I have been debating splitting up the groups, but in our small-town and small-church I would be responsible for running both groups, which would take up another evening, and if I split them into two groups I still believe I would want a third service/group to still have them all together, which would make for three evenings a week.

I am debating whether the added busyness (as well as being committed three nights a week) would be too much for me, since I am in a very small town (2500 people) and would be running each program with a couple of volunteers.

I’d love to hear others opinions on this, especially if you are in as small of a small community like me.

Our ethos for events is that the big serves the small. We do run big events and have large Sunday gatherings but these are there to serve the smaller groups. We call these groups communities. Each community, whether it’s for 11-14’s or pensioners comprises of three key elements.

The first element is ‘UP’ they have to worship God within the community.
The second element is ‘IN’- community is a key place for discipleship and bible study to take place.
The third is ‘OUT’ all the communities need to have ways to connect with non Christians.

If it includes those three elements a community can look like, whatever it needs to look like. You can have a fashion design community, a cooking community. Whatever! These communities are the key building blocks for growing the church. The smallness allows genuine friendships to develop, so when a young person invites a school friend it is a natural place for them to come to. As communities grow, they ‘BUD’ (not split – that sounds negative) into other communities which also grow naturally.

In the past it felt like we were telling young people that they must fit into the youth group box – that didn’t always work though (square peg, round hole situations!). Communities grow around the members and their interests – we throw away the whole and the peg!

In our youth ministry, we have two separate classes 6,7 & 8 and 9-12th grades. We do this because we found that there was a vast difference in the maturity levels of middle school kids. Our older kids felt annoyed and didn’t seem to want to disciple the younger ones. If the younger kids asked what seemed to be silly questions, the older ones laughed instead of trying to teach or help them.

we currently have a monthly teen fellowship for kids in grades 6-12 but we are able to divide the groups when playing games.

In our youth ministry, we have two separate classes 6,7 & 8 and 9-12th grades. We do this because we found that there was a vast difference in the maturity levels of middle school kids. Our older kids felt annoyed and didn’t seem to want to disciple the younger ones. If the younger kids asked what seemed to be silly questions, the older ones laughed instead of trying to teach or help them.

we currently have a monthly teen fellowship for kids in grades 6-12 but we are able to divide the groups when playing games.

YES and no! Sunday school is divided middles school/high school. Most Sunday nights we break up into small groups after a common meal and a 10 minute large group introduction, Work Zone for middle school and High Way for high school. During certain times a year “Seek n Solve” is a mixed late night weekday evening 7-10pm (No school the following day) where a theme is presented and free formed small groups are encouraged with student leaders volunteering. Most of the time it’s upper classmen, sometimes it’s middle schoolers. This has been a great way to discover new leaders. Sponsors roam from group to group to ensure everyone stays on task – a pretty easy job. The youth love it. We also use this form of ministry for Lock-ins.

Why or why not?
Fellowship is a tricky thing. We encourage our youth to “friend down” that is they need to find several youth that are younger than themselves to mentor. This usually happens along talent lines. Drummers find younger drummers, drama inclined find those inclined to drama, singers find others younger singers, youth leaders find younger up and coming youth leaders, tech kids find younger tech kids and so on. By crossing age lines cliques are less likely to form and we act more like brothers and sisters instead of only classmates.

What are other pros and cons of dividing up these age groups?
The division of the ages makes learning more focused. High schoolers don’t like to move around a lot once they are seated. Middle schoolers prefer to constantly be moving. In other words, Middle school learns by doing and high school learns by discussing.

What would happen if you made the switch?
What switch? A balanced approach works for us!

Why have you chosen this strategy?
Middle schoolers are CRAZY and lovable. It’s easier to tolerate them in smaller numbers and lengths of time.

What is the weakness of this model?
In my twelve years here as Youth Director I have had only two instances where a conversation was being carried on by high schoolers that was overheard by a middle schooler and was not appropriate for mixed ages. It could happen more often but, I think the relationships that evolve from this balanced method of ministry help make all of the youth more aware of the things they say.

Sunday school used to be invincible; now it has largely been replaced by small groups. What’s next?
Our Sunday School was getting dry with purchased curriculum and one grade, one lesson type ministry. We’ve since graduated to combined 6,7 and 8th grades and another class for high school making only two lessons necessary. Our Wednesday night activity is called Chat Room and has a main purpose of getting the youth to talk to each other building stronger bonds. High school and middle school meet separately. We ask everyone to share “Rags and Brags” about their past week and from their worries and celebrations we gain an angle from which to launch the Sunday morning Sunday school and evening youth gatherings. The sermon each Sunday is a base for the lessons and what concerns the youth from Wednesday guides the rest of the plan. A final lesson for Sunday school is e-mail to four teachers Friday and ten Sunday night sponsors meet 45 minutes before the youth to go over the teaching points for the evening lesson.

Here’s a link to our web site where we have a button for “Sunday School lessons” and one for “Lesson” that further divides into UMYF, Seek n Solve and Lock-ins. http://admin.westheightsumc.org/youth.htm

Sunday morning, we have combined jh/hs Sunday school and then all the youth go to the worship service.

Seems to be working well for discipleship!