How We Initiated 6th Graders and Welcomed Them into Student Ministries

In just a few weeks the 6th graders of Shelter Rock Church will be officially moving up from Children's Ministry to Student Ministries. We believe it's important for us to help kids make this transition, so this past weekend the Tweens (5th and 6th graders) went on a camping trip. I took some of our current Jr. Highers (7th and 8th graders) and we went on a Secret Mission. While the Tweens were out on a hike, we hid in their campsite, and when they returned we jumped out with water guns and captured them for a couple of hours. We took them to Wendy's then to play mini golf. Everyone had a really fun time! Before returning them to camp we gave them each a bucket with candy, gifts, and our summer calendar and told them how excited we are to have them moving up this summer.