Are the preteens in your church lumped in with the younger elementary students or thrown in with the senior high students? Ministering to a preteen can be difficult as they are one of the most unique age groups in the church. If you put a preteen in with the elementary students they will often disengage out of boredom but if they attend church with licensed teenagers they may hide in fear. CIY realized that this age group needed to be ministered to in a specific way so they created SuperStart. CIY SuperStart is a high-energy weekend event where preteens are challenged to grow in their relationship with God and friends. Here are 4 reasons why I love SuperStart for preteens!
Excitement
Even before preteens arrive on campus, they are beyond excited because CIY does a great job of promoting the event. They include appealing graphics and videos that can easily be share in your preteen environment and on social media. Upon arrival, SuperStart kicks things off with a program called Amp Up where the students are moving and competing in fun games. The excitement continues throughout the program as the speakers teach creatively, the worship is engaging, and the students are drawn in through high production skits.
Affirmation
Throughout the conference, Patrick Snow and Drew Crisp affirm the students as they bring them into the teaching. I love the way they interview the kids and continue to build them up, even if they give a completely off the wall answer. The SuperStart crew understands the struggles preteens are going through and challenges them to take their next steps in faith. SuperStart also appeals to all students because the teaching team does such a great job of affirming the sports kid as well as the gamer.
Involving
While the students are organized in rows of chairs far from the stage, the team continually involves them in the production and teaching making everyone feel as if they are part of the discussion. Each eye is glued to the stage and throughout the weekend you will never hear the word bored. During the worship time, the leader invited the preteens to join in the singing and everyone was involved in singing praise to their Father.
Challenging
One of the goals for CIY SuperStart is to invite students to become Kingdom Workers. They set big goals for students and then break those goals into manageable steps to make their dreams attainable. The challenge is both personal and for the group and throughout the session, CIY shows how the challenge can be completed. Students walk away from CIY knowing their next step and feel the challenge of God’s call on their lives.
Take a few minutes today to look at the CIY SuperStart webpage. More locations will be opening up next year, so bookmark the page and begin making plans for your preteens to be there!