When I was a youth pastor, one of my least favorite things to do each week was find a game for service. For a good while, I delegated the task to a youth leader or student. But they had trouble, too. Everyone in our group loved games—for some, it was their favorite part of the service—but it was just so time consuming trying to find a quality (and safe) activity.
Here’s why I think games are good for youth groups:
- They build community
- They get students talking
- They can add energy to your service
- If we’re a church family, why not have some fun (either before, during, or after service)?
At Ministry Pass, we want to make your life as a youth pastor easier. Instead of spending an hour or two looking for a good game each week, we want you to use that time to be with students, study more, and plan more outreaches.
That’s why we’re launching our “Game of the Week” feature at MinistryPass.com. Every Monday, we’ll be posting a new game for our members to download for their service that week. Each download comes with a slide to put on your screen, as well as a sheet with activity directions, a list of the materials needed, and the average amount of time it takes to play the game.
All you have to do is download the bundle, print off the page, and hand it to a student or leader to put together. They have what they need to prepare the materials beforehand, and teach the game to your group.
We’ve also worked very hard to make these games playable. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to download a game, only to realize it needed hard-to-find supplies or an hour to teach it to the group.
Here’s a few characteristics of our games:
- Our games are simple—you might have even seen a version of them played somewhere else—and they will save you time. Sure, you may be able to Google your games and find some that work just as good as the ones we’ll feature on the site, but that takes extra time away from more important tasks you need to perform each week. With our “Game of the Week,” you don’t have to sift through a hundred games to find one that fits your group.
- We put a lot of thought into compiling games that don’t humiliate students.
- While we think PowerPoint games are fun, we don’t feature those on our site. Our games are designed to get students up and moving.
- Each game comes with a crisp slide for the screen; we think this will add a professional polish to your service.
- All of our games are fun. While we can’t ensure that they will go off without a hitch, we believe that your students will enjoy them. And, if you don’t like a specific “Game of the Week,” you can download another game from our website—we have about a year’s worth of games up already!
- While we have different levels of games, many of our games are pretty simple to setup. Rather than getting complicated, we aimed for fun and easy.
To show you what our games are like, we want to give you two. One is called “Human Pac-man.” This is a favorite on the site, and we think it’ll work great for your group. You can download it HERE. Another is called, “Trick Shots Extreme.” It’s super easy to put on, and we think your students will love it. Get that one HERE.
If you like those games, make sure to become a member of Ministry Pass to access our “Game of the Week” every Monday. With a membership, you’ll also receive hundreds of sermon series and announcement graphics. Every year, we also create a number of “Game Day” bundles. These downloads come with games that you can choose to play in a themed youth game night.
Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your ministry! We love serving youth leaders!
Want to check out the materials Ministry Pass has to offer? Sign up for a FREE Ministry Pass trial membership HERE.
