How to Help Hurting Preteens

Lori was young girl who was passionate about God, making a genuine decision to follow Jesus as a first grader. She enjoyed talking about her faith in Jesus & did everything she could to grow closer to God. Her biological dad abandoned her at birth and the only dad she knew was her adopted father, who married her mom when Lori was just a baby. Their life was good, and her adopted father was loving and caring. Until one day it came crashing down…her parents got a divorce when she was in 5th grade. When her adopted father moved out, contact with him became less and less frequent. Until one day it became non-existent. As a result, she was left with a double feeling of rejection and abandonment from both her biological & adopted father. She was in a lot of pain.

Preteens in your group are hurting. Some face big issues like divorce, abuse, abandonment or the loss of a parent. Others face comparatively smaller issues like having a friend move away or losing a pet. But even those issues are big to the preteens experiencing them.

What can you do to help hurting preteens?

The #1 thing you can do to help hurting preteens is to “show up” in their lives!

Showing up means that you know what is going on in their lives, and  you get involved. It means you take time to pray with them, schedule a meeting with parents or speak truth into the situation. It might mean you make a phone call during the week to check up on them. Showing up means you are there every week, being involved in the lives of the preteens you lead.

I remember our team praying for and counseling Lori when the news of the divorce hit. Over the following years, we were there to point her to Jesus & walk with her through the painful times. We showed up for Lori.

“Showing up” earns you the trust to tell students that God is BIGGER than their problems!

Lori needed to know that God is BIGGER than the problem she faced! She needed to know that God is a loving father who accepts her as-is and will never abandon her.

Preteens need to know that God is BIGGER than the problems they face!

When you “show up”, you earn students’ trust. Then, when you tell them that God is BIGGER than their problems, that truth will sink in.

God is BIG! He has the power to change the outcome of events! And when the problem persists, He is big enough to walk with students through their pain, extending His love & compassion. God is able to turn a bad situation and bring something good out it.

So, if you have preteens in your group with problems (don’t we all?), then “show up” and let them know that God is BIGGER than their problems!

If you’re looking for a series that helps preteens know that God is BIGGER than their problems, then check out Big Problems, Bigger God. It is a new six week series that was written by Sean Sweet, a preteen pastor in Rocklin, CA. Sean wrote Big Problems, Bigger God and did it with the preteens in his ministry back  in January of this year. Each week’s message hit home with his students, and they left Elevate each weekwith a deep sense of awe in the BIGNESS of God. Learn more about Big Problems, Bigger God.