Hide and Seek (with a twist)

Try this experience as a way of renewing your students' commitment to community and to each other.

Gather your group at your church, and tell them you're going to play the great childhood game Hide‐and‐Seek. Ask for a few volunteers to hide and tell the rest that they'll seek.

Have the hiders hide. While the seekers are counting to 100 in a separate room, pull out a great movie and delicious snacks. Casually ask the seekers to stay and eat; don't directly mention any urgency in finding the hiders. Allow the seekers to think through the options and make their own decision. See how long it takes the seekers to find the hiders (and if everyone chooses the movie and food, remember to find the hiders yourself!).

Afterward, gather together and process the experience. This was not an activity intended to trick students to "fail," just one that presented two options for students to choose between. So do not make any negative or positive statements about students' decisions. Simply ask questions such as these:

Why did you choose what you did?

How did you hiders feel when you were found?

Why do you think people feel like they have to hide sometimes?

When have you felt that way?

How does this "game" resemble a youth group?

Why might people hide and not want to be found?

Why might people look for you?

Why might you hold back and not seek people out?

SAY: The purpose of our community here is to stay connected with God and each other. And everyone's help is needed to accomplish that.

To end say together: I need you, and you need me.

(This game is from the Simply Youth Ministry resource: Youth Ministry in the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia of Practical Ideas ‐ currently on sale now for just $9.99.)