If the same Holy Spirit that lives in us can live in middle schoolers, and they serve with God’s love and power flowing through them, what could possibly get in the way of God’s light shining brightly through them in that moment?!?

Nothing!

…except…maybe…ME. (Or maybe you. But we’ll stick with ME for a second.)

It’s ME getting in the way when I…

1. Replace words of encouragement with work orders.
   

2. Forget that when students do a less-than-perfect job, life goes on.
   

3. Watch students play through a project without teaching them a new confidence-boosting skill.
   

4. Miss the teachable moments that surface as we serve together. 
   

Do you ever catch yourself getting in the way? I’m not a parent yet, but I’m still wise to heed Ephesians 6:4’s reminder to “not exasperate your children” but to “bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Surely that applies to all of us who work with young people.

Before us lies an incredible opportunity to show middle schoolers the joy of serving Jesus—of making life about someone greater than our selves!

And so they need us. They need us to go on a journey with them as God’s made them right now. As middle schoolers. And so we need compassion. I wonder if Paul was spending time with any 12-year-olds when he wrote Colossians 3:12: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

This sounds like a great pre-service project prayer for us as youth leaders! Do you see how profoundly you are loving middle schoolers when you show them God’s compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience living in you?

As you serve hands-on with middle schoolers…

1. Are you encouraging students as you give work orders (for the 7th time)?
   

2. Are you finding the courage to let students do the work in a less-than-perfect way?
   

3. Are you patiently teaching students new skills?
   

4. Are you watching for teachable moments?
   

5. Are you including other parents, adults and older students who are willing to do the same?
   

As one youth leader described, the kind of adults we want to recruit (and need to be ourselves) to serve with middle schoolers are those who can see past the immediate and realize more is being accomplished in the life of a student than the project at hand. They are God’s masterpiece, works in progress—just like us.

~ Laura Wampach