Prayer Stations for Middle Schoolers

Yesterday we launched our four week easter series with a look at the Garden and Betrayal. Instead of doing our usual teaching time, we led students through a few different prayer stations. I'm feeling a little like Ben Franklin here as I rushed to put this together and am frustrated because it could have been much better. Oh well, not the first time I've learned from failing.

Here are some ideas to help you pull off great prayer stations for middle schoolers:

~Pick a readable version for your passage of Scripture. The Message can be really great with this, and really abstract, unfortunately. Sometimes the ICB version is the easiest to go with.

~Keep reading passages short and use BIG fonts. Some of our kids still struggle with reading while others FLY through it.

~If your station takes more than one sheet of paper, place them side by side instead of placing them on top of each other. This makes the reading feel more manageable and gives students another active learning aspect as they physically step over to read the next sheet.

~Add clipart or drawings. Make them fun to read instead of just blank words on a paper.

~I'm sure this is obvious...but have something tangible. If you are talking about food or taste...have something for kids to eat or snack on. If you are talking about Jesus' suffering, have some nails, hammer, or a crown of thorns to touch. If you are talking about praying in the garden, have a black table cloth and let them write thier own prayers with gel pens.

~As you are waiting for all the students to return to debrief, give kids paper to draw or journal and begin the process.

Check out this book by Dan Kimball and Lilly Lewin. I met Lilly last September at YS in Sacramento.

My Amazing Wife, Jen Rawson

Tonight is a VERY exciting night for our family because Jen is leading a 2 hour seminar for girls and their mom's for the Valley Center School District!

Jen is very passionate about helping girls have healthy self-images/self-esteem. That was the idea behind her Bible study series that was put out by YS last year. But this is the first time she is going to be able to take it to a public school!

The school counselor was HOPING for 30 girls to participate. She thought they'd probably get 20 to sign up, but if they could get 30, THAT would be awesome. As of yesterday there are 50 girls signed up! When you include the mom's, mentor's, and sisters that will be attending as well, there will be over 100 women listening to Jen talk about self image.

SO COOL!!! She has a really good presentation that combines fun and humor with such an important message for our girls. Lots of fodder for discussion. And the message could alter some of these families lives forever.

Youth Pastors Pet Peeves

I received information from another youth ministry here in town this week for a pretty cool upcoming event. Wanting to know more, I checked out the website.

i was reading the bio of the youth pastor, a guy I've never met, and I noticed something that made me laugh out loud and kind of sad.

He had a bunch of typical info listed: Name, wife, kids, favorite food, hobbies, etc. Here's what he wrote under "Pet Peeves"

Pet Peeves: Dudes in flip flops and mandles, bad driving, reading.

Really? Reading is your pet peeve? duuuuuude...I totally hope this is a joke. Because if it's not, what does that mean?

I learned early on that "Leaders are readers." This is definitely a good reminder that I need to be reading more so I can be a better leader.

Donuts, Fellowship, a monkey and a fish

Just got an email from a local donut shop offering a sale for churches.  Here was their ad:

 

Now thru April 5, Get donuts delivered every Sunday

For Just $5 a Dozen.

 

No Questions, No Contracts

Show Your Congregation What Fellowship is all About

 

The last line was the one that through me off.

 

Is this what Christians really think of when they think of fellowship?  Instead of the intimacy of sharing lives together, do we often settle for small talk over donuts?  How do we perpetuate this?  In a church that does have a shallow understanding of fellowship, how do you deepen it?

 

I wonder if my non-Christian friends perceive this to be what Christians really think fellowship is as well.  That begs the question as to what we all see real fellowship as being.

 

I’m reading a book by dave gibbons called the monkey and the fish and it has been so convicting and energizing.  I think of our students and how can they experience real fellowship together and share that with their hurting friends.  How can I get middle school students to experience community?  We try to do this through small groups and I think we do a good job, but certainly not the best job.

 

What are some ways you are trying to create real intimacy and life sharing in your ministry?