Playstation Small Group

I learned all about small group ministry from a polar bear on a go-cart.

We have a new addition to our family. We bought a play-station at a garage sale with about 20 games. Yes, it’s a regular Play-Station. It’s not a Play-Station 2, or an X-box or Ice box or whatever the kids are playing nowadays. I pride myself at being at least 10 years behind the newest technology.

A word of caution though: If you are over 40, and are wading into the techno gadget waters, always have a life guard type technical advisor who is under 20. In this case, I was in good hands with my teenage daughter. Angie explained the controls and we picked a driving game neither of us had played before. No instructions, we just started playing.

Our game is called Crash Team Racing, or CTR. In this game, a screen showed us that we could choose a character. The choices included a polar bear, a mad scientist, a weasel, an alligator, a fox, a blonde girl, and a person that reminded me of my third grade teacher. Our characters could race around tracks with names like, Hot Air Highway (must be for preachers), Cortex Castle, Roos Tubes, Polar Pass, etc. The fox and the polar bear chose the castle, and then had to decide whether to race the other characters around a track, or just chase each other.

We chased each other around a castle; my pokey polar bear was no match for the fox. We crashed into each other and were having great fun. After about 10 minutes, we thought, “there has to be more to this.”

Sure enough, we discovered the “Adventure Level.” It was an instruction level. This little guy in a mask explained the game, rules ect. He told us that by running over fruit, and smashing into wooden boxes, our go-cart could go faster. That matches my approach to auto mechanics so I was all set. Our tour guide also explained we could gather weapons (the wooden boxes with a “?” on them), and use them to push opponents out of the way, and win a race.

Take it from me, nothing says “I love you daughter,” more than lobbing grenades at my teenager. Angie, in turn, prepared for Father’s Day by shooting guided missiles at the poor aged polar bear, knocking him out of first place as she sped by to victory.

As a father, the Play-Station can be a fun activity with your kids. As a husband, I have learned the hard way that a Play-Station is not a valid excuse for not mowing the lawn, feeding the cat, or going to bed on time.

But it is a great model for our small groups. Our Thursday night small group is an Adventure Level. As we gather together, we talk about the polar bear race of life. We pray for each other and encourage each other. We don’t lob grenades, but we do tease each other's kids, and joke around quite a bit.
Our practice track allows group members to practice their leadership skills by reading scripture, praying out loud, planning events, leading the discussion etc. The goal of our race is to train our group members to eventually lead other groups.

Take it from a slightly used polar bear. If you want fun and adventure, choose the character of Christ, and join a small group this fall. You will be encouraged, equipped, prayed for and loved a lot. You will have lots of friends as you race around the track of the Christian life.

Excuse me; Angie is firing another missile at me….