Nearer or Farther?

Materials
Make a list of actions. These actions will include:
1. Things that will bring us or others closer to God / each other.
2. Things that will create barriers or move us away from God or away from others.

Examples

• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a friend.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a parent.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever broken one of the Ten Commandments.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever told someone about God’s love.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever made fun of a classmate at school.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever fed or helped a stranger.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever believed in someone when nobody else would.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever pretended not to see someone in need.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever been honest when it would have been easier to tell a lie.

Activity
Stand in the center of a circle of participants, with the youth all positioned an equal distance from you. As you call out the items on the list, if a child/youth has ever done that he must either take one step forward or one step backward depending on if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The objective is to be the first person to reach you. Ask kids to be honest.

Variation
Have some volunteers stand as obstacles... Their objective is to stand in the way of participants trying to move forward. Anything that is an obstacle between us and God needs to be removed.

Discussion
Have kids form pairs and discuss the following questions:

• How did you feel as you moved closer to the center of the circle?
• What did you notice about the group as the activity went on?

Have a volunteer pick up the Bible from the center of the circle and Read James 4:7-8a. Ask:

• How do your actions affect your relationship with God?
• What do you think it means to submit to God?

Application
Reconciliation is removing the distance between people and God similar to the way you moved in this game to get closer to the teacher. Some things we do like lying, hurting others move people away from God. Other actions like encouraging others and helping them do their chores make people closer. When we forgive, confess our sins, read our Bible, tell others about Jesus, etc we help them move closer to God. That's what reconciliation is all about.

This game / creative teaching idea reminds youth and children that our actions serve to either draw us nearer to God or take us farther away from him.