Creative Ideas

 Creative Ideas below for:

•  Social Ideas                                    

•  Icebreaker Ideas

•  Using Multimedia

•  Ideas for Worship & Prayer

•  Outline for Commissioning Service

•  Example Prayer of Commitment

Social Ideas

Organising a social event for your Art of Connecting group is an excellent way to get to know them and encourage positive group dynamics. It may also be a great opportunity for your group members to invite their non-Christian friends along and put into practice what they are learning on the course!

A lot of youth groups seem to limit their social events to bowling and going to the cinema, but why not do something more creative? Try one of the following ideas with your group:

Planning a fun Social Evening!

'I Challenge You To...'Evening

This evening is about challenging your mates, your leaders and yourself.

Set up a series of fun challenges of various natures; physical, mental, skills based etc. Individuals or groups can then challenge others to take them on. Examples could include egg throwing, press-ups in a minute, tug of war, video quiz, Chess, Jenga. Alternatively, ask each of your group to come up with a challenge that they are willing to take on others at. Make sure you check safety and score fairly, maintaining power of veto!

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Autumn 2007 Term]

Fondue Evening

You bring the chocolate and the group brings things to dip. Beg, borrow, or steal, enough sets for the group. Set up a number of tables and every so often shout "change" or blow a horn. Everyone must then move round to a different table. You could even get the last one to sit down to do a forfeit!

[Taken from Mettle Intro Pack - 6 Sample Sessions]

Ready, Steady, Cook

You may have trainee chefs in your group or you may have those who don't even know where to find the tin opener! This simple idea works for everyone. The week before, ask the young people to bring three items of food that the really like and explain that we will be combining the group's favourites together to make some meals. It is a good idea for you to bring some basic ingredients along just in case people forget: pizza bases, pasta, noodles, sauces and fruits are good!

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Summer 2007 Term]

Easter Sunrise

Not for the faint hearted! On Easter Sunday, arrange a sunrise service either in the local park or somewhere where there aren't neighbours nearby. Your local town may already run one and if suitable, join theirs. Then, after a brief 20 minute gathering, head to someone's for breakfast. Take this as an opportunity to present the gospel to your young people. You could even ask some of your group to lead the service and help with breakfast.

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Spring 2007 Term]

Beach Party

A great idea even if you don't live near a beach!   Arrange food, games   and transport, making sure you involve the group and your church.   Good   activities can be 'Build the biggest sandcastle'   'Beach cricket'   'Volleyball'   (possibly use a beach ball)   'Who can skim the stone the most'   'Crabbing'   (material - bacon on a string, net & container).   Add a twist by having a car treasure hunt to the beach.   Alternatively create a beach atmosphere in a church hall or in someone's garden. Ask around, you never know, someone may even have a swimming pool!

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Summer 2007 Term]

Retro-Games Evening

Find some old boardgames (or borrow them from older types!) - there are some good ones still   kicking around! Try Connect 4, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly, Battleships, Kerrplunk, Guess Who? . Put on some 80s disco music (there are plenty of cheap CDs for sale in supermarkets), and   eat some classic nibbles, like cheese straws or Wotsits.

[Taken from Mettle Intro Pack - 6 Sample Sessions]

Christmas Shopping Trip

Why not plan to take your group on a shopping trip to the nearest outlet mall or shopping centre. This can be fun and a bit different. You never know, they may buy you a present (especially if you suggest it and play the "tackiest present ever" game!) Agree a time to meet up for a burger or salad, either halfway through the evening or at the end before you head home.

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Autumn 2007 Term]

Amazing Grace DVD

Rent out this film and have an evening of discussion and film. The story is based on the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce.   Ioan Gruffudd plays Wilberforce, who, as a Member of Parliament, navigated the world of 18th Century backroom politics to end the slave trade in the British Empire. Elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21, and on his way to a successful political career, Wilberforce, over the course of two decades, took on the English establishment and persuaded those in power to end the inhumane trade of slavery. Why not get some great food, sit down to watch the film and have some light discussion on how this film could inspire the young people to engage in social justice.

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Summer 2007 Term]

World's Greatest Pudding!

Who really makes the greatest pudding? Is it homemade, bought in a tin or microwaved in a jar? Ask your young people to bring their favourite pudding to an evening dedicated to eating and deciding the answer to this question. You could ask others you know are good at baking to supply some cakes and puddings to augment the ones from the group.

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Autumn 2007 Term]

YouTube

Check out the website www.youtube.com. It's described as: 'YouTube is a consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos worldwide through a web experience. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.'

Make a video or series of short videos with your group. They can be funny, serious and/or thought provoking. Talk it over with your group as they may have some great ideas or even be published on the site already.

[Taken from Mettle Resource - Spring 2007 Term]

Movie mania: Give your group an evening to script, rehearse and shoot a short film. Provide a range of props, hats and other costume items. Find a camcorder, and let one of your young people do the filming, with adult supervision. Alternatively, if you have a large group, divide the young people into smaller groups for this exercise, and let them shoot their films on camera phones. Set up a big screen and video projector, and show the finished film(s) to conclude the evening.

Record Breakers: Find a recent copy of The Guinness Book of Records or visit www.guinnessworldrecords.com . Identify some strange, funny or obscure world records, and give your young people an evening or a day to try to break some of them. If you can provide evidence that your group have managed this, you could end up in The Guinness Book of Records yourselves!

Canoeing: Find a canoeing centre near you and book your group in for a session. Almost all centres will provide trained instructors and all necessary equipment. There may be somewhere near you that offers other water sports, too. Check online or in Yellow Pages for your nearest water sports centre.

Ice-breakers

It can be very helpful to include an activity at the start of a session, to encourage your young people to mix and interact. You may find the following ideas useful:

1. Human Knot

  • Get your group into a circle. If your group is larger than ten, split the group into two circles.
  • Everyone should reach across the circle with their left hand, and take the hand of another group member.
  • They should then repeat this process with their right hands, so that every player is holding two other hands.
  • On your command, the group must attempt to unravel the 'human knot' so that they end up standing in a circle, holding the hands of the players on their right and left.
  • They must not break the links, as they attempt to disentangle themselves! If you are playing with two groups, you can make it a competition to see which group can unravel themselves first!

2. Number Frenzy

  • Get the group to walk around the room weaving in and out of each other.
  • Call out a number between one and the number of young people in your group.
  • They then need to form a huddle of that number and sit down on the floor.  
  • Any people left over from the group(s) need to sit out.
  • Repeat this until there are only two players left in. These two players are the winners.

3. Me in a Nutshell

  • Give everyone a sheet with the names of all group members on it.
  • Ask everyone to think of one question, which they will ask to as many different people as possible.
  • Give the group members 5 minutes to ask their questions to as many people as they can, and get them to write down their answers as they go.
  • After 5 minutes, call out the name of one of your group members. Ask this person to stand up.
  • Give the rest of the group 30 seconds to shout out what they have learned about this person. (eg 'David last brushed his teeth on Tuesday'. 'David supports Accrington Stanley FC.' 'David has seen The Sound of Music three times.')
  • Repeat this process for as many other group members as time allows.

Multi Media

To add an extra dimension to your Art of Connecting course, make use of multi media. For example:

1. Film clips and PowerPoint images add valuable visual stimulation to a meeting. The Art of Connecting DVD also provides very useful footage.

DVDs, videos and CDs are great to use as part of a session, but make sure you've set it all up beforehand. Even if you're a technical genius, preparation is important.

Before each session:

•  Cue the DVD you're going to use to the right point.

•  Set the volume.

•  Ensure that everyone will be able to see the screen.

•  Check that there is not too much light on the screen. Will you need to close the curtains and turn off the lights?

2. Why not use a camcorder to record your group members telling their stories, and show the footage in a session?

3. Encourage your young people to register with www.eqnet.info to stay connected with other young people around the country who are going through the Art of Connecting course. They can also add their own stories to the online forum.

We suggest that you appoint one or two young people as webmasters to act as links between the course and our website. They can be responsible for keeping the group in touch and uploading the group's insights.

Worship and Prayer

Encouraging your young people to pray and worship God is an important part of The Art of Connecting. If you have a worship leader in your church, who is good at encouraging young people to worship through music, excellent. However, particularly for younger teenagers, musical worship sometimes doesn't seem effective. It often helps to take a creative approach to worship and prayer. Try the following ideas with your group:

1. Join Together

  • Give the young people a strip of paper and a pen each.
  • Encourage them each to write a prayer for their church on their strip of paper.
  • Then join all the prayers together to make a paper chain.
  • The idea is to symbolise being united as a church.

2. Leave it at the Cross

  • Hand out pens and post-it notes to your group.
  • Encourage the young people to write on the post-it notes specific things they know they've done wrong. (They can fold the post-it notes afterwards, if they like.)
  • Put a large wooden cross in one corner of the room.
  • When the young people have written on their post-it notes, they should stick them to the cross, to show they are giving their sins over to Jesus.
  • Leave a bowl of sweets at the foot of the cross.
  • As the young people stick their post-it notes to the cross, they can take a sweet each, to represent the good new life that Jesus offers us.
  • Play some worship music in the background as this happens.

3. Stick With Me!

  • Split the group into pairs.
  • Give everyone a marker pen and a sticking plaster (preferably a large one) each.
  • Each of them should then write the names of three people they find difficult to love on their plaster.
  • Encourage everyone to swap plasters with their partner, and to pray quick, simple prayers for the names on each other's plasters.
  • After praying, they should take their own plaster back and stick it somewhere on their body. This will show that they are committing to pray for these people in the following week, and to keep trying to connect with them.
  • Make the point that just as the plasters stick to us, we should stick with these three people, and continue to love them!

Commissioning Service

If possible, hold a commissioning event for your Art of Connecting group, once the course is over. Ideally, take the morning or evening service at your church. This will encourage your church members by showing them how your young people have grown during the course, and will make the young people themselves feel supported. The commissioning service might include:

  • The Art of Connecting intro clip from the DVD - to set the scene.
  • Worship songs chosen by (and if possible, led by) members of the group.
  • Testimonies from group members about how The Art of Connecting has helped them, and what they're looking forward to now.
  • Encourage the congregation to pray for each of the young people, perhaps by having groups of people gather around each young person.
  • Together with the church leader, formally commission each of your group members to go and connect other people with God. Present them with their Art of Connecting commitment cards.

Example Prayer of Commitment

Dear God

Thank you that you love me just the way I am, no matter what.
I am sorry for the things that I do wrong that get in the way of my relationship with you. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to get rid of these things and giving me the chance to have life to the max, and life in heaven forever.

I give up the selfish bit of me that wants to go my way and I want to follow you forever. Please help me to do this, God.

Amen