ICE BREAKERS

Why Ice Breakers?

When the group meets it is important to establish a relationship... after all, that is the aim of the group meeting. People are coming in cold, some perhaps for the very first time. We are asking them to bare their souls to each other and to be real with God and with one another.  A group that is well-established, where people know each other well can go quite quickly to the deep stuff, but for other groups, their needs to be a transition stage which allows people to establish that they can trust the group through some fairly innocuous questions.

An ice-breaker is a question, or series of questions, or an activity, that allows people to share something about themselves which is non-threatening, or which they are easily encouraged to talk about.

The aim is to get people talking about themselves, with the rest of the group listening, so that they are more easily able to share their dreams, needs, questions etc.

In a group that is newly established, the first meeting may consist just of the ice-breaker so that people can get to know each other, and lay a good foundation for the group.

When choosing your ice-breaker try to make sure that they relate in some way to the theme of the night. That way the ice- breaker is seen as part of the process, and not just standing out on its own.

A good ice-breaker is one that reveals something about the people, but not anything too deep or threatening. It can be simple ("What is something good that happened last week?") or more creative ("What was a place that you liked to go for holidays when you were little?"). Think about the sorts of things people might talk about at work... these are usually safe topic areas. You can make almost any question safe by placing it in the distant past. But be careful if you have a wide range of ages present in the group as what is distant for some is present for others!

Inspiration!

It's not always easy to be creative, especially when you are under pressure. We have borrowed this list of 104 ice-breakers from the U.S. cell church site. www.cell-church.org I recommend that you visit this site often, it has a great range of articles and ideas for all cell leaders.

1. What was the happiest moment of your life?
2. Tell us about your first date?
3. What is the greatest regret of your life?
4. The hardest thing I have ever done...
5. The greatest compliment I ever received.
6. Let me tell you about my best earthly friend...
7. What room in your house do you like best?
8. What is the one thing you want to accomplish next week?
9. Where did you feel warmest and safest as a child?
10. If you had a time machine that would work only once, what point in the future or in history would you visit?
11. When was the last time you did something for the first time?
12. Which of the following restrictions could you best tolerate:
leaving the country permanently, or never leaving the state in which you now live?
13. At a meal, your friends start belittling a common friend. What do you do?
14. If you could take a pill that would enable you to live until you reach 1000 years, would you do it? Why?
15. When you do something stupid, how much does it bother you to have other people notice it and laugh?
16. Would you like to know the exact date of your death?
17. If you could change two things about the way you were raised, what would they be? If you came from a divorced family, how did it affect you?
18. Who is your favourite relative? Why?
19. What is your favourite memory time spent, as a child, with your father? Your mother?
20. Who did God use to bring you to the point where you knew you needed Jesus?
21. If you could change places with a Bible character, who would you choose? Why?
22. What is your favourite book of the Bible? Why?
23. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
24. What is your favourite movie or TV show?
25. Who has had the greatest influence on your life since we last gathered?
26. What was the best thing that happened to you this past week?
27. Recall a time when you failed recently
28. Name someone you admire who had to overcome great obstacles to get where they are now.
29. What do you value most in a human relationship? In your relationship with Christ? Your parents?
30. How do you react when you aren't thanked for going out of your way for someone?
31. What is your favourite time of day?
32. Singles: The girl/boy I want to marry.
Couples: What caused me to marry my spouse.
33. My greatest disappointment...
34. The gift I will never forget (apart from my conversion)...
35. What was the most important event in your life this past week?
36. If you could chose to go anywhere in the world for 3 days, where would you go, and why?
37. If you could chose to meet anyone who ever lived in America, who would that be, and why would you like to meet him/her?
38. If you could choose to live anywhere in the world, where would you live, and why?
39. What gift (spiritual, emotional, mental, etc.) do you believe you are bringing to this meeting? (In other words, what do you think you are bringing that will- or may contribute to the encouragement of others- or the building-up of the "church"?)
40. Describe a significant experience in your life that changed your value system completely.
41. What are some of your goals for the year ahead?
42. Who are your parents, what did they do and what would you like to change about them?
43. If I could choose my career over again I would ...
44. What is your position in your family - first second etc.
What  would you have liked to swap about this position?
45. If you became the leader of any country in the world, which would it be and why?
46. Share the best and worst experience of your week
47. If you could take a free 2 week trip to any place in the world  where would it be and why?
48. If you could talk to any one person now living, who would it be and why?
49. Give every one a piece of paper and ask them to draw a picture of their jobs or whatever they do on a daily basis. Explain your sketches.
50. Ask each person to say why they are glad to be a cell group tonight.
51. Briefly describe some strong and some weak points in your relationship with your eldest child or your parents-in-law or your husband.
52. Inform everyone that they have just been given $1000 000. Let each share how they would use their newly gained fortune.
53. Do you have a nickname and if so what is it?
What nicknames do you have for your husband and
children?
54. Is there an era in time that you would have liked to have lived in, if so, why?
55. Has the cell group been a help to you? Spend time talking about it and thanking each other.
56. Tell the cell group 3 things you appreciate about your family and 3 ways in which you find them difficult at times.
57. What is the best thing that has ever happened in my family? ...my cell group? ...the world?
58. One thing I would really like see happen at the moment in my family? ... my church? ... my cell group? ... the world?
59. Who is the best friend you have at this point in your life?
60. Have you had an answered prayer recently - share the story
61. What is your occupation? What do you enjoy about it?
62. Who has been the greatest influence on your Christian life and why?
63. What book, movie, video have you seen/read and why would you recommend it?
64. What do you think delights God above everything else in your life?
65. What is the most encouraging thing said to you this week?
66. What encouraging action have you done to someone this week?
67. What made you decide to attend this church.
68. What made you decide to live in ...<insert your city>?
69. What do you still want to accomplish with your life?
70. What is your most embarrassing experience?
71. For what are you thankful?
72. What is the most memorable event of your life and why?
73. Share the most meaningful scripture to you and why is it so
meaningful?
74. How did you and your partner meet and what made to start going out together or what kind of person would you like to have as your partner?
75. How would your life be different if you knew Jesus was returning on 24/5/2000
76. Who is the most interesting person you have met?
77. Talk about your favourite holiday spot and why you enjoy it  there?
78. Share about a spiritual experience you have had...
79. What annoys you about your spouse/friend?
80. Have you ever experienced healing in your body - share
81. How do you relax?
82. What is your favourite type of music / song etc.?
83. What has happened to you during this week which you would like to tell the rest of the group.
84. The last time I got really angry was .............
85. If you could not fail, what would you like to do?
86. If you had to live your life over what would you change?
87. What do you want written on your tombstone?
88. What do you want said at your funeral?
89. What don't you want said at your funeral?
90. If you were to go and live on the moon and could carry only one thing, what would it be?
91. What would you do if you were to see ...
- a person being robbed
- a person drowning
- a house on fire
92. One thing which has stressed me out this week .....
93. One thing which makes me feel guilty ........
94. One thing which I do not understand about the opposite sex is .......
95. If you had this week / ... over again what would you do differently?
96. Describe another small group that you were a member of outside of your church, and tell us why you thought the group worked (or didn't work). You're not limited to "religious" groups (most of us meet in small groups at work).
97. What is the most memorable Bible you have received (i.e. from Baptism, wedding, conversion, etc.)? Tell us about why it's meaningful to you.
98. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?
99. What are the biggest questions that you have about your relationship with God?
100. Under what circumstances do you feel most lonely? Least lonely? Why?
101. In what areas of your life is it most difficult to trust God?
Other people? Yourself?
102. Why do you get up in the morning? The purpose is to find out what the motivating forces are in this person's life. It is a simple question, but, it takes a good deal of thought to answer honestly.
103. When was the last time you admitted you were wrong? Why is it so hard to do?
104. What have you learned recently from another believer?