Edge is a Catholic middle school youth ministry program. It provides a safe fun place for youth to find solid Catholic community, to get answers to their questions about faith, and, most importantly, to experience Jesus in a profound and personal way. Edge resources speak to the physical, psychological, cognitive, relational, and spiritual maturation of middle school youth. Edge resources make it easier for youth ministers to plan out their semesters of Edge Night, retreats, and to train a team of adults, the Core Team, to assist them in the ministry. The resources present Catholic teaching in a way that young people can understand.
Middle school is a time that difficult for most to navigate. There is so much growth that happens bewteen 6th and 8th grade. Our goal is to provide a stable place that the youth can be supported through that growth. A place that each teen can experience an encounter with Chirst and be pushed to keep Him first in this growth. We do this through our large group meetings on Wednesdays and Sundays, a yearly retreat and social activities. Each meeting provides something a litte different for the youth. Here is a discription below.
EDGE Sessions: Our Sunday sessions follow an outline of Gather, Proclaim, Break, and Send. The topic covered by the session is based on our semester theme. The gather is a time to hang out. We have donuts for the youth. After the donuts we will pray and play a game. The proclaim is a time that the youth minister or core member will give a talk on the topic of the sessionl. Break is when we split up into small groups so we can break down the topic through converstation. Finally the Send is a time of prayer and reflection.
D-Night: The D stands for discipleship. During this night the youth dive into a book or a bible study. This night is more laid back and provides an opprotunity for the youth to dive deeper in God's word. The first hour focuses on the study or book and the second hour is a social hour. We also mix in nights where we just have purely have a hang out night. Each D-Night we provide dinner.
Yearly Retreat: We know how important it is for youth to get away and have a few days to just focus on themselves and God. This what we do at our yearly retreat. We pray and pick a topic that we feel that the youth would enjoy and create a retreat off that. During the few days we have speakers and a band come into provide speaking and music for us. We also mix in times of free time where we will leave and go do something such as a swimming, bowling, laser tag, etc. All of these things together with the Sacraments provides a weekend that gives them an opprotunity to grow closer to Christ and have some fun doing it.
Each event is run by Dale Sullivan (Youth Minister) and adult volunteers called Core. The Core are adult volunteers that give their time each week to serve our youth in anyway they can. These folks are dedicated to living out their faith and helping our youth do so. We believe that by helping the youth grow closer to Christ we will as well.
Our focus is quality not quantity. If one teen comes closer to Christ through our ministry then have succeeded. We hope to see your youth or you (if you are a youth) soon at one of our events. If you have any questions please give Dale Sullivan at 903-465-6934.
Thank you and God Bless
Dale Sullivan and Fr. Stephen Mocio