Couple of quotes from yesterday that caught my eye. Of poor leaders they say We did it despite them Of good leaders they say We did it with them.” Of great leaders they say We did it ourselves. And (at the risk of doing a Bernie), the difference between charismatic and inspirational leaders: They say […]

I spent today in Leeds, at a Growing Leaders training day (“training the trainers”), and I’m really excited. I’ve been reading the book of the course, and there’s a lot of it that excites me because of what I believe to be my overall calling in life, but also that resonates with stuff that I […]

I’ve been jotting down some of favourite games that we play at youthgroup. Most of these are good for all ages, and have passed the test of time (several times a term for 2 or 3 years). There are some newer ones we’ve done once or twice, but which seemed good. Games with no equipment […]

Good explanation of this one on Uk Family and Wikipedia. The aim of the game is to make 4-of-a-kind, and pick up a spoon, OR to not be the slowest to pick up a spoon. Start with a deck of cards, between 3 and 8 players, and one less spoon than you have players. You […]

Requires a pack of playing cards. The aim is to lose all the cards in your hand. All the players sit around a table, so that they can all reach the centre. The cards are dealt out to all the players as normal. The person to the dealer’s left then puts his card into the […]

I feel like I need to make some comment on the passing of a pop icon. Unfinished Christian likens his death to that of Elvis or Lennon. I don’t think there’s very much doubt he was one of the world’s biggest pop-stars, certainly at his peak. I suppose I would sum up my feelings as […]

Sit everyone present around a table so that there are no gaps. Each person puts their hands on the table so that their arms cross over/under the people either side, so if we have five players, A=B=C=D=E, the order of hands will be: B-LH, A-RH, C-LH, B-RH, D-LH, C-RH, E-LH, D-RH, A-LH, E-RH Now decide […]

These are quite a good “getting to know you” games. There are many other variations. 2 true, 1 false Give each person a sheet of paper. They must write their name on the top, then they must write three things about themselves, two of which are true, and one of which is made up. Gather […]

Divide the group into teams. The leader shouts out a word that is commonly found in songs (“love”, “road”, “river”, “girl”, “baby”, “need”, and so on.) The teams must sing a song in unison (together) using that word. The first team to do it wins a point. Play as long as they like it.

All the players stand in a circle, facing one another, but looking down at their feet. When the leader says “now”, everyone looks up and at someone else’s eyes. If they make direct eye contact with someone (i.e. person A is looking straight and person B, and person B is looking straight at person A), […]