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Tag Archives: Life Nights

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Keeping Youth Ministry Fun & Alive

By | August 12, 2010

One of the worst things I ever hear out of my teens mouths is when they, speaking about a teacher, class, event, etc. say, “It was sooooo boring.” It sends shudders down my spine, gets me sweating and thinking, “Ohmigosh, was Sunday’s Life Night boring?? Is that what they told their friends on Monday at school?”

Having a “boring” youth group is the fear of every youth minister who is planning and making decisions about youth group for the teens and not for themselves (Let’s be honest – what adult REALLY loves the messy, wet game night? We do that for THEM!). The question, then, is how do we keep our youth ministry fun and alive even on Sundays that are not a Minute-to-Win-It night?

Life Teen Core Training

Core Training: Life Nights

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This second resource in our 8-part series covers Life Nights: Gather, Proclaim, Break and Send. Every Life Night has these four movements within them, just in a variety of creative ways to keep your teens engaged. In this resource, we will break down each movement of a Life Night: Gather, Proclaim, Break and Send. This section can be used to train your Core Team on the basics of a Life Night. Following this explanation, we encourage you to engage in the Life Night ING ’s: BrainstormING , PlannING

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Curriculum Guide Introduction

By | December 10, 2009

Welcome to the brand new Life Teen Curriculum Guide! The goal of this resource is to help you provide systematic and complete catechesis for your teenagers while providing opportunities for evangelization and transformation as well. Each Curriculum Guide contains a semesters-worth of catechetical Life Night outlines. From Spring 2007 through Fall of 2009, Life Teen published an eight semester curriculum based on the United States Council of Catholic Bishops “National Doctrinal Curriculum Framework

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Give It Away Now – The Can It Edition

By | August 11, 2009

Join Life Teen parishes on September 27, 2009 for our Second Annual Global Life Night and Food Drive! What: Global Life Night – Life Teen and Edge parishes around the world doing the same Life Night and service project When: September 27, 2009, the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul How: Canned Food Drive – get your parish and community involved by promoting the event beforehand and setting up donation dropoff sites. Use the “Give it Away Now – The Can It Edition”

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Learning from the [Good] Parents of Reality Television

By | May 26, 2009

Ever since our favorite (or not so favorite) Octa-mom, Nadya Suleman, burst through the delivery room and into our homes, I have been enthralled by reality shows like 18 Kids and Counting, Jon & Kate Plus 8 and Table for 12. Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar from 18 Kids and Counting amaze me. With children ranging from newborn to 21 years this family understands how to love, how to pray and how to help one another. Which got me thinking; could we, as youth ministers, learn a thing or two from parents

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Is Your Ministry Responsive?

By | March 11, 2009

I was beginning my second full year as a youth minister at my parish. I was excited, having finally shaken off the shadow of my well respected predecessor I was ready to make my mark. All summer I had dreamed up different series and topics that we could do. Finally I had it – a series on the Culture of Death and the need for “heroes” of the faith to save our fallen culture from its demise. My dreams for this series were big. We would build a set to look like New York City in ruins. We bought

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Set Apart: The Importance of Environment in Life Nights

By | February 26, 2009

As I climbed the high steps, I felt that something grand was about to happen. With each step I felt the pounding in my chest of anticipation. As I entered the large double doors my breath was taken away and my senses overloaded. All around me was an expression of the glory of God. I was sixteen and my perception of God’s glory was forever changed as I experienced the beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the first time. If you have been in St. Peter’s, or any number of other Catholic

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Get Out of the Habit: 5 Ways to Keep Sunday Nights Fresh

By | June 8, 2007

Years ago I was asking some teenagers who had stopped coming to Life Nights “why they had stopped?” (which is a dangerous question to ask – your self-esteem will take a hit). Their answer astonished me – they said, “Because we do the same thing over and over, Jason.” They then made fun of a typical Life Night at my parish. We would have a funny video or skit, then a teaching by one of five Core members, small group discussion, a large group discussion, and some prayer at the end of

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How to Avoid the Perils of a [Dirty] Church Dance

By | February 28, 2007

The problem: Teenagers Dance Dirty It’s no secret that teenagers don’t really dance anymore. If the 1930s had swing, and the 1950s had the twist, then the 2000s have dirty dancing. This isn’t the Dirty Dancing of Patrick Swayze back in in 1987, where a wealthy daddy’s girl is charmed by a hunky dance teacher. Yeah that was dirty, but those scenes had grace through choreography. Our new dirty dancing is nothing but–forgive me here–nothing but dry humping to music with lyrics about dry humping.

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Understanding the 4 Parts of a LIFE Night

By | February 6, 2007

A LIFE Night is a weekly youth group meeting at a Life Teen Parish, usually held Sunday nights after Mass. LIFE Nights are structured by use the proven and successful “Gather, Proclaim, Break, Send” format. Just as the Mass has this liturgical flow – gather, proclaim, break, and send – LIFE Nights do the same. Gather >> Proclaim >> Break >> Send I. GATHER The Gather includes drawing teens into the LIFE Night’s environment. The beginning of the night includes welcoming new teens