Women’s ministry icebreakers are great ways to cut through the awkward tension of your first gathering and help everyone get to know each other. We’ll explore eight of our favorite icebreaker activities here.
A Simple Q & A
The allure of creating extravagant women's ministry icebreakers that set their group apart can be tempting for new ministry leaders. However, while you and the Christian women in your ministry can have fun with some silly ministry icebreaker ideas that we’ll explore later, a hyper-involved activity isn’t always necessary.
For some groups, a simple question-and-answer activity with no competitive edge is all you need to get a conversation going. With these Q & A forums, all you need to do is gather the entire ministry team, brainstorm some lighthearted questions that will stir up excitement, and let the fun begin.
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Some common questions for women’s ministry icebreakers include:
- What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
- What is your biggest pet peeve?
- If you’re on a group road trip and could add one song to the playlist, what would it be?
- What’s the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?
- Where’s your favorite place on earth, or where did you go during your favorite vacation?
Four Corners
If you and your women’s ministry team are looking for more engaging icebreaker activities than standard question and answer circles, four corners is the game for you. While four corners is best in groups of at least six people, there is no limit to how many you can have playing this women’s ministry icebreaker.
To start, you will need a microphone, megaphone, or someone with a loud voice and four signs labeled one through four. Tape one sign in each corner of the room you’re playing (the bigger the room, the better), stand in the center and ask your ministry team to crowd around you.
Then, you will read off multiple-choice preference questions with four answers, each marked by numbers one through four, and ask your ministry to race to the corner that matches their response.
You can modify the questions from the question-and-answer game for four corners, but this game is best with simple icebreaker questions that allow for quick responses. Some examples include:
- What’s your favorite beverage: 1. Water, 2. Soda, 3. Coffee, 4. Tea
- What’s your favorite music genre: 1. Pop, 2. Classic Rock, 3. Folk, 4. Country
- What’s your favorite season: 1. Summer, 2. Winter, 3. Autumn, 4. Spring
Bingo
Bingo teaches ministry members about each other but also offers a competitive spirit that other women’s ministry icebreaker games don’t have.
All the prep work you and your ministry leaders need to do for bingo is create one playing card for each person, fill each square with a unique benchmark, and give them a pencil or pen. The players’ jobs are to find ministry members who match a square on the bingo card and reach five in a row before anyone else.
You should fill the bingo squares with simple life experiences that can teach your ministry more about each other. For example, one square could read “speaks multiple languages,” and if a player finds a multilingual ministry member, they can fill in that square and start a conversation about their speaking skills.
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a great way to bring ministry members together and spark conversation naturally rather than forcing it through talking points. The point of the game isn’t necessarily to learn more about the other person but to build trust in a small group in a unique, competitive setting.
To host a scavenger hunt, you will need to hide items across the venue and give each player a list of what they’re trying to find. Additionally, you might consider coming up with riddles to help each player find the item for an added fun challenge.
Rather than going through the hunt individually, you’ll pair members in groups of two or three so they’re relying on one another. The first group to find all the items wins.
Desert Island
“Desert island” is among the most popular women’s ministry icebreakers because it's engaging, informative, and takes nothing to set up. All you have to do is gather your group and ask them what five (you can change the quantity) items they would want to bring with them if they were stuck on an island.
You can learn a lot about your ministry’s hobbies and favorite pastimes here, as most people will choose either their favorite book or board game.
Charades
Charades is another icebreaker that doesn’t directly start conversations but helps deepen relationships within small pairs working toward the same goal.
All you have to do to start a charades game is come up with a handful of well-known characters or celebrities for your ministry members to act out and divide them into however many teams you see fit. Then, one member will perform their prompt while their team attempts to guess who they are within thirty seconds.
The Matchmaking Game
The matchmaking game starts as an individual exercise but evolves into an activity that promotes intimate bonds. To start, you’ll need to make a questionnaire with ten to 20 questions about their favorite things (for example, “my favorite dessert is ___”) and hand one to each ministry member. They’ll all complete the form, everyone will share their results after, and those with the most in common will find their ministry match.
This game is one of the most effective women’s ministry icebreakers because it connects people with the most in common, leading to rich discussions.
Candy Pass
Candy pass is one of the simplest women’s ministry icebreakers, and everyone gets a treat afterwards. To play, you’ll need to buy a large bag of candy and hand two pieces to each player. Then, assemble everyone in a circle and prepare a series of yes or no questions about their lives.
Anyone who answers yes to a question has to pass one candy to the person on their left, and anyone who answers no keeps their candy. Whoever has the most sweets when there are no remaining questions wins.
Conclusions
Try out one or more of these icebreakers. These get requested over and over and are sure to create laughter, conversations, and strong connections!
