Friday, January 20, 2017
Games in Ministry
Games in ministry
Should games in ministry be competitive? Is it a reflection of the grace, love, and mercy of Christ to use games that are competitive? Competitive games help students to experience the winning and losing that occurs in real life such as getting (or not getting) a job or promotion. Having only competitive games seems to take away from the fact that we are all loved and valued by God evenly. We are all given the grace and mercy of God without regard of our skills and abilities because God is not in need of what we might offer. I think that a balance of both competitive and non-competitive games is best for those in our ministries.
Pizza Party
Do we have a theme? If so what is that theme? Our budget is $220 total. Do we have arrangements for food and drinks? How are we going to promote the party? What games will we be playing?
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Where I work is not open on Mondays, which personally I completely okay with.
ReplyDeleteMusic: my idea was, each of us make a 5 song list and we can put a playlist together and use that. Would anyone be opposed to that?
Theme: I liked the idea we discussed in class on Monday. Pizza and Plaid
Games: When it comes to games I personally think we should have an even split between what is competitive and what is not. This will allow for all participation I think. Some people are not going to want to exert a lot of effort, but if we have a nice mixture with between them they might be more willing to give a little extra if they know we are not going to exhaust them after 3 games.
I like the playlist idea! I agree when it comes to games especially when they are all of a similar category (for example all physical/speed or mental). Our group is trying to come up with a variety of games for that reason. I think having competition teaches people grace and mercy, and I like what Prof James said about the church teaching kids what it is like to win AND lose.
ReplyDeleteI believe games should be competitive. It allows them to experience winning and losing. Life is full of competition. Ii do not like hoe everything is changing to "everyone's a winner". In reality not everyone is going to win every time. When you go out to get a job and there is one opening , not everyone is going to win. Is it really an example of grace and love if we mislead teens or kids to believe everyone is a winner?
ReplyDeleteI think that an easy theme like Plaid would make it easier on everyone; it isn't hard to find and at least close to everyone has plaid. What you guys were saying about the music do we want music to be part of the games like a group dance (e.g. cupid shuffle) or just background music. For promoting the party I like the talking with professors to give bonus for going. The games as Brandon was saying definitely should not be strenuous early in the party and should be varied.
ReplyDeleteI think that games should be competitive because once people get out in the real world, there aren't going to be winners all the time. People, including children, need to learn that "you win some, you lose some". That is just part of the world/culture that we live in. However, I do not think that people need to be rude to people who lose because that is poor behavior on their part. It would not be an action of grace and love to be boastful about team A winning while team B lost. That's just flat out rude.
ReplyDeleteI think the games we use should be competitive. Competition could help people get out of their comfort zones and get into the games more to be better acquainted with the people around them. It will also make the event fun.
ReplyDeleteHaving a theme might be nice if we had more money and if a theme didn't limit an event. We do need to decorate, so Pizza and Plaid still sounds like a good idea. It also rolls off the tongue which will make promoting it help to catch. I think we should use social media and hung flyers to advertise because they're pretty much free.
Games need to be fun. In the reading it is pointed out that professional sports has taken games from being fun to being about skill or being a spectator. Games are a great way to engage people on a different level and to get them to see God and his church as fun and not just boring.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe games should be competitive in ministry. I agree with Judy when she says that “competitive games seem to take away from the fact that we are all loved and valued by God.” It reinforces that societal idea that the most athletic (or most musical/beautiful/ect.) are the most valued. It allows another location where people are marginalized. I want the ministry that I conduct to be a place where everyone feels valued. Additionally, people have every opportunity to experience winning and losing in life outside of church. On the whole, most people would not say that the latter was a life giving experience. If we are to have competitive games, then we have losers and I personally do not want anyone to leave the church with a sour taste in their mouth over a game. Furthermore, I have gotten to experience the negative effects of competition in church, specifically within Children’s Quizzing. While the competition aspect does indeed encourage our youngest to join, the emphasis on the competition has been seen to distort the Word on numerous occasions. At the end of everything I believe that we need to make something else our focus. Rather than focus on competition in games we could focus on comradery (or some other positive notion). I want to be clear that while I don’t like competition I do not feel like we need to do away with it altogether. Instead, we in ministry must shift our focus if we indeed want to separate ourselves out from the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI believe that games should be competitive in ministry. We need to realize that not everything is fair nor do things come easy. When there is no competition, we tend to forget that we are not teaching the students about things that occur in life. We teach them through competition, that it is okay to lose and not only is it okay, but it will happen at some point in our life. We don't always win, but that teaches us how to approach things that we are not good at. We can learn a lot about ourselves and the people around us through competition in ministry.
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