Getting together in marriage groups for a Bible study or to work together on a project can be a little awkward, especially in the beginning if no one knows one another. In order to help married couples get to know one another on a deeper level, it’s important to break down the shyness by doing some icebreakers that will help ease the tension and open the air.

Write down a list of characters from the Bible, and assign one to each person. Attach the name to that person either on their forehead or on their backs so it’s visible to everyone except the person wearing it. While sitting in a circle, go around one by one and allow each person to ask one question at a time to help them guess their character. The first person to guess correctly wins. Keep going until the last person guesses their character.

Have the couples act out how they met each other. With their actions, they’ll have to set up the scenery, the location, the time of day, the activities they were doing and others who were around. The other couples in the group will have to guess at these factors in their story. In the end, everyone will know how the other couples met each other, which will serve for conversation starters later on. For extra fun, have the couples switch roles when acting out the skit.

This activity breaks the ice quickly because each person is required to tell one embarrassing fact or story about themselves. When the entire group embarrasses themselves in front of everyone else, a new level of trust and openness is built because everyone is brought down to the same, humble, human level as everyone else. Because it’s for a Christian group, request that they keep their stories clean and appropriate.

Create a question box and have individuals write down questions they would have for someone they just met and place them into the box. The questions can be about anything, as long as they’re not too personal or inappropriate. Pass the box around, and have each person answer one or two questions at random about themselves.