Faith Milestones are key “firsts” in our spiritual growth, reminding us that faith formation isn’t limited to Sunday mornings. For the past ten years, I’ve made Faith Milestones a central part of our discipleship journey for children with their families.

These milestones, like delightful stepping stones on a path, are customized for each stage of development, from preschool through youth. They mark special moments and developmental markers where the local church and families come together, creating a shared journey of love and devotion to our triune God. Together, we help nurture a love for the Lord that flows into every area of life—within the church, at work, at school, and at home.

Last Sunday, we offered Hard Questions Faith Milestone for 7th and 8th graders, along with an adult who loves them. In 90 minutes, we tried to tackle 28 of the 56 questions from Janine McNally’s Understanding Hard Questions: I Need Answers. We had to skip about a dozen questions to ensure we finished on time and wrapped up as planned.

I prepared a Google slide deck with one question per slide and the corresponding page number from the book. Each student and adult received a book and a pen or pencil for note-taking.

We started by sharing our goals:

• It’s okay to ask questions.
• The answers should make sense, be reasonable, and offer the best explanation that aligns with reality.
• We want to want to give God our minds, as in Luke 10:27.

To break up the 90-minute session, we took a five-minute break halfway through and included in the slide deck two videos from Pursue God Kids that answered the questions “Who is God?” and “What is Salvation?” After the last video, we turned to Romans 10:9 to continue the conversation.

We saved the dinosaur questions for last, which was a fun way to end since our first class was all boys.

Middle schoolers have big questions about faith and life. We want their parents, in partnership with their local church, to be their first source for answers and from a Biblical worldview.

What Faith Milestones would you provide for your middle schoolers?

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9