Activities & Games for a Youth Group

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A Christian youth group is both a social organization and a Bible study class. Activities should foster friendships and encourage fellowship while teaching Bible basics and Christian principles to students. Organize your youth group meeting to include both a lesson and a craft or game that reinforces the lesson’s theme.

Dirty Mouth

Ephesians 4:29 warns Christians not to let corruption come from their mouths. Similar warnings are given in both 2 Timothy 2:14-16 and Ephesians 5:4. The dirty mouth game illustrates that it is much easier to say things that are hurtful than to fix things after you have said them. Have the students sit in a circle on the floor. Hand each student a tube of toothpaste and have them squeeze about 2 inches of paste out on a paper plate. Have them compete to put the toothpaste back in the tube. They'll find it's virtually impossible. Read James 3:2-12. Tell students that words, like the toothpaste, can’t easily be taken back.

Practice

Let young members of the church practice congregational leadership with the youth group. Allow members to lead their peers in song and prayer. Ask older or more experienced students to lead the devotional lessons. This gives students an opportunity to use their spiritual gifts and serve God without the pressure of addressing the full congregation.

Skits

Break students into teams and have them perform skits. Students can write their own skits, or you can print scripts from the Internet that relate to the biblical topic you are studying. Afterward, discuss the character development and religious themes in the skits. Skits can be an excellent way to draw out students who are hesitant to join large group activities. Possible skit topics include peer pressure, converting friends to Christ, respect, honesty and abstinence.

Godliness

Encourage students to consider the things they should be doing while living a godly life. Buy a cheap mirror for each of the students in the youth group. Have students use paint markers or permanent markers to write the personality traits and characteristics they want to see in themselves on the mirror. Tell students that they should examine themselves daily as commanded in 2 Corinthians 13:5.