The Need for the EDGE
Early adolescence is a very critical and difficult time in a person's life.
The operative word in early adolescence is "change," and lots
of it!
Educators, psychologists, and youth ministers have stated that middle school
might be the last great opportunity we have to positively impact and assist
a child in his or her educational, spiritual, emotional, and social development.
Middle school adolescents are trying to figure out who they are and what
they believe. They are struggling to put the pieces of their life's puzzle
together.
It is during this "doubting Thomas phase" that many youngsters
become leery of their faith, and begin to question as well as doubt what
they believed as children.
Those who minister to middle school youth are in the seed-planting business.
They are working with kids who still have many significant and important
decisions ahead of them, and the ministering adult has the opportunity to
plant the seeds of Jesus’ love, hope, and peace in the middle school
child.
The EDGE provides an unparalleled moment in the life of a middle school
youngster to offer guidance, reassurance, and Jesus' love to a group of
people who have so many options and choices before them.