FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry

Today on the podcast, Sean shares a lesson idea that was used in Elevate this last Sunday.

This was a lesson that Sean used as the new 4th graders started this last Sunday. The ministry is called Elevate which is for 4th, 5th & now 6th graders. Sean wanted to share this lesson because there might be some ideas that you could use in your own ministry.

The lesson was all about how we are all elevaters. In fact, everyone elevates something. As part of the lesson Sean showed pictures and videos of people elevating something. One of the pictures was people standing holding signs before a Justin Bieber concert and they were obviously elevating Justin Bieber. He also showed a bedroom decorated in all San Francisco Giants décor, and it was obvious to the preteens this person was elevating the Giants. Additionally, they showed a video of kids doing some dances from Fort Nite and it was also obvious to the preteens what they were elevating. It allowed a discussing about what it means to elevate things, to extol them or raise them up. They looked at Psalm 145, at the beginning it talks about extoling God and at the end it also says that he is extoling God.

By looking at Psalm 145, the preteens were able to underline all the words that state why we should elevate God. There is a ton of them in Psalm 145! The preteens were given note cards. They wrote “God” at the top of and then wrote why they would want to elevate God. Sean then offered them straws which signified ways they could elevate God. Using the card, straws and tape they were tasked with trying to get the index card with God written on it high in the air. The challenge was to see which group would be the first to create an elevator that would raise God up to the roof.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks with Clint May out of Benbrook, Texas about the L.I.T. program that he created.

Clint describes the history of what brought him to start the L.I.T. program. Through his years in ministry, he has seen such a change in the preteens and their families and as a result of giving them opportunities to lead in ministry. The LIT program now takes multiple churches on missions trips each year and has resources for 1st-6th grade. Clint is most proud of the preteen devotionals and how well they work.

All this information can be found by going to www.leadersintraining.com. There is free information including a spiritual gifts test for preteens. And they are currently setting up online training that will be free. By equipping preteens to serve Christ they are able to make a difference in others.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean shares an excerpt from Karl Bastian’s session at the 2018 Preteen Leaders’ Online Conference.

Karl explains how adults in churches are reluctant to serve, only about 20%. On the other hand, if you ask the preteens in your ministry to help, the numbers are much higher; Karl has even seen 100%.

Preteens want to help.

If we don’t train up kids and teens to serve, then why would we expect them to serve as adults. We train them to come to church and sit and watch versus training them know to serve, get it in their DNA when they are young, and we won’t be hunting down volunteers to help out.

Karl recalls a mentor who challenged him whether he was a performer or a trainer. The goal is that we get the willingness to serve in their DNA because many will go into ministry when they get older because they got a taste when they were younger and enjoyed it. Church becomes a place where they ask to serve because it was a part of who they are. We are discipling them and part of being a disciple is doing God’s work.

Kids can set an example for others in the church. The disciples were actually young but look at the differences they were able to make in our world.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean talks about a teaching method he learned when he was a public school teacher.

This is a strategy which will help you to “let go of the bike and run alongside”:

Step 1: I do, you watch.

Step 2: I do, you help. In this step we are still doing but allowing the preteens to step in and help us do those things.

Step 3: you do, I help. As an example, a capable adult leader sits in the tech booth with two preteens who are learning to run the tech booth. They are running the tech booth and the leader is helping THEM to do it.

Step 4: you do, I watch. This brings us to the goal of letting them do on their own.

Hopefully these steps will help you to see where you are in your ministry. If you are stuck in step 1 you may not be at the full preteen potential. As ministry leaders, we can move our preteens forward. We can help them as they are taking ownership of their faith and walk with God.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean, Heather Dunn and Paula Mazza share some wisdom from a conversation they recently had with a ministry leader who was having difficulties.

Many of us are willing to get in there and get it done no matter the cost, with a tendency to take on everything and overwhelm ourselves. Those of us that are the “worker bee” type are not good at setting boundaries. When we step back and admit that we have taken on too much and that we are exhausted, that is when we are taking a positive step in ministry. When we say we are tired, we open up the door for someone who God has placed in the body to fill that role.

They have been there the whole time but always felt that there was a capable person handling it, so they never speak up.

Are you making sure everything is prepared for the service (hunting down crayons, or paper, etc) and filling up your margins, or are you making yourself available to give yourself relationally to the students and volunteers?

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean discusses the idea of using the authority you have been given in your ministry to encourage and build up others.

Most of us would prefer to shy away from confronting someone because we don’t like confrontation. That is one of the hardest parts of our position as authorities in our ministries. Instead we need to look at this opportunity as a means of building up others in a loving manner not a confrontational manner. Sean discusses the idea of wasting our authority if we do not use it to encourage others. If we are not bringing about change to the environment of our ministries so others can perceive and respond to God, the authority granted us is wasted. Sean encourages us to think about a preteen with a behavior problem or leader that we can confront in a loving manner that would bring about change. Always remember you have been placed in this authority role, so use that authority in a loving way to make your ministry a positive place where people can see and respond to God.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean and Makenna speak about how you can begin to discuss lofty theological ideas with preteens. 

They specifically are discussing this illustration that Elevate used to talk about justification, sanctification and glorification. The illustration uses a mirror and dirt and spray bottles to discuss the idea of these two theological concepts. Makenna shares what she used recently during the message to explain justification, sanctification and glorification to the preteens. During the message she used a wardrobe style mirror that was covered in coffee and dirt and it was pretty nasty. To explain justification, she noted that God doesn’t look at our reflection he looks at Jesus’ reflection. For this mirror the process of sanctification is squirting it with a spray bottle of cleaner which doesn’t take away everything, but bit by bit like God cleans away the dirt (sin) away so that we can reflect God better back to the world.

As Makenna squirted the mirror the coffee stain slowly trickled down and then used a paper towel to clean off one spot where God had removed the sin to show how much better we are able to reflect the light. For glorification Makenna used the same mirror but dumped a whole bucket of water onto it. To do this portion of the illustration she had the mirror inside of a large bucket to catch the water.

Illustrations can be a great step for preteens to be able to understand these lofty theological ideas. Here is a link to a previous podcast where we discussed this same idea. 

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean speaks about the idea of having preteens serving the younger students as a means of serving and ministering to preteens.

Sean believes that this idea of having the preteens serving the younger students is a great FIRST STEP of beginning a ministry to preteens, especially when you don’t have the resources to have a separate ministry for the preteens. FourFiveSix has lots of great information about how to start a preteen leadership program.

Sean emphasizes that this is a great first step, but it is definitely not the last step. Sean explains there is more to the ministry like spiritual development for the preteens. He poses the question, what are you doing to engage preteens beyond allowing them to serve? Check out fourfivesix.org/bike and THIS PAGE which discusses six ministry techniques to help preteens step into faith-ownership.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean shares a portion of Paula Mazza’s breakout session at the 2018 Preteen Leaders’ Conference entitled Power of Play.

Paula discusses the emotional issues that preteens suffer from that swing all over the place. Preteens emotions can become very evident during game time. Preteens have so many changes going on in their bodies that cause these can cause huge emotional swings. They begin to think like adults but lack the experiences to help guide them. They are striving for independence from their childhood. What we see on the outside isn’t always what is going on inside, especially emotionally.

These understandings of the emotional stage that preteens are in can help us when we plan games for our preteens. When we plan games for preteens, we need to realize that games can be a great way to provide a language for them and a time when they can try out new things to figure themselves out.

During the podcast, your hear participants from the conference share both positive and negative effects of games in preteen ministry.

This recording is only part of Paula’s session. Get the entire session, and all of the other recordings from the 2018 Online Conference here.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast?  Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.

Today on the podcast, Sean and Makenna discuss the new Diamond Collector Card Game developed by FourFiveSix.

The card game was developed to help preteens talk about the pressures in their lives. There are three different colors that focus on specific pressures:

• red cards focus on pressures from God,
• green cards focus on pressures from peers
• blue cards focus on the pressures from authorities.

These cards can be used a couple different ways.

1. The Diamond Collector Game, where you are trying to create diamonds by using the pressure cards and the rock truth cards in your caves. In addition to the rock and pressure cards there are effect cards that can change things that occur during the game when they are activated. The goal of the game is to earn more diamonds than everyone else.
2. A game similar to Apples to Apples. The first person puts out a pressure card and everyone else looks at their Rock Cards (bible verse cards) and turns one in that they feel would be helpful in the pressure situation. The person who placed the pressure card then reads the rock cards and decides which one best matches the pressure and they award diamonds to the winning card.
3. Small Group discussion about pressures. There are also Small Group Discussion Questions included with the cards that can be used over the course of four weeks.

The cards can be purchased at diamondcollectorcards.com or for ministry leaders you can go to fourfivesix.org/diamonds where you can purchase a 100-ministry pack which is enough for 5 students.

Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.