When we are in the thick of difficult situations, it can be hard to see what God is doing. Use this up front challenge to illustrate how, with time, we can look back and see how God has been with us through hard times.
Ask for two volunteers and get them to step outside of your room. Set up a... See more

The 'Miss Inner Beauty' pageant is a fun teaching acitivity to explore character and virtues such as the Fruit of the Spirit:
"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no... See more

Learn about Lent and have fun at the same time! This Lent Quiz is short, fun and easy to run in your youth group as part of your Lent programme.  To make the quiz more challenging (e.g. for older teenagers), simply leave out the multi-choice options and see what answers they come up... See more

This twist on Pass the Parcel is a fun way to tell the Christmas story and reflect on God’s gift of love in Jesus. Our young people really enjoyed this. Our churched young people appreciated hearing a familiar story in a fresh way, and our ‘community’ kids had a fun introduction to a side of... See more

Test your youth group's knowledge of the Bible with a game of Bible Netball.
You will need: a netball or volleyball, a hoop (we used a rubbish bin strapped to a chair), and a Bible for each team. Make sure you have enough space to pass the ball around relative to your size group.
How to... See more

A game that teaches about guidance. The big idea? God is a trust-worthy guide.
The Game:
Set the room up beforehand with up to four mousetraps, already set. Next to them place sweets and biscuits. We had the chocolate touching the mousetrap, other less appealing sweets slightly further... See more

This icebreaker is great as a small group starter and doesn’t actually involve fire.
Give the invitation to take on a selection of ‘tongues of fire’ challenges. Categories could include: Speed alphabet recital, speed count to 30, speed reading a set passage, longest “Aarrgh”... See more

This is a Christmas Quiz of epic proportions. See how much you really know about Christmas with this massive series of Christmas quizzes covering Global Traditions, Kiwi Christmas, Most Expensive Toys, Christmas Carols,  All About Jesus, and a good old True & False section as... See more

Activities you can use to help your youth to explore and relate to the story of Exodus. "The Law" is part 4 of a series on Exodus.
The Big Idea: Being obedient, living the way he requires
Passages you could look at: Exodus 19:3-6, Exodus 20:1-17, Matthew 5:17-20, John 14:15
Game... See more

Activities you can use to help your youth to explore and relate to the story of Exodus. "Manna & Water" is part 3 of a series on Exodus.
The Big Idea: God’s Provision & Trusting in Him
Passages you could look at: Exodus 16:1-27, 31, Exodus 17:1-7, Matthew 6:25-34
Whining... See more

If you're teaching on Exodus, then here are some activities you can use to help your youth to relate to the story. “The Cloud & The Pillar of Fire” is part 2 of a series on Exodus.
The Big Idea: God’s presence with us & his guidance by the Spirit
Passages you could look... See more

Activities you can use to help your youth to explore and relate to the story of Exodus. "Trapped" is part 1 of a series on Exodus, which you could run over four weeks or use all four sessions at a camp.
The Big Idea: Just as the Israelites were trapped in Egypt, we can also be... See more

Teams gather round a table with 10 pieces of paper each.
In turn, a person from each team is shown one of the Christmas phrases below (or make up others) and has to draw it while the rest of their team try and guess what the phrase is.
With larger groups use two whiteboards back to back... See more

Divide into groups of 3-5. Give each group a few minutes to make a list of as many Christmas Carols as they can think of.
After time is called, each group takes turns singing a few lines of one of the Christmas Carols on their list. No group can sing a Carol already sung by another group. If... See more

For this game, divide your group into teams of four or five: one person will be the 'Christmas tree' and the others will be the decorators.
Our youth group loved it when they got to decorate the leaders. And yes, this is me covered in tinsel in the photo!
Give each team a decorating kit,... See more

Here are two multiple choice quizzes: one is based on the Gospel account of Christmas, the other is based on all the wordly add-ons. See which one people do better in!
All the questions and answers for both quizzes are below, or you can download and print the Question and Answer Sheets... See more

Put a scrambled word on the screen . . . first to unscramble it gets points for their team.  Play a couple of rounds.
Or… make a whole activity of it around a Bible passage as below  (Mark 4 or Matt 13) (click on the image to view larger).
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Show a 2-3 minute clip from a movie or TV show. When it’s finished, ask a series of questions about what the students just saw. The first person to raise their hand and correctly answer the question gets a point for their team.
Be sure to watch the movie ahead of time and come up with plenty... See more

Explain that this game involves miming to your team things that Jesus did in his time on earth - just like charades. There will be 10 rounds in which your team tries to guess the answer before the other teams.
Use the red Jesus cards (gifted to participants at The Abbey 2017) or print your own... See more