Junior High Ministry Tools: old and new

If your like me, which I think most of you are, you spend a lot of time trying to plan some great series or lesson to change the lives of your students forever.   We are in the ministry for the very reason of changing lives by introducing students to Jesus Christ.  We spend tons of money on outreach events to draw students in, we talk to our core students to find out what is relevant and popular, and we study, study study.  We do all of this and then we look for metaphors and illustrations that will really catch their attention.

We have to make sure that we balance our time on this things.  It is tempting to spend more time on the fun events to draw kids in, and not enough on the study, metaphors, and illustrations.  I would like to challenge you with this.  Track your time for your next event.  If it is a weekly, monthly, or quarterly event doesn’t matter.  Track your time in these areas:

• Outreach (fun)
• Study (Scripture Research)
• Illustrations/Metaphors

Make sure that you stay balanced in all of these areas.  Junior High Students love to have fun, but they also are very open to being challenged.  Take the time to look at some older Illustrations too.  Many of our students love things like The Chronicles of Narnia, but have never thought about the metaphors that might be offered in the movie/book.  We must remember that many times when Jesus challenged his disciples, he was dealing with what we call students.

What do you think?  I would love to hear your comments on the balance in your ministry.  Are you balanced, or do you need to rethink your time?