Children & youth ministry

Meisha Michener

“In the Morning Night”

ICEBREAKERS
Muffin Melissa/Biscuit Bob

Everyone decides on a breakfast food or drink that begins with the same letter as their first name. Then the kids have to slit up and make a meal from each other. The best breakfast wins!

Comic Strips

Before the kids show up, get an idea of how many teams you want to work with. Find that number of comic strips. Paste the comics onto cardboard or a harder construction paper and cut them into puzzles of up to ten or so pieces (more if you want larger teams). On the other side of the construction paper leave a spot for the kids to write their name. When the kids arrive, randomly hand out the nametags. Tell the kids to take off their nametags and solve the puzzles. Make it a race against the other teams and have fun while watching the kids run around searching for others with the same comic

Breakfast on the back

Put different pictures of breakfast foods on pieces of paper and tape onto each person's back. Then everyone has to go around asking yes or no questions of other people in order to find out what food is on their back.

Under the sheets

Begin by splitting up the group into 2 teams. (girls against guys is good). Use blanket or sheet to separate the 2 teams so that neither group can see each other. 2 volunteers will hold divider up. Both teams decides on one person to quietly go up to the very front of the divider to be poised in any position just as long as they are right in front of the divider. On the count of 3, the divider is dropped and the person to call out the name of the other person first is the winner. This game is great fun and allows for everyone to remember each other’s names.

Know Your Neighbor

First you write the names of everyone in the group, then put it into a bag, and let everyone pick one (hopefully it's not their own) then they must find this person and find out their age, what the first thing they do in the morning is, their most hated breakfast food, and if they drool on their pillow! This would allow everyone to know something about everyone else.

GAMES

What am I?

The youth sit in a circle. One person goes outside the room, while he is away the others decide what he should "be" when he comes back. He has to ask each youth member in turn what he has to buy for himself. One may say black boots, another a pair of shorts, another a gun (ha, ha), another a letter, etc. If the shopper goes right around the circle without guessing what he is (post man), he must go out again, and the kids will choose something else.
Newspaper Hockey

You will need quite a few newspapers depending upon the size of group. Use the newspapers, folded or rolled, as "hockey" sticks. Use ping-pong balls or the practice, wiffle golf balls as the pucks. Set up goals (a "fellowship Hall" table or some other creative goals) and let the kids play hockey. No using hands to pick up "puck", only the goalie may touch the puck with anything other than the newspaper-hockey stick.

Banana Showdown

Everyone has a banana in good enough condition to eat. 2 teams face each other in parallel lines. The people have to put their banana in a pocket. When the signal is given, the people must draw their bananas like guns and instantly peel it and eat it as fast as they can. Whoever has their banana eaten first wins.

Egg in a tube

Get the flexible outer tubing from a vacuum cleaner. Take the tube and crack 3 raw eggs into the middle. Get 2 volunteers, and put one at either end. The two kids blow as hard as they can until one has to take a breath. Guess where the eggs go when that happens? Fun stuff!!!

Cereal Bowl Marbles

Fill a kiddy pool with milk and cereal along with marbles that sink to the bottom. The kids pick about 4 to come up and grab marbles with their toes out of the “cereal bowl”. The team with the most marbles wins.

Old-Fashioned Breakfast Relay

This is a relay race where the kids have to run back and forth, eating a sardine, piece of burnt toast, and lastly a raw egg.

Pillow Fight

Good old regular pillow fight with a twist. No using arms or hands! The kids have to hold the pillow with their teeth!

MESSAGE

”Do You Love Me?”

John 21:12-19

How many of you guys have ever heard that on a movie? Or even maybe someone was saying it to you? Well, I want to tell a story that that exact question was asked three times right after breakfast. Lets read John 21:12-19.

Here it is, Jesus was risen from the dead. Yeah, can you imagine having breakfast with a ex-dead guy? Pretty gross. He was eating breakfast with his buddies. And then came the question. “Do you love me?” He was talking to Peter, the same guy that had denied Him three times just before His death. And like the three times he denied Him, three times Jesus asked this question. But, when Peter said, “Yes! Of course I do!”, Jesus’ reply was, ”Feed my sheep.” No, he wasn’t saying “Take care of my herd while I’m gone. Leave fishing and become a shepherd. “ He was saying that he wanted Peter to disciple other followers of Jesus and help them grow spiritually. See how personal Jesus was? He had a specific calling and purpose for Peter, even though he had failed miserably just a while ago. He told Peter to follow Him.

In the same way, Jesus is asking us, ”Do you love me?” and if you do,

do what He has called you to do. Will you turn around and follow Him like Peter did? Peter left fishing for the purpose God had for him and he had an awesome adventure. You can too.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. http://www.pastor2youth.com/mediumingames8.html#newspapergame Accessed April 3, 2003.

2. http://www.funandgames.org/games.html Accessed April 3, 2003.
3.Brown, Jeremy. Youth Pastor, Morwell Apostolic Church. Morwell, Victoria, Australia. 2003.
4. McCollam, Dan & Keith Betts. More! Junior High Game Nights. Grand Rapids, MI.:Youth Specialties/Zondervan Publishing House, 1992.
5. Yaconelli, Mike and Wayne Rice. Play It!. Grand Rapids, MI.:Youth Specialties/Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.

Brett Mizelle

Game Night (Accountability)