|
| Top Ten Reasons For Starting A Middle School Ministry |
By Barry Bridges
|
 |
10. Middle school kids are different.
Really different. Starting with the obvious is so, well, obvious. Stand four seventh graders together, two females, two males. Quick, take a picture. Study that picture. Get it? Middle schoolers are not only different from high school young adults in every way; they are also very, very different from their peers.
9. They have higher energy, shorter attention spans.
A specialized ministry that will embrace the energy and adjust the attention demands can address the hormonal status, the growth spurts, and the mental transition from concrete to abstract thinking. Having a middle school ministry separate from high school allows a more flexible, intentional approach.
8. You get to address relevant issues in an age-appropriate manner.
Body Hair. Need I say more?
7. You can prepare them for their school environment.
In my experience, matching the administrative grouping of the area public schools is best. In our case, 6, 7, 8 were the middle school grades. On the first Sunday of summer vacation, we welcomed new middle school students and promised parents that we would spend the summer preparing kids for school in the fall so they would not get teased and beat up. Summer for sixth graders was, “Everything You Need to Know to be a Teenager.” The activities were planned to reinforce the learning that was taking place in Sunday School or discipleship lessons.
6. You can create Rites Of Passage.
“Today—you are a man.” (Kiss a cheek, kiss a cheek.) Transitions that clearly mark maturity milestones are missing from our culture. Within two years of adding a middle school division, the fifth graders waited in eager anticipation for that promotion Sunday into middle school. Some kids even had parents begging for an early transition. We stuck by what we were doing. There were specific activities and events that only middle school could do and the same with high school. Only middle school had crazy, high energy, get filthy, “I can’t believe we are doing this at church” activities. Only high school could go on “away” mission trips. Only college students could hear the student minister’s college stories.
5. You can phase in by adding a grade at a time.
Two ways to start – with a bang, or with a transition, one grade at a time. Just make sure there is plenty of communication and make certain that the first year of phase-in is very, very special in every possible way – outstanding staffing, incredible activities, over-the-top environment, and exceptional space.
4. Size Doesn’t Matter.
Maintaining completely separate middle and high school ministries is labor intensive, but it is also laborer intensive – meaning you can involve more volunteers with more than just teaching skills. I have implemented separate division in both a mega-church and an “average” church with a total of thirty students. Both paid off with some tremendous dividends. The middle school ministry outgrew the high school ministry in both churches.
3. You can create high expectations of mentoring and leadership.
Just before the summer promotion Sunday, we would remind the new eighth graders they had once been a newbie sixth grader. Their responsibilities were directly communicated: get these new students involved, help communicate how to act in the student ministry, and prepare them for the first day of school. Then, the eighth graders were expected to be leaders through the year. In seventh grade we taught leadership lessons, in eighth grade it was practiced by assigning students as mentors and expecting them to actively do peer behavior correction and lead discussion groups. Our eighth graders even carried the mentor role back into school in the fall, by taking their church mentees under their wing for both guidance and protection. Then, we duplicated the mentoring and leadership in high school. Many went to college and sought out a mentor on their own!
2. You get to set the tone for the student ministry of the future.
Combining these ideas, we watched our student ministry change for the better over two-three years time. Through the unique divisional activities, we created an expectation for the next level. Through the rites of passage, we created milestones to maturity that improved overall behavior. Through the mentoring and leadership, all our students recognized themselves as having responsibility for others and as having a role in leading those around them. Suddenly, we were not trying to solve the same problems of focus, attention, and discipline year after year. Students grew to have an important role in the church and graduated out of the ministry actively seeking similar roles in the churches and ministries they participated in
when they were away at college.
And the NUMBER ONE reason for starting a middle school ministry:
1. Middle school ministry’s selling point to parents:
Protection from those evil high school kids. If every other argument for a separate middle school ministry fails, try this one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
