Helping Junior High Students Take Their First Leadership Steps

You’ve probably seen it happen. A junior high student who usually hangs back suddenly offers to pray out loud, run the slides, or lead a game. It might seem like a small moment, but it’s a big deal. These early steps toward leadership can have a lasting impact. They help students start to see themselves differently, more confident, more capable, and more invested. Moments like this shape how they view their role in your group, ministry, and faith journey.

The truth is, junior high students are more capable than many give them credit for. They’re just waiting for a reason to try. Leadership development isn’t something you save for the high school group. In fact, middle school is the perfect time to start those conversations and plant the seeds. When your junior high curriculum makes room for student leadership, you’re not just keeping them busy but equipping them with tools that will stick with them long after Sunday night.

Identifying Potential Leaders

Not every student will rush up and ask to lead a devotional. They might not say much during group time. But quiet doesn’t mean disinterested, and silly doesn’t mean unready. Part of your job is noticing those rough-around-the-edges traits that could grow into something great. You know the ones:

• The student who always helps stack chairs before anyone else notices
• The one who encourages others without being asked
• The kid who remembers prayer requests from last week and checks in
• That middle schooler who asks thoughtful questions, even if they crack a joke right after

It helps to keep an eye out during different parts of your programming. Leadership traits won’t always show up during the message. Sometimes, you’ll notice them in how a student treats others during snack time or how they respond when a teammate forgets the rules in a game.

Once you’ve spotted that spark, try calling it out. Give it language. Saying something as simple as, “I noticed how you encouraged your friend tonight. That’s a sign of a good leader,” can go a long way. This doesn’t make students cocky. It helps them realize they actually have something to offer beyond just showing up.

Encouragement is the first step, but real growth happens when you invite them to do a little more. Start by giving them small, low-pressure tasks and just watch what happens. Some might mess up or laugh their way through it, and that’s totally fine. What matters is that they feel seen, trusted, and gently challenged. And if they don’t step up right away, that’s okay too. Every leadership journey begins with someone who believes they can do it.

Creating Opportunities For Leadership

Once you’ve identified a few students ready for more, the next step is giving them somewhere to lead. That might sound obvious, but it’s easy to forget. If all they ever do is sit through a message and play dodgeball, they don’t get the chance to build those skills. They need real chances to lead, even if it looks messy the first dozen times.

Here are a few small but meaningful spots you can open up in your junior high youth group curriculum:

• Let them welcome new students or run check-in for the night
• Give them the mic to lead a short game or intro before the message
• Ask them to be part of a team planning the next outreach event
• Pair a student with an adult leader to co-lead a breakout group discussion
• Have them pick and prep a worship song set (with help) or read Scripture during a service

You don’t have to create brand-new events or rework the entire structure of your group. Take what you already do and look for ways a student could contribute. Students engage differently when they feel responsible for something, even a small task. They feel like partners, not just participants.

What’s tricky is walking the line between giving freedom and offering support. You don’t want to micromanage, but you also can’t throw them in and hope for the best. That’s where scaffolding comes in. Be present and available, check in without hovering, and be ready to coach them through the parts they’re still learning. Give them room to grow, but stay close enough to catch them if they stumble.

Training And Mentorship

If you want junior high students to step up, then you’ve also got to give them something to stand on. Training matters, especially at this age, when they’re figuring out who they are and how they fit into group dynamics.

Start with simple frameworks. Instead of telling them to “just lead the game,” walk them through the steps. Talk about how to give clear instructions, help others feel included, and keep the energy up without losing control. Offer examples they’ve already seen. Keep language light and direct. You aren’t building professional speakers here. You’re raising confident students who are learning to serve.

One strategy that works well is mentorship by proximity. Don’t overthink it. When you’re prepping something, let a student tag along. Instead of hosting a full-blown training session, invite them to shadow you. When it makes sense, hand pieces of your job over. Let them feel what it’s like to bear some of the weight.

As students grow, you can start layering responsibilities. But even as you do that, keep the mentorship relationship steady. Encourage your adult leaders to do the same. Students with a consistent voice cheering them on and guiding them behind the scenes tend to take bolder steps out front.

You can even take parts of your curriculum like teaching topics or Scripture references and ask students to help you prepare. If you’re covering servanthood, invite a student to share a time they helped someone out and what it taught them. Real experiences owned by students will always land deeper than polished talks alone.

Celebrating Successes And Learning From Failures

If you want students to stay motivated, especially when leadership feels nerve-wracking, you’ve got to help them notice the wins. They won’t always recognize on their own what went well. That means your words hold weight.

Keep your feedback specific. Instead of “Good job tonight,” say, “You explained that game in a way everyone understood. That’s not easy, and you nailed it.” Helping them connect the dots between their effort and the outcome builds confidence and gives them clarity about what leadership looks like in action.

Make space for group celebration, too. Carve out a few minutes during youth group to highlight students who stepped up that week. Lead the way by publicly affirming them, then invite peers to chime in.

And when they mess something up, which they definitely will, keep the tone light and constructive. Leadership is more about learning to recover than anything else. If your students know it’s safe to try and safe to fail, they’ll be more willing to stretch.

Give them the gift of processing those moments with you. Ask, “What do you think went well?” and “What do you think you’d do differently next time?” Guide them toward noticing their own growth. That reflection matters more than a perfect outcome.

Keep Saying Yes To Growth

Junior high students may be early in their leadership journey, making it such a fertile ground. When you allow them to experiment with serving others, making decisions, and working with a team, you’re helping build muscles they’ll carry through high school, college, and the rest of their lives.

Will it look polished? Probably not. Will it be loud, awkward, and filled with last-minute reminders? But every time you make space for them to try, you’re laying the foundation for a future leader who feels valued in the church today, not just someday.

So keep saying yes. Keep spotting the quiet helpers and the jokesters with depth. Keep trusting middle schoolers with opportunities to lead. Your group, your students, are better for it.

Curious about more ways to nurture budding leaders in your group? Explore how our junior high youth group curriculum can give you tools and ideas to help your students grow. G Shades is here to support you in guiding the next generation with creative options designed for ministries of every size.