Faith Game

  • Four tennis or rubber balls
  • Whiteboard or chalkboard
  • Marker or chalk
  • One medium-size box or container that children can easily reach inside to retrieve balls
  • Optional: rag or towel to place in container to prevent balls from bouncing out  
  • Two large towels for assistants to hold in front of children’s faces
  • Four assistants, such as sixth grade helpers, to keep score and to hold a towel in front of children’s faces

Place the container/box next to a wall if possible.

Place a mark about 6 to 8 feet from the container so every child can easily toss the first ball into the container.

Optional: write “Pleasing God” on the container. 

Noah lived his life to please God. His story took place in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. God never changes—He still wants us to live for Him! In the New Testament, Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 2:4b:

Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.

This is the kind of life that pleases God—to serve God from the heart, out of love and obedience, not out of guilt or trying to impress others. Our purpose or our aim is to please the Lord, even when the world tries to get us to turn our backs on Him. 

Divide the children into two teams. Have the teams make two lines behind the mark. Give the first player on each team two balls. Each player will quickly toss the first ball into the container representing “Pleasing God”—which they should be able to do easily. Two assistants should record one point for each team. 

Now, that looked fun but I have another challenge for you. The Apostle Paul also wrote this in 2 Corinthians 5:7:

For we live by believing and not by seeing.

Living by believing and not seeing is called what? Faith.

Before the players toss the second ball, have assistants hold up towels about an inch in front of the players’ faces so they cannot see the box. Each child then tosses the ball as best they can toward the box. The assistants should immediately lower the towels so the players can see if their ball goes in. If it does, they score a point. The players then quickly retrieve their two balls, give them to the next player, then move to the back of the line. The team with the most points wins.

You may play the game again, with the additional challenge of having each player try to bounce the balls into the box—the first time seeing the box, and the second time with an assistant holding the towel in front of their face.

Conclusion: Was it fun aiming to please God in our game?

Was it more of a challenge to play without seeing?  

Yes, it would be much easier to live for God if we could see Him with our natural eyes, but God calls us to live by faith!

Optional: read John 20:29:

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me.”

Tags: