Use the ideas below to make your study more interesting and engaging. If you have an idea, share it HERE.
1) THE OLD TESTAMENT IN 5 MINUTES (5:40)
This is a great 5 minute video overview of the Old Testament. It could be good to watch with your students or even just to text them before or after the study to give them one more thing to help them get a grasp on what is in the Bible.
2) THE TOUR PowerPoint Presentation
One of our users created this slide show to lead his study. Feel free to use it! And if you ever create a tool like this for any of the other studies, please use the feedback button to share it with us and we’ll pass it on to the Thrive community! To use it, just follow the link and then make a copy of the google slide presentation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JdXNX1rctXB9M3pMWSSlYN_NWxbuZizi/view?usp=sharing
–Jerome Pelaez
3) Bible Jeopardy
Split into no more than 4 teams & 4 categories. One question per student. A leader is the spinner/caller/host. Players take turns answering a question in their assigned category. Caller asks a question (sample questions below); the player can answer immediately or their team has 15 seconds to answer. Then the team must relay the answer to their representative and the representative answers. If they get it right, the player takes their place on the board and points are given to the team. If they get it wrong another team has the opportunity to answer the question. The team with the highest score wins!
A category we used was “Quirky Characters,” like the following:
1) $100 – Which of the following is most known for being hairy?
Esau (Gen 25:25, 27:11)
2) $200 – Which of the following is most known for being a doubter?
Thomas (John 20:25)
3) $300 – Which of the following is most known as a reckless driver?
Jehu (2 Kings 9:20)
4) THE BIG STORY VIDEO (5:30)
This is a great 5 minute overview video of the Bible. It keeps Jesus at the center of the story and walks through a number of the main characters. It is designed for children, but I think you’ll find that it will be really good for your students to see as well.
5) Idea 5
Submit an idea to see your idea here!
Use the ideas below to make your study more interesting and engaging. If you have an idea, share it HERE.
1) Hide the Money
As a opener. I told them there was a dollar hidden somewhere in the room and they all went to find it. But the dollar was in quarters and it took them a while to figure that out. Once they found them and came back, I talked about how studying the Bible is like digging for treasure. Sometimes it takes some digging before you find it but it’s always valuable.
– Dawn Michal
2) Magic Eye 3-D Images
To engage the students and illustrate the need to “dig in” to God’s Word to mine it for treasure, I texted my group a Magic Eye 3-D image and offered $5 to the first student who could tell me what 3-D image emerged. They passionately studied the image until one of them was finally able to see it. Those who couldn’t yet see it, struggled even harder in their efforts. Then, I shared how reading the Bible can be challenging (especially at first), but if we are willing to sit in it and really dig in, God will reveal a treasure of insight, truth, and wisdom worth waiting for! I encouraged the group to show the same passionate, patient attentiveness to God’s Word as they had shown the Magic Eye image.
– Shawn Taylor
3) Bible Relay Race
Two teams memorize two different verses. Students need to run from a starting point to a board and write only one word of the verse at a time and come back to the same point. Once back, another participant from the same team would repeat this until the team writes the whole verse correctly. To add fun, you can replace running with hopping, jumping etc.
4) Idea 4
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Use the ideas below to make your study more interesting and engaging. If you have an idea, share it HERE.
1) Is the New Testament Reliable? video (4:21)
2) Should Christians Have Doubts? video (3:34)
3) Card Houses
When I’ve done this with girls, I break them into groups and give each group a deck of cards to build a house, but I also give each group a different surface (foundation) to build on — carpet, tile floor, coffee table, squishy couch. Then we talk about the importance of the foundation of their house, like the Scripture, and how that translates to the importance of the foundation of our faith being the reliable Bible.
– Laurel Riley
4) Land Mines (Listen to God’s voice)
Materials needed: blindfolds, water balloons for outside or Styrofoam cups for inside.
Set up a “minefield” by randomly placing the water balloons (or cups) in a marked section of ground. A concrete slab or basketball court works well for this. Grass also works, but you will need to set boundaries. Divide students into teams of 4 or 5. Give each team a blindfold. Put the blindfolds on one member of each team. The point of the game is for the team to get across the minefield with the fewest casualties the fastest. If a person touches a mine he/she is out. The team members must be their eyes (God) and tell them which way to go. The blindfolded people crossing the field must stay within the set boundaries, and only one person per team may be on the minefield at a time (so they can’t lead them by touch). Team members help each other by shouting directions. Works best if mines are close together and if teams are close together. Others may yell out random directions to try to throw them off. The trick is (don’t tell the kids this until after it’s over) for the person in the minefield to pick out a certain voice and listen to that one voice.
5) Idea 5
Submit an idea to see your idea here!
Use the ideas below to make your study more interesting and engaging. If you have an idea, share it HERE.
1) THE BIG STORY VIDEO (5:30)
This is a great 5 minute overview video of the Bible. It keeps Jesus at the center of the story and walks through a number of the main characters. It is designed for children, but I think you’ll find that it will be really good for your students to see as well.
2) Word Pictures
Use the letters in a short word (Jesus) from the lesson to illustrate its meaning. Draw pictures. For example: Jesus – the “J” in Jesus can be drawn with a cross at the top.
3) Idea 3
Submit an idea to see your idea here!
Do you have any other ideas that have helped you lead these studies? Please share with the community clicking the FEEDBACK button or leaving a comment below.
