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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.
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