Although I get to be the middle school pastor at my church, I am also the student ministry pastor which means I have the privilege of overseeing a great team in our student ministry department. As a result, I also get to think about high school ministry from time to time. Couple this with the fact that I have one middle schooler and two high schoolers and sometimes I get a perspective on ministry to students as “the old guy” that might be missed if you don’t have teenagers.
Here’s my question for the day. How do you deal with small groups that meet off site during the week? We have done this for years. Our middle school ministry meets onsite while there are other happenings at church for elementary school kids and adults. However, do to both a philosophical stance (we believe small groups in home are more inviting and more conducive to conversation) and a pragmatic necessity (we have no space for high school small groups onsite) we have chosen to host our high school small groups offsite for years.
What’s the issue? It’s crazy! When you have a middle schooler going one direction, a freshman going another direction, and a sophomore (who does not yet drive) going a third direction, it’s a zoo! Carpools are great, but they are complicated and take a lot of work to organize and keep operating. I am vested in this ministry thing (obviously), but I can imagine there are a lot of families that are not nearly as much so. I’m not sure I blame them for dropping out. It’s hard to get your kids where they need to go.
On the other hand, families (mine included) cart all over town for any number of other activities throughout the week and I’m not sure we belly-ache nearly as much or as loud for those inconveniences. Ahhh! What to do? Do you hold your small groups off-site? What have you found to work well in communicating to parents the “why” behind the craziness you put them through for this decision?
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