Emergent Junior HighEmergent Junior HighLeadership Resources in Junior High Ministry Articles
Characteristics Of A Typical 14 Year Old
2007-02-10 23:02:00 This is a four part series outlining the basic characteristics of a typical junior high aged students. This is just a foundational list that all are encouraged to add to based on their experience or expertise. Characteristics of a Typical Fourteen Year Old Physical: ? High energy continues ? Generally healthy age-pushes through illness in desire to participate with peers ? Loud ? Alcohol and drugs a major influence on physical well being ? Girls; full development nearly complete ? Boys; growth spurt continues ? Both; sexually active in increasing percentages ? Upper body strength beings to develop in boys ? High need for physical exercise and snacking Social: ? Like to do as much as possible-cram as much into the day as they can ? More of their own adult personality evident ? Often embarrassed to be seen with their parents; critical of parental dress, habits, friends, ideas ? Loud ? Especially don’t like or respond well to adult lectures; feel that they know what is going to b... More About: Articles , Resources , Strategic Planning , Teri
Characteristics Of A Typical 13 Year Old
2007-02-10 23:00:00 This is a four part series outlining the basic characteristics of a typical junior high aged students. This is just a foundational list that all are encouraged to add to based on their experience or expertise. Characteristics of a Typical Thirteen Year Old Physical: ? High physical energy ? Skin problems emerging; hygiene a key issue ? Girls: 95% of mature height in average girl; menstruating has begun for most ? Boys: voice change for many; growth spurt about a year behind girls Social: ? Neatness a key issue with personal appearance, not with personal environment ? The mirror is their best friend and worst enemy ? Often quieter than 12’s or 14’s ? Like to be alone at home ? Feelings easily hurt and can easily hurt other’s feelings ? Mean = scared ? Touchy; flaring anger ? Close friendships more obviously important to girls ? Boys hang in groups or formal gangs ? Girls more interested in older boys ? Strong sports interest in both genders ? Telephone, computer, vi... More About: Articles , Resources , Strategic Planning , Teri
Characteristics Of A Typical 12 Year Old
2007-02-10 22:56:00 This is a four part series outlining the basic characteristics of a typical junior high aged students. This is just a foundational list that all are encouraged to add to based on their experience or expertise. Characteristics of a Typical Twelve Year Old Physical: ? High energy ? Much rest needed ? Growth spurt; signs of puberty ? Menstruation for majority of girls ? Food important, especially mid-morning in school ? Physical education and sports valued Social: ? Adult personality ? More reasonable, tolerant than at 11 ? Enthusiastic, uninhibited ? Will initiate own activity ? Empathetic ? Self-aware, insightful ? Can set realistic goals in the short-term ? Appears secure ? Peers more important than teachers Language: ? Sarcasm emerges ? Double meanings, word play, jokes of intellectual interest ? Enjoys conversations with adults and peers ? Peer “vocabulary” (slang) important Cognitive: ? Increased ability to abstract in intellectual pursuits ? May show emerging abilit... More About: Articles , Resources , Strategic Planning , Teri
Characteristics Of A Typical 11 Year Old
2007-02-10 22:54:00 This is a four part series outlining the basic characteristics of a typical junior high aged students. This is just a foundational list that all are encouraged to add to based on their experience or expertise. Characteristics of a Typical Eleven Year Old Physical: ? Vast appetite for food and physical activity and talking ? Growth spurt of early adolescence for some girls ? Constant motion; restless ? More illness: colds, flu, ear infections ? Need for more sleep ? Physical aggression not uncommon ? Fine motor capability good Social: ? Moody; sensitive ? Oppositional; tests limits ? Often does best away from home ? Impulsive; rude; unaware ? Loves to argue ? Difficulty with decisions ? Self-absorbed ? Extremes of emotion ? Inclusion/exclusion; height of cliques; seeks to belong Language: ? Discovery of the telephone and instant messaging ? Impulsive-talks before thinking ? Can be cruel ? Argumentative; debater ? Appreciates humour ? Imitates adult language Cognitive: ? Prefers new... More About: Articles , Resources , Strategic Planning , Teri
Mind Mapping
2007-02-10 21:42:00 Mind mapping is a technique that organizes your thoughts and ideas into a visual map or diagram that is easier to process. It can be quite useful in brainstorming or problem solving, and some pastors, like Ed Young, use it to organize their sermons. If you would like to learn how to mind map, Innovation Network offers the following 8 easy steps to mind mapping. Center First Our linear, left-brain education system has taught us to start in the upper left-hand corner of a page. However, our mind focuses on the center ? so mind mapping begins with a word or image that symbolizes what you want to think about placed in the middle of the page. Lighten Up Mind mapping is simply a brain dumping process that helps stimulate new ideas and connections. Start with an open, playful attitude ? you can always get serious later. Free Associate As ideas emerge, print one or two word descriptions of the ideas on lines branching from the central focus. Allow the ideas to expand outward into branches ... More About: Articles , Resources , Mind , Strategic Planning , Mind mapping
4 Ideas for Discipline
2007-02-10 04:22:04 Some discipline ideas from timschmoyer.com: 1. Establish yourself as the leader from the very beginning. Although you are close to their age, you?re first their leader before you?re their friend. Just having the title of ?youth pastor? and the backing of the church leadership sets you apart, so don?t be afraid to use it. 2. Don?t be afraid to discipline. Studies have shown that parents who discipline are shown more respect and love from their teens because discipline proves to the kids that their parents love them. You?re the leader of the group, so you set the tone and standards for what happens. Enforce it. 3. Be consistent. If you say there are certain consequences for an offense, follow through with it. Although it?s hard the first couple times, you earn their respect and they learn to trust your word when you say something. 4. Don?t be timid because you?re young. Pretty much the same as #2. Be assertive, take charge and do whatever is necessary to manage the group. Again, you?... More About: Ideas , Discipline , Idea , Line , Disc
Spotting A New Leader
2007-02-10 04:22:04 This article is by Fred Smith and is taken from BuildingSmallGroups.com: The most gifted athletes rarely make good coaches. The best violinist will not necessarily make the best conductor. Nor will the best teacher necessarily make the best head of the department. So it’s critical to distinguish between the skill of performance and the skill of leading the performance, two entirely different skills. It’s also important to determine whether a person is capable of learning leadership. The natural leader will stand out. The trick is identifying those who are capable of learning leadership over time. Here are several traits to help identify whether someone is capable of learning to lead. 10 Signs of Potential 1. Lead ership in the past. The best predictor of the future is the past. When I was in business, I took note of any worker who told me he was superintendent of a Sunday school or a deacon in his church or a Boy Scout leader. If he showed leadership outside of the job, I... More About: Spot , Leader
11 Steps To Burnout
2007-02-10 04:22:04 1. Ignore spending time in the Word and in prayer. Ministry is easy ? you can do it all in your own strength. It shouldn?t be based on God anyway. Spend all your time teaching others how to develop their relationship with God instead. 2. Accept responsibility for everything. Say ?yes? to whatever is asked of you and your time. It doesn?t matter if it could easily be handled by a volunteer, take it on anyway because you?re the guy they pay to do it. Besides, there may be no one else willing or available to do it besides you, which obviously indicates how important it is to everyone else. 3. Become emotionally attached to every situation. Whenever someone has a need, be the first to jump in, provide all the emotional support they need and rescue them from the problem. After all, everyone needs a savior. 4. Always serve God in ministry. This is so important that you must sacrifice all personal down-time and fill it with good things like meetings, events, Bible studies, evangelism, miss... More About: Burnout , Step , Steps , Burn
Ability vs. Attitude
2007-02-10 04:22:04 There’s an article that first appeared on WorshipTogether.com in 2000 that still rings true today. As leaders in junior high ministry we’re often faced with getting the lowest quality musicians who ‘really want to play’ and need an arena to get better. While I think this is a great value sometimes even at the junior high level in order to accomplish the goals of your ministry and not be a distraction in worship, leaders have to struggle through this question. Click here to read the article. More About: Attitude , Bili
Small Group Curriculum
2007-02-10 04:22:04 SimplyJuniorHigh.com has small group curriculum available. More About: Curriculum , Small , Mall , Group
What College Aged People Are Thinking
2007-02-10 04:22:04 Seeing as most people who become Junior High leaders and workers are either in college or just finished college I thought I would throw these statistics on to showcase where current college students are at. If college students are here, chances are that the junior highers in our communities aren’t far behind. Some interesting food for thought as you plan program, build relationship and set vision. College Students Speak: Making a Difference in the World is More Important than Professional Success Health, Human Rights and the Environment are Top of Mind Boston, MASS, 01/23/2007 - Experience, Inc., the only career site specifically for college students & alumni, today revealed the findings of its 2006 “Global Issues” survey. Experience polled more than 2,800 students from colleges and universities nationwide to determine which issues concern college students most and to measure their level of engagement in addressing these global issues. In what should be a ver... More About: People , What , Hat , Think
WiredChurches.com
2007-02-10 04:22:04 Granger Community Church has created a church resource website called wiredchurches.com. This website has access to various types of administrative documents and message series for an adult church setting but many of the tools and resources can be applied to Junior High ministry as well. Definitely take a look at the administrative documents because they’ll give you a place to start when doing some strategic planning and development of your junior high ministry. More About: Churches , Wired , Wire
Leadership Is A Lifestyle
2007-02-10 04:22:04 “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Max DePree “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” John Maxwell All around us people are searching for leaders. Whether in business, education, government, or the church, we instinctively seek out leaders as we recognize the necessity for leadership in all areas of life. Any organization, whether for profit or non-profit, depends on successful leadership to provide direction. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Every issue in every organization, every decision that is made or postponed, is ultimately a product of leadership. Find an organization achieving excellence and you’ll find leadership effectiveness. Find failure, and you’ll find leadership failure as well. But despite our need for genuine leadership, it seems as if there is a leadership void in our generation. Warren Bennis has observed, “”It is the paradox of our times that precisel... More About: Life , Lifestyle , Leadership , Style , Fest
SHIFT Student Ministries Leadership Conference
2007-02-10 04:22:04 EmergentJuniorHigh.com contributor James Giroux is planning on being at the SHIFT Student Mini stries Leadership Conference at Willow Creek in South Barrington, IL (outside Chicago). He’s planning a dinner get together for Junior High pastors that want to connect. Email him to find out more information about the event. More About: Ship , Shift
Band Dynamics
2007-02-10 04:22:04 This article first appeared on WorshipTogether.com in 2006 by Brenton Brown: In rehearsal situations… Be punctual. It?s important. It?s an indicator of how much we respect the other members of the band ? both arriving on time, and ending on time. Be receptive ? the older we get, the more experienced we get the harder it is to receive input. Don?t lose the joy of discovery. There are other ways of doing what you?re doing. We?re all on a journey. This is worth noting if you?re a band member of a leader. Keep it simple ? Often the individual members of the band are responsible for doing most of the arranging of their particular part. A tendency when it?s not working is to think that it needs something and so I better add something. But typically it?s not what?s not being played that?s the problem. It?s what IS being played that is the problem. It?s not the notes you play ? We don?t need to play all the way through the song, or all the way through the set! Making space is just as... More About: Band , Dynamics , Dynamic , Nami
Small Group Curriculum
2007-02-09 20:36:00 SimplyJuniorHigh.com has small group curriculum available. var sb_rated_title = 'Small Group Curriculum '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/small -group/small-group-curriculum/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:39:47 -0400')); } catch (e) {} More About: Resources
Band Dynamics
2007-02-09 18:14:00 This article first appeared on Worship Together.com in 2006 by Brenton Brown: In rehearsal situations… Be punctual. It?s important. It?s an indicator of how much we respect the other members of the band ? both arriving on time, and ending on time. Be receptive ? the older we get, the more experienced we get the harder it is to receive input. Don?t lose the joy of discovery. There are other ways of doing what you?re doing. We?re all on a journey. This is worth noting if you?re a band member of a leader. Keep it simple ? Often the individual members of the band are responsible for doing most of the arranging of their particular part. A tendency when it?s not working is to think that it needs something and so I better add something. But typically it?s not what?s not being played that?s the problem. It?s what IS being played that is the problem. It?s not the notes you play ? We don?t need to play all the way through the song, or all the way through the set! Making space is just as... More About: Band , Articles , Dynamics , Dynamic
Leadership Is A Lifestyle
2007-02-09 18:11:00 “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Max DePree “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” John Maxwell All around us people are searching for leaders. Whether in business, education, government, or the church, we instinctively seek out leaders as we recognize the necessity for leadership in all areas of life. Any organization, whether for profit or non-profit, depends on successful leadership to provide direction. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Every issue in every organization, every decision that is made or postponed, is ultimately a product of leadership. Find an organization achieving excellence and you’ll find leadership effectiveness. Find failure, and you’ll find leadership failure as well. But despite our need for genuine leadership, it seems as if there is a leadership void in our generation. Warren Bennis has observed, “”It is the paradox of our times that precisel... More About: Lifestyle , Articles , Leadership , Ship , Lead
Ability vs. Attitude
2007-02-09 18:09:00 There’s an article that first appeared on Worship Together.com in 2000 that still rings true today. As leaders in junior high ministry we’re often faced with getting the lowest quality musicians who ‘really want to play’ and need an arena to get better. While I think this is a great value sometimes even at the junior high level in order to accomplish the goals of your ministry and not be a distraction in worship, leaders have to struggle through this question. Click here to read the article. var sb_rated_title = 'Ability vs. Attitude '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/artic les/ability-vs-attitude/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Wed, 25 Jul 2007 02:33:42 -0400')); } catch (e) {} More About: Articles , Leadership
Spotting A New Leader
2007-02-09 06:29:00 This article is by Fred Smith and is taken from BuildingSmallGroups.com: The most gifted athletes rarely make good coaches. The best violinist will not necessarily make the best conductor. Nor will the best teacher necessarily make the best head of the department. So it’s critical to distinguish between the skill of performance and the skill of leading the performance, two entirely different skills. It’s also important to determine whether a person is capable of learning leadership. The natural leader will stand out. The trick is identifying those who are capable of learning leadership over time. Here are several traits to help identify whether someone is capable of learning to lead. 10 Signs of Potential 1. Lead ership in the past. The best predictor of the future is the past. When I was in business, I took note of any worker who told me he was superintendent of a Sunday school or a deacon in his church or a Boy Scout leader. If he showed leadership outside of the job, I... More About: Articles , Leader
What College Aged People Are Thinking
2007-02-08 06:35:00 Seeing as most people who become Junior High leaders and workers are either in college or just finished college I thought I would throw these statistics on to showcase where current college students are at. If college students are here, chances are that the junior highers in our communities aren’t far behind. Some interesting food for thought as you plan program, build relationship and set vision. College Students Speak: Making a Difference in the World is More Important than Professional Success Health, Human Rights and the Environment are Top of Mind Boston, MASS, 01/23/2007 - Experience, Inc., the only career site specifically for college students & alumni, today revealed the findings of its 2006 “Global Issues” survey. Experience polled more than 2,800 students from colleges and universities nationwide to determine which issues concern college students most and to measure their level of engagement in addressing these global issues. In what should be a ver... More About: People , Articles , General , Leadership
11 Steps To Burnout
2007-02-08 05:38:00 1. Ignore spending time in the Word and in prayer. Ministry is easy ? you can do it all in your own strength. It shouldn?t be based on God anyway. Spend all your time teaching others how to develop their relationship with God instead. 2. Accept responsibility for everything. Say ?yes? to whatever is asked of you and your time. It doesn?t matter if it could easily be handled by a volunteer, take it on anyway because you?re the guy they pay to do it. Besides, there may be no one else willing or available to do it besides you, which obviously indicates how important it is to everyone else. 3. Become emotionally attached to every situation. Whenever someone has a need, be the first to jump in, provide all the emotional support they need and rescue them from the problem. After all, everyone needs a savior. 4. Always serve God in ministry. This is so important that you must sacrifice all personal down-time and fill it with good things like meetings, events, Bible studies, evangelism, miss... More About: Articles , Spirituality , Leadership , Burnout , Steps
WiredChurches.com
2007-02-07 15:03:00 Granger Community Church has created a church resource website called wiredchurches.com. This website has access to various types of administrative documents and message series for an adult church setting but many of the tools and resources can be applied to Junior High ministry as well. Definitely take a look at the administrative documents because they’ll give you a place to start when doing some strategic planning and development of your junior high ministry. var sb_rated_title = 'WiredChurches.com'; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/messa ge-series/wiredchurchescom/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:37:08 -0400')); } catch (e) {} More About: Resources , Strategic Planning
4 Ideas for Discipline
2007-02-05 23:47:00 Some discipline ideas from timschmoyer.com: 1. Establish yourself as the leader from the very beginning. Although you are close to their age, you?re first their leader before you?re their friend. Just having the title of ?youth pastor? and the backing of the church leadership sets you apart, so don?t be afraid to use it. 2. Don?t be afraid to discipline. Studies have shown that parents who discipline are shown more respect and love from their teens because discipline proves to the kids that their parents love them. You?re the leader of the group, so you set the tone and standards for what happens. Enforce it. 3. Be consistent. If you say there are certain consequences for an offense, follow through with it. Although it?s hard the first couple times, you earn their respect and they learn to trust your word when you say something. 4. Don?t be timid because you?re young. Pretty much the same as #2. Be assertive, take charge and do whatever is necessary to manage the group. Again, you?... More About: Ideas , Articles , Leadership , Discipline , Disc
Teenage Culture Shift
2007-02-04 21:07:00 A study conducted in 2005 has been made available on freshfilms.com that outlines the current trends and culture of teenagers and how they are thinking. It?s a great little study that will definitely help junior high leaders as they strategically develop programs and ways to communicate truth to today?s tweens and teenagers. Copy and paste the link below into your browser to access the file: http://www.emergentjuniorhigh.com/wp-supp ort/files/GenWorld_TeenStudy.pdf var sb_rated_title = 'Teenage Culture Shift '; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/artic les/teenage-culture-shift/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:37:15 -0400')); } catch (e) {} More About: Articles , Resources , Strategic Planning
Tips For Writing Press Releases
2007-02-04 19:42:00 A news release is an often-overlooked tool for spreading the word about your church and its activities. They are simple to write, and newspapers publish them at no charge to the church. Because newspapers are delivered to homes, sold on newsstands, read in libraries and other public places, and are even read online, your news release can reach a lot of potential visitors. Unfortunately, the majority of churches and other organizations don’t know how to write acceptable news releases, and about 90 percent of all news releases end up in the recycle bin. Editors won’t spend any time trying to figure out your news release or rewriting it so that it makes sense. To use this resource successfully, you need to think and write as a journalist. Here are some key points that will insure your news releases get printed every time. Be Brief Never go longer than two double-spaced pages. Give only the main facts. Be Simple Use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. A four-... More About: Writing , Articles , Resources , Tips , Press
Aligning Priorities With Mission
2007-02-03 19:34:00 What do you think is the major cause of lackluster performance? Any ideas? Think about your own organization for a moment. Think about a major initiative that didn’t come off the way it should have. What do you think were the root causes of the less-than-extraordinary performance? Hopefully you are able to boil it down to a key reason or two. You’ll find that you can slip the reasons into one of the following two categories: unclear strategy conflicting priorities Why only those two? Those are the biggest giants when it comes to obstructing performance. Admittedly, those are really broad categories. And yet, they’re often at the heart of lackluster performance. How can we combat those two giants? At the risk of oversimplification there are two keys. First, we’ve got to get to a crystal clear understanding of our strategy…and it must be clear to the whole team. Second, we’ve got to reach a common understanding of the mission and prioriti... More About: Articles , Leadership , Strategic Planning , Mission , Missi
Evangelicals Behaving Badly
2007-02-03 18:13:00 A couple of months ago in Christianity Today there was a four page spread about how christianity in america was in such decline that the current generation would drop to 4% Christian. It’s got Christians up in arms but somehow some of the statistics used aren’t right. A recent article in Books & Culture Magazine highlights the problem of misusing statistics. var sb_rated_title = 'Evangelicals Behaving Badly'; var sb_url_to_rate = 'http://www.strategicjuniorhigh.com/artic les/evangelicals-behaving-badly/'; try { var sb_rated_creation = new Date(Date.parse('Mon, 16 Jul 2007 02:32:06 -0400')); } catch (e) {} More About: Articles , Spirituality , Ving
15 Trends In Spiritual Formation
2007-02-03 18:07:00 In 2005 a collection of 15 trends in spiritual formation came out, two years down the road how many of these trends have peaked, how many never materialized and how many were bang on? The Postmodern Monastic Trend. This fall Christianity Today did a cover story on this relatively fresh trend diving deep into the old waters of monasticism. These 21st Century monastic communities are still somewhat diverse, but most all of them contain some element of poverty, inner city living, communal dwelling, shared property, service in the community, and vows of celibacy (or at times just old-fashioned monogamy). The movement is small but noticeable and gaining influence. See Christianity Today Cover Story from the September 2005 Issue. The 24-7 Prayer Trend. The English birthplace of the Methodists, the Salvation Army and the Beatles has given birth to yet another movement taking the world by storm. The 24-7 prayer movement is an international youth-culture movement that is calling peo... More About: Articles , Spirituality , Trends , Spiritual , Ends
Growing Your Ministry Through Structure
More articles from this author:2007-02-03 06:59:00 Part of an ongoing series on ministry growth from AgileMinistry .com: I define a ministry?s structure as the combination of the organization, procedures, and execution that helps a team achieve their purpose. A documented ministry structure should include the following artifacts: an organizational chart, team definitions, and job role requirements. Organizational Charts The org chart depicts the reporting structure for the ministry and helps volunteers understand who to raise issues, should the need arise. I have seen more than one ministry fail because it lacked a clear understanding of the functional structure and who had the authority to alter job assignments and responsibilities. Here is an example (click the image to view the full size): If you need help or want to learn more about org charts, Microsoft has a great article on how to use Microsoft Word to create an org chart. Team Definitions If your ministry has more than one specific goal in mind, then you probably have the co... More About: Articles , Leadership , Growing , Rowing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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