Remember back when you were in middle school? Remember those days when nothing went right? Your best friend decided that she was someone else\u2019s best friend, your math teacher gave a pop quiz, and one look in the mirror showed you had developed a giant zit on the end of your nose. Life in middle school was not and is<\/i> not<\/i> always fun.<\/p>\n
The one thing in middle school you did<\/i> feel good about, however, was your ability to hit a tennis ball (or play the piano or win a ribbon at the art fair). In other words, your self-esteem was often tied to what you could and could not do.<\/p>\n
As Christian adults, we get our value from our position in Christ (at least we should.) We know verses such as Romans 5:8, Romans 5:17, 1 Corinthians 6:20, and Ephesians 2:6. We know that it is from God\u2019s promises that we get our identity.<\/p>\n
But even though middle school teens might know<\/i> those verses, few apply <\/i>them to their lives. Their self-esteem is not wrapped up in God\u2019s Word, but instead dependent on desired abilities \u2013 athletics, grades, music, or something else.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there is an epidemic of teens dropping out of the very activities that make them feel good about themselves. This is not only a church problem, but carries over into sports, music, art, etc. Educators are diligently researching to discover why because without those confidence boosters kids are more lost than ever.<\/p>\n
So what can we parents and church leaders do to counteract the trend?<\/p>\n
Tweens like to feel important and they like to be treated as adults. We need to give them opportunities to serve in ways that not only use their talents, but also challenge them. If you\u2019re a church staff member you need to involve the tweens in real ministry. Parents, you need to make sure your tween follows through with the ministry commitment by doing what you can to help. That might mean driving him to a rehearsal at church or getting the supplies she needs for project. Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n
But we cannot stop there. We need to give the tweens actual contracts to do the work so they know that we\u2019re serious about needing their help. After they do their job, we need to acknowledge that they carried through with the task.<\/p>\n
By giving tweens a job in church and supporting their efforts at home, we are encouraging them to feel part of the church family \u2013 and therefore, the family of God.<\/p>\n
We need to give them purpose and what better way to cultivate purpose than by serving the Lord.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember back when you were in middle school? Remember those days when nothing went right? Your best friend decided that she was someone else\u2019s best friend, your math teacher gave a pop quiz, and one look in the mirror showed you had developed a giant zit on the end of your nose. Life in middle […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":4405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n