Our church is in the planning stages of trying to revive a Junior High (grades 6-8) group. Does anyone have some experience in organizing a successful program for this age group? In particular, did you model it after your High School group or start from scratch?
Comments
Chelsey,
I am just finishing up my second year of a brand new Middle School ministry. We have partnered with Young Life to run a WyldLife program in our area. It is mostly outreach, but definitely meets the needs of the students who already go to the CRC. I used to do high school ministry, almost exclusively.
A few things that I believe need to be different from high school:
-Students need to be much more active. The more they run around, the better the memories.
-We do ours every other Friday night, since middle schoolers don't have as much to do on weekends and parents prefer to keep their weeknights early!
-Leader relationships with students look different in middle school ministry. They need parental figures.
-Younger middle schoolers need to spend time with leaders in groups or pairs. They are not accustomed to spending time with adults one on one.
-Talks need to be short and story based. We go through the basic outline of the gospel, each year. Each meeting, we tell a story about Jesus.
-They want stories to tell. We kicked off with a pumpkin bash that kids are still talking about. You can see our outline, here. http://ylhelp.com/2010/06/10/pumpkin-smash-club/
God has definitely showed up in our ministry. I'd love to talk with you more, if you would like!!
Erin
Let's Discuss
We love your comments! Thank you for helping us uphold the Community Guidelines to make this an encouraging and respectful community for everyone.