Middle schoolers are the hardest and most important room in the church to disciple — old enough for real questions, young enough that most curriculum either talks down to them or sails over their heads. If you’re looking for something free, faithful, and actually teachable, here’s what we made and how to get the first lesson free.
I’m Mindi. My husband Robert and I run DiviNav out of Donnelly, Idaho, and our son Clayton went through this exact curriculum as a middle schooler. It’s called True North, a 12-lesson discipleship program for ages 10–14: Jesus is True North, the Bible is the Map, the Holy Spirit is the Trail Companion.
Get Lesson 1 free (leader guide + student pages)
You can download the complete first lesson (the leader guide and the matching student workbook pages) as a ready-to-teach PDF, free:
→ Get True North, Lesson 1 free
It’s the same lesson we sell, not a stripped-down preview. Print it, read the leader guide once, and you can teach it this week.
What makes it teachable for volunteers
- A simple, repeatable rhythm. Every lesson follows the same flow, so leaders and students both know what’s coming. Less prep, more presence.
- Student pages that do the work. Kids write, not just listen. The workbook carries the lesson so you don’t have to perform.
- Almost no prep. The leader guide tells you what to say and do, block by block.
- Theology- and safety-reviewed. Every lesson is checked for doctrinal accuracy and how it handles sensitive topics before it reaches you, built to teach across denominations (what we believe).
Free now, simple later
Lesson 1 is genuinely free to keep. If your group loves it, the full 12-lesson program is licensed once. No per-student fees, print as many student copies as you need, forever. A single church starts at $79; most small churches start with True North and grow into the rest of the line.
Need a lesson on a specific topic instead? DiviNav AI will build a complete, theology-reviewed middle-school lesson on any topic you choose, free for your first three. However you start — grab the free Lesson 1 and put something solid in front of your students this week.
Looking for the free options in one place? See our roundup of free youth ministry curriculum — Grounded (a complete 12-lesson plan) plus the free opening lessons of our middle and high school programs.