Getting Started with Youth Ministries
Below, please find resources to help set the foundation for youth ministries at your parish.
Also, be sure to click on the "For Coordinators of Youth Ministry" tab above and be sure to check out
the "Key Forms" and "Youngstown Diocesan Child Protection Policy" pages there.
You may also wish to search office blog posts by topic under the "Youth and Young Adult Ministry Idea Sharing" tab.
If you have been appointed or hired by your pastor to serve as the
Contact for Youth Ministry (CYM) for the parish or cluster,
please contact Cindee in the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
to set up an appointment wherein we can review policies,
important paperwork and resources available to you.
(There are also Orientation sessions throughout the year.)
Call (330) 744-8451, ext. 280
or email [email protected].
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also, be sure to click on the "For Coordinators of Youth Ministry" tab above and be sure to check out
the "Key Forms" and "Youngstown Diocesan Child Protection Policy" pages there.
You may also wish to search office blog posts by topic under the "Youth and Young Adult Ministry Idea Sharing" tab.
If you have been appointed or hired by your pastor to serve as the
Contact for Youth Ministry (CYM) for the parish or cluster,
please contact Cindee in the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry
to set up an appointment wherein we can review policies,
important paperwork and resources available to you.
(There are also Orientation sessions throughout the year.)
Call (330) 744-8451, ext. 280
or email [email protected].
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Models for Dynamic Youth Ministry
Parishes with dynamic youth ministry organize their ministry in a variety of ways, using models that support effective practices. From "Effective Practices of Dynamic Youth Ministry - Workshop Series" © Center for Ministry Development, 2004 In Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry (USCCB, 1997), the United States Bishops encourage parishes to develop youth ministry in a way that matches their community: “By offering this framework, we seek to provide direction to the church’s ministry and to affirm and encourage local creativity” (RTV, p. 20). There is not one model that puts the pieces of youth ministry together in the perfect way for every parish. Effective parish youth ministry is responsive to youth; by listening and knowing young people and their families, these parishes develop a model for youth ministry that works for their community. These communities provide youth and their families with a combination of continuity and innovation. Continuity comes from having regular patterns for participation and traditions and events that youth can count on each year. Innovation provides responses to new needs and situations and brings new energy to youth ministry, as leaders and youth try new things. In the Effective Practices research, one parish staff member described it this way: “So we joke about it, but it is like experiment number 793… We shift if things don’t go the way we thought they would go. You have to be flexible. Shifting position and the direction is very important because there is very little ultimately that doesn’t work out” (Effective Youth Ministry Practices Research Summary, p. 4). These are the elements of an effective youth ministry model, as described in Chapter 5 of Effective Practices for Dynamic Youth Ministry: ƒ Regular pattern of gathering ƒ Special events ƒ Intentional catechesis ƒ Ways to grow deeper ƒ Non-gathered ways to connect ƒ Connect youth to the parish ƒ Connect with families ƒ Involve youth in leadership, ministry, and service Here is a sampling of how different communities put the elements of effective youth ministry together: Model 1 - Weekly Youth Night Plus! This suburban parish with 1500 families provides a weekly youth night on Wednesday nights. These gatherings include a combination of catechesis, which is offered approximately every other week, and the other components of youth ministry. Community building and prayer are a consistent part of each gathering. An important part of the weekly gathering is the announcements which help youth to link up with parish events, family resources, special events, and other aspects of youth ministry. Youth are encouraged to participate in the gatherings by e-mail notes, a phone tree, and a monthly newsletter. Each year youth receive a birthday card on behalf of the parish and an emergency phone number card with a prayer on the back. Special events include a social or community builder, offered on a weekend night once a month. Every other month, there are service projects offered as a weekend day or as an ongoing involvement during the week. Sacramental preparation is provided for a variety of youth; youth who seek initiation or first communion and confirmation are part of the Christian Initiation process with the adults in community. Confirmation preparation is a six-month process that is offered to youth who are fifteen years of age and older. After confirmation, youth are encouraged to become lectors, ushers, music ministers, and Eucharistic ministers for the parish liturgies. Special events for this community include a fall retreat for all youth, a leadership retreat and a mission/service trip in the summer. Parents of youth receive regular newsletters and are invited to participate in a parent of teen support group that gathers each fall. Families of youth are gathered for an annual picnic and sports day each summer. Model 2 - Small Faith Communities, Plus! This is a large suburban parish with 2500 families, whose regular pattern of gathering is in small faith communities. Youth are divided into “cell” groups of ten to twelve members with two adults. These groups meet at the parish or in family homes on a weekly basis. Once a month, there is a special event that can be a service event, a community building social, or a retreat. Different small groups take responsibility for planning, publicizing, and leading these special events which are provided for the whole youth community. Catechesis is provided within the faith communities. In their junior or senior year, small groups are formed for confirmation preparation for those youth who choose to prepare for the sacrament. Similarly, there is a small group of youth who are in the process for Christian Initiation. Weekend retreats are offered each season of the year for different interests or grade levels of youth. Youth are encouraged to participate in the parish community. One way that this is accomplished is that each small group chooses an aspect of parish life to focus on in a particular season. For instance, one group takes on the role of greeters for one of the parish liturgies for a particular month. Another group assists with the parish food pantry for a season. Prayer is a special focus of the small groups. Each small group surfaces prayer needs that become part of a book of prayer intentions and or part of the prayers of the faithful for the parish as a whole. Each group also receives prayer requests from members or groups in the parish that are included in their prayer time weekly. Parents of youth in each small group are gathered each season for a meeting with the small group leaders. At this meeting, they pray for youth, talk about the upcoming season, provide parents with resources and at-home ideas and answer questions from the parents. Small group leaders make an effort to be present to youth events for the youth in their group by attending concerts and sporting events. Small group leaders are also encouraged to write notes, send e-mails, and send a birthday card and a patron saint day card to each youth. Small group leaders divide their youth and call each young person for a check-in once a month. Model 3 - Weekly Religious Education, Plus! In this small town, the parish focuses the youth ministry around a weekly religious education class. These classes run from September to May in between masses on Sunday and on Monday nights. For freshman and sophomores, these classes provide a systemic review of catechesis topics. Juniors are invited to participate in a year-long confirmation preparation process that includes weekly classes. Seniors are encouraged to participate in service and ministry internships that are focused around a ministry-mentor process. Three or four youth work with two adults in a particular ministry involvement during the year and gather monthly for prayer, spiritual direction and community building. The religious education classes are complemented by a variety of special events. Monthly there is a social on a Friday or Saturday night. Twice during the school year there is a special service event. Each year there are weekend retreats; one for the freshman and sophomores, one for the confirmation preparation, and one for the seniors, which focuses on life choices. Parents of youth are gathered twice during the school year for a meeting which includes prayer and a speaker. Parents also meet with the religious education class catechists once during the year for a check-in. Catechists make an effort to keep in touch with youth outside of the class time through e-mails, notes, and by attending youth events. Each month, there is a special youth involved liturgy, which is prepared for the parish community by a particular class from the high school religious education. These liturgies involve youth in preparation, and throughout the ministries, including environment. Model 4 - Monthly Events, Plus! In this rural community, the focus of the youth ministry program is a monthly event. Many families travel a great distance to get to the parish and this makes weekly gatherings at the parish impractical. This monthly event lasts from 1:00 to 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday. The event includes community building, catechesis, and other components of youth ministry. In the evening there is a special liturgy for youth as part of the program. This is followed by a meal and a closing session. Each month has a different theme and a different team of adults and youth who divide responsibilities for planning and implementing the program. In this community, confirmation is provided every other year for 7th and 8th grade students. This community joins with two other neighboring parishes to provide an annual retreat that is offered each year in the late spring. Each summer the youth and adults from the parish participate together in a mission trip to a community in need. This parish takes advantage of technology to reach youth; each youth receives a weekly e-mail update that includes a prayer and reflection for the week, community news, and information about the upcoming events for the parish. Parents receive an e-mail update monthly that also includes links to websites, books, and resources that will guide them as parents of youth. The youth ministry pages of the parish website are rich with pictures of youth, links to helpful sites, and threaded conversations on topics of faith. Model 5 - Youth Ministry as Parish Involvement, Plus! In this small urban community, youth are a vital part of parish life. Youth participate in leadership committees of the parish, they are part of each choir, and they participate side by side with adults in the frequent service projects and programs of the parish. This parish has monthly faith formation events that are truly intergenerational—children, youth, and adults of all ages participate together in programs that focus on preparing for events in the liturgical year and preparing for parish wide sacraments. Confirmation preparation for this community is a family-based program within which families guide the preparation of their youth and are gathered on a regular basis for prayer, support and community building. Youth are regularly gathered for an “open gym” night during which the parish facilities are opened to youth on a Friday night from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight. These nights are usually scheduled in conjunction with high school sporting events and other occasions when the church wants to give youth a safe place to come and be together with caring adults. Other socials and special youth events are provided quarterly. The parish staff takes a special interest in making contact with youth. The youth of the parish are divided among the parish staff members who meet with youth at least twice a year and make an effort to make contact with youth throughout the year. The parish staff considers itself to be “the youth ministry team” and provides special programs as needed that help youth with school or help them find employment and pastoral care assistance. In a similar way, the parents of youth are regularly contacted by the parish staff, who check in and connect parents with needed resources. One of the key features of this community is “an open door” to the parish offices. Youth and their parents feel comfortable coming to the parish for help. “We don’t need to do a needs assessment here,” remarked one staff member, “the needs walk in the door, and we listen and respond.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Choosing a Model One of the things you may have noticed about the parish descriptions is that each parish attended to the elements that were described for effective parishes. Each parish found a way to provide: • A pattern for gathering with youth on a regular basis • Special events and ways to gather with youth • Intentional methods for providing adolescent catechesis • Opportunities for youth who want to grow deeper in faith • Non-gathered ways to connect with youth • Ways to connect youth to the life of the parish • Ways to connect with families • Ways for youth to be involved in ministry, leadership, and service • Each parish also attended to the components of youth ministry, but with different emphasis depending upon the needs in the community, the resources of the parish, and the situation of the parish families in terms of ability to gather at the parish and have access to resources. To choose your model for parish youth ministry, take time to listen to parish leaders, parents of youth, and youth themselves. Think about your community. What model fits with the ways your parish gathers and your style of being community? What are the issues and concerns? A variety of factors about your community could impact and shape your model. For instance: • Distance – The distance of families from the parish impacts the ability of youth to gather weekly or several times during a week for a variety of programs. • Schools – If significant numbers of youth in your parish attend Catholic high school, this would affect youth participation in the catechetical aspects of youth ministry. • Urban, Suburban, or Rural - The demographics for your parish will impact the model for ministry. Many urban parishes include a stronger pastoral care focus because youth ministry has been seen as a way to protect youth from violence or challenges in urban life. Suburban parishes often have lots of resources but also struggle so that youth and their families don’t become lost within large, mobile congregations. Rural parishes know their youth by name and by family but are sometimes challenged by low numbers of youth and low energy in small gatherings. These parishes make a greater priority at participating in regional or national events so that youth don’t feel so isolated. • Ethnic and Racial Diversity - The racial and ethnic groups that comprise the parish can impact the style of youth ministry and the choice of a model. Different ethnic communities have different styles of ministry with youth. For instance, many African American or Hispanic communities more naturally gather as a whole parish than many European American communities which tend more towards schooling and graded level models for faith formation (see Godbearing Life, p. 212 and Black and White Styles of Youth Ministry: Two Congregations in America by William R. Myers). Most parishes include different communities, but it is important to work with the strengths of your parish community so that a model doesn’t feel imposed. • Vibrancy of Parish Life - Another important consideration would be your evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of parish life. In the study of effective parishes, there was a correlation between parishes with effective ministries overall and parishes with effective youth ministry. Many of the parishes that were studied were vibrant overall, and the youth ministry reflected the general dynamism of the parish’s ministries and the collaborative environment of the parish staff and leadership. Youth ministry includes ministry to youth within a peer community, involvement in parish and wider community life, and ministry within their families. Effective youth ministry helps youth to move seamlessly from these ministry settings. This implies different strategies for parishes at different levels of development. A parish that has vibrant ministry overall should seek first to link youth to the life of the parish, then develop opportunities for youth to be ministered to within a peer community setting in areas that complement their involvement in parish life. Family connections can be made to both of these ministry settings. Parishes that are still developing vibrant ministry have a greater need to create community, faith education, worship and service opportunities for youth within a peer community while still making efforts to include youth in parish life. In these parishes, youth and youth ministry may be an energizing factor in helping develop more vibrant ministries overall. • Parish Confirmation Preparation Model - Many parishes have two-year, multifaceted confirmation preparation programs for high school youth. Much of what we hope to accomplish in youth ministry is provided for within the confirmation process. The process also consumes most of the parish’s energy and leadership that could be put towards the development of youth ministry. Youth’s time for parish involvement is also consumed within confirmation preparation. Often, these communities struggle to keep youth involved after confirmation. If you are looking to implement a more comprehensive approach to youth ministry, one major initiative may need to be a change in the confirmation preparation to a more short-term approach. These are some of the factors and implications. To be effective as a parish, choose a model that seems to fit your community, and adapt and innovate within that model as you go along. This process is very much like being a parent—there are things we choose about how we parent—who will watch our children, how we celebrate holidays, how will divide responsibilities, how will we discipline. As parents, we make choices that match our values, but we shift and grow with these choices as our children grow and change. As youth ministry leaders, we choose a model that matches with our values and we shift and grow as we need to so that we can serve and include youth. Conclusion In Renewing the Vision, youth ministry is described as the “response of the Christian community to the needs of young people, and the sharing of the unique gifts of youth with the larger communities” (RTV, p. 1). An effective model will provide for this pastoral response and for the inclusion of youth’s gifts. Each parish will find its way to dynamic ministry by listening, choosing, responding, and including youth and their families. |
You should have (or soon obtain) the following resources on your youth ministry bookshelf: (You should also read them and have core team members read them as well... they are great conversation starters!) + Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry, USCCB © 1997. Also online at http://www.usccb.org/about/laity-marriage-family-life-and-youth/young-adults/renewing-the-vision.cfm + A Catholic Bible + The Catechism of the Catholic Church + The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, St. Mary’s Press © 2013 Third edition, or the YouCat (Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church) © 2011. + The Diocese of Youngstown’s Curriculum for Catechesis, Office of Religious Education, 1999, revised 2009. + The Diocese of Youngstown’s Directory for Catechesis, Office of Religious Education, 2002. + *The Challenge of Adolescent Catechesis: Maturing in Faith, National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry © 1986 + *The Challenge of Catholic Youth Evangelization: Called to be Witnesses and Storytellers, National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry © 1993 + *From Age to Age: The Challenge of Worship with Adolescents, National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry © 1997 + Catholic Youth Ministry: The Essential Documents, St. Mary’s Press (c) 2005, includes the starred documents along with an in-depth summary of Renewing the Vision. Become familiar with all of these....and know to which you can refer throughout your ministries! ======================================= The Framework, Summarized: The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops outlined their vision for Youth Ministry within the United States in their 1997 document “Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry”. Goals of Youth Ministry Goal 1: To empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today. Goal 2: To draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission and work of the Catholic faith community. Goal 3: To foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person. Eight Components of a Comprehensive Vision of Youth Ministry The Ministry of Advocacy o Engages the Church to examine its priorities and practices to determine how well young people are integrated into the life, mission and work of the Catholic community. The Ministry of Catechesis o Helps adolescents develop a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and the Christian community, and increase their knowledge of the core content of the Catholic faith so that they can live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ The Ministry of Community Life o Builds and environment of love, support, appreciation for diversity, and judicious acceptance that models Catholic principles: develops meaningful relationships: and nurtures Catholic faith The Ministry of Evangelization o Proclaims Jesus Christ and the Good News of salvation so that they will come to see Jesus and his message as a response to their inner longings and as a WAY the live their lives The Ministry of Justice and Service o Nurtures in young people a social consciousness and a commitment to a life of justice and service rooted in their faith in Jesus Christ, in the Scriptures, and in Catholic social teaching The Ministry of Leadership Development o Calls forth, affirms, and empowers the diverse gifts, talents, and abilities of adults and young people The Ministry of Pastoral Care o Is a compassionate presence (relationship) of Jesus’ care of people, especially those who were hurting and in need The Ministry of Prayer and Worship o Celebrates and deepens young people’s relationship with Jesus Christ through the bestowal of grace, communal prayer and liturgical experiences ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A few articles that may be helpful as you build youth ministries: "Youth Ministry 101" by Dr. Robert McCarty /uploads/1/1/0/5/11055607/youth_ministry_101_by_bob.doc Developing a Comprehensive Mindset /uploads/1/1/0/5/11055607/developing_a_comprehensive_mindset_for_youth_ministry.doc A Few Collaborative Youth Ministry Models by Cindee Case, MPS, 2011 /uploads/1/1/0/5/11055607/cym_models.doc The Planning GRID by the Center for Ministry Development /uploads/1/1/0/5/11055607/the_grid.doc Understanding Catholic Youth Ministry (an overview of Renewing the Vision) --NFCYM http://www.cymsource.org/catholicym/index.htm I would have named this "More Than Just a Youth Group" but his title does get one's attention: "I am Giving Up On Youth Group" http://www.diocesehelena.org/news-and-events/columns-2/i-am-giving-up-on-youth-group/ "Tips to my Youth Ministry Self" from the Center for Ministry Development: www.cmdnet.org/entry/advice-to-my-former-youth-minister-self ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few online presentation that may be helpful as you build youth ministries: Understanding Catholic Youth Ministry - A New Map for Changing Territory (online presentation - video and audio - 28 minutes) by Dr. Robert McCarty http://www.cymsource.org/catholicym/CYMpresentation/player.html Emerging Trends in Youth Ministry a recorded webinar from the Loyola Institute for Ministry (65 minutes) https://loyno.adobeconnect.com/_a1003397705/p34rduhkcxj/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal Be sure to also check out the KEY FORMS page of this blogsite as well as the Y&YAM Idea Sharing section. Below, watch a brief video of me recommending one of my favorite resources:
(why, oh why, does the video have to stop on such a lovely image of me?!?! The rest of the video should be less scary than this image, haha!) |