Middle School Small Groups

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Nerf Guns | Small Group Experiment [1]

January 19, 2012 in Middle School Small Groups 0

If our premise, or core values if you will, for this small group experiment is to:

build community
share life
model Christ-like character
engage in creative content and prayer
radically goof off together

…then with a small group of 6th grade boys, we would start with radically goofing off together!

So we did.

I’ve amassed a stash of Nerf guns at the church that I used sporadically to connect with small groups of kids when they needed to just play. And so for almost 2 hours after school on a Thursday, we shot Nerf darts at each other, played a variety of games and scenarios, and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Playing Nerf guns together would prove to become a regular activity for us each time we met.

This post is part of a continual series on the Middle School Small Groups Experiment.

Why We Are, Where We Are? [2] The Current Small Group Experiment

January 18, 2012 in Middle School Small Groups 0

This is the second post in a series on Middle School Small Groups.

CORE group provided something that I had not had up to this point in youth ministry at Hayward Wesleyan Church: a small group. Okay, the number in CORE group numbered about 20-25 students, which is hardly a “small” group, but at least it was less than 75 students (the typical number on at msy group on Wednesday night). I’ve always wanted to have a small group of students that I can pour into over a significant period of time.

I’ve heard many well-known and not-so-well-known youth leaders refer to the small group they lead and many of their stories about ministry (and sometimes a lot of their wisdom) comes out of their experiences with adolescents. That, as well as a desire to see teenagers actually grow in their walk with the Lord and their understanding of the Gospel.

At the end of the last school year I had decided that this next year I was going to ask some incoming 6th grade students if they would be interested in participating in a small group with me and a few other boys. My goal was 4 students, plus me, which totalled 5, not any more than could fit in my car.

In conjunction with my desire to do a small group came Dave Dixon’s desire to spend time during the school year with the students he interacted with at Kids Camp. Dave spent 2 subsequent years where he had the same boys in a cabin and he wanted to continue to meet with them beyond camp. We decided to sort of do this together, me with my group, and him with his.

So, this is what started the current small group experiment…

Why We Are, Where We Are? [1] A Journey in Figuring Out Discipleship @ hwcYouth

January 17, 2012 in Middle School Small Groups 0

This is the first post in a series on Middle School Small Groups.

Our intent, for both the middle school and high school youth arenas, was to deepen disciples of Jesus.

Pastor Loretta Sunderland and I, at the end of one school/ministry year, were less than enthusiastic about youth group on Wednesday nights. We were thrilled to be able to offer spiritual teaching, instruction, fun things, etc at Youth Group, but felt like we weren’t seeing students deepen their walk and understanding of the Lord. We had lots of students. We had lots of fun. There were lots of activity. But the fruit of the Gospel was not being realized in the lives of the various groups of students coming out of Youth Group.

Hence the idea of a CORE group of selected students who seemed to be hungry for something deeper… for an intentional environment or meeting time where we could dive deeply into the hard work of discipleship.