The In-Between

Written by Janet Landwehr

During college, I wanted to work with the “in between” years of elementary school and high school. I was spending a lot of time at church and camp with 4th-6th graders and I really liked it. This was before they were called “Preteens”.

After college I fulfilled my passion of working with kids by teaching and directing Early Childhood programs and ministering in Elementary Sunday School. The more involved I became in Children’s Ministry, I began noticing, in the churches I attended, Jr. High School Ministries struggling when kids graduated into their programs. In Children’s Ministry it’s all about games, art, crafts, music, getting up and moving (and of course Jesus). As kids progress into youth, there was less moving, games, art and crafts even though Jesus was a constant. Kids began figuring out they weren’t “babies”/”little kids” anymore, but they also figured out they weren’t grown up enough to really fit in with Student and Adult Ministries. Things were either under or over their heads. They were “in between”.

Even today, many churches overlook this age group, not realizing what a crucial time it is for this age group. Teachers are not equipped to teach age-appropriately, so the kids stop attending because they are bored. Kids Worship is directed to the youngest kids instead of the oldest, so they attend church with an adult and are bored. Very quickly they conclude that church is boring and decide they just don’t want to go. They keep up this pattern for 1-2 years and when it comes time to graduate to Middle School or Student Ministries they have made up their minds that church “just boring”. It takes a lot to get them back in the door, many lost until they are adults.

In my church, I knew I had the power to find a solution for our preteens. I knew I needed to spend time in prayer. So I prayed over this ministry possibilities and the team that would follow. I prayed for the kids (and families) that would be involved. I asked God to close doors if he felt this was not a ministry we should begin.

After feeling a peace about the decision to start a preteen ministry, I knew it was time to speak to the Student Minister about what he had experienced with the transition period for new 6th graders along with the benefits or downsides it had on his ministries. His response was that most 6th graders dropped between the cracks by not attending Middle School Ministries and some just stopped coming to church. His middle school ministry also suffered with low attendance.

After I laid out what the group would involve and what it would stand for, I began talking to several people I knew that had a heart for preteens. Each person was to pray for their role and if it was God desire for them. While not everyone I asked signed up to mentor, the ones that did made an important impact on the preteens.

As we established our preteen ministry we knew the kids would find …

• a peer group to whom they could relate.
• mentors that loved and cared for them.
• fun times and age appropriate discussions on real life subjects.
• times to serve our community in an effort to establish mission minded kids.
• accountability and quality time spent together.

What was the benefit? While only half of the 4th and 5th graders on our rosters attended, those who attended had the opportunity to share what they got out of this special time with the next year’s 4th graders. They also had a group of kids they already knew going in 6th grade to move into Middle School Ministries. Lastly, for kids in our church they now have a place to “drop in” and not “drop in-between”.

Written by Janet Landwehr