Youth Ministry Coord 101

[N/A Gone]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1494292' date='Apr 7 2008, 03:50 PM']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.[/quote]

I will read thru everything, but I wanted to point out I have been confirmed, but I never went thru confirmation class. I did an RCIA-type thing. My concern is I am not very familiar to the high school confirmation process. ok, now I will read the rest.

[prose]

Raph:

You should talk to your priest. Maybe he would let you have input on what goes on next year.

Like I said, don't get defensive. Your ministry and parish probably is COMPLETELY different than mine (or any one else's for that matter). Any feedback I give is just to provide what my, personal insight is.

I am not from an ultra modern or ultra traditional parish. I run a service-based youth group (meaning we focus on being the hands and feet of Christ). I give retreats on how to be active volunteers in the community. I go to other retreats and rallies (and help lead them or give talks) on God's love for the youth, but when they come back here, I try to get them to focus on loving God back (if that makes sense).

Many of my youth are very secular, and Bible studies are very difficult. I spent a lot of youth group time answering questions (within conversation) about Catholicism, and we open with scripture, but I have never been blessed (like you are) with youth who would be interested in DTS, or other deeper spirituality yet.

Like I said, when I respond to threads like these, I am giving my personal experience. I have seen many, many other YMs who have had completely different experiences.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='prose' post='1494885' date='Apr 8 2008, 10:16 AM']Numbers don't indicate the movement of the HS either, by the way. You never know. Maybe he lessened your numbers to help you REALLY affect just one kid. Prayer is the key. Listening is the key.[/quote]
+J.M.J.+
i really needed to hear that this week. thank you.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='prose' post='1494937' date='Apr 8 2008, 01:48 PM']Raph:

You should talk to your priest. Maybe he would let you have input on what goes on next year.

Like I said, don't get defensive. Your ministry and parish probably is COMPLETELY different than mine (or any one else's for that matter). Any feedback I give is just to provide what my, personal insight is.

I am not from an ultra modern or ultra traditional parish. I run a service-based youth group (meaning we focus on being the hands and feet of Christ). I give retreats on how to be active volunteers in the community. I go to other retreats and rallies (and help lead them or give talks) on God's love for the youth, but when they come back here, I try to get them to focus on loving God back (if that makes sense).

Many of my youth are very secular, and Bible studies are very difficult. I spent a lot of youth group time answering questions (within conversation) about Catholicism, and we open with scripture, but I have never been blessed (like you are) with youth who would be interested in DTS, or other deeper spirituality yet.

Like I said, when I respond to threads like these, I am giving my personal experience. I have seen many, many other YMs who have had completely different experiences.[/quote]
I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to come across defensively. My whole post can be summed up in: "I agree, and I would have attended the entire parish mission regardless of whether my youth were going...if the parish mission were actually worth attending in itself." I was just taking the long route in explaining that I didn't mean that I only go to youth events. I do, however, believe that it is not worth it to cancel youth events in order to go to an event they aren't going to come to. I think that's a matter of misplaced priorities. I'm sure we all agree on that.

BTW, my DTS group needs to be rebooted. We had a lot of interest, but the parents wouldn't give me enough time with the youth to put DTS in a fun context, so a lot of my kids found more entertaining things to do. I still have a core of young people who want to come, though, and I'll build up with that. The founder of DTS told me he had 6 people at first (about what I have right now) and the parish he started at now has 90 youth in DTS.

Anyway, my youth ministry is nothing to be envied. I only hope I can learn more from folks like you who have far more experience than I do.

[kujo]

[quote name='fides quarens intellectum' post='1494849' date='Apr 8 2008, 12:19 PM']Sorry if i was hasty in my reply - i didn't mean to say he didn't have the Holy Spirit, if that's how i came across - (yes, i do realize he's baptized!) - the red flags went up for me because of the negative tone he began his post with:

The youth ministers i know personally - the ones who love it, who've done it for a while, who are obviously in the place God wants them, etc - just don't talk like that at all, ever. In fact, when you ask them if they are tired, even after a weekend where they're running on three or four hours of sleep, they'll contradict you in enthusiastic tones that stir the heart. The ones i've known who did talk in the negative are usually the ones who burn out. But then, since i don't know you, again, sorry for the hasty post, and thanks again for the clarification. It could be you were just trying to be funny or something, and i didn't catch it.
i'm sorry that has been your experience. The people i know in ministry who really take care to make personal prayer time a priority appear fueled by the ministry they do. The people i know in ministry who are exhausted are either not puting their relationship with Jesus first, or they later find they are in the wrong ministry. Again, just my experience.[/quote]

Wow.

Again, you are coming off as kind of insulting. The exhaustion that I and others have spoken of is physical, not emotional or spiritual. In fact, I am one of those people who is oddly pumped up at the mass after a retreat weekend. I'm the guy in the back row of the parish, with my flip-flops and retreat t-shirt, unshaven face, rings under his eyes, and raspy voice, clapping and singing along with the songs. Retreats, no matter whether I was serving on or being served, always get me pumped up. Maybe it's delirium! Still, after waiting for all the teens to leave, closing up and locking down the youth room, getting into my van and driving home, I find myself sleeping like an infant.

Anyway, while I am sure that you are not intentionally doing so, you are making it seem that being tired is somehow a suggestion that we are not *meant* to be Youth Ministers. It's probably just a communication problem, like my honest (not negative) tone. It's not a glamorous position, but it is a wonderful blessing in my life to be serving God in this capacity. I wish I had more time and energy to devote to my ministry, but we have to minister to ourselves sometimes, paying homage to what my college priest referred to as "Our Lady of the Pillow."

[quote]"Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." -Matthew 26:41[/quote]

[kujo]

I didn't know this threat had gone continued onto a second page. I just jumped all over that last comment without reading through the rest of the thread. So, sorry if it seemed like I was piling on.

[StColette]

I agree with kujo, the exhaustion that most youth ministers suffer isn't emotional or spiritual, though sometimes any ministry you are part of can do that to you, even our Priests need retreats from the daily grind of their ministries so that they can better serve their flocks. Just because they get tired from time to time does not make them any less called to a particular ministry then to someone who has boundless energy.

You must also take into account the fact that not only are these ministers serving their Churches but they are serving their family and friends away from their daily jobs as well. Many youth ministers have families that require time and energy. It's a miracle I haven't driven Micah crazy. Micah and Adam both are busy taking care of pregnant wives and in Adam's case he already has one child which he devotes time to when he gets home. Poor Micah is constantly having to take care of me because my morning sickness is so severe and after taking your pregnant wife to the hospital 3 times in less than 2 weeks, that would exhaust anyone physically and emotionally no matter how much the Holy Spirit is working in their lives.

Being a Youth Minister is like being a soldier on the front lines. It's grueling hard work which often goes unappreciated or not even thought of. Just like our soldiers get emotionally drained and physically tired (which they do I can speak on behalf of my brother who is in his 12th year of service) our Youth Ministers endure the same. It doesn't make them any less than what they are if they get exhausted.

For some reason this makes me think of 2Cor 12:9

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

[Brother Adam]

"For some reason this makes me think of 2Cor 12:9

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.""

Amen Sista.

Look at the saints too. Most lived difficult, long lives. They dedicated themselves to God's word and the mortification of their own bodies. They were called to exactly what they were doing.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='StColette' post='1494987' date='Apr 8 2008, 03:00 PM']I agree with kujo, the exhaustion that most youth ministers suffer isn't emotional or spiritual, though sometimes any ministry you are part of can do that to you, even our Priests need retreats from the daily grind of their ministries so that they can better serve their flocks. Just because they get tired from time to time does not make them any less called to a particular ministry then to someone who has boundless energy.

You must also take into account the fact that not only are these ministers serving their Churches but they are serving their family and friends away from their daily jobs as well. Many youth ministers have families that require time and energy. It's a miracle I haven't driven Micah crazy. Micah and Adam both are busy taking care of pregnant wives and in Adam's case he already has one child which he devotes time to when he gets home. Poor Micah is constantly having to take care of me because my morning sickness is so severe and after taking your pregnant wife to the hospital 3 times in less than 2 weeks, that would exhaust anyone physically and emotionally no matter how much the Holy Spirit is working in their lives.

Being a Youth Minister is like being a soldier on the front lines. It's grueling hard work which often goes unappreciated or not even thought of. Just like our soldiers get emotionally drained and physically tired (which they do I can speak on behalf of my brother who is in his 12th year of service) our Youth Ministers endure the same. It doesn't make them any less than what they are if they get exhausted.

For some reason this makes me think of 2Cor 12:9

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."[/quote]

My wife is great.

By the way, YM does get appreciated sometimes...right now, though, I'd say the complaints and compliments are about 10:1. Lots of people try to tell you how to do your job (although, if they were in your shoes, I don't imagine they'd do it much differently...you know things they don't), but every once in a while, there's some parent who comes up to you with tears in her eyes thanking you for this or that...and you're like, "I had that kind of impact on your child? I had no idea..."

[kujo]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1494997' date='Apr 8 2008, 04:10 PM'] My wife is great.

By the way, YM does get appreciated sometimes...right now, though, I'd say the complaints and compliments are about 10:1. Lots of people try to tell you how to do your job (although, if they were in your shoes, I don't imagine they'd do it much differently...you know things they don't), but every once in a while, there's some parent who comes up to you with tears in her eyes thanking you for this or that...and you're like, "I had that kind of impact on your child? I had no idea..."[/quote]

Word dude. Great catch.

I hope that the FIDES person who has been stirring the pot doesn't feel like we're attacking her, though.

[prose]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1494964' date='Apr 8 2008, 01:24 PM']I do, however, believe that it is not worth it to cancel youth events in order to go to an event they aren't going to come to. I think that's a matter of misplaced priorities. I'm sure we all agree on that.[/quote]



I think if it is continual, then it is a problem, but I have no problem canceling youth events if I think another event is something they or I should go to. If they choose not to, I will still cancel events again next year

But I also run a flexible ministry, and canceling one week is nothing that will collapse the whole thing. Some people have more stringent programs and just don't have that option

I wish there were more ways that were cheap enough for yms to meet together and network.

I love hearing what others are doing and how different our paths are to the same goal. It is so cool to me that God can work in so many different ways.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='prose' post='1495032' date='Apr 8 2008, 04:22 PM']

I think if it is continual, then it is a problem, but I have no problem canceling youth events if I think another event is something they or I should go to. If they choose not to, I will still cancel events again next year

But I also run a flexible ministry, and canceling one week is nothing that will collapse the whole thing. Some people have more stringent programs and just don't have that option

I wish there were more ways that were cheap enough for yms to meet together and network.

I love hearing what others are doing and how different our paths are to the same goal. It is so cool to me that God can work in so many different ways.[/quote]

Well, down here, it's been my experience that if I cancel events for two weeks in a row, the number of youth attending cuts about in half. It's happened twice now (although, thankfully, those times were far enough apart that the numbers built up again in between). For me, if it's something I know they won't attend, but I know they will attend what I already had planned, I'm going to stick with what I already had planned. It's important to have consistency with the youth in my area.

[Jaime]

shouldn't you guys be eating pizza or something?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='hot stuff' post='1495064' date='Apr 8 2008, 05:03 PM']shouldn't you guys be eating pizza or something?[/quote]
We ate pizza last Sunday. This weekend, we shall eat pizza again. Youth ministry is a glorious, fattening thing!

[bonoducchi]

[quote name='prose' post='1494937' date='Apr 8 2008, 01:48 PM']I run a service-based youth group (meaning we focus on being the hands and feet of Christ).[/quote]
What's Jesus' shoe size?