Creative Ideas for your Small Group

Icebreakers help people open up by creating a fun and playful atmosphere. Choose one of these icebreakers to use at your next meeting.

Opening Questions

• What’s your favourite way to “waste” time?
• What’s one of your favourite places in the world?
• What hobby or interest makes you feel most alive?
• If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you most like to do?
• What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
• If your house were on fire, what three items would you try to save?
• Who was your hero growing up?
• What’s your favourite movie and why?
• What’s something about you that would come as a surprise to most people?
• What do you want to be remembered for?

OPENING ACTIVITIES

Two Truths and a Lie
Have each person share three things about themselves: two that are true and one that’s a lie. Each group member tries to guess which is the truth and which is the lie.

Coat of Arms
Provide paper, markers and crayons. Instruct each person to draw a coat of arms containing symbols or pictures that represent who they are, what’s important to them and what they enjoy. Have each person share their coat of arms and explain it to the group.

Suddenly!
One person starts off a story with a sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. The next person then has to add to the story with his or her own sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. Continue the story until everyone has contributed. The story becomes crazier as each young person adds their sentence.

“Props”
Collect random and ordinary items and place them in the middle of the group. (This can include things like pens, highlighters, scissors, compass, lighter, candles, etc.) Ask them to choose one items that best represents something. For example, choose an item that best represents how their week has been/something they’re hoping for/something they’re learning/etc. Go around the group and have each person share their item and explain their choice.

Remote Control
Pass around a remote control and have each person choose and share about one button that best describes their week.

Ideas:

• Ask people to share 3-5 defining moments from their life.
• Ask people to share their Highs, Lows and Heroes.
• Ask people to bring in objects that represent important periods of their life (“Show and Tell”).

Story Tips:

• Give people freedom to share their story in fun and creative ways.   (Examples:  photographs, show and tell, reading from journals, music, symbols and objects, PPT)
• Schedule time in each meeting for a few people to share their story.  (Or you could devote an entire meeting to this.)
• Give a time limit, for example 10-15 minutes, otherwise their story could take over the whole meeting.
• After sharing their story, have a time for the group to engage with the person.  They could share observations, words of encouragement, questions and prayer.

Lectio Divina is Latin for ‘divine reading’. It is a traditional Benedictine practice for meditation on God’s word and prayer. It does not treat scripture merely as something to be studied, but recognises it as God’s living and active word (Heb 4:12). As such it is an invitation for God to speak very personally to us (God’s still, small voice). You provide the space and silence necessary for God to speak. God provides the inspiration.

Click here for the following steps.

Try one of these creative prayer ideas in your group.

Write out your prayers
Writing out prayers can help group members think more specifically about their prayers. It also gives them time to think and makes it easier to share their requests when they’re reading what they’ve written.

Ask small group members to write out a prayer request for their upcoming week for example. When everyone’s had a chance to write down their request, they can take turns sharing them and have someone pray for their requests. Another way of doing this is to simply have people pray the request they’ve written.

Use Objects and Props
Place several ‘random’ objects in the centre of the room. These could include for example, a flashlight, a compass, a toy, a rubber band, etc.

Ask small group members to select one item that represents how they’re doing. Have each person share about their object and ask someone else to pray for them.

Go for a Prayer Walk
Go for a walk in your neighbourhood as a small group. Pray for the homes, the schools, the businesses and the people you meet.

Use structured and written prayers

• Use the A.C.T.S. outline to pray as a group (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication)
• Pray scriptural prayers (eg. Paul’s prayers in Eph 1:16-23; Phil 1:3-6; Col 1:9-13, etc.; Lord’s Prayer; Psalms)
• Pray a psalm, paraphrase and write your own version

Pray short ‘sentence prayers’ or ‘fill-in-the-blank’ prayers

• I praise you God because…
• Thank you God for…

Other Prayer Ideas

10 Prayer Station Ideas
10 Creative Prayer Exercises

Use these questions to help your group go deeper in your sharing.  (Questions developed by Pastor Mac Lake)

• What’s the freshest thing God is currently doing or has recently done in your life?
• How full are your emotional, physical and spiritual fuel tanks?  Are they near empty, quarter filled, half-filled, etc.?
• Does God seem to be emphasizing a particular theme to you in this season of your life?
• Are you looking for God to do something specific in your life in the next few months?
• What do you sense God has been saying to you recently?
• Has God been stirring a particular passion in your soul recently?
• Which season of the year do you believe best describes your spiritual journey right now:  winter, spring, summer or fall?  Why?
• What aspect of your spiritual journey is the most exciting for you these days?

Build community through communion by following these steps from Brett Eastman, founder of Life Together.

Prepare for the Experience
Prepare the elements ahead of time. Break up pieces of cracker or soft bread on a small plate or tray, or pass around a loaf of bread for group members to tear off a piece. Have the elements prepared beforehand, and then simply bring them into the room or to the table when you are ready.

STEPS IN SERVING COMMUNION
Connect the Meaning to Your Group Experience
Focusing on your own experience, say something brief about God’s love, forgiveness, grace, mercy, commitment, tenderheartedness, or faithfulness. You’ll also want to connect your words with the personal stories of the group. For example, “These past few weeks I’ve experienced God’s mercy in the way he untangled the situation with my son. And I’ve seen God show mercy to others of us here too, especially to Jean and Roger.” If you prefer, you can write down ahead of time what you want to say.

Read a Scripture Passage
My favourite passage to read is 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, but you could also use Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:14-20, 1 Corinthians 10:16-21, or 1 Corinthians 11:17-34.

Pass the Bread
As you pass the bread, you can further set the tone by asking group members to reflect silently, singing a simple praise song, or playing worship music in the background.

Eat the Bread Together
When everyone has received the bread, remind them that it represents Jesus’ body that was broken on their behalf. Simply state, “Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ Let us eat together,” inviting group members to eat.

Pass the Juice
Pass around a tray with small cups of juice, serve people individually, or have group members walk to a central table and pick up a cup. Consider singing a simple praise song or playing worship music in the background for this step as well.

Drink the Juice Together
When everyone has been served, remind them that the cup represents Jesus’ blood that was shed for them. Simply state, “The cup of the new covenant is Jesus Christ’s blood that was shed for you. Jesus said, ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’ Let us drink together.”

Conclude in Worship or Prayer
When finished, close by singing a simple song, listening to a praise song, or having a time of prayer in thanks to God.