All Issues articles – Page 81
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IssuesBridging the skills gap
As shocking as it may sound, no children’s ministry team is perfect. No matter how brilliant your group, you’ll be missing... something. This is where resources can be invaluable, filling some of these gaps...
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Issues’I had a messy break-up with someone in my church’
I had just started my second year of university, studying at Oxford CYM for a degree in youth and community work with applied theology, when my girlfriend of four and a half years broke up with me. All break-ups are bad and this one was no exception. In fact, this one was spectacularly unpleasant.
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IssuesReady-To-Use Games + Ice Breakers:TV Games
In 2002, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers sang, ‘Throw away your television’. Well, it’s 2016 and it looks like this campaign wasn’t very successful. Newsflash – TV is here to stay! With that in mind, here are some games inspired by shows from the best / most damaging (delete according to your mood) form of communication. (And as TV is a format that demands quick, punchy ideas, rather than writing out these games in great length, we’ve explained them as quickly as possible, with some illustrations.)
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IssuesReady-to-use Games + Ice Breakers: Outside Games
Let’s take a step of faith. It’s July. The sun WILL be out. Let’s repeat that: the sun WILL be out. As such, we’ll take our youth groups outside and have all kinds of outdoor fun. For all of these games you’ll need a heap of space, like a field, or multiple fields, ideally with trees and scrubland. Basically, you need the set from The animals of Farthing Wood. So, here are some ideas:
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IssuesReady-to-use games + Ice breakers: Uno games
STANDARD UNO Play UNO according to the rules in the box. You have read the rules in the box, right? We’re not going to bother to explain this one.MULTI-CARD UNO The author of this piece once got into an argument at a Christian youth work conference when he insisted that ...
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Issues
Ready-to-use games + ice breakers: NERF Games
After wrestling back control of the games column, the Premier Youthwork team continues its journey into the weird and wonderful. This month, we examine games using one of the most vital tools in the youth work toolbox: the NERF gun.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice Breakers: Newspaper Games
As wise and astute readers will no doubt be aware, the digital world is increasingly ‘where it’s at’. The era of the printed press is under attack; more and more books are published as ebooks, anything that’s not on an iPad is old hat, and newspapers are increasingly all about digital subscriptions. But fear not printing press owners, your wares are not completely obsolete - as long as there are fish and chip shops, and (crucially for this month’s column) youth workers, your printed material will continue to find a use. This month’s games all involve newspaper.
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Ready-to-use Games - Ice Breakers: 'Things to Hand' Games
No matter how carefully you prepare in advance, no matter what resources you gather, no matter what best-laid plans you construct, there will always be the odd occasion when you need some games and you haven’t got anything ready and available. So these are some ideas based around what might be immediately to hand.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice breakers : Technology games
In the 21st Century we have the ability to play games with technology that even ten years ago we couldn’t have dreamt of. While these games are all well and good, they can be a divisive issue: ‘I don’t have that model’, ‘My mum couldn’t afford to get me one of them…’, ‘Mine is broken and I’m not allowed a new one until I tidy my room / finish my exams / memorise the complete works of Shakespeare / invent a new clean and renewable source of energy’. So in order to both scratch that techno-itch and avoid any problems of haves and have-nots, here are a collection of technology-based games that don’t require any actual technology at all.
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Ready-to-use Games: Ice Breakers - Christmas Games
You may be experiencing a nagging feeling that something is coming up soon. Some sort of event that may just dominate everything and cause the coming few weeks to be lived at an increasingly frenetic pace, packed with ever-increasing levels of activity, and at ever decreasing amounts of energy. You may of course choose to ignore Christmas, but just in case your group might enjoy some Christmas-themed games - here’s a selection.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice Breakers : Pointless Games
The role of games in youth work can be a matter of debate. What’s the point of them? What do they achieve? Some games can have learning sneakily inserted into them, teaching important skills and principles, but others literally have no point at all, and just involve doing something random for its own sake. Like this month’s games – there’s no point to them at all, except for fun. Oh, I get it – that’s kind of the point. So, after much waffling, this month’s theme: pointless fun.
