Bible Lessons for Middle Schoolers: Complete Guide

Bible Lessons for Middle Schoolers: Complete Guide

Bible Lessons for Middle Schoolers

Middle school lasts from grades 6-8 (ages 11-13,) and is one of the most formative seasons of a child’s life. As children transition into their teenage years, it’s especially important that they know what the Bible has to say about them.

What are the best Bible lessons for middle schoolers? The best Bible lessons for middle schoolers to learn are all of them! Having a thorough knowledge of the stories and lessons throughout the Bible empowers middle schoolers to apply what they’re learning to the everyday situations they face at home and school.

Whether you’re preparing to teach your own middle-school-age children at home, or you’re preparing to teach the Bible to an entire class of middle schoolers, one thing is vitally important. You should go into the process with a plan! We created our Bible Blast middle school curriculum with not only the children in mind but also the parents and teachers who would be teaching them.

Our curriculum is easy to follow and provides you with the structure you need in order to thoroughly cover important stories throughout the Bible. You can go here to learn more about our Middle School Bible Lessons. 


Teaching Bible Lessons to Middle Schoolers

Bible Lessons for Middle Schoolers

As you prepare to teach Bible lessons to your middle school students, here are a few important things to keep in mind that will help you be successful:


Peer Pressure Is Heightened In Middle Schoolers 

When it comes to teaching the Bible to middle school students, it can be easy to forget the unique challenges they might be facing. One of these challenges is heightened peer pressure. Middle schoolers often base their actions upon the perception of their peers, which can sometimes result in disruptive or unexpected behaviors.

As a middle school Bible teacher, one important thing you can do is encourage an atmosphere of positive, rather than negative peer pressure. If there are a few children in the class that the other children seem to look up to, encourage those students to set the example for others. In doing so, you can make staying engaged in lessons become the “cool” thing to do.

With the heightened awareness of peers also comes a love for social interaction. Middle schoolers love activities that allow them to engage with their fellow classmates. By understanding this, you can be intentional about providing them with time to talk with one another.

Strategically rewarding your Bible students with time to converse can be a great way to help them stay focused on the material they’re learning. Better yet, you can encourage peer-to-peer conversations about the lesson that you’re covering for the day.

It can feel awkward for students to talk about serious spiritual matters with each other, so encouraging the conversations yourself can have a big impact both in and outside of the classroom.


Middle Schoolers Have A Lot of  Energy 

If you’re used to teaching other age ranges, something that might surprise you with teaching middle school-aged students (ages 11-13,) is how much energy they have! Middle schoolers are brimming with excitement about life and can be highly enthusiastic about the things they’re interested in or passionate about. While this can certainly present challenges to teachers, it is also one of middle school student’s greatest strengths.

As a middle school Bible lesson instructor, it’s important that you do everything you can to present the Bible to your students in a fun and exciting way. If your Bible lessons only consist of monotone lectures, then your students can develop a negative association with studying the Bible. But if you can encourage your students to channel their energy into learning about and engaging with God’s Word, then you’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes.

Here are a few of the ways you can cater your Bible lessons to the high-energy levels of middle schoolers:


Play Active Games

Playing games is one of the easiest ways to regain the attention of class that seems to be getting bored. The change of pace can help students become more alert so that when it’s time to listen again they’ll be more attentive. When it comes to middle schoolers, the best Bible games to play are those that engage both the mind and the body, so think along the lines of variations of games like Simon Says.


Allow Your Students to Focus on Their Passions

Middle schoolers are passionate about the things they care about. So if you want them to engage in a Biblical homework assignment, find ways of making it personal and meaningful for them. By allowing them to incorporate their passions into the project, they’re far more likely to remember what they learned from the assignment years down the road.


Ask Questions & Ask for Readers

Lastly, one of the most simple ways to help your high-energy middle school classroom is to ask questions to students throughout your lessons and ask students to read passages of scripture aloud for the classroom when teaching on a new verse for the first time. It might not seem like much, but taking simple steps like these will go a long way in changing the atmosphere of your classroom for the better.


Incorporate Visuals to Engage Middle School Student 

Did you know that studies have shown that seeing things in addition to hearing them can greatly improve the quality of which we’re able to remember things? As the old saying goes, “A picture’s worth a thousand words.”

When teaching middle schoolers, remember that you should never assume that they’ll simply give you their full attention. Attention spans today are shorter than they’ve ever been! If you want to keep their attention so you can fill their hearts and minds with life-changing Biblical truth, then we highly recommend utilizing an approach that incorporates visuals into the teaching materials.

If you grew up reading a picture Bible, we bet you can still recall many of the illustrations that you saw. If you can still remember the visuals you saw as you learned the stories from the Bible for the first time, then you can be certain that utilizing the same approach with middle-school students today will still be effective.


Empower Natural Strengths In Your Middle Schoolers 

Have you ever noticed that many of the faults we often find in children can often be viewed as great strengths later on in life? The highly talkative students in your class might go on to become incredible public speakers. The strongly opinionated students could go on to become successful leaders and business owners.

The students who can’t sit still might become world-renowned athletes. When teaching middle school students the Bible, one of the best things you can do is give them opportunities to use their God-given strengths in the proper contexts. At an age when peer pressure is such a big factor, a little encouragement can go a long way.


Middle Schoolers Respond Well to Variation

As mentioned previously, it’s no secret that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for both children and adults to stay focused for longer periods of time. This is largely due to the fact that we live in a society that perpetually aims to serve our instant gratification desires.

That said, it’s more important than ever that we do our best as teachers to help our children stay focused in the classroom. And one of the best ways to do this is by variation. As you shop for a Bible lesson plan to teach middle school students from, look for ones that not only teach by means of sound but the ones the incorporate a wide variety of activities to help your classroom stay thoroughly interested.


Encourage Empathy When Teaching Middle School Students

At an age when doing what’s cool might be perceived as more important than doing what is right, one important thing you can do as a middle school Bible lesson instructor is encouraging empathy and kindness from your students in the classroom. Whether it’s by sharing words of encouragement yourself before and after lessons, or encouraging your students when you notice that they go out of their way to do something kind for one of their classmates, teaching your students to be empathetic to the emotions and needs of others is one of the best things they can walk away from your class with.


Guidelines Are Important When Teaching the Bible to Middle School Students

Last but not least, if you want to have a successful time teaching the Bible to middle schoolers, it’s vital that you establish clear guidelines and structure right from the very beginning of your classes. If students learn there are no consequences for their actions in your classroom, then things can quickly spiral out of control.

By establishing firm guidelines from the beginning, your students will respect you more, and you’ll have a far better experience as a middle school Bible teacher. Thank you so much for reading these tips, and we hope you have an incredible time introducing middle schoolers to the life-changing truth of God’s Word! If you still haven’t found the right Bible lesson curriculum for your class, we would love to share ours with you! You can try a free sample of Bible Blast here to see if it’s a good fit for you.
No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.