Feel free to use this 70 minute workshop as a community building activity for any multigenerational audience.
Speed Community Building Workshop for a Multigenerational Community
Developed by Jennica Davis Youth Ministry Consultant and the 2012 Youth Adult Committee
Goal: in 70 minutes model the 5 steps to building community using fun games and activities appropriate for a multigenerational crowd. Many activities were taken from the Deep Fun handbook, feel free to modify in anyway to better fit your community. Step one is quick (5 min) with each step gaining more and more time throughout the workshop.
(5min) Step 1: Bonding: Create situations where it is safe and appropriate for group members to ask for and receive help from each other. Create an environment where group members feel responsible for each other in emotionally low-risk activities.
Game: Big Wind Blows. Everyone sits in a circle (or takes their shoes off and stands behind them). One person stands in the middle and says: “Hi I’m ________”, all respond: “Hi ___________” s/he says “The big wind blows for anyone who _________” and then says something about themselves that you might not guess just by looking at the person. Everyone who shares that quality runs out of their spot and tries to find another spot in the circle. The last person standing begins again.
Modify: Any easy name game that gets people’s energy up with a few giggles would work.
(7min) Step 2: Opening Up:llow this to happen naturally as a sign the group is becoming more comfortable with each other. Check-ins are a good time to practice opening up
Game: 2 Truths & a Lie: break into smaller groups, depending on the size of your large group, about 4-5 people is good. Each person introduces themselves and says 2 things that are true about themselves and one that is false. The rest of the group has to come to a consensus on which is the lie, then the speaker reveals. Repeat by going around the circle.
Modify: Any low-risk activity that helps people reveal a little bit more about themselves and converse with others would work here.
(9min) Step 3: Affirming: Modeled by the advisor, create a space where diverse ideas and opinions are welcome, reminding the group that we don’t all have to agree, but as UUs we can respect each other even when we disagree. Weave in celebratory gestures like high fives or the ASL gesture for yes (used to agree in a conversation). The more we celebrate each other the more risks we’re willing to take. Sarcasm can be a community killer so encourage youth to leave it at the door and practice affirming each other even if it’s awkward at first.
Game: Stand if you identify as...: Everyone begins sitting. Facilitators have a pregenerated list of questions based on identity. The list begins with questions easy to answer or even a bit humorously. Progressively the questions begin to require more vulnerability to answer. Ex: Stand if you identify as UU, Stand if you identify as a youth, Stand if you identify as a deist, stand if you identify as queer, etc. The facilitators explain that for questions that require more vulnerability those remaining seated can offer their appreciation for the courage of those standing and general affirmation by rubbing their hands together (the hushed clap).
Modify: Any activity that requires a safe but greater level of vulnerability from some and encouragement from others would work here.
(9min) Step 4: Stretching: A youth group stretches when it needs to respond to a situation beyond what usually occurs in it’s members’ daily lives. It can be orchestrated (like a ropes course) or organic (like helping a member deal with the divorce of their parents as it arrises). Just make sure it isn’t premature.
Game: Continuum: Facilitators explain that one end of the room represents “totally agree” and the other represents “totally disagree” and the middle, “neutral/I don’t know”. Facilitators share ideological/theological statements and participants line up according to how true they think that statement is. Ex: “The most important thing in life is relationships with others.” or “Free will is only illusion, we are bound by fate”. Facilitators call on a few individuals to explain why they are standing where they are. They explain that if your mind is changed by what the person has said, feel free to move about the line.
Modify: Any activity that allows people to share their opinions in a controlled environment that open up to dialogue and empathetic response could be used here.
(20min) Step 5: Deeper Sharing/Transformation: This is the sign of true cohesive community. When group members can have empathy for one another, they are a team that can take action and accomplish their goals.
Game: Walk the Line: Everybody stands in a line shoulder to shoulder with their arms at each others backs. Each participant stares at a point on the opposite wall. They put all their focus and intension on that point. When the facilitator claps once, everyone takes a deep breath and a moment to get grounded and feel connected. When the facilitator claps twice, the participants begin to walk forward, as slowly as possible. They must keep the line perfectly straight as they stare with all their intention to the goal ahead (point on the wall), without looking or speaking to the rest of the people in the line. The facilitator says “stop and look” when the line looses straightness. S/he instructs the participants to go back to the beginning and start again. This cycle may repeat many times.
After the task is completed, or time is up, everyone sits down for a moment of silence along one wall. The facilitator picks two people who stand at either end of the room (with the rest of the participants as the audience). They walk very slowly towards each other with the same intensity they had for the point on the wall. When they meet in the middle, they acknowledge each other in some way, either a hug, smile, high five, whatever. When they’ve reached the opposite end of the room, they glance back at the other person. Then they each pick one person to go through the same process.
(10min) Processing: sit in a large circle so everyone can see each other. Facilitators begin by acknowledging the feeling of the room at that moment. Tears? Tense? Peaceful? Joyous? Ask the following questions and any others that come to mind.
- What did you notice about the general progression of moving through these steps?
- How did you feel during the process or during any particular step?
- What did you notice about the way others were participating? (feel free to use names or specific instances but be respectful and loving)
- What did you learn about yourself and/or your community?
Note about the steps:
These steps echo M. Scott Peck’s Four stages of community formation (Pseudocommunity, Chaos, Emptiness, True Community) and this common organization theory for the five stages that a team goes through during development. These five stages are:
- Forming, where the team members have some initial discomfort with each other but nothing comes out in the open. They are insecure about their role and position with respect to the team. This corresponds to the initial stage of pseudocommunity.
- Storming, where the team members start arguing heatedly and differences and insecurities come out in the open. This corresponds to the second stage given by Scott Peck, namely chaos. OR youth push the boundaries of advisors and allies.
- Norming, where the team members lay out rules and guidelines for interaction that help define the roles and responsibilities of each person. This corresponds to emptiness, where the community members think within and empty themselves of their obsessions to be able to accept and listen to others. Usually in youth groups we create norms through our group covenant right at the beginning. This norming stage would be a good time to revisit/revise the group covenant.
- Performing, where the team finally starts working as a cohesive whole, and effectively achieve the tasks set of themselves. In this stage individuals are aided by the group as a whole where necessary, in order to move further collectively than they could achieve as a group of separated individuals.
- Transforming. This corresponds to the stage of true community. This represents the stage of celebration, and when individuals leave, as they must, there is a genuine feeling of grief, and a desire to meet again. Traditionally this stage was often called "Mourning".
Posted Friday, 02 December 2011 14:25 Written by Jennica Davis
