5 Tips to Helping Tweens Move Up to Youth Ministry

Intentionality: Transitional Ministry 

A transitional ministry for kids in Grades 5 and 6 carries tweens from one point to the next in a well-structured and intentional way in which their faith can continue to grow. It combines elements from kids’ ministry with new concepts to foster growth and development. Grades 5 and 6 children can often feel out of place in Kids Ministry but are still too young to be part of the youth group. This is also the season where their faith journey is often complicated when you add in hormones, life changes, current culture, and the transition to junior high.

However, this is an essential season in which to give Grades 5 and 6 kids building blocks for the future, including a foundation built on Jesus and the truth of the gospel. We need leaders who believe in discipleship and desire to be creative for the sake of kids knowing that they are loved by God and loved by others. Grades 5 and 6 kids are also enthusiastic when they understand God’s love for them. They often are the strongest evangelists in the church as they share Jesus with their friends and invite them to tween ministry.   

At North Pointe Community Church, our Grades 5 and 6 ministries have been happening on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. We always want this to be the best place for our tweens to become teens, so they are excited to be a part of youth!

1. Communication: A Strong Relationship with your Kids Ministry Staff

Often kids’ ministry and youth ministry can look very different in programming and style. However, the mission and vision of sharing the love of Jesus should be the same. 

Consequently, as two teams move forward in the same direction, it is essential to have good communication and relationships. At North Pointe Community Church, we try our very best to have open communication and relationships with our kids’ ministry team and plan events to make sure the kids are always connecting with those younger or older than them. We always discuss ideas that create an environment where we can relate to and be on the same page when needed. 

For example, we have Party Sundays for Kindergarten to Grade 7. We talk about Jesus, play games, and have an ice cream party altogether so that the kids can get to know others from different grades. Therefore, it is an entire team effort to bring together good transitions for our kids, tweens, and teens!

2. Leadership: Have Your Senior High Students Serve in Grade 5 and 6 Ministry

One of the key elements of transitions is leadership. Two components are essential to us here at North Pointe! The first one is that our leadership team for tween ministry comprises those from Grade 9 to Grade 12. These senior highs are the small group leaders for our Grades 5 and 6ers. They have a passion for seeing these kids know the love of Jesus and having the best days of their life in tween ministry. The idea of youth and the anxiety of being around older teens can be eliminated because of relationships. Therefore, it makes it easier for tweens to move up into youth as they realize that the people older than them genuinely care and want a relationship with them. 

The second component that is important to us is consistency in our small group leaders. Our small group leaders move up with our students from Grade 5 to Grade 12. We encourage all our leaders to stay and walk with tweens from the moment they enter Grade 5 until they graduate Grade 12. This makes it especially easy for kids to transition from Grade 6 into youth because they have the same leaders that are part of their lives to journey with them to adulthood. 

3. Looking Forward: Keep the element of anticipation alive

Kids always want to grow up. Tweens especially want to be teenagers as fast as possible, and they often can’t wait to get into the youth group. We must create an environment where they are still having the best time in their current ministry but still let them be excited about junior high.

We have a few events a year where our Grades 5-6 and Grades 7-12 students are all together, and this gives them a small taste of what they can expect when they move up. The combined events allow them to hang out with older students, including their senior high small group leaders and show them that the “big kids” aren’t as scary as they may seem. 

4. Evangelism & Serving: Faith doesn’t begin at a certain age

Sometimes we don’t give tweens the credit they deserve, or we don’t think they can share their faith because they are too young. Often tweens want to serve and share their faith, but we don’t provide the tools or opportunities. 

We currently have multiple Alpha groups running at the church. Two of those groups are run by Grade 5 and 6 students who are so excited to share their faith and invite their peers to come and learn more about Jesus. 

We always encourage our tweens who show the desire to serve to get involved in various ways. Some examples include serving with our little ones on Sundays, becoming small group leaders for our kid’s midweek programming, or getting involved in our churchwide events where they can serve their church family and love their community. Student leadership is also a huge part of seeing Grades 5 and 6ers flourish in their faith and explore God’s gifts and talents. 

Guest Author, Hope Dymterko
Hope Dymterko is experienced in working with Grade 5/6s, Junior Highs and Senior Highs. She is an expert at recruiting and developing volunteers. Hope is on staff at North Pointe Community Church.

Reach out to Pastor Hope at hope@np.church 
(North Pointe Community Church).

Chloe Monkman is a pastor of Grade 5/6s.

Hope and Chloe are on staff at North Pointe Community Church.

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