This document discusses the use of board games in ministry. It provides perspectives on how playfulness can help people open up and question beliefs. Play is seen as an expression of God's presence that can help release stress. Board games are suggested for outreach events, youth groups, and conventions. Resources discussed include organizations that use games in ministry, gaming podcasts that discuss faith, and Christian gaming communities. The overall message is that board games can build relationships and demonstrate God's love when used in ministry contexts.

1. BoardGames
Ministry
Stephen Taylor

2. WhyBoard
GameMinistry?
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3. PlayfulAwakening
Di Gammage
• If we are able to play, we bring a lightness
and softening the allows for a loosening
around how we perceive ourselves, others
and out own thinking. Play allows us to
open up and question concepts, beliefs
and assumptions that we perhaps were
not even aware we held, offering us
opportunities to deepen our
understanding of ourselves, others and
the world we share together
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4. DangerousWonder
Mike Yaconelli
• Play is an expression of God’s presence in
the world; one clear sign of God’s absence
in society is the absence of playfulness
and laughter. Play is not an escape; it is
the way to release the life-smothering grip
of busyness, stress and anxiety.
(Playfulness is a modern expression of
hope, a celebration of the flickering light
of the gospel that plays with the dark by
pouncing on the surrounding darkness like
a cat toying with a mouse.)
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5. TheWell-Played Life
Leonard Sweet
‘But when we engage in our relationship
with God with joy and dancing, in play, no
matter our age, we “please God” by taking
pleasure in the gift of life and relationship
with the Creator and spreading that joy to
others. In God’s pleasure we are blessed,
and thus can be a blessing to others.
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6. ChildishorChildlike?
1Corinthians13:11
Mark10:15
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7. TheWell-Played Life
Leonard Sweet
• Jesus also tells us to look for specific signs
of our times. He calls us to exegete
images and metaphors of our culture, to
pay attention to what God is doing in
people’s lives, and to deconstruct the
scenarios in which we live, move, have our
being and engage with our mission…
• …Paul approached people where they
were, not where he wished they would
be….1he did not plop down the gospel
story from on high, like a prefabricated
box. He walked the grid until the gospel
came to consciousness in the context of
the culture.
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8. God LovesThe Freaks
Steven Weese
• Time and time again in the Book of Acts,
and indeed throughout history, when the
church is willing to reach out to and
embrace those of difference, the church
grows and the people are filled with God’s
love and with His Spirit.
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9. Facts and Figures
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10. Facts and Figures
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11. Why Board
Games?
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•Missional outreach
•Passion
•Breaking Barriers
•Relevance
•Church Planting
•ASD

12. Which Board
Games?
• 100s of new modern games
• Classic games work too
• Invite people to bring their own
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13. GamesForAll
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14. Gamesforall.net
Key Aims
• Explain games to
parents/newcomers/youth
or children’s workers
• Give questions to explore
character using the games
• Link the games to Scripture
• Provide information about
gaming in general
• Board and Video Games
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15. OnBoard
HolidayClub
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16. 16

17. EventIdeas
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18. Board Game
Evenings/Afternoons/Days
• Brilliant outreach
• Only need a handful of games
• Important to have a ‘No
preaching rule’ (no bait and
switching) if you want a god
slot that’s fine but all
advertising MUST make it clear.
• Team don’t need to be gamers,
just comfortable talking with
others.
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19. Local Schools/Children’s centre
• Works well as an after school
club
• Can tie into DofE as a Skill – I
have booklets for board games
and for RPGS if you are
interested.
• Works as a holiday event for
children’s centres to bring
families in
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20. Youth/Children’s Clubs
• The games can be used to explore scripture in depth or
solely as a relationship building activity for your
youth/kids clubs.
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21. Conventions
• Can work at Christian and Non-Christian
conventions/festivals.
• CAP have board games at their CAP café
tents
• At The UK Games EXPO this year there
was a church service on the Sunday
morning which had over 40 attendees.
• At Gencon – the main tabletop gaming
convention in the USA - the Sunday
service was packed out.
• Airecon in the North East of England is run
by a Christian called Mark Cooke and his
friends and offers the largest indoor
space for gaming in Europe.
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22. Resources
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23. Ministry & Boardgaming
Secure Facebook group
• A Facebook group of over 100 ministers, lay people and
church workers from across the UK where we discuss
ideas and support one another in our gaming ministries.
• Anyone is welcome but it is kept super secret locked
down to help prevent trolls. If you are interested in
joining it then message me on Facebook
@SteTaylorGamer.
• It was set up by Rev. Andy Gray http://kidzministry.org
who is the faith sharing enabler for the Diocese of Bath
and Wells now, and a pioneer minister. He has a wealth
of knowledge on setting up new ministries and outreach
to small communities and is well worth getting in touch
with.
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24. Innroads Ministries
https://www.innroadsministries.com/
• InnRoads Ministries is an organization that works with
church and community groups to help them develop
tabletop gaming programs that build powerful
relationships that demonstrate the love of God across
the table as they build a common story together
• They run 3 podcasts:
1. Game Store Prophets where they talk about table
top gaming and link it to Christianity,
2. Bard & Bible – a conversational devotional that
approaches scripture through storytelling.
3. Innroads Plays - an ‘actual play’ series of podcasts
where they record sessions of role playing games for
people to listen to
They also have a large Facebook Community called the
Tavern which is open to anyone who wants to join.
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25. Christian RPG Podcasts
• Saving the Game - http://stgcast.org/
• A Christian podcast about tabletop role-playing and
collaborative storytelling
• A new podcast is released fortnightly that looks at RPGs
and situations that may arise at the gaming table
through a Christian lens
• Min/Max Podcast - http://minmaxpod.com/
• A trio of nerds that get together each week to talk about
the crossroads of faith and nerd culture. They cover
everything, from video and tabletop gaming, comic
books, film and television, and the geeks that inspire
them most!
• A good mix of deep conversation and humour make this
a very enjoyable podcast to listen to.
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26. Convention (Con) Ministries
• Love Thy Nerd- https://lovethynerd.com
• LTN wants to speak redemption, hope, truth, and love
into the parts of nerd culture that have often been
alienated, demonized, dismissed, or simply ignored by
Christians. We also want to educate Christians on the
value of nerd culture and how we can love our nerdy
neighbours better. They do this by creating thoughtful
content, relational outreach, and intentional
community..
• Gamechurch - https://gamechurch.info/
• Gamechurch works to empower churches to attend
their local conventions, providing resources to help
make sure that people know that Jesus loves them, and
advice on providing a space for people to sit and
chat/pray.
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27. Preaching Ministries
• Derek W. White – The Geekpreacher
http://geekpreacher.org
• Derek is a United Methodist minister and serves as a
pastor in the Nashville Episcopal area. He has been an
advocate for the geek community for a long time but
began to actively pursue this "fusion of geekiness and
spirituality" in 2007. He is the unofficial chaplain for
many conventions, and the official one for Gary Con, the
yearly celebration of all things D&D named for Gary
Gygax and runs regular panels of Faith and Gaming.
• Tom Vasel - https://www.dicetower.com/
• The main host for the world’s biggest board game
review site creating YouTube videos and podcasts daily.
He is also a fully trained youth pastor and at conventions
he will often be seen leading the Sunday morning
worship services at them.
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28. Christian Games Groups
• The Christian Gamers Guild - http://christian-gamers-
guild.org
• This is as far as I know the longest running group of
Christian gamers that’s out there., originally set up in
the early days of the internet in 1996. Their aim is to
work to bridge the gap between Christians and hobby
gamers. and they have a wealth of resources and articles
to help you do that.
• They also have a huge list of websites and organisations
that are Christian in nature and exploring the geek and
game scene – you can find it here http://christian-
gamers-guild.org/wp/blog/admin/our-friends-and-allies/
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29. Any Questions?
Stephen Taylor
stephen@gamesforall.net
www.gamesforall.net