Five Tips For Leading Games Well
How awesome are youth group games!
The anticipation in the air as everyone awaits the announcement of what game we’re playing tonight. The excitement generated by getting to have fun and blow-off steam with your friends at the end of a long week. The possibility of being the person who comes through for your team in the end! All of it can contribute to taking a night at youth group from good to great!
But not all youth group games are created equal.
Chances are you’ve been a part of your share of youth group game flops! A poorly run game is frustrating for both youth and the leaders.
So, what is it that makes a youth group game awesome?
To give game time in your youth group the best chance of being great, here are five tips that will help you to take game-time to the next level.
1) Know what you are aiming for overall
It is absolutely true that games are a fun way to blow off steam at the end of a long week— and this is a legitimate consideration – however, games have the potential to achieve so much more than this. To unlock that potential, it is key to know what we’re aiming for. For example, what are we aiming for as we run a game of ultimate dodgeball or paper-stick hockey? Is it to identify the alphas in the group who reign supreme? Of course it’s not! But what is it that we do want to achieve?
The reason our groups exist is to disciple young people as followers of Jesus. If the games we choose are going to work in line with our purpose, we should ask ourselves questions like, “What is the purpose of this game, and how does it align with our groups purposes?”, or, “How will this game achieve the outcomes we want to see for the young people in the group?”.
For instance, games are an excellent opportunity to build community and grow in friendship with one another— which are two key aims in an effective discipleship youth ministry. By participating in games, young people and leaders can gain knowledge about one another and work towards building genuine trust through shared experiences. It’s worth keeping these aims in mind as you decide what games to play because achieving these aims will be in direct alignment with our discipleship purposes.
Games can also be a great context for young people to exercise the kind of godly attributes we want to see in them, and for their leaders to model this. For example, games can be an excellent context for a young man or woman to practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, or to see their leaders model humility, servant heartedness, repentance, encouragement grace and forgiveness. How great would it be if these were the things that we saw during game time?
But knowing what you’re aiming for doesn’t stop at identifying the outcomes you want to see; it also includes considering how we lead the game. For example, in our leadership and “commentary” of the game we should recognise not only the athletic or intellectual prowess of the alpha competitors, but even more importantly acknowledging and commending godly attributes when we see them. We celebrate unity and friendship. We thank people for being patient and self-controlled. We acknowledge humility and servant heartedness. We admire Christlikeness.
This week, don’t just play games to blow off steam, remember your purpose and ask yourself how this game will promote the kind of godly outcomes your group wants to see grow in your young people.
2) Be the Leader
When running games, some youth leaders can feel a little intimidated by having to be the commanding presence up front telling people what to do. Others can be a little too comfortable in that space and over-reach their authority. Still others can forget they are leading and slip into reliving their ‘glory days’ as the poison ball champion! None of these are helpful for young people participating in games.
What young people need is a leader who they can follow confidently. Someone who helps them know what’s going on and feel comfortable to participate. Someone who…
· is a confident up-front presence. Someone who can keep hold of the reigns. This requires practice in being assertive, decisive and fair. It’s never good when the leader is standing up the front like a deer in headlights while chaos reigns. It’s uncomfortable for everyone. Confidence will come more easily to some than others, but even timid leaders can grow in this with practice.
· is well planned. A big part of keeping the reigns is being well planned. A good leader doesn’t just wing-it or make it up as they go. They know the rules and expectations as well as intricacies of the game that youth are likely to exploit. As they say, “Failing to plan is as good as planning to fail.”
· knows their people. Confidence in leading games is bolstered when you are familiar with the personalities you’re leading. When you know the strengths and weaknesses of the young people in your group and take into consideration where particular kids are likely to thrive or struggle, this will help build trust between you and, therefore, facilitate a better game.
· communicates clearly. Part of your planning ought to be figuring out how you will communicate the game clearly. When explanations are too long or complex, you set yourself up for confusion and disengagement. But using clear, simple instructions will help ensure the game is understood.
· helps them feel comfortable and accepted. Someone they know won't shame, tear down, or embarrass them in front of their friends, but rather who builds them up, encourages and cheers them on.
This week, set yourself up to be a leader the youth can be confident in.
3) ALWAYS expect new people
Often the leader on games announces the start of game time with the sentence that goes something like, “Who knows how to play…<insert game here>?”. This is not a helpful start because it divides the youth into two groups — those who are in-the-know and those who are not.
It’s always best to just name and explain the game. We need to always assume there are people there who don’t know the game— after all, we want to see new people at youth group each week, right?
Even if you do know everyone present, explaining the game each week as if there are new people will help establish the culture that youth group is a welcoming place. It also helps those young people who struggle to hold the details of a game in their head from week to week.
This week, assume there are people who don’t know the game and just explain it.
4) Get the youth to run games with you
Giving young people themselves opportunities to run games with you is a way of achieving something much more than just running a game. Getting young people to run the games increases their participation, ownership, and sense of purpose in the group. Not only that, but it’s also a great opportunity to help them develop good leadership skills that they can put into practice now.
For this to work well, on one level, we need to ‘get out of the way’ and just give them a go. But a good leader won’t just leave them to it with no help at all. If we want them to learn and grow, we need to help the youth we are empowering to lead by reflecting on the experience with them and helping them evaluate how they can grow and improve for next time.
This week, ask yourself, “Who can I get to lead games with me?”.
5) Stop the game while it’s still good.
There comes a hinge-point where even the best, most loved games run out of steam. It’s crucial to be able to identify when this point is coming, because if you keep playing beyond it, the game will turn from enjoyable to tedious. I would go a step further and say that if we want to keep enjoying good games into the future, then we should stop while the game is still fun. Sure, pulling up stumps while everyone is enjoying themselves will probably result in kids groaning in disappointment because they want to keep playing. But leaving them wanting more will mean that there is more enthusiasm for the game the next time you play it.
This week, make sure you stop the game while it’s still good!
There are plenty of other tips that could help you hone your ability to run great games— and many books have been written on just that! Following these tips will help you on your way to running games that people enjoy participating in and which help the group live out the discipleship purposes for which it exists.
