“Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ He said, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said, ‘Feed My sheep'” (
To prepare for this activity, you will need enough of the following supplies for each group of six teens: cookies/donuts/or any type of food with a hole in the middle (so that it can slide on a piece of rope or string), about 30 yards of rope/string, can of soda or bottled water, empty toilet paper roll, paper plate, clothes pins and any other miscellaneous items that you think might be useful. Also, provide each group with some random additional items that no other team will have.
Begin by dividing your youth into teams of six. Each team will divide into two groups of three, separated by about 20 yards or whatever you have space for. One group of three will be given the food (donuts/pop) and the supplies. The mission will be to get the food to the “hungry” teens at the other end. They can use any supplies in their bag or that they have with them, but they cannot walk/crawl/or run the food to the other side. A prize will be given to the team who finishes first. A prize could also be given to the team with the most creative method used. For an extra challenge, you may want to have the youth do this activity silently.
After the activity is completed, you can have the teens spend some time in their groups discussing the following questions.
1.) What was it like to wait silently on the receiving end of the food, not being able to share your ideas and waiting for help to arrive?
2.) Relate those thoughts to how your friends who may see or hear about you going to youth group, but haven’t been invited to come may be feeling.
3.) How did you plan and prepare your method of feeding the teens at the other end?
4.) Did you fail at any of your attempts? What did you do after?
5.) When evangelizing to others, it is important to plan and prepare, as well. You may also experience “failure” when you try to reach out to others. Share some stories or examples of this and how you responded.
Following the time of discussion, you can use the article Chilean Rescuers Model How Christians Should Live to further continue your discussion on the importance of evangelism. An additional activity may be helping the teens come up with a 3-minute testimony so they always will be prepared to share with others the light of Christ.
