Recently I’ve been talking about helping preteens move beyond simply hearing about spiritual disciplines and actually beginning to practice them.
A while back, Molly shared this with me after launching StepUp in her church:
“Here we are two months later with 26 kids showing up every single week, bibles in hand and hungry for the Word! Seriously, I am blown away. God is on the move in such a big way, and He's starting with our kids.”
That phrase has stuck with me ever since:
“Bibles in hand and hungry for the Word.”
That’s really the heart behind StepUp.
StepUp is a 12-month preteen discipleship curriculum focused entirely on helping preteens explore and practice spiritual disciplines in ways that are intentional, interactive, and age-appropriate. Some churches use it as their primary curriculum for a full year. Others use it as a midweek discipleship elective or leadership development environment.
What I love most about it is not simply that preteens learn about prayer, worship, serving, Bible reading, fasting, generosity, and the other disciplines.
It’s watching spiritual hunger begin to grow.
Over time, preteens begin showing up with their Bibles open and questions already forming. They start recognizing God’s voice in Scripture. They begin taking ownership instead of simply participating because an adult told them to.
That’s really the goal.
Not impressing preteens with spirituality. Helping them develop a genuine appetite for God.
You can learn more about StepUp here:
https://www.acceleratepreteens.com/stepup/
https://www.
And if you’d like to see what a lesson actually looks like before making a decision:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/7fflkj9f5l7bhpl572a3y/U1_Set_Apart_L1_GUIDE.pdf?rlkey=slblxuo5061gowiwf4jpegonw&e=1&dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/
Sean
P.S. Here’s a little more from Molly after launching StepUp:
“We initially hosted a parent/student meeting to cast vision for the program and convey expectations, then asked any interested families to sign an agreement indicating their commitment to the expectations. I knew that we were asking quite a bit from families and kids alike as we were calling for consistent attendance at both services, so I was praying and hoping for a solid 10 kids.
Here we are two months later with 26 kids showing up every single week, bibles in hand and hungry for the Word! Seriously, I am blown away. God is on the move in such a big way, and He's starting with our kids. We actually outgrew our planned space almost immediately, so our church leadership gave approval to start literally tearing down walls to make space.”