This game is based on the familiar English idiom to be “left holding the bag.” “Left holding the bag” refers to a situation when a person is abandoned by others involved so that they bear the blame or responsibility. Example: Everyone rushed home after the party left the room in a mess so the youth leader was “left holding the bag”. The phrase is a variation of one which dates back to about 1600 — to “give one the bag (to hold)” in which a person was left with an empty bag while others took all the valuable contents.

1. Bible Icebreakers -
Left Holding the Bag
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2. Game Description
This game is based on the familiar English idiom to be “left holding the
bag.” “Left holding the bag” refers to a situation when a person is
abandoned by others involved so that they bear the blame or
responsibility. Example: Everyone rushed home after the party left the
room in a mess so the youth leader was “left holding the bag”. The
phrase is a variation of one which dates back to about 1600 — to “give
one the bag (to hold)” in which a person was left with an empty bag
while others took all the valuable contents.
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3. Game Materials
• A bag (You can use just about any bag for this but the game is
more fun if it is a cloth bag that makes very little sounds when
dropped.)
• You’ll also need solid chairs for everyone as things usually get
a little wild with youth diving for chairs. There should be one
less chair than the number of participants.
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4. Game Preparation
• All the youth are seated in a circle and one youth
stands in the middle holding a bag.
• Safety Tip: Place the chairs in a tight circle with no
gaps or you might have some youth miss the chairs
and end up on the floor!
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5. Game Play
• Select one youth to be in the center of the circle,
“Holding the bag”.
• The youth in the middle of the circle must then
walk around the circle and take the hand of another
seated youth. (If you have an almost equal mix of
girls and guys you can ask them to grab the hand of
someone of the opposite sex.)
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6. • That person then leaves his/her chair and takes
the hand of another youth and so on.
• This continues until the first youth drops the bag
and everyone runs to a seat.
• The youth left without a seat picks up the bag
and the game begins again.
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7. Variations
• Play a few rounds and then add some items to the bag:
• Slips of paper, each with icebreaker styled questions
like: “what is your Favorite Ice-cream? Most
embarrassing moment? Happiest memory? Best
vacation? Favorite movie? Favorite book?” etc.
• Slips of paper with a forfeit on each one. You can find
examples of forfeits here: Game Forfeits
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8. • Slips of paper with review questions from a previous
lesson.
• Slips of paper with personal questions to introduce the
topic of the next lesson.
• Charades that youth will need to act out for the rest of the
youth to guess. (Can give points and have girls vs guys
teams for the guessing)
• Items of clothing in the bag (pillowcase) – youth must pull
something out and wear it.
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9. Take it to the Next Level
• In real life, have you ever been left “holding the bag?”
What happened?
• What feelings might a person have when they are forced
to take the blame for someone else’s actions?
• Are there times when we let others take the blame for
things we have done?
• Was Jesus “left holding the bag” when the disciples
abandoned him at his arrest? Is it the same thing? Why or
why not?
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10. While we have to take responsibility for our own
sins, Jesus wants to take the blame – He has stood
in our place to take the punishment for us. There
may still be consequences, but through His death
on the cross we receive God’s forgiveness. He took
the punishment for us!
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11. www.CreativeIcebreakers.com
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This EBook not only provides 52 of the
world’s most popular group icebreaker
activities, but also includes lesson ideas and
questions to smoothly transition into
discussions about issues common to most
groups.
Click here to find out more!
Icebreakers Ahead: Take it to the next Level