Bible Trivia

Some of these were easy, some tough. It worked best to ask a group a question, then open it up to the other groups if they were wrong. We tried Jeopardy style first, but the kids were so wound up a lot of them couldn't hear.

General Bible Trivia

1. What is the only domesticated animal not mentioned in the Bible?
A: A Cat.

2. What word appears exactly 773,692 times in the King James Bible?
A: Amen.

3. What follows mass as the most popular activity in U.S. Catholic churches?
A: Bingo.

4. What symbol did St. Patrick use to explain his theory of the Holy Trinity?
A: The Shamrock.

5. What religious movement began with Martin Luther's attack on the sale of indulgences?
A: The Reformation.

6. What storied city on the Euphrates River was 55 miles south of Baghdad?
A: Babylon.

7. What biblical place name means "pleasure"?
A: Eden.

8. What animal is mentioned most frequently in both the New and Old Testaments?
A: The Sheep.

9. What biblical epic was the top-grossing movie of the 1950's?
A: The Ten Commandments.

10. What does an ecclesiophobic evangelist fear?
A: Churches.

11. How many books of the Bible are named for women?
A: Two - Ruth and Esther.

12. How many books are in the OT?

A: 39

12. How many books are in the NT?

a. 27

13. What are the 4 books of the Gospel?

a. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

14. What is the shortest verse in the Bible?

a. Jesus wept (John 11:35)

15. Which book of the Bible does not mention God?

a. Esther

16. What is the longest book in the Bible?
A: Psalms

17. What is the shortest book in the Bible?
A: 3 John

Old Testament Trivia

18. Which two wicked cities were destroyed by God in Genesis?
A: Sodom and Gomorrah.

19. How much time did Jonah spend in the belly of the whale?
A: Three days and three nights.

20. According to the Bible, what substance was used to caulk Noah's ark and to seal the basket in which the infant Moses was set adrift on the Nile?
A: Pitch, or natural asphalt.

21. According to the Bible, what weapons was the Philistine giant Goliath carrying when he was slain by David?
A: A sword and a spear, according to I Samuel 17:45.

22. What were the names of the three men in the firey furnace?
A: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego

23. Who were the parents of King Solomon?
A: David and Bathsheba.

24. In the Old Testament, who was Jezebel's husband?
A: Ahab, King of Israel.

25. What are the first three words of the Bible?

a. In the Beginning

26. Who rescued baby Moses from his basket?

a. Pharoah’s daughter

27. What gift given to Joseph from his father made his brother’s so jealous they sold him into slavery?

a. His coat of many colors

28. Who was David’s best friend?

a. Jonathon

29. Which 2 prophets never died?

a. Elijah and Enoch

30. How many days did it rain to flood the earth?

a. 40

31. What were Abraham and Sarah’s names before God changed them?

a. Abram and Sarai

32. How many tribes did ancient Israel have?
A: 12

33. For how many days did God command the Israelites to eat unleavened bread?

A: 7

34. Who committed the first murder?

a. Cain killed Abel

35. How many wives did Jacob have?

a. 2 wives and 2 of their maidservants

36. How many plagues were there before the Israelites were freed from Egypt?

a. 10

37. What did the Israelites eat for 40 years in the desert?

a. manna

38. How many days and nights did Moses stay with God, creating the ten commandments?

A: 40

New Testament Trivia

39. According to the Bible, how many pearly gates are there?
A: 12 (Revelation 21:12-21).

40. What is the golden rule?

a. Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you

41. How much food did they start with to feed the 5000?

a. 5 loaves and 2 fish

42. Name 2 miracles Jesus performed on others

a. Raising Lazarus

b. Healing the blind man

c. Healed the leper

d. Healed servant boy

e. Healed sick woman

43. Which Pharisee climbed a tree to see Jesus?

a. Zacchaeus

44. Who baptized Jesus and how were they related?

a. John, cousins

45. Which disciple called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved”?

a. John

46. Where was the wedding located when Jesus turned water into wine?

a. Caanan

47. How many disciples did Jesus choose?
A: 12

48. In which parable did a father show mercy to his son who had strayed?

a. Prodigal Son

49. Who were Lazarus’ sisters?

a. Mary and Martha

50. Jesus says we should come to him as what?

a. Little children

51. Which disciple doubted Jesus’ resurrection?

a. Thomas

52. Which disciple did not want Jesus to wash his feet?

a. Peter

53. Which disciple betrayed Jesus?

a. Judas

54. Where did Jesus take his disciples to pray?

a. Garden of Gethsemane

55. On what hill was Jesus crucified

a. Golgotha

56. What happened in the temple when Jesus died?

a. The curtain was torn.

57. Which new (not one of the 12) disciple was stoned to death?

a. Stephen

58. In which city was Jesus born?

a. Bethlehem

59. Who denied Jesus 3 times?

a. Peter

Church Scavenger Hunt

Here are the clues we used for our scavenger hunt. Some of them are obviously tougher than others.

Door - Matthew 7:8, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” The children would know to go to a door and look for the next clue. If you have a lot of doors you can add another clue by the reference such as the color of the door, the location such as N, S, E, W, or the Room number.

Window - Genesis 8:6, “After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark.”

Hint: Look for a stained one of these, for hiding near a stained glass window.

Baptism - Matthew 3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the spirit and with fire.

Cross - John 19:19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read Jesus of Nazereth, the King of the Jews.

Hint: Where we look when we listen. I hid them on the pulpit where we have a cross engraved.

Stairway -(Genesis 28:12)He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Water fountain - John 7:37, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”

Kitchen - John 12:2, Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Hint: Think about what Martha was doing. I hid them at the serving window between kitchen and fellowship hall.

Teacher’s desk- Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Hint: I told them word 27 was key. I hid them in the teachers desk in the Sunday School room that wasn't being used as a dormitory.

Hymns- Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Hint: Where we look to find these. I hid them behind the hymn numbers at the front of the church.

Pew- Matthew 20:23 Jesus said to them, “you will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

Hint: Where we Lutherans are typically found. I hid them in the last pew. These were the ones that mysteriously disappeared, but were also the most apparent.

Keep in mind we have a very small church. Our worship area and fellowship hall are on the main floor. We have 3 small Sunday school rooms and a youth room upstairs along with a balcony with our organ and choir pews. There aren't a lot of places to hide clues without 2 groups being in the same place at once. I limited it to 7 clues for that reason.

Youth Group Survivor Lock In

I survived! It really wasn't so bad being up all night. The other chaperon, K, and I took some 300 minute energy (disgusting) around 2ish. We never felt an energy boost, but we didn't crash, until after 7. Then both of us kind of went blah. Anyway, we had 17 kids, which was awesome, especially considering we only have about that many in our church total. We had 7 member kids and 10 of their friends, grades 8-12.

We did a Survivor themed lock-in. I divided the kids up into 4 teams. I wasn't sure how to divide them up, so I let them pick partners and then the partners picked another pair. It worked out that we had 8 boys and 9 girls and the girl that was the odd girl out is one with special needs. I let her pick which group she wanted to be a part of. She really preferred to watch than participate which worked out really well.

We started the night out by explaining the rules and how the whole thing was going to work. We gave them the off limits areas and explained that they were expected to be up for every activity, which was held every 2 hours. We did a get-to-know you type game first. We did Behind Your Back which involved the kids writing their name on a blank sheet of paper (we used cardstock). Then we taped the sheet to their back, facing inward. Then they went around and wrote something nice or funny about that person on their card. After everyone was done, they had to find the card which was theirs. They seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

After the intro we sent the kids on a scavenger hunt. Each clue was a Bible verse that they had to look up for the next clue. We did 7 clues per team. It worked out pretty well except I think our custodian came in after I hid the clues and threw away a few that were a little more obvious. It worked out ok though. I'll do a separate post with the Bible verses later.

At 11 PM we did Bible Trivia. I didn't have a box game so I had to come up with the clues on my own. Thank you internet! I'll post those separately too.

At 1 AM we did a relay. The first person had to shave a balloon. The second person had to hula hoop 10 times, or 30 seconds, which ever was shortest. The third person had to volley a ball 10 times and the 4th person had to skip up and down the main church aisle. I think there was a little confusion on this one. The kids were still hyped up on caffeine at this point and had a hard time following directions. We got a lot of "they cheated!" comments, but I don't think anyone cheated intentionally.

At 3AM I had the teams put together a 150 piece puzzle I picked up at the dollar store. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. One option would be to do a simpler puzzle but have them do it brown side up. The kids were about shot at this point, so we needed to keep them moving. After this they played hide and seek in the dark church. That really weirded some of them out, so we left on the kitchen lights and stairway lights. By the time they were finished with that it was 5 AM.

At 5 we played marshmallow dodge ball, which did not count toward team points for the overall Survivor game. They had fun and at the end just ended up chucking marshmallows at each other. After this almost all of them crashed.

At 7 AM we did our final relay. The first person had to run to the table and drink a glass of juice. They then had to run back and tag the second person who had to dress up in our Christmas program costumes. The third person was blindfolded and had to toss 10 marshmallows into a basket held by the second player. The fourth player handed marshmallows and gave direction. After 10 marshmallows, the fourth person then had to lick clean a pie plate or whipped cream.

We awarded points for the 5 survivor activities, 5,4,3, and 2 points as placed. We ended up with 2 teams tied for first and 2 teams tied for 3rd. We could have done a tie-breaker, like the human pretzel or something, but our prize was just candy, so I split up the bags and all 8 players got something. The kids then voted on the ultimate survivor, or the person that was the most encouraging, etc. to everyone. That prize was a $15 itunes card. We honestly could have done without that part. By that time all the kids were exhausted and didn't really care. We had 3 of the 17 kids receive votes, which means they put some thought into it, but they were all just ready to vote for anyone or everyone or Bob the Builder, who also received one vote.

After the voting we had the kids pack up and some parents came in to make pancakes and bacon. Most of the kids left after breakfast. Next time I think we need to make church required for participation. It's a little embarrassing when only 3 kids stayed for church and only 1 of them was a member of our congregation.

During the down time we had games, movies, and Wii for the kids to do. They honestly had the most fun kicking the $1 balls I had picked up and played capture the flag and some other games I think they invented.

The whole night worked out very well. I was really nervous going into it, but the kids all seemed to have a really good time. One of the parents reported that their kid thought it was better than the lock-in at the local Y because we had activities for them to do. They weren't just given free time and told to go play. There was a point to the whole night. I would do it again, but not for another year!

I really just wanted to do this post since I searched and searched the internet for these ideas. So feel free to use any or parts of this if you are here searching. I'm not a professional, just a member of our congregation who saw a need and opportunity. K and I did this just for the fun of it!

I will post some video, the clues, and Bible trivia separately and try to remember to link them here.