What is TEAM?
TEAM is St. Perpetua’s middle school (6^th-8^th grade) youth ministry program that meets twice a month on Sundays from 6:00-7:15 pm. We use the acronym TEAM to remind us of what our middle school youth need most in their faith development:

TEACHING: As our youth are going through this incredible period of growth, they begin asking some important questions, such as:

• What is my purpose in life?
• How do I know that God is real?
• Who are my real friends and am I a good friend to them?
• Who can I believe and trust?
• Why should I be part of a Church community?

As their critical thinking skills continue to grow and develop, we want TEAM to be a place where they can find answers to their biggest questions. We want to offer them a space to learn and to be challenged by the Gospel and the wisdom of our Church.

ENCOURAGING: As we all know, middle school can be a time of intense peer pressure as our youth seek out ways of belonging. Unfortunately peer pressure can lead to conformity—our youth just following the crowd or that popular clique. We want TEAM to be a place where students are encouraged to take a risk, to stand up for what they believe in and to be unafraid to courageously live out what they know to be right and true.

AFFIRMING: In their search for clarifying their own values and identity, our middle school youth do some pretty amazing things! Oftentimes these great things (e.g. serving at a homeless shelter, taking care of an elderly grandparent, standing up to a bully, etc.) go unnoticed. We want TEAM to be a place where the good work that our youth do is celebrated and affirmed. Our hope is that TEAM is a safe space where our students have their good affirmed so they will continue to make a difference in this world.

MIDDLE SCHOOLERS: Although middle school is a relatively short three-year time in the lives of these young people, it is a time of GREAT change. It is during this time that our youth are changing socially, physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Unfortunately, according to the most robust study of young people in the Catholic Church, it is at the age of 13 that most young people make their decision whether or not to stay in the Church. And many do not stay. (Read Going, Going, Gone: The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics by St. Mary’s Press for more information.) We want TEAM to be a place where our middle school students recognize how vital and important they are to the Catholic Church. They are a huge part of the TEAM!

How does TEAM work?
Throughout the school year TEAM will be meeting a dozen times on Sunday evenings 6:00-7:15 pm. At each gathering middle schoolers can expect good music and singing lead by a worship band consisting of high school and college students. They can expect fun activities and icebreakers. They can expect to hear a challenging message based on our year’s theme. They will have time to meet in smaller groups (led by high school and college students) where they can talk in a safe space about things important in their lives. And they will be sent home hopefully more informed, encouraged, and connected to the rest of the TEAM.

What is this year’s theme?
This year’s theme is very simple–YOU BELONG! Music artists, ranging from Linkin Park (“Somewhere I Belong”) to Taylor Swift (“You Belong With Me”) have addressed the question of belonging. Sociologists have identified that one of the greatest needs that young people have today is to feel a sense of belonging. And at TEAM this year we are going to make sure that everyone knows that they belong! We will begin by looking at Jesus and who he invited to belong. (You may be surprised at some of the people he called to join him in his mission!) We will then take a good look at the sense of belonging when it comes to the Catholic Church. Who are the people who belong to the Church? We are reminded in John 14:2 that in our Father’s house “there are many dwelling places.” We are part of a Church that has many dwelling places as we have over one billion followers. Who are all those people who belong to our Church? We will then explore the things we can do to stay belonging to this Church (e.g. the Sacraments) and to our God. We will end the year exploring the ways we can help others feel like they belong , and challenge ourselves to invite others to belong (evangelization). Our hope is that by the end of this year our young people will know without a doubt that they absolutely BELONG!

How do I join TEAM?
We want all students in 6^th-8^th grades to feel welcome at TEAM meetings. We hope TEAM can become a supportive community for all middle schoolers. Students are encouraged to invite their friends to be a part of TEAM. Please click the “Fall Registration” link on this page to be part of the TEAM.

Welcome to TEAM!
Elizabeth and Andrew Berkes