Youth Ministry Coord 101

[N/A Gone]

I applied for, and I am getting a second interview, for a youth ministry coord position in a local catholic church. I have an undergrad in general ministry from a protestant school and more than a ton of time and experience in protestant youth ministry. I am also starting the Distance program at FUS.

But I am concerned about the Youth position at this catholic church. Being that I have never been involved with a catholic youth group. I never went through confirmation either.

Can someone give me some support/information on what happens for a youth ministry coord? I need to be more sure this is something I should go after.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

You haven't been confirmed?

It takes a bit of time to get into the swing of any ministry in the Church, even for those of us who've been Catholic our whole lives. I wouldn't worry about it if you feel called to it.

[Scofizzle]

wow..honestly I'm suprised they are considering hiring you given your protestant backround and not being Confirmed.

However, be prepared for inner office politics. Just becuase it's a Church doesn't mean that it's always a happy place in the office.

Keep things centered on Christ in the Eucharist and you will do just fine.

[prose]

I hope you intend on being confirmed asap.

I don't think it is a big deal that your background is protestant (some of the best Catholics are converts), but it would certainly concern me if I was hiring you as a Catholic Youth Coordinator and you were not confirmed.

How long have you been a practicing Catholic?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I started to write a sort of "day in the life of" thing, but I had to come to the conclusion that every day is different. Take Sunday, for instance...I came up to sell tickets to a fundraiser after the two morning Masses, mingled with youth around noon, and headed home for an hour's rest (I try to rest as much as I can on Sundays, despite my job), came back at 1:30 for the 2pm Confirmation Mass, which went an hour and forty-five minutes, and I was at the reception until 4:15, when I went to Walmart to buy pizza for the youth group, home to change clothes (I had been wearing a suit for the Confirmation, which is suicide in Louisiana...it's already getting hot here), back to the Church (this time with Jennie) for 6pm Youth Mass, then I had Dead Theologians Society until 8:30, most of the kids staying until 9, and I had a short meeting with my head volunteer until about 9:20pm. Usually I have all that, minus the Confirmation.

Weekdays are less busy...lots of office work and I usually end up helping out with whatever loose-ends there are lying around, for instance, if someone needs to cover the front desk while another person takes a lunch break or something. However, I still have event planning (irregular events require a lot of planning), lesson planning (lessons require less planning, because they never go according to plan anyway), brain-storming (looking at things through the eyes of a teen), curriculum-planning (trying to accommodate the needs of teens and their parents by finding the perfect mix of lessons and other activities), and marketing (gotta make our events look appealing) to do.

There's also a lot of PR...I've got to look good to the whole parish, unfortunately, which means that I have to drop in at meetings, even those meetings that have nothing to do with my work, every so often, just to let people see me as "involved" in the life of the parish.

Wednesdays, I come in at 9am, check my mail, answer any that I can, work on my lessons for that evening, help out with other office chores, go to lunch, come back and plan a bit more, organize events and other stuff, try to squeeze in some Adoration (because if you are gone for too long, other employees get agitated that you're not helping answer phones), go to the community dinner (more PR) at 5pm, go to the youth house and mingle with the early-birds (at 5:15pm), play a game or something to get everyone who's arrived to calm down, give a lesson (starts at about 6:20pm), hope that there aren't too many interruptions, and wrap up around 7:30pm, at which time the middle schoolers storm the high school youth house looking for drinks and snacks, and about 9pm, I go home.

It's not that stressful, at least for me, until special times in the year come around...like Passion Week and Easter Week...that along with a new bishop and a sonogram appointment...I've hardly gotten anything done for two weeks.

Add onto that that it's about to be summer, which will make my schedule a bit more flexible and hopefully get my out of my office a bit more often, and I plan on implementing a new program for the kids who want to go deeper in their faith (eat out a family-friendly dining establishment while discussing theology on Friday evenings...or Saturdays during football season).

Now, of course, you must also realize that a youth minister has to earn the respect of many of the youth (some will respect you just because they look up to authority figures or older people or college grads, etc., automatically), which means that you have to show an interest in their lives by going to their games, attending their recitals and plays, etc. So, when you make a date with your wife, explain to her that it may be dinner before or after a football game. Also, try to find at least one significant chance a week to have time to yourself and your family. Lastly, in keeping with Matthew Kelly's advice, find one day a month for "carefree timelessness" where you can get away from the mundane, everyday grind, and get out for some fun and time with the people you love.

[kujo]

[quote name='Revprodeji' post='1494190' date='Apr 7 2008, 02:13 PM']I applied for, and I am getting a second interview, for a youth ministry coord position in a local catholic church. I have an undergrad in general ministry from a protestant school and more than a ton of time and experience in protestant youth ministry. I am also starting the Distance program at FUS.

But I am concerned about the Youth position at this catholic church. Being that I have never been involved with a catholic youth group. I never went through confirmation either.

Can someone give me some support/information on what happens for a youth ministry coord? I need to be more sure this is something I should go after.[/quote]

Be prepared to work tirelessly, to be unappreciated in your time, and to be exhausted at the end of every day. It's hard work but I promise you that it is worth it. Raphael is a good resource and I'd be more than willing to talk to you personally about my experiences. PM me or get me on AIM anytime. My prayers are with you, brother.

[prose]

If there is one thing I have learned about youth ministry (I have been doing it for years now), it is how to say no.

I am quite good at it.

No, I can not get your fences painted by the youth because you need labor.

No, I can not be in two places at once.

No, I do not work on Fridays, sorry.

No, I can not cover all of the ministries in Mass with youth.

No, I will not drive your child to soccer practice.

No, I am not a babysitting service.

I am quite good at it now.

Seriously though, part of being an effective leader is not burning out. I am seriously firm about my days off.

[kujo]

[quote name='prose' post='1494359' date='Apr 7 2008, 06:40 PM']If there is one thing I have learned about youth ministry (I have been doing it for years now), it is how to say no.

No, I can not get your fences painted by the youth because you need labor.[/quote]

Wow! True, prose. I had this one time where this lady wanted me to get my teens to come into the Parish Hall on a Saturday night to clean up after some party that some ministry was having. When I asked her why the maintenance staff couldn't do it, she said "Well, it'll be late." And when I asked why my teens should have to come in to clean up after somebody else, she smiled, cocked her head to the right and said "Well, they kind of owe it to us. We let them run around the parish like it's theirs."

True story.

Needless to say, I politely informed the lady that my teens would not be on mop-duty that evening.

***EDIT: Your job, as a Youth Minister, is to advocate for the spiritual wellbeing of the youth in your parish. At staff meetings, when you're putting together your budget, when the pastor asks you to get the teens together for something that is just stupid and an attempt to take an unfair-advantage of their enthusiasm. etc. It will undoubtedly lead you to being unpopular in the office politics of the Church, but it is your first and foremost task as a YM.

Edited April 7, 2008 by kujo

[prose]

Last week I was called and told that the youth were needed to sort through 30 000 books for a book sale, and that they wanted me to get 10 youth to volunteer (and myself) for 3 Saturdays in a row.

I said I would advertise for one Saturday, if the youth register, I will come, and that we are not available for that many hours of service, sorry.

Needless to say, I got zero volunteers.

[kujo]

[quote name='prose' post='1494362' date='Apr 7 2008, 06:49 PM']Last week I was called and told that the youth were needed to sort through 30 000 books for a book sale, and that they wanted me to get 10 youth to volunteer (and myself) for 3 Saturdays in a row.

I said I would advertise for one Saturday, if the youth register, I will come, and that we are not available for that many hours of service, sorry.

Needless to say, I got zero volunteers.[/quote]

Haha. I was once asked to have a group of teens do the gardening work for the summer. The thought being that they have "nothing else to do" with their time.

I asked, they said no, and the grass got cut anyway.

[fides quarens intellectum]

[quote name='kujo' post='1494355' date='Apr 7 2008, 04:35 PM']Be prepared to work tirelessly, to be unappreciated in your time, and to be exhausted at the end of every day.[/quote]

if you're exhasuted at the end of every day, that's probably a good sign that youth ministry is not for you. If you are using charisms from the Holy Spirit, they should be energizing you, not exhausting you.

[kujo]

[quote name='fides quarens intellectum' post='1494374' date='Apr 7 2008, 07:12 PM']if you're exhasuted at the end of every day, that's probably a good sign that youth ministry is not for you. If you are using charisms from the Holy Spirit, they should be energizing you, not exhausting you.[/quote]

I'm more talking about being up from 7 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. before being able to get to bed. Just an accumulation of long days.

But thanks for your input on my vocation...

[fides quarens intellectum]

thanks for the clarification

[jmjtina]

most of all prioritize.

in other words, are you ready?!!! (I'm sure you are!)

and about the Sunday thing. I have a great friend and youth minister who no longer does Sunday's. He strictly reserves it for family and God. (with the exception of selling raffle tickets after Mass) I am not saying every YM should do this, but with a full house of kids, this is something I'm thinking of considering for next year. It would be good to think about that and what you want for the youth group.

and be prepared to be exhausted as kujo said. It's no direct indication of whether the Holy Spirit is working in you or not; if your exhausted or energized or speaking in tongues, but on the faith growing in your youth group and the Holy Spirit working within the youth group. In fact, those kind of comments are part of the job.

"YOu don't have the Holy Spirit!!!!"

don't hate (don't hate, appreciate), appreciate. Smile and move on.

Edited April 8, 2008 by jmjtina

[Brother Adam]

I don't know anyone in ministry, from the top down, that isn't exhausted at the end of every day. Those who belong in ministry are also deeply satisfied at the end of the day knowing they are doing the work God has for them. Ministry is long, hard, thankless work. And it's incredible. I'm part time (30 hours) so I typically work 40-45 hours a week. Those I know who are full time work about 60 hours a week. It's the HS that keeps us going even when we are exshausted.