One tremendous way to increase the community and relationship around your church is to have interactive social events for youth and adults. You'll want age group-based games as well as games for an entire community, such as at a church picnic, where children and adults participate together. Tuck a variety of group game ideas in your back pocket and let the good times roll.
Youth
Chariot Tag lets you think about Biblical-era culture. Partners stay in physical contact by holding onto a short rope circle together. The front person is the "horse" and leads the way. The "chariot driver" has a flag hanging out of his pocket. The "chariot teams" race around trying to capture other teams' flags until the time is up.
Adults
Group scavenger hunts require some advance preparation, but they can also have a great deal of variety. A traditional scavenger hunt includes gathering specific items on a list in a designated time frame. Try these alternatives as well. First, on a photo scavenger hunt teams take a digital camera to snap group photos in different silly poses (like mimic a statue) or at distinct locations. Second, a car scavenger hunt requires teams to travel citywide to retrieve items or photos. Third, a themed scavenger hunt keeps hunters looking for items or photos all linked to the topic of a new sermon series or church program that's coming up on the schedule.
Group Games Together
Human Bingo is a get-to-know-you game where individuals get signatures on their "Bingo card" of different members who meet a characteristic. You can do this as a time-limited game or let it go until the first person has all their squares signed. Suggestions for Bingo characteristics are "has traveled to more than two countries," "is the oldest child," "owns a cat," "saw the movie 'Kung Fu Panda,' " "never learned to ride a bike" and others that fit your group members. Read the Bingo answers out loud to the group, promoting future connection opportunities among members.
Bag skits use on-the-spot creativity. Put 8 to 10 random items (hat, hammer, balloon, lotion, power strip and whatever else you have on hand) into a brown bag. Give one bag to each team along with a topic such as "your favorite Bible story," and direct them to act out the topic or scene using all the items in the bag.
Church Picnic
Choose your games based on what location and space you'll have available to you. If you've got a large field, setting up relay races for all ages is a source of laughs and memories. A good relay race should include fair events for teams of teens, child-adult partners or adults. Your events could include a three-legged race, water balloon toss, lifesaver and toothpick pass, marshmallow-toothpick tower building, paper airplane distance competition and backward walking races.
Other messy and fun outdoor games are "bobbing" for skittles in a whipped cream-filled pie plate, timed sand sculpture building competition, nature walks, egg toss, spoon-and-bucket fill race (using a spoon to collect water in order to fill a bucket over a short distance), a gummy bear toss where one partner throws gummy bears into the other's mouth or a tie-dying party.
Tags: scavenger hunt, items photos