Man Let Down Through the Roof - "Mat and Stretcher" games

And some ideas on how to make a stretcher game work.

Each of the suggested "Mat and Stretcher games" helps reinforce a key point in the story.

Mark 2's word for "mat" is "krabbatos" -- which in Greek can mean a variety of things that a person can lay on, including, "pallet, couch, bed, bedroll." In church art and teaching, we've also imagined it as a "stretcher." In the games, we suggest using a BLANKET which is in keeping with the idea behind "krabbatos."

If you don't have blankets that you want dragged around the classroom, go get six foot lengths of BURLAP or cheap muslin at the fabric store. Please note that kids can tumble from the blanket as it is being pulled, so have them wear BIKE HELMETS.

Here are the basic game ideas. Detail and improve them to suit your needs.

Stretcher Game #1: What Paralyzes Us and Blocks Our Way to Jesus
Students pull a teammate sitting on a blanket through an obstacle course (tables, chairs, brooms). As prep, discuss and label the obstacles with names of "things which get in the way of us helping others", and "things which keep us from believing Jesus", and "problems we have that Jesus can help us with." Decide how many teammates need to be pulled through the obstacle course (maybe everyone gets a turn), then after playing, return to each station for some talk.

Stretcher Game #2:  Guiding Others to Christ
This time the blanket stretcher is over the student's head, and their friends are behind them verbally guiding them through the obstacles. Through discussion ahead of time, have the students label the obstacles with ideas, such as: "navigating through temptations",  "navigating through our busy schedules to get to church", "making Jesus important in your life", "finding time to pray for forgiveness", "forgiving others".   The point is that our FRIENDS can help bring us to Jesus.

Stretcher Game #3:  "I've Got Some Good News!"
In this game, students use the blanket to skid across the floor to their "family" (team) standing at the finish line. To skid the mat, they quickly scoot it with their feet while keeping their feet on the mat. If they touch the floor, they have to go back. When they get to their family, they pop up on their own two feet and speak the Good News about Jesus.  What is that Good News?  This is something the class decides and you write on the board for all to see and say.  Perhaps, "I've got some good news: Jesus is here to forgive and heal us."

Now....do a couple of demonstrations or skits to illustrate key points in the lesson.

• We want to find Jesus, but get the wrong directions to find him.
• We come up to Jesus, but other people are trying to "block" us away (label them greed, selfishness, doubt)
• We claim to want to follow Jesus, but give up when it gets hard. (You can do these as SKITS too).