The craziness that I call my life

In August My husband became the middle school youth pastor for our church. Coming out of a mostly highschool youth group it's been a whole new ball game for us. So to get a glimpse at middle school ministry I am currently S L O W L Y making my way through a middle school ministry book. I haven't made it very far unfortunately but my goal is to finish within the next couple months. So here goes with what I've read so far! I apologize I know this will be very informative and not a very "fun" read!

Middle School Ministry
a comprehensive guide to working with early adolescents
by:
Mark Oestreicher & Scott Rubin

The first chapter is entitled "Middle School Ministry? Isn't it Just Baby-Sitting? ( Don't worry I've only read 3 chapters ;-))

A little bit of history
Young teen ministry is fairly new in churches. The reason being until the last 50 years teens or tweens weren't considered teens but still children. For many years you were either an adult or a child. There was a definitive line between the two but there was not a waiting period or time in between. You went from childhood to adulthood for girls this was usually around 14-15 for boys 15-16. In the twentieth century adolescence was identified. Through the years since then the length of adolescence has grown from 18 months to 15 years or more.

A Rare Opportunity

Why is middle school ministry so important? According to Barna Research the majority of Christ followers would say that their decision to follow Christ was before they were 13 years old.

Chapter 2 "It's all about Change"

An important and critical part of working in any aspect of ministry is that you are always deepening your relationship with Christ. If you are not close to God how can you effectively lead someone else to Him?

The second most critical thing in working in middle school ministry is you need to understand them.
To describe in one word the young teen experience it would have to be CHANGE.

physical, cognitive, emotional, relational, and spiritual changes take place in their bodies and minds. Add on top of that, the changes in their lives, new school, new friends, new youth group etc. HELLO CHANGE!
Theres a lot more to this chapter but I won't bore you with it all ;-)

Chapter 3 Walking Hormones? (Physical and Sexual Development)