Breaking the ice

We had a combined service today with fellowship lunch following. We did the lunch slightly differently today, by including an ice-breaker. We thought it was time to shake the people up a bit and train them in the art of conversation. For the ice-breaker, we had five tables set out with chairs and benches, and each table numbered. Everyone had to pick a number out of a bowl, and then sit at the corresponding table. That was step #1 to get them mixed up and separated. On each table, there was an envelope containing some questions, like “what is your favourite place in your house” and “what goal do you want to accomplish this year” and “who are your parents, who do they do, and what would you change about them” and so. We asked that people ask one another the questions, just to help get the conversation going. I think it worked fairly well. There was certainly more conversation than the usual downcast eyes and wall flowery stuff affords. We were disappointed at the poor turnout – only about 40 people turned up, and no new faces – none of the parents or kids from Holiday Club, which is what we were hoping for.