When young adolescents hit grades 6, 7 and 8 lots of interesting things begin to happen; bodies are growing rapidly, reasoning skills increase, boys are starting to take an interest in girls and vice versa and both are starting to think about what it’s like to be a teen or an adult.  They are not really children anymore, but they are not adults either.  They are in a place we’ll call………The EDGE

Our EDGE movement is a Catholic youth ministry/religious education program aimed at these young adolescents.  It is designed to meet their educational, spiritual, emotional and social needs.  In the past, educating our middle school youth in their Catholic faith has been the only component for this grade level, but it had been inadequate.  The classroom approach does not meet the communal, spiritual, psychological or social needs that a middle school youth ministry program can incorporate into the process.  The EDGE solves the problem by creating an environment where the youth are part of a community rather than an isolated classroom. Middle School youth have unique challenges that the Catholic Church must meet, or we run the risk of spiritually losing them.  This stage is critical because youngsters in middle school are making decisions that will spiritually impact them for a lifetime.  A solid middle school youth ministry allows for an easier transition to high school ministry and LIFE TEEN.