‘Consequences’ youth group discussion starter | Youth Group Games, Youth Ministry Resources, Youth Group Ideas

‘Consequences’ youth group discussion starter

A clever way to get in-depth conversations started with everyone in your youth group.

A simple group discussion starter based on the party game of consequences i.e. his name/ her name/ where they met/ he said/ she said/ where they went/ what they did/ and the consequence was?

This exercise assumes your young people have some background knowledge about the life of Christ. Invite them to sit in a circle of 9 people and give everyone a piece of paper and a pen. If you have a large group, break into two or more circles.

Explain that you are going to play a version of the game 'Consequences' and ask a series of 9 questions. They write their first answer at the top of the paper and then fold it so that the answer cannot be seen.

The paper is then passed to the person on their right, and that person also writes their answer down (without looking at any other answers). This is repeated for each question, until all 9 questions are asked. If someone can’t answer a question they simply write a question mark, fold the paper over and pass it on.

  1. Where was Jesus born?
  2. What was his job?
  3. How old was he when he died?
  4. How long ago did this happen?
  5. Something Jesus did that people at the time liked.
  6. Something he did which shocked people.
  7. One thing that makes people want to follow him now.
  8. One thing that puts people off from following him now.
  9. One question you would like to ask him if you had the opportunity.

Don’t worry if the first four questions seem obvious. If your group knows the answers, they can show off their knowledge.

When everyone is finished, put all the papers in the centre of the circle. Ask each person to take a different one to the one they put down. Give a moment for them to open the paper and look at the answers. Go through the questions one by one, each time asking a few people to read the answers on the paper.

The first four factual questions can be covered quickly. If appropriate, add other pieces of information about the life of Jesus to help complete the understanding of your group. The later questions (5-9) are used to encourage a time of discussion. Use a whiteboard or flip chart to record the different answers.

For example, ask if anyone has a different point of view or opinion to a particular answer, and why? Does anyone want to add something else?  Add your own comments to the discussion and ask supplementary questions. One of your group may like to say why they want to follow Jesus.

The responses to the final question could prompt a wider discussion on a particular topic or link to a follow-up session called, ‘Thing’s I’d like to ask Jesus?’

(From an original idea by Emlyn Williams)


Read more about