What is Jenga and How to play Jenga I want to introduce Jenga Game and How to play Jenga It is Familiar with you the Jenga Game? Now let me introduce to you what is it *****What is Jengga Game?***** Jenga is a game of physical skill created by British board game designer and author Leslie Scott, and currently marketed by Hasbro. Players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. *****HOW TO PLAY Jenga Game?***** 1. Set up the tower. Place…
Cliques The *****clique***** is probably the most prevalent social structure of early adolescence. A clique is defined by Webster as "a narrow exclusive circle or group of persons." Eric Johnson defines it as "a small group of friends who stick together and shut others out."" While cliques are certainly not limited to junior highers, they do seem to take on great importance during the early adolescent years and cause a great deal of concern for middle school and junior high…
Obstacles to Ministering with Parents and How to Overcome Them Even though it's easy to make a compelling case for a ministry to and with parents of junior highers, there are plenty of obstacles that may be prevent from doing it. I have listed some of those obstacles below, prevent you from doing it. I have listed some of those obstacles below, because I believe that the first step toward overcoming obstacles is to acknowledge their existence. Don't let any of the following…
Psycho- Emotional in Junior Highers *****I don't know why I cry so much and why I get so upset***** *****over things. Sometimes I think l'm getting younger, not***** *****older. -Lauren, age 13***** By adult standards junior highers are very emotional people. Because they have acquired the ability to think in a new way, they have also acquired the ability to feel in a new way. They have brand new emotions that are often very intense and completely unpredictable. Junior…
Emotional Roller Coaster One of the most common emotional characteristics of junior highers is their *****moodiness*****. They can run the gamut of emotions in a very short period of time. It is not uncommon to hear a distraught and angry junior higher say, "I absolutely hate you!" this minute, and then five minutes later smile and say, "***You're not mad at me, are you?*** This roller coaster ride of emotions is usually attributed to hormonal changes that accompany puberty.…
Personality Development by Trial and Error Perhaps the most accurate generalization we can make about the emotions of a junior higher is: you can't make many generalizations about the emotions ofa junior higher. They are completely unpredictable. This helps to set junior highers apart from the rest of the human race. Adults and little children can normally be put into categories without too much difficulty: "She's such a pleasant little girl or "Mr. Jones is a real…
Catch Junior Highers in the Act of Doing Something Good You can't control how junior highers feel about themselves, but you can control how you respond to them. You can impact their self-image significantly by letting them know that you do indeed like them and want to be around them. This is another reason why relationships in youth ministry are so important-they help young people build self esteem. You give junior highers some very important information about themselves…
Behavior That Hides More Than It Reveals People always wonder how an experienced junior high worker is able to function in what appears to be a state of total confusion. I can remember times when I would invite the pastor of our church to speak briefly to the junior high group, and invariably he would stand before the group and try to quiet the kids down and achieve total silence- unsuccessfully. Frustrated, he would look over in my direction and expect me (plead with me) to…
Faith Development of Junior highers and Junior high faith is Transitional ***I used to be religious, but I lost a lot of faith. I think I go*** ***to church just to waste time. I'm not really into it. But*** ***do believe in God. -Jean, age 14*** No one who is quite started sure how it all started, but everyone thinks they know started it. It happened during themorning worship service, shortly after the pastor invited the congregation to pause for a few moments of silent…
Programs give Junior highers something to do and attract kids and create interest By this I mean that programs get them involved. One of the primary reasons we plan programs is because we want to give our junior highers opportunities to use their gifts, talents, and skills to be participants with us in the life and ministry of the church. Some youth workers, I think, see programs as something to keep themselves busy, rather than something to involve the kids. But we don't…
Junior High Faith Is Personal Psychologist David Elkind observed that religion changes for the early adolescent from being institutional to personal. It becomes more of a personal relationship with God. For a child religion is tied very closely to the church or to religious activities (institutional). But for the young adolescent who has acquired new ways of thinking religion is tied much more closely to a belief system, which is more personal and private. Teenagers, who…
Junior High Faith Is Skeptical When junior highers were younger, they had a faith that was simple, almost mythical-one that provided clear-cut answers to life's most difficult questions. It provided them with invincible heroes of the faith to admire and to emulate. They believed primarily because their parents and their teachers believed. But now, with the advent of adulthood and the ability to think on an adult level (Piaget's stage of formal operations), they sense that…
Junior High Faith Is Emotional And Idealistic Junior highers are experiencing adult like emotions and feelings for the first time in their lives. And because these emotions are new, they are also surprising in their intensity and are very unpredictable. These emotions will stabilize as the years pass, but these early emotional experiences will be very formative. It is important therefore to give junior highers religious experiences that will allow them to "feel" God's…
Junior High Faith Is Inconsistent One of the most *****frustrating***** aspects of junior high ministry is that young adolescents are *****not very good at connecting what they believe***** *****(or say they believe) with what they do*****. They don't practice what they preach. David Elkind uses the term apparent hypocrisy to describe this characteristic of early adolescence. "*****Young adolescents are able to con-***** *****ceptualize fairly abstract rules of behavior, but…
Junior High Faith Is Relational James Fowler of Duke University conducted research in the field of fith development and discovered-as Piaget did in the field of cognitive development-that there are progressive stages of faith common to almost everyone. He identified six stages of faith in all, including one that applies specifically to junior highers. This is his third stage-which he calls the synthetic or conventional stage-beginningat around age 11 or 12 and ending…
Booorrring! *****Most children have a hard time listening to a sermon because***** *****sermon are boring*****. But they are not boring because the pastor is necessarily boring speaker. Usually it's because a sermon consists primarily of stage-four (abstract) concepts-which only those who have made the shift from concrete to formal operations can understand. Even if a child-or anyone who had not made the shift to formal operations were listening closely, he or she would…
A Word about Balance When you are planning your junior high program, it's a good idea to keep in mind that balance is sometimes required, even when you have set some priorities that get more attention. Veteran junior high worker Darrel Pearson has identified six areas that are easy to get out of balance: *****•Fun versus serious.***** Even though most junior high programming should include an element of fun, it's important to remember that weare not just trying to give kids…
How Junior Highers Can Choose Friends That Are Good for Them :Watch Out for Loners One of the great fears parents have is that their early adolescent children will become part of the wrong crowd. Their fears are justified. tis very easy for junior highers to choose friends who do not hold Christian values and who may exert a negative influence on them. There are many junior highers who smoke, drink. use drugs., or involve themselves in other kinds of harmful behaviors. It is…
So What Do You Cut, What Do You Keep? And The Variability of Early Adolescence Even though we understand and appreciate the characteristics of an effective junior high ministry program, we still have the problem of deciding what to do. We know that we will have to plan a certain number of meetings and activities, but how many, what kind, who with and when? Two things are certain: (1) there will never be a shortage of things to do, and (2) there's no way you can do…
Keeping Communication Open and Parents Need Encouragement, Too It's easy to list all the reasons why we should work with parents. The hard part is actually doing it. So let me give you a few practical ideas and suggestions fora ministry to and with parents. The lists that follow are neither exhaustive nor mandatory, but hopefully you'll find a few ideas that will inspire you to think creatively about involving parents in your junior high ministry. The best place to start is…
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