Leader Guide

Objective
Students will more fully appreciate the value of the Gospel, and of being God’s representatives to those in need.

Note: This session is unlike most YLO studies. The bulk of your time will be spent teaching by playing a game, instead of teaching by talking. Experience-based learning is awesome, but requires a different set of skills from you as the leader. So, prepare well! Use this game as a way to connect your kids to the role that Christians have in sharing their faith, especially the various roles that they might play in foreign missions.

Hidden Treasure
You Need:

• A Treasure: $50-$100 in brand new, crisp ten-dollar bills. (Or, if you can’t afford that, you can use gold dollar coins. Just be sure to change your Secret Message to say “Sacagawea” instead of “HAMILTON.”)
• Four or five Helpers. (The number could be more or less depending on the number of students in your group.)
• A Secret Message in a code. Write a simple instruction message such as WHISPER TO THE LEADER DO YOU HAVE A HAMILTON AND YOU WILL GET A TREASURE on your computer. Then change the font to Wingdings or some other kind of symbol. If you want to make the game even more fun (i.e. “difficult”), make several varieties of the same message using different kinds of Wingdings or symbols. These messages represent the Good News of the treasure of God in various languages and cultures around the world.
• Code Keys to the Secret Messages. Create a key for each of the messages you have created by typing in the letters A-Z and changing them to the Wingding font(s) you have used in the Secret Message. Each Code Key should be broken up into 3-4 parts. We’ve given you an example on the downloadable pdf version of the Leader Guide.

The Object:
The object of this game is for kids to locate the Secret Treasure (the money you are secretly hiding somewhere on your person.) Your students can look around the room as if they are on an Easter egg hunt, or they can seek guidance to the treasure. If they seek guidance from a helper, they will get a Secret Message. Other helpers have the Code Keys. Students will then try to decode the Secret Message and use it to locate the hidden treasure. Note: Since you have a limited amount of “treasure” not all students will be able to get in on it within the time allowed. (Unlike God’s economy where the treasure is unlimited!)

You, as the team leader, have the Treasure. This is a secret, but even if kids figure it out they have to say the right thing to you – the Secret Message – in order to have you hand cash to them.

Your other helpers are in the room to serve as resources to the students. The helpers represent missionaries, and the resources missionaries have to help others find the message of Christ. Your helpers should have fewer Secret Messages and Code Keys than there are students, since in the real world there are far more needs than there are people or resources to serve them. So, for example, if you have 25 students you should only print up 5 or 6 Secret Messages and Code Keys. If you make each of the Secret Messages in a different Wingding (just as there are many dialects and cultures), then finding the correct Code Key will be more difficult and will require the students to work with each other to achieve their objective.

Your helpers should only help those who ask them for help. Let those who think they can find the treasure faster by scouring the room go right ahead and try. 

Give each helper one Secret Message and one set of Key Codes. Instruct the helpers to wander around the room and stay on opposite ends of the room from each other. Tell them that they must control their situations by insisting that kids who want their help get in line, and that if they run out of resources their “station” will close and kids will have to fend for themselves.

The Set Up:
When your students are settled tell them something like this: Today we are going to have a treasure hunt that has a purpose behind it. I promise you that the treasure is worth looking for and that it is somewhere in this area. (Give the boundaries.) When I give the word, you can work individually or with friends; you can ask for help from anyone but me, or you can try to locate the treasure on your own. Please note that if you do ask for help you must get in line and not mob anyone. This game will have a time limit and may require some teamwork. Beyond this, I can’t give you any more clues or help, so don’t bother asking me. Ready? Set. GO!

The Hunt:
Some students will immediately start looking for the treasure, thinking that it is hidden in the room. Some, thinking that the treasure isn’t worth looking for, will have little interest. Others will soon get into the game—or will get frustrated quickly by the lack of clues or the unwillingness of others to share.

You can choose to give the treasure in single ten-dollar bills to those who whisper the Secret Message to you, or you can give the entire treasure to the first who comes to you with the right words.

Transition
Explain to your students the allegory of the game:

• The Treasure is God’s Salvation.
• The Secret Message is the Good News of the Gospel brought to those who don’t know how to access God.
• Those who run around the room looking for the treasure without help are like those who think they can, on their own speed, find salvation. Not likely.
• The message needs to be put in terms of the language and culture of those hearing it, thus the Code Keys. In addition, there are many steps to making the message relevant (sowing, watering, and reaping), which is why the Code Key was in various parts.
• Those helping had few resources and represent missionaries and the resources they have or lack.

The Video
Ask a volunteer to read Matthew 6:19-21 aloud for the group. Then explain that the band Christafari think of themselves as “musicianaries” – using their music to show people all over the world what Jesus is like. Encourage your group to think about the similarities between the treasure hunt game and this video as they watch.

Transition

• What part of the video made you think, “Whoa! That’s cool!”
• What part of the video surprised you?
• What would you say is the message of the video?
• How is the message of the video similar to the message of the treasure hunt game? 

Bible Study
Discuss these Bible passages and questions with your group.

Matthew 6:19-21

• What needs to happen for clothes to be eaten by moths? (They’ve not been taken out of the closet in a LONG time, which means the person has too many clothes.)
• How about for money to go bad? (Same idea.)
• What do you think Jesus had in mind when He said, “treasures in Heaven”?

2 Corinthians 4:7

• Where do people usually keep their treasures?
• What “treasure” do you think Paul was referring to?
• What do you know about jars made of clay? What are they like?
• What’s the message that Paul was making concerning storing a treasure in a clay jar?

Wrap Up
The greatest treasure in the world is the Good News that God became a human, lived a perfect life, and died an unjust death as a sacrifice for our wrongdoings – and that by trusting in His sacrifice, we can have new life that lasts forever! Do you have that treasure? Are you sharing it with others? Where is your heart – because “wherever your treasure is, there is your heart”!