A Rant on Games
The other day I was browsing a couple youth ministry game sites, trying to add some new ones to my collection. As I was reading, I was shocked at the number of "gotcha" games there were. By that, I mean games whose sole purpose is to trick, humiliate, or otherwise get students to be laughed at. Some of them were relatively harmless. But some were so mean that if someone did them to me when i was in youth group I probably would have left the church, never to return.
Why would we do this? What purpose does it serve? I realize many of these are from a long gone era, but they were on a website created in the last 10 years so SOMEBODY thought they were relevant enough to upload. And I can guarantee someone has done them thinking they were being funny or cutting edge.
When I have games for our youth group, they serve one of 3 purposes – Build community, create laughter and happiness, or are a part of the lesson. Games are great at building community because it is teens working together and having fun. They build lasting memories. It gets students talking with each other and encouraging each other on. Also, since games are supposed to be fun they put smiles and laughter on students’ faces. Finally, I’ll occasionally do games that are part of the lesson. Either way, all of these things help to tear down walls and allow us to get to know students just a little bit better.
Unfortunately, many of these games listed were about laughter at a few students’ expenses. That does not tear down walls, they builds them up. That doesn’t get a student to open up, it gets them to shut down. There is no value to these games AT ALL.
Like I said in the title, this is most definitely a rant. This wasn’t just a few of the games, it was the vast majority of them. I am sure I could complain to the various websites that have these listed (some of them are websites I’ve recommended before). The best I can do is to only use games that do not create victims, but that help tear down walls and build community. I encourage you to do the same.
Related Posts :
We all know the reputation of youth ministry – its all fun and games (and even better if someone ...
Ministry Moment – The value of play
We all know the reputation of youth ministry – its all ...
Camp only lasts a week, so it requires students getting to know each other and work with each ot ...
If you would have told me NBC would become the #1 supplier of awesome youth ministry games, I wo ...
By Blogsdna
The other day I was browsing a couple youth ministry game sites, trying to add some new ones to my collection. As I was reading, I was shocked at the number of "gotcha" games there were. By that, I mean games whose sole purpose is to trick, humiliate, or otherwise get students to be laughed at. Some of them were relatively harmless. But some were so mean that if someone did them to me when i was in youth group I probably would have left the church, never to return.
Why would we do this? What purpose does it serve? I realize many of these are from a long gone era, but they were on a website created in the last 10 years so SOMEBODY thought they were relevant enough to upload. And I can guarantee someone has done them thinking they were being funny or cutting edge.
When I have games for our youth group, they serve one of 3 purposes – Build community, create laughter and happiness, or are a part of the lesson. Games are great at building community because it is teens working together and having fun. They build lasting memories. It gets students talking with each other and encouraging each other on. Also, since games are supposed to be fun they put smiles and laughter on students’ faces. Finally, I’ll occasionally do games that are part of the lesson. Either way, all of these things help to tear down walls and allow us to get to know students just a little bit better.
Unfortunately, many of these games listed were about laughter at a few students’ expenses. That does not tear down walls, they builds them up. That doesn’t get a student to open up, it gets them to shut down. There is no value to these games AT ALL.
Like I said in the title, this is most definitely a rant. This wasn’t just a few of the games, it was the vast majority of them. I am sure I could complain to the various websites that have these listed (some of them are websites I’ve recommended before). The best I can do is to only use games that do not create victims, but that help tear down walls and build community. I encourage you to do the same.
Related Posts :
We all know the reputation of youth ministry – its all fun and games (and even better if someone ...
Ministry Moment – The value of play We all know the reputation of youth ministry – its all ...
Camp only lasts a week, so it requires students getting to know each other and work with each ot ...
If you would have told me NBC would become the #1 supplier of awesome youth ministry games, I wo ...
Great post. I couldn't agree with you more. Your assessment of how games should be used in youth ministry is right on. We need to stop using as a way of getting a laugh at another person's expense.