This document describes a game called "Cat and Mouse" that can be used as an object lesson in youth group. In the game, one student is the "cat" who tries to tag the "mouse" running around the outside of a circle formed by the other students holding hands in pairs. The mouse can avoid being tagged by grabbing one of the students' free hands, switching partners. This game of pursuit can then be related to what the Bible says Christians should pursue, like love, righteousness, and peace. Suggestions are given for variations of the game based on biblical stories and closing discussion questions about pursuing God and others.
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One of the biggest
challenges right now is the
“Back to School” blues.
Summer is over and the
reality of school has set
back in again. Everyone’s
back to pursuing
something. Popularity,
grades, sports, maybe even
aspiring to music careers on
YouTube, everyone faces
the pressure to perform.
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This game is great to blow
off some steam and burn
off a little energy in the
youth group. As typical in
any game of tag, it is a
game of pursuit. This lends
itself to a discussion of the
things we pursue in life and
what the Bible says we
should pursue.
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What to Do
1. Choose someone to be
the “cat” and another
person to be the
“mouse” then ask the
rest of the youth to hold
hands and form a circle
around the “mouse”.
2. Have every two persons
in the circle to drop
hands so that they are in
pairs. These partners
must continue holding
hands and cannot let go.
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3. The cat can cut through
the circle in between
pairs, but the mouse must
run around the outside of
the circle.
4. The objective is for the
cat to tag the mouse, but
there is a small twist that
balances out the cat’s
ability to cut through the
circle. The mouse can
grab any free hand (or
arm) of the partners
forming the circle.
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(The partners will be
holding hands or locking
arms, but the outside arm
of each person will be
free.) If the mouse grabs
one of these outside
arms/ hands, the mouse
forms a new partner with
the person the mouse has
attached to, and the
person who was not
grabbed now becomes the
new mouse.
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5. If the cat manages to tag
the mouse, they reverse
roles and the cat becomes
the mouse and the mouse
becomes the cat.
6. This game can usually go
on for quite a while before
the youth become bored.
Usually I will set a time
limit and a forfeit for the
person who is the cat
when the time is up.
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Here are some of the things
the Bible says we should
pursue.
• Love – 1 Corinthians
14:1 (NAS)
• Peace -1 Peter 3:11 (ASV
NAS RSV NIV); Psalms
34:14 (KJV ASV NAS RSV
NIV)
• Righteousness, piety,
faith, love, endurance,
meekness – 1 Timothy
6:11 (NAS NIV)
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As you look over the things
the Bible says to pursue,
you’ll see they fall into the
same two areas of the great
commandment – To love
the Lord your God with all
your heart soul mind and
strength, and to Love your
neighbor as yourself – A
right relationship with God
and a right relationship
with others.
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Take it Personal
• Which of these do
people find difficult to
pursue?
• What stops people from
pursuing these things of
God?
• When you think about
your relationship with
God – faith, endurance,
righteousness, piety
and holiness, how do
you think you measure
up?
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“They must turn from evil
and do good; they must
seek peace and pursue it.”
1 Peter 3:11 (NIV)
“But you, man of God, flee
from all this, and pursue
righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance and
gentleness.”
1 Timothy 6:11 (NIV)
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“Flee the evil desires of
youth, and pursue
righteousness, faith, love and
peace, along with those who
call on the Lord out of a pure
heart.”
2 Timothy 2:22
“Pursue peace with all men,
and the sanctification
without which no one will
see the Lord.”
Hebrews 12:14 (NASB)
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“Not that I have already
obtained all this, or have already
arrived at my goal, but I press on
to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have
taken hold of it. But one thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is
ahead, I press on toward the
goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
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“What then shall we say?
That the Gentiles, who did
not pursue righteousness,
have obtained it, a
righteousness that is by
faith; but the people of
Israel, who pursued the law
as the way of righteousness,
have not attained their goal.
Why not? Because they
pursued it not by faith but
as if it were by works. They
stumbled over the
stumbling stone.”
Romans 9:30-32 (NIV)
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“So then we pursue the
things which make for peace
and the building up of one
another.”
Romans 14:19 (NASB)
“Let us know, Let us pursue
the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established
as the morning; He will come
to us like the rain, Like the
latter and former rain to the
earth.”
Hosea 6:3 (NKJV)
24. MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you
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and Names / Descriptions of God.
Learn More…
Creative Object Lessons
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