Why have a middle school gathering for teens in our ministry? We have been asking that question for several years here at Relevant, landed on some answers, waited for the right time, and now are about to launch our first gathering created for middle school students. Coming up on August 11 we start this journey of trying to create specific space for middle schoolers. We have been serving this age group for 3 years with our small group ministry but we know we need to step it up if we want to really impact families in our city who have middle school kids running around the house. Why are we going to launch this new environment?
- We have reached so many high school students they are actually keeping middle school kids from being comfortable at our student gathering (this is a great problem!)
- We want to make sure we OPTIMIZE the environment every week for this age group. Middle School students and High School students learn in different ways.
- Parents like to know their middle school teen is not hanging around a bunch of high school kids they don’t know.
- The lives of Middle School families are in constant flux from 6-8th grade…a stable ministry presence parents can partner with is so needed.
- Middle School students are more likely to invite friends to a gathering aimed at them!
- What God does in the heart of a Middle School student has lasting impact on the rest of their high school and college experience!
- With a Middle School gathering our transition from Cross Street (our k-5 ministry) to Student Ministry will be more effective.
Those are just a few of the ideas that are driving us to launch The Mix this fall! We announce this to our students tonight and I am so pumped about seeing what God is going to do. We are taking a risk and in the middle of that risk I am praying God shows up in a mighty way. If you go to Grace Community Church and you have middle school kids at home we ask you to pray about partnering with us this fall!