Many adults today tell me that the “average teenager” couldn’t care less about the Bible. Extensive firsthand experience, however, demands that I humbly reply, “LOL” (“laugh out loud” in text-happy vernacular). I led my first teen Bible study almost 20 years ago and, while teen culture has dramatically changed, their desires have not. Teens want truth, and the Catholic Church has it.
I noticed that my two middle school aged sons had transformed the palm leaves handed to them when entering Mass into “Palm Crosses.” I asked why they always make crosses out of the palms on Palm Sunday? The reply was one that got me thinking about Holy Week. They looked at me and said, “Dad, we take the crosses home and put them up on our bedroom wall so we can remember Jesus every day.” Ah, the simplicity of the answer reminded me of what Holy Week is supposed to be about–contemplating Jesus and His Passion!
Mark Hart gives the details on Life Teen’s new Catholic Teen Bible. Eric Porteous talks about how a network of Life Teen staff is here to help parishes start and maintain quality Catholic Youth Ministry. Finally, Kevin Hickey explains the importance of middle school ministry. View on mobile device Subscribe via iTunes
Earlier this week I sat down with our own Mark Hart to talk about Life Teen’s new book called Finding Yourself in Scripture. This is an exciting new book that will help young people better relate to individuals in the Bible. In the book Mark tells the stories of the Bible’s babysitters and rock stars, kings and queens, daydreamers and warriors, heroes and angels. This is good stuff!
Goal for this game: Have the teenagers work together to find specific answers in their Bibles. Ministry Applications Reading the Bible can be fun. We need God’s word in our lives on a daily basis. We can learn more about ourselves and Christ through Scripture. Bible Trivia
In my last blog, I covered how the Church wants us to use the baptismal catechumenate as a model for all catechetical activity, and within the catechumenate is a period of formation called mystagogy. In mystagogy, we want to focus on three things: the Word of God, the sacraments, and community. Today I wanted to focus on the first goal of mystagogy, inserting teens into the mystery of God’s Word, especially as it is given to us in the Gospels.
Recently during Mass my eldest daughter noticed something during the gospel proclamation – specifically, that St. Luke was not one of the original twelve apostles. I later tried to explain that St. Luke was a traveling companion of St. Paul and a convert to the faith, but not one of the original twelve men that [...]
Written by God…brought to you by the Bible Geek® Begin with a Prayer. Ask the group to take out their Bibles and divide the group into three groups. Have each group (on their own) read one of the following Scripture verses: Acts 2:42, Acts 13:44, Acts 20:7. Once read, have one volunteer from each group [...]