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 “Out of the darkness and into the light.” For the past 15+ months our whole world has been experiencing a type of darkness. With the COVID pandemic and all the restrictions and isolation that we have experienced, it has definitely felt like being “in the dark.” Our churches were empty, many schools stayed empty for most of the year, movie theaters, restaurants and many places in our community were literally “in the dark,” with their lights off and no one present. Now that things are turning around we want to focus on entering back into the light. This year we will focus on Christian discipleship--how we not only have the light of Christ within us but also how we are called to spread that light to all those around us. This includes the way we pray, the way we act, the way we participate in the Sacraments and the way we act. We are going to enter back into this year shining the light of Christ to all those we meet! And we will be reminded by this passage from St. Paul to the Ephesians:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.
(Ephesians 5:8-9)

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