made eye contact with each other, they would be eliminated. The game was repeated until only two people left in the circle.
That was a great game!

Rock, Paper & Scissors Game

C. Rock, Paper & Scissors - Participants were divided into two groups. Each group sent a representative to do the Rock, Paper, & Scissors with the other team member. The person who lost would cross the line and go over to the other team. The game continued until one side lost all their members. It was really fun when it was done in a fast paced manner.

I really like these three games as they required no equipment at all and can be played either indoor and outdoor. Many churches and youth groups are operating on very limited resources with little or no money to purchase any special equipment or preparation material when comes to their youth group meetings. These games would be great for them!

3. Short Story - After the games, the young people got to know each other better and were more relaxed at the meeting. Knowing that young people are studying hard and facing the problem of choosing their study and university, I shared a bible story that would appeal to them.

I used the story of Solomon and how he used divine wisdom to solve the problem for two mothers fighting over the living baby. The story was well received. As I shared my own life stories with them, there were some teary eyes among the young people.  I do hope that this Youth Fellowship Program would help some of them in the future!

R.T.
Youth Group Meeting
Waterloo, Ontario