i write an every-other-issue column on middle school ministry for youthworker journal. the new one just came out, and is on their website also: here.
this one is about the difference between 6th graders and 8th graders, and how it can feel like whiplash to say goodbye to graduating 8th graders and welcome in the new 6th graders.
here’s a snippet:
This is our calling, isn’t it? We’re tour guides for adolescence. We welcome these fresh-faced children, give them the lay of the land (in multiple ways, including—but not limited to—the spiritual landscape they’ll journey through in the decade to come), and walk alongside them. Really, we’re front-lobby tour guides: We welcome; we orient; we affirm and acknowledge; and we get them all the way to their seats in the grand showroom of the find-out-who-you-are convention of youth.
Happy Birthday Liesl! It is also my daughter Haley’s birthday today. She just passed her driving test 10 minutes ago. I am caught between Woo Hoo and Oh Nooooooooo! Don’t laugh Marko, your time is coming! LOL. Again, Happy Birthyday Liesl!
Great short column. You nailed it on the head, and I have experienced that whiplash year after year…
OMG, so true! Our 6th & 8th graders this year are soooo world’s apart!
Thanks for the article. We have been wrestling a lot with how our jr. high ministry should look different than our sr. high ministry considering where they are at developmentally. Your analagy of the front lobby tour guide was extremely helpful in framing what it is that sets jr. high minstry apart. Thanks!