Matthew 13-15 Treasure Hunt for Youth Group

 

Sarah & I (Jennifer) meet with the youth once a month studying the book of Matthew. Their last assignment was to read chapters 13-15 before we met on February 11. We're a small church with a few youth whom God has put on our hearts, asking us to invest in their lives. So, we had our faithful 5 (although we had hoped 4 more who sometimes come to First Christian would also join us). 

Sarah's ladies Bible study group spoiled the kids with pizza & goodies. And since I love escape room games, so I decided to turn this meeting into a treasure hunt based on their reading assignment. I couldn't figure out how to add a pdf to this blogpost other than to upload it to my Google Drive and share that link with you, so here goes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b4gTuitTYY-p8z7Zb2oPtalVKkoVkLv1/view?usp=sharing I added comments about how I went about doing it, plus funny little things that happened throughout the document. Hope it helps for any who want to try out some of the ideas.

After the Treasure Hunt, Sarah & I finished our time with the youth with a review of the chapters to see what they got out of their reading. Sarah also taught them what she learned about studying the Bible with youth from her recent trip to visit Shepherd's Heart International Ministry in Uganda. Using hand motions, she taught them: 

1. We point backwards since the Bible was written a long time ago, we look back to see what it says and what it means; 
2. We point upwards to consider what it teaches us about God; 
3. And we point forward to apply it to our lives.

It was really neat to see the kids (middle & high schoolers) put into practice this easy way to remember how to study God's Word, especially since Sarah had them dig into the Parable of the Soils. Their insights were awesome, and I hope they remember and apply it to their lives.