Hello Parents!! Here is part of an interesting article on "Youth Ministry in an age of Delayed Adulthood". The entire article can be read at the "Fuller Youth Institute" website. Maybe this can help out somehow!
Early Adolescence (Junior High Ministry)
1. The importance of family. Because an early adolescent is more a child than an adult, the family still plays the major role of identification and security. Thus early adolescents are usually far more willing to participate in family-based activities and parent-child discussions than their older siblings—they even have parents (their own and others) as youth leaders. To the seasoned youth worker, this may not seem to be the case, but look deeper: Junior high has always been a tough time for kids, but today it's so threatening that adult presence and support is a godsend to kids. (And for the most part, they even recognize it.)
2. Safety, Priority #1. Ford Motor Company's slogan from a few years back absolutely defines the most vital need and desire of early adolescents. Youth ministry at this stage has less to do with how much fun the program is than how safe they feel. How we treat them from up front, what skits we use, how we choose small groups, how we handle rude outbursts or physical play—these are among the most important factors in creating a safe place to engage in the group experience.
3. Fitting in. Early adolescents have always been more concrete thinkers than their high school counterparts, but don't be hung up on this fact when it comes to teaching. To most early adolescents, the only thing that really matters is how they perceive themselves fitting in. This idea goes beyond safety to kids' sense of self in a strange and unfamiliar relational setting (the same goes for school, by the way). For example, when you teach about God's love one day, and the next sternly warn kids that they're not welcome if they can't behave, the message is lost.
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