I recently came across a new preteen ministry blog, The 5/6 Journal. Nick Bremmer, a student ministry leader new to leading preteens, got the urge to start a blog…and he did! The goal is to journal his weekly experiences, both the highs and lows. If you’re new to preteen ministry, just now launching one or simply curious to read a fellow leader’s journey, check out his blog at http://the56journal.blogspot.com/.

Nick (me) recently got a chance to do a Q & A sessions with Nick (the new guy).

Nick, you’re new to leading a preteen ministry. Tell us about your journey to leading preteens.

I first began working in my church’s children’s ministry when I was only 17. Then I floated onto the youth my sophomore year of college. After a year I was hired on as the middle school youth intern. We had an idea for a 5th and 6th grade ministry floating around for almost 2 years. Unfortunately, it got put on hold till this year. I don’t know the details but my name came up in a staff meeting as a potential director of the new ministry. From then on I’ve been on board!

Why do you think preteen ministry is important?

They are at the age where they are beginning to think more abstractly, critically and are starting to face life’s challenges head on. Most people are saying they are just in-between (“tweeners”) stages of their life but they aren’t. They are simply growing and facing challenges head on and sooner that when we faced them as teens. Because of this, I believe it is important to have a ministry that is built specifically for their energy, maturity and spiritual level.

Tell us about your preteen ministry.

My church’s ministry is brand new, still under development and is scheduled to kick off June 3. This will be a new experience for the church, volunteers, students and myself. As it stands we are only going to jump in by offering a Sunday morning program only. Sunday morning will include games or hands on activities, worship, total group lesson time, small group time and relational hang out time. We also want to make sure that this ministry is fully grounded and underway before we start to add a Wednesday night, Sunday night of monthly event. Luckily, all our ministries are in the growing stage so I see us adding new programming for our students by the end of the summer.

What’s the #1 thing you do really well in your preteen ministry?

That’s a hard question to answer since the ministry won’t kick off till June 3. But I will tell you what we currently do really well in the mid/high school ministry that I am hoping to bring into the 5/6 ministry. We are huge on small groups, worship and being very relational (adult to students and student to students). Because of those things, I believe our ministries will continue to grow and make more disciples for Christ.

What do you anticipate being your biggest challenge?

Another question that is tough to answer. As it stands, our only struggle is space. We will be taking over an adult Sunday school room each Sunday when their class ends. It’s a decent sized room but it can’t be personalized specifically to the students. We will have to wait on that. But I do believe God will do His work no matter what size room we are in. As for improvements, I don’t know yet! We will figure that out soon!

If you haven’t yet checked out The 5/6 Journal, go ahead and visit. Then bookmark it and be sure to follow along on Nick’s new journey of leading a preteen ministry.

5 Replies to “Sneak Peek Into a New Preteen Ministry”

  1. Curt Whitcomb
    • February 7, 2012

    Hey Nick, we started our preteen ministry 1.5 yrs ago and it has taken on a life of it’s own (Holy Spirit in the lead position!) As for a room, we had to share the room with other ministries much the same as you are. But soon it became apparent that our preteen ministry was growing, so we have introduced just a few things that make it a friendly space for preteens to gather. For instance, we put up pictures of our group doing different activities,a table with our handouts and information, etc. The room now is known as our “Group 56” room but we also share it with other ministries. It is a definition change more than a “our own space” room, but still works much the same way.

    1 Response
    1. ndiliberto
      • February 7, 2012

      That’s great. Love it!

  2. Nick Bremmer
    • February 10, 2012

    Curt, we are leaning towards caping chairs, bean bag chairs and those household room dividers to create a space that can easily be put up or taken down and hidden away when not in use. We’ll see how that works out in June!

  3. Laura
    • February 16, 2016

    Where is your church located Nick?

    1 Response
    1. Nick Diliberto
      • February 17, 2016

      The church I’m at is just outside of New Orleans, in Covington, LA. It’s called the Northshore Vineyard Church.

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