Youth Ministry Object Lesson - Shoe Shuffle - Walking With Christ

We often talk about a person’s walk with Christ. That’s because the feet tell us two very important facts about someone: where one is standing and which way someone is going. A firm stand and a consistent walk are both traits we admire in other Christians. This Object Lesson uses shoes as a reminder of the need for youth to walk daily with Christ.

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Games Using Shoes

• Big Foot – Organize all the youth into a straight line and blindfold everyone or simply ask them to close their eyes and keep them shut. The youth must then re-organize themselves according to shoe size without stating their shoe size to each other.
• Do You Like Your Neighbors? – Youth must stand in a circle with one person in the center. Everyone in the circle takes off their shoes and places them behind where they are standing to mark their spot. Someone standing around the circle asks, “Do you like your neighbors?” The participant in the middle of the circle must reply, “No I don’t, but I like people who ______” and fills in the blank with a characteristic. (e.g have a pet, skipped breakfast, etc) All the youth that fit the description must quickly find a new spot in the circle (not next to the one they left, at least five people away) to stand. Last person without a spot stands in the middle. Those who don’t fit the description stay in their spot while others run for a new spot.
• Horseshoe Toss – Play a classic game of horseshoes but use shoes instead. Each team of youth tries to toss one each of their shoes closest to the wall from across the room. Closest shoe gets 5 points. Any shoe leaning against the wall gets 10 points. Team with highest score wins.
• Minefield – Divide into two teams and mark of an area to be the minefield. Everyone removes their shoes and randomly tosses them into the minefield area. Teams line up on opposite sides of the minefield and using words only must guide a blindfolded member of their team from one side of the mine field to the opposite side faster than the opposing team. One the person makes the trip, the blindfold is removed and another team member can wear the blindfold and cross the minefield. First team to get everyone successfully across wins. Only one blindfolded person is allowed in the field at any time. If the blindfolded player touches a land mine, a 10-second penalty is assessed to that team.
• Musical Shoes – Sit the youth in a circle and ask everyone to take off hos/her left shoe. As the music plays, the youth must pass the shoe to the right while taking the shoe being passed from the left. When the music stops, each youth must find the owner of the show he or she is holding and return the shoe to them. For an icebreaker, ask them to learn the persons name and one other fun fact about them or answer to specific icebreaker question you have chosen.
• Shoe Bucket – Divide kids into teams of four. The kids lie on their backs in a circle with their feet raised in the middle in order to balance a bucket of water or ice. Each team member must remove one of his shoes without spilling the bucket of water. The first team to complete this wins.
• Shoe Detectives – Divide the youth into two teams. Have each team line up on opposite sides of the room and remove their shoes. Take all the shoes outside room and put them in one large pile outside room. The first person on each team is the “detective.” The second person on each team describes his or her shoes to the detective, who runs to find them in the shoe pile and bring them back. If the detective brings back the wrong shoes, he or she gathers more clues and searches again. If the detective brings back the right shoes, the owner puts them on and becomes the detective. Repeat the process until one team finds all its shoes.
• Shoe Identity – Everyone takes off their shoes, ties them together and places them in the center of the circle. Someone comes forward, chooses a pair of shoes and makes a statement about the shoes’ owner based on the condition and/or characteristics of the shoes. (For example, “This person loves fashion.”) The owner of the shoes then introduces him/herself and picks out the next pair. Variation: Have each youth retrieve a pair of shoes that represent him or her and once everyone has a pair, youth explain what they have in common with the shoes they have chosen.
• Shoe Match – Each youth takes off one shoe and tosses it into a pile. On your signal, each youth then grabs a shoe from the pile and find the owner who is wearing the other shoe. They must learn the name (if they don’t already know each other) and three things about the other person they didn’t already know. One everyone has found a match, sit in a circle where each youth shares what they learned about the person they matched.
• Shoe Prints – As each person enters the room, have them create a dirty footprint on a white sheet of paper. Mix up the footprints and then pass them out. Each person must find the shoe that matches the footprints. (This works best when people are coming into the room from outside. Once they have walked across a carpet or clean floor, the dust is often left behind and it is difficult to get footprints.) Variation: Take a digital photo of part of the bottom of each person’s shoe and print and use these instead of the footprints.
• Shoe Shucking – Everyone takes their shoe half off and flings it into the air. See who can get their shoe the furthest.
• Shoe Snake – All youth place their shoes behind one another to create a long snake. The group with the largest snake shoes wins.
• Shoe Towers – Teams of Youth must build the tallest tower in a given time using only their shoes.
• Shoe Twister – Each youth takes off one shoe and puts it in the centre of the circle. Everyone joins hands. On your signal everyone gets a shoe from centre of the circle and finds the person who owns it, and puts it back on that person without letting go of hands of people beside them.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Pile everyone’s shoes in the middle of a circle of youth.

• Ask the youth to share as many features as possible that the shoes in the middle of the circle have in common.
• Ask the youth to share as many features as possible make each pair of shoes unique.
• What are some of the things that we have in common as part of the body of Christ?
• What are some of the things that make us unique?
• What do our shoes tell us about ourselves? To what extent is there a relationship between our personality and the way we walk?
• How is describing your shoes to a friend similar to sharing the gospel? What might happen if we don’t present the gospel clearly? How can we become more effective at sharing Christ with others this week?
• When it comes to running the race of life, what lessons can we learn from the games we played with shoes?

In I Cor. 9:24-27, Paul compares the Christian life to a race. Any runner will tell you that the most important piece of equipment for the runner is his shoes. Shoes are very personal things. You can’t run the race in someone else’s shoes. In the same way, in the body of Christ we each must run the race. Everyone needs his own set of running shoes. And while we all need shoes, our shoes will be different as we run the race ahead.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

We often talk about a person’s walk with Christ. That’s because the feet tell us two very important facts about someone: where one’s standing and which way someone is going. A firm stand and a consistent walk are both traits we admire in others. When we talk about our journey in life we often talk about those times we slip and stumble as well as those times when we took a step in the right direction.

• What is something that you have taken a stand for in your life? What are some things that you need to take a stronger stand on?
• What are some steps that you have taken in the right direction with your life? The wrong direction?
• What are some areas in which you have stumbled along the way in your journey?
• What are some ways that we can make our walk sure? How can you get back on your feet and take a new step in the right direction with your life? In what areas do you need to watch your step?
• Taking a stand and finding your footing in life isn’t always easy – especially when you might need to step on a few toes to do so.
• How can you find the balance between taking a stand on things that are important to you without stepping on too many toes? Should you worry about stepping on toes? Why or why not?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

• As a footnote to this lesson, identify at least one area of your life where you need to get back on your feet!
• How can you take a new step in the right direction with your life beginning today?
• In what areas do you need to watch your step in the journey ahead?

SCRIPTURE

• Colossians 2:6-7 (NKJV) – “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it[a] with thanksgiving.”
• Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
• 1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
• 1 John 2:6 (NKJV) – “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
• Romans 8:4 (NKJV) – “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
• Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJV) – “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were 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.”
• Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV) – “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
• Deuteronomy 8:6 – “Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.”
• Deuteronomy 10:12 – “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”

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