Ideas Page
These are only a few ideas! Hopefully people will e-mail me with more soon!
Custard! (sent in by Dave)
Three clear bowls, custard, food colouring, blindfolds, spoons, and volunteers. Blindfold volunteers, then reveal your custard which should be mixed with bright, bold and disgusting colours - that people can see through the clear bowls. People should have chance to react whilst volunteers just get to taste. Note might need different spoons for different volunteers - hygiene and all that. Go down the line and give all taste from bowl 1 then 2 then 3. Before you take off blind fold ask them which was best? Or what was worst? They should tell you that they tasted the same. The joke being that they look different but underneath that food colouring they are all the same thing. You are then free to unblind the guys and let them see what they ate then go on to make you point. Man judges by the outward appearance but God looks on the heart.
BTW you might need to give the volunteers a choc bar for being so brave. Ages suits most groups and works well as an assembly.
Collages?!!?
Collages work a treat! Your group may think that they are too cool or grown up for this - but cutting up old newspapers and sticking them on a sheet of large paper can still work! Try it for life with and with out Jesus, good and evil, life issues or even the prodigal son (the difference between the world and the Father's house - (Thanks Sandra for that idea))!Coke and Dr Pepper
You can use Coke, Pepsi and Doctor Pepper to illustrate loads of things! For example - is your faith the real thing and how can you tell?
"Taste and see that the Lord is good" etc.
One that I have used is to fill a Coke Bottle with Dr Pepper and then offer people a drink of Coke!! This will create confusion! It looks like Coke - but tastes very different.
This can be used to illustrate judging by appearances, looking right in the outside but not being right inside and loads more stuff!!
Mirror Tiles
You can use mirror tiles to good effect! I've discovered these are very cheap!
Use them for sessions of self-image, inside and outside, fashion, love etc.
Available from you nearest craft shop! (no advertising - but try Hobbycraft!)
Candles
Nightlights from IKEA come highly recommended as the youthworkers friend!
Use them in responses, to illustrate being lights in the world, for reflections and meditations etc. Just watch out for smoke detectors!
Crisps
Food always works!
How about a session on being salt - illustrated with ready salted crisps or better still salt and shake crisps!
Masking Tape
Another useful tool to keep handy! (No not to tape up those annoying group members). Use it to make scales or lines - such as one side for agree the other for disagree or to order things in importance etc.
Love hearts
Great for giving out after a session on love - God's or ours!
At an adult Alpha course lovehearts were the final push someone needed to give their life to Jesus - yes really!!
Videos
Youthwork Magazine has had columns on films to use that have messages - and there are books around.
If you're group is older "Friends" is always full of good stuff, or for a younger group try "The Simpsons".
Plenty of stuff from Group Publishing on the "youthministry.com" site (see links page).
So there you are - a few not really very original ideas! But its a start!
If you have better ideas PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!
And hopefully we'll have meeting plans up before long!