FFS 370: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Mental Health Part 2
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Release Date: 02/13/2020
FFS449: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Getting Kids to Read Their Bibles (with Michael Pritchard)
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Sean talks once again with Michael Pritchard, creator of . Michael talks about a free tool that you can use to equip parents to help THEM engage preteens in Bible reading!
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FFS448: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Fifth Grade Discipleship Program (with Dan Huffman)
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Imagine a year-long program for your oldest preteens, full of special events, discipleship discussions, and serving opportunity! On today's episode, Dan Huffman discusses his amazing year-long 5th grade discipleship program on today's episode! Check out the program right here:
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FFS447: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Chicken and Waffles
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Sean talks with Michael Pritchard about his podcast FOR PRETEENS called "Chicken and Waffles." Michael has a passion for preteens to read the Bible for themselves and ask two questions: a "chicken" question and a "waffle" question.
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FFS446: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Communicate Expectations...The Preteens are Listening
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
On today's episode, Sean discusses the importance of leaders communicating expectations to preteens. Preteens ARE listening for what is expected from them, since they have limited life experience and don't know what they should expect from themselves.
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FFS445: GAMES & ACTIVITIES IDEA: River Bank (with Rob Quinn)
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
On today's episode, Sean talks with Rob Quinn about a simple game that preteens love, and which can be adapted and modified in many ways: Riverbank!
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FFS444: LEADERSHIP IDEA: Tug-a-war Between Fun and Scriptural
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Does a tug-a-war exist in your mind between fun and Scriptural as you plan your services? Today on the podcast, Sean talks about a different way to view this tension which often exists in preteen ministry planning sessions.
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FFS443: OUTREACH IDEA: Mission Trip to Poland (with Angela Yracheta)
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Today on the podcast, we hear from the FEARLESS Angela Yracheta, who took preteens on a Mission Trip to Poland! Angela shares why this was, in fact, a GREAT IDEA.
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FFS442: DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: "More"
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Thanks to J12's Gregg Johnson for inspiring today's great idea (which is really just a word): MORE. Preteens are ready for more...are we inviting/challenging them to MORE? Sean talks about how your ministry can give preteens "MORE" opportunities.
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FFS441: EVENT IDEA: Foam Party (with Rachel Hatt)
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Rachel Hatt from Mustang UMC introduces us to a superfun event idea, the Foam Party. Many preteens love a good water-themed event - here's something to take your next water event to the next level: FOAM!
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FFS440 DISCIPLESHIP IDEA: Switch to Video Mode
FourFiveSix.org: Great Ideas for your Preteen Ministry
Have you ever thought about how we tend to take a snapshot of a person and then forever think about that person in that way? Today on the podcast, Sean explores what it would mean to switch our thinking from snapshot mode to VIDEO mode, and the benefits of it. By looking at Jesus' examples in relating to Zacchaeus and Bartimaus, we see that just having a view of preteens as growing actually helps them to grow!
info_outlineToday on the podcast, Sean continues his talk with Paula Mazza about what to do about mental health in our preteen ministries.
Paula discusses some things that can be done now if you suspect some mental health issues in your preteen ministry. One of the easiest things we can do is to talk about it. Helping preteens to know ways to express how they are feeling can help them to get their feelings out. We are great at making kids feel physically safe in our ministries but often times we don’t think about making them feel emotionally, spiritually and socially safe.
There are so many simple things that will emotionally make a preteen feel more comfortable in your ministry. Here are just a few ways Paula suggests.
- Making sure that they know that they are seen.
- Connecting with them so that they don’t slip through is also a great way.
- Normalizing emotions is so helpful to make preteens feel comfortable with the feelings they are having.
- One of the biggest things you can do in your ministry is working with you church and community to put together a referral plan. Navigating mental health can be overwhelming for families and anything that we can do to help them will allow the church to be a light in our communities.
- Familiarize yourself with the difference between clinical mental health and just mental health in general by knowing some of the warning signs.
Have a question about preteen ministry or a unique preteen ministry idea that we can feature on our podcast? Send it to [email protected]. Looking for a great community of preteen leaders that you can plug into? Join us at http://fourfivesix.org/.