Why I Just Stopped Coming to Your Youth Group
I’m an average teen. I am in 11th grade and I work a part time job at a local grocery store. I am Catholic and was confirmed last spring. I don’t come from a messed up family, just a family that is spun in many different directions each day.I have a few close friends who I have been friends with since I was in elementary school. Most of my other friends are people I know from the internet and are part of on online gaming group I hang out with online after school. I am a loyal person and once I become your friend, I am always your friend. I just stopped coming to your youth group...

Why Harder is Almost Always Better
Let’s face it, youth ministry is hard. Trying to realize our passion to see young people fall in love with Jesus is hard. The institutional church, parents, culture and many other limiting factors often don’t help us much. It would be easy to just throw in the towel. Many do. Easier isn’t always better though. Trying to do something really hard, staying with it through enormous opposition, benefits us as youth workers...

Ministry to Families in Need
As I began working in youth ministry four years ago, I realized quickly that as you get rooted in a parish, you also get rooted in the families that make up that parish. At the time, I had no grasp on the gravity of this role. With our role comes the joy of sharing in family moments such as awards, honors and graduation. But just as we get to share in the “high points” of family life, we also share in some of the most difficult moments. Whether it is divorce or death or illness, we need to understand our role as support to the whole family, not just the teens...

The Problem with Value
Last week I read a great post by Seth Godin. He writes that depending on external motivation traps us. What we need is to find motivation inside of us. I whole-heartedly agree, but where do we find value in ourselves? It’s a mystery unless you know of something in yourself that is amazing. It could be good, but that isn’t really satisfying. We all want to be more than good...

Jesus in the City

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