In the same way, we can model our youth ministry after the way that Jesus modeled his ministry. In youth ministry we offer programs, resources, Life nights, methods, conferences, rallies, mission trips, etc. All of these things only take us so far with teens. The heart of effective evangelization, catechesis, and the purification of youth culture is in discipleship – mentoring teens in personal relationships. People learn the faith from the example and witness of other people.
When dad calls us, we must discern that call to make sure it is really Him calling. But discernment isn’t enough, once we recognize that it is His voice, we must respond. We have to move. This is why prayer is so important to our everyday lives. It is in prayer that we begin to know the voice of the Father. It’s amazing to me that in a crowded room, full of noisy kids, you’re children recognize your voice when you call. It’s because they know you, and they know your voice.
Don’t get me wrong, Catholics pray with their body. We lie prostrate, we kneel, we sit, and we fold our hands in a posture of prayer. Sometimes we even extend our hands over our head in an open posture of worship.
All of these postures, even the hands over the head, are rooted in Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. They reflect the interior disposition of the soul and it’s receptivity to Christ. So what about hand motions? Why do I say it is not prayer?
Enthusiasm is fruit of an encounter with Christ.
It does not need to be encouraged because it develops naturally from the invitation that Christ gives all of us. As youth leaders, the challenge is to look past the emotion and help the teenager make firmly rooted decisions to follow Christ and articulate prayer to Him. We must teach them to respond to His invitation. As youth ministers, it is our job to help a teen navigate the emotions to find their individual decision to follow Christ.
By now, anyone who has, or who works closely with teens has undoubtedly heard about the “Why I hate religion but love Jesus” video that has gone viral on YouTube. Forgive me for not linking to it… my Mom taught me to keep gasoline away from matches (after my brothers and I almost launched our riding mower into outer space in 1982). Incidentally, my mother also taught me not to use the word “hate,” but that’s a different story for another day.
Getting teens to events and in the doors of our parish is effective pre-evangelization and evangelization. However, that is often where youth ministries stop. If we were successfully converting, catechizing and purifying the lives of our young people, we’d see a lot more fruit from the thousands of American teens and millions of international teens that attend our big Catholic events. To develop saints, we have to dive deeper and do more than get them in the door.
The next three blogs that I will write, focus on developing saints and diving deeper. I will evaluate how we measure conversion, how we bring teens through conversion and finally, I will discuss the discipleship model that Christ gave us for developing the last steps of the evangelization process.
While many of us will make resolutions for the coming year for our personal lives, why not make some for our ministries as well? Here are some resolutions to pray about as you get ready to start a new calendar year of Youth Ministry.
A rhythm of prayer is absolutely necessary to get closer to God but it’s not going to be some specific formula and it’s not going to look the same for everyone. If you can find a way to incorporate all those prayers into your life then that’s amazing, but that’s not expected of everyone. Going from being a missionary to an office setting I had to change my rhythm to make sense according to my new role. But, there’s no better tool for ministry than a heart inspired by God.
So how do you handle things when you forget to return a parent’s phone call, miss a teen’s birthday or fail to send out the correct forms required for the retreat? What’s your response when you were too busy to assign responsibilities for Life Nights until 3 hours before Mass? Do you think of these snafus in terms of customer service? Do you go out of your way to make things right?
I think teens, parents and core members get that you care – I mean if you didn’t, why on earth would you be doing this job? But there’s also a level of expectation of quality and professionalism that exists in your ministry.
Can you imagine re-starting your ministry every three years or maybe even every year because your teens and families change?
It you’re a military youth minister know this reality all too well; families coming and going, volunteers rotating in and out throughout the year and priests relocating just as often. So what does a youth minister do when all elements of your “youth ministry” are changing?