Christ-Centered Team-Building Activities
Too often, team building activities simply work toward organizational objectives, doing little to teach behavior or reveal personal philosophies of living. Christian team building activities are the exception. They encourage introspection and values like compassion, loyalty and honesty, thus strengthening the whole group. Implementing just a few Christ-centered activities will bring dramatic changes in team attitude and results.
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Moon Landing
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Moon Landing is a Christ-centered game from Intervarsity Ministry Exchange and Insight. The activity leader splits group members into teams. Each is given a list of items contained in a spaceship (e.g., food concentrate, compass). The leader then instructs each team to work together to rank all the items on the list in order of importance. Following this, they discuss their results and explain what Christian principles or rationales they used to make their rankings. For example, one principle in Christianity is that God will always provide for His children and guide them; thus, a team might rank food and a compass as low priorities, recognizing that God will provide for their needs and guide their path. This exercise thus teaches how others prioritize based upon Christian ideology.
Draw
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Insight provides a team-building activity that also may serve as an icebreaker. Group members all draw pictures of things that represent them (e.g., a soccer ball for someone who likes sports). They do not show each other their pictures as they draw. The leader collects the drawings and shows them to the group one at a time. They try to guess who drew each picture. The leader then leads a discussion on why they came to their conclusions. This exercise is intended to remind team members that, unlike human beings, Christ and God always look at the heart, transcending stereotypes. The aim is to encourage getting to truly know people instead of relying upon preconceived ideas.
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Atomic Bomb
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Atomic Bomb is an activity from Foursquare International Children's Ministries. The leader separates the group into teams of six people. In each group, one person has to lie still and cannot talk. Two are blindfolded. Two must put their arms behind their backs and cannot speak. The last person is the observer who ensures everyone is safe, speaking only to make sure nobody hurt themselves. The leader announces that a bomb will go off in five minutes. Each team has to get all their members to a safe point before it explodes. The leader then leads a discussion on how the group members felt during the exercise. Their responses determine the Christian ideals the leader discusses. For example, if a team member says he felt anxious, the leader can ask what Christ did when He was anxious. The leader can also use the exercise to explain how God keeps people safe, though they cannot hear, touch or see Him.
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- Photo Credit team image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
