I have had many thoughts on what a healthy Middle School ministry looks like for us at Southbrook Church. It’s been 16 months since we landed in North Carolina and I have gotten a pretty good feel for the students, families and culture here. Before I get to the analyses, let me first start with some observations.  Please note that I do not claim to be an expert on behavior, social issues, or even student ministries. I simply offer my observations.

The middle school students here push themselves (or are pushed) very hard.  It seems to me that parents want their kids to be engaged at school (academically), engaged athletically, and engaged socially.  I observe many families who are constantly running to the next thing.  This is obviously not unique to this area, this is pretty much an issue across our country…families are too busy.  Parents often times fall into the trap of pushing their kids to play sports they may not want play, achieve academic success so that they can pursue a job that they may never like.  I understand that as parents we want the best for our kids and we must push them…so I can relate.

I have also observed that the students here are very cordial.  They are really friendly…this may be a ‘southern’ thing but from the first greeting, most of the students seem very well spoke.

I have noticed that the students are highly competitive.  Sure we are all familiar with the battle between girls and boys, but it seems like the students here are HIGHLY competitive….with everyone!  This is a good thing but can also be a bit awkward…especially in terms of getting students connected.

Given what I have seen, been a part of, and anticipate, I have developed a vision for our Middle School Ministry.  I want to focus on three areas, Sundays, life groups and events.  Seems simple enough but let me elaborate.

Sundays: A time where we show up a half hour before service and hang out, do an icebreaker and get ready for service.  Service consists of 3-4 relevant songs to lead us into praise and worship, announcements, and finally our main message (which is usually 15-20 minutes).  We conclude by getting together in small groups for the duration of our time together.  This environment is designed make all the students feel welcomed, to put them all on a level playing field, to strip away social pressures and to focus time on digging into God’s word and leaning how to apply God’s word with others (in our small groups).  This also makes it pretty easy for students to make the logically connection with us in a life group.   It usually takes 2 weeks for a new student to get connected and begin to ‘want’ to attend.  Statistics point to the fact that we usually see each student 40 hours a year (on average, if they only attend Sunday service).

Life Groups:  We do life group for approximately 20 weeks a year.  10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring.  Why do we do life groups?  We do them to build community, teach God’s word and develop bonds with these students.  This sets the foundation for these students prior to them hitting High School.  The goal is simple, dig into God’s word, build community and more importantly trust.  Although parents are the main voice in the student’s life, the extra time we have with these students in small groups helps us reinforce what the parents are teaching at home; and we all know that a second voice saying the same thing (from God’s Word) makes more sense.

Events: We do events for two reasons.  Kids like to get together with each other and hang with the adult leaders; we like to get together with kids to talk about Jesus.  Simple enough… :). In all seriousness, we are strategic in our event planning.  Our events are fun, exciting and life changing.  Not all of them at the same time.  We focus on fun/exciting during the school year (relying on Life Groups to do ministry).  We utilize summers to go on mission’s trips for life change.