I always kick off my 1st Day of a journey in RHEMAin with food. I fill the bellies of my group while I breakdown our journey together. It’s important to explain exactly where you’re going and how you will get there. Here’s my agenda for Day 1. Feel free to modify it as you see fit.
Introductions: If it's a new group, have each person provide their name and experience with bible scripture memorization. Ice breakers are awesome here!
Values: Every small group Bible study should have values that everyone must obey. It’s important that everyone feel protected to share. Confidentiality is the number 1 value that should be upheld. RHEMAin encourages participants to bring forth personal stories and experiences which support wisdom found in God's word. Number 2 is showing up. Encourage everyone to commit to the journey. You can and should have additional values to share.
Instructions: Walk through the game set up and instructions with the group. I’ve developed a flowchart which may assist with explaining the flow of things. Check the Revelator Games youtube channel for video instructions.
Group Dynamics: If your group is anything like my groups, we like to snack while we fellowship. Identify volunteers to bring snacks each week and track it in a schedule accessible by the group. Get people engaged by assigning jobs such as boardgame assembly/disassembly, score keeper, scripture validator, etc.
Play Boardgame: This should be the very last thing that you do on Day 1. Set up the board, shuffle the scripture cards, break out the dice, and play the boardgame. The goal of gameplay is that everyone walks away with a scripture that he/she has not memorized.
Beginning in Week 2, each session will look exactly the same. Recital and then boardgame play.
Another option, is to hand out scriptures 1 week prior to starting. That gives the group time to prepare for Day 1. If you choose to go this route then your Day 1 would start off with recital session and end with the gameplay session.
Tip: Blowing on the die or snapping your finger increases the chance of rolling a 6....LOL! :-)