The world Isiah describes in Isaiah 11:1-10 is one filled with hope. This activity will use your students’ creativity thinking to situate that hope in their world.

Begin by reading Isaiah 11:1-10 out loud a couple of times asking the students to close their eyes and let their imaginations loose as they listen.

Depending on the size of your group you can do this activity as a whole group or in small groups. Invite the students to imagine they get to create their own country. For the sake of the exercise they can pretend there is an unlimited amount of resources available. Their task is to create a world reflective of the hope Isaiah shares. If your youth were the ones in charge, what kind of country would they create to give those in their country a life of hope, peace and love.

Invite them to think about the following questions:

• Who will rule your country? And how will they be chosen?
• How much of a budget will those in charge be responsible for? What will they use their budget for?
• What will the country be known around the world?
• What will life look for those who live there?
• What values will guide the decision making of those in charge?

After 10 minutes, invite the group to share their country with everyone else and why they made the decisions they did. Then you can ask the other groups, if the country presented is one that offers hope to the world.