Object Lesson - Newspaper Madness - United in Christ

There are lots of games that can be played using only newspapers, but a few have been selected to illustrate the idea of unity and working together. In most of these games the players are designated as penguins and the newspaper is an iceberg.

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What You Need

• Lots of newspapers

 
A Few Newspaper Games

• Penguin Wacko – All the youth sit in a circle on chairs with one less chair than people in the group. Give a rolled up newspaper to one person in the middle of the circle who must call out a name. The person whose name is called must quickly call out another name before the person in the middle hits him or her with the rolled up newspaper. If someone gets hit with the newspaper they must take the place of the person in the center. Variation: no names are allowed to be repeated so that every name is called.
• Penguin Iceberg Race – Each youth is a penguin. Each team has two icebergs (sheets of newspaper) Each group of penguins must race to a destination by stepping on one sheet of newspaper, placing the next one down in front and hopping onto the next sheet of paper. The person then picks up the previous sheet of paper and places it in front. Once a player reaches the finish line, he picks up both sheets of paper and races back to the team and the next penguin repeats the process.
• Penguin Dance – 2 youth (Penguins) do a penguin dance with music on a sheet of newspaper (icebergs). When the music stops, the iceberg melts (The newspaper is folded in half). The music begins again and they dance again until the music stops. Each time the music stops, the the iceberg melts again (Is folded in half). The pair that dances on the iceberg the longest, without touching the floor wins.
• Iceberg Melt – Which team can fold a newspaper the smallest?
• Penguin Colony – How many penguins can stand on one iceberg (page of newspaper).
• Penguin Shuffle – Divide the youth into pairs, give each pair one sheet of newspaper, and get them to stand in two circles, one circle inside the other. While you play music, the inner circle walks like a penguin counter-clockwise and the outer one walks clockwise. When the music stops, each pair must find their partner, place the sheet of newspaper on the floor and stand on it. The last pair to stand on their iceberg is removed from the game. The process is repeated but now every time the music stops the newspaper must be first be folded in half so it gets smaller and smaller each round. The last pair of penguins in the game is the winner.

FINAL GAME AND DEBRIEF

• Ice Melt – Place sheets of newsprint on the floor with space between them. Explain that penguins love to go fishing in the ocean, but once in a while, when orca whales come near, they must hop on icebergs for safety. When the music is playing, the penguins need to swim in the ocean and look for fish to eat. But when the music stops it means an orca is near and the penguins have to hop on an iceberg for safety. But the icebergs are melting and every round one melts away. The goal is to work together to keep all the penguins alive. Repeat this process until only one sheet of newspaper remains for all the penguins to share.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

DEBRIEF

• Ask the youth what they did in order to save everyone.
• What were the strategies they used to make sure everyone survived?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

In this game, everyone started out on their own, and over time they all joined together into one colony. In some ways this is like the journey we take as believers. We are all separated, both from God, and in some ways from others. But Christ’s sacrifice on the cross removed the distance between us and God. God brings us together into one family, one church, one body of Christ.
 
MAKE IT PRACTICAL

What do the following verse say about us coming together as one, about the unity God desires from us as Christians?

• Ephesians 4:1-6
• Romans 15:5-7
• Romans 12:4-5
• I Corinthians 8:6
• Ephesians 4:11-16
• Hebrews 2:6-11;17
• 1 Timothy 2:5
• I Corinthians 12:4-10
• Philippians 1:27
• Ephesians 4:2-6

1. What are some ways we need to grow together?
2. What are the benefits of unity?
3. What are the things that separate us and how can we overcome them?
4. How can we grow closer?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

• How can you contribute to unity in the church? In the youth group?
• In what are do you find unity most difficult? Why?
• What is something you can personally do this week to being greater unity?

KEY SCRIPTURE VERSES

• 1 Timothy 2:5 – “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”
• Ephesians 4:1-6 – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

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