Starting A Preteen Ministry From Scratch – Part 1
Ten years ago I started a preteen ministry from scratch. It started out small but quickly grew. For most of those years it was one of the most vibrant and healthy areas of ministry in the entire church. I’m now on staff at a new church and have the opportunity to do it all over again. I am excited about the opportunity and wanted to share with you what it takes to start a preteen ministry from scratch. It’s what I’ve been focusing on lately, so here you go.
I believe there are four priorities that require your attention (in no particular order): Tapping into your creativity; putting together the nuts and bolts; team building and vision casting.
Read “How to Build a Dream Team” on the “Lessons Learned” page of PreteenMinistry.net for lots of ideas on how to build an effective team. Also check out “How to Recruit Guy Volunteers” if you have mostly a female team. I’m not going to repeat all I wrote. Realize that recruiting and team building will be a top priority for a couple of years. After about two years, you spend less time recruiting and more time empowering existing leaders.
Before we get started, I would like to plug a few helpful resources. Two great tools out there are “Preteen Launchables” by Group Publishing and “Leading Preteens” by Patick Snow (published by Standard Publishing). Google each resource and order them today if you don’t have them already. You’ll find them very helpful. Also, if you have a conference budget for 2010, consider going to Elevate Preteen Leaders’ Conference in
Now, let’s take a look at the first priority of launching a preteen ministry from scratch.
Tapping Into Your Creativity
People in Children’s Ministry have a tendency to take a cookie cutter approach to everything. We go to a conference or see a successful children’s ministry and duplicate that model exactly. We ignore the special thing God wants to do with us and copy what somebody else is doing. I believe a preteen ministry is most successful when it is unique. Take the best of what you see working out there, but be creative and design your own approach to preteen ministry.
For example, be prepared to either create or edit a curriculum that fits your kids. Grapple, Promiseland and SuperStart are some of the most popular choices available. Each has components that I like. However, like many of you, I feel no one has hit the nail on the head when it comes to writing preteen curriculum. So, be prepared to carve time out of your schedule to create/edit curriculum. Look at it as an opportunity to create something unique and beautiful that will make an impact in the lives of your preteens.
I have found it helpful to take the skeleton of a curriculum and build a lesson around it. Create your own lesson using the topic, Bible story or theme provided. Keep the content but change the method of communication.
An effective preteen lesson has the following components: large group game, video segment, large group teaching and small group activity with discussion questions. The large group game brings everyone together. Kids are interacting with each other, having fun and building relationships. It’s great when the game ties into the lesson, but not necessary. Next, a video segment of some type helps transition preteens from fun to learning. A great tool to use is a video clip form a current movie that ties into the lesson. Feel free to use the lessons posted on PreteenMinistry.net, but also learn how to create your own. Simply watch movies preteens like and keep your antenna up for possible topics. The more you get in the habit of doing this, the easier it becomes. After the video clip, move into the large group teaching. Use props, drama, and other creative methods to engage the audience. Next, move into the small group time using discussion questions and a hands-on activity. Preteens love this format. With a little practice you can take any curriculum and create your own effective lesson.
Creating and editing your own curriculum is only one example of tapping into your creativity. Be creative when it comes to your room design, logo, name, ideas, events, team meetings and worship. Avoid making a carbon copy of other successful ministries and allow God to do something unique in your preteen ministry!