Youth Ministry Message?

[cappie]

 Recently I heard two speakers mention that many young people today already have a low opinion of themselves, that they know they have many flaws they don’t need the church to remind them of that.  They suggested that young people seek connection in the peer group because it helps them blend in and cover up their flaws.  So is the church preaching a message that is that different to the rest of the world?  Perhaps we aren’t if we only give young people confirmation that they are flawed.  We need to separate our message out from the self-help industry which articulates our flaws but if you buy this new book it will rescue you from yourself.

 

As Christian we preach that Jesus is the saviour of our flaws and weakness.  We should be a little different to the dominate culture which teaches that with our own hard work we will be better. Pope Francis has recently made reference to this when recalling the old heresy of Pelagianism. Perhaps youth ministry needs to teach young people the language of being saints.  In Christ we are a new creation, no longer our old selves but saints. 

 

Galatians 2:20 reminds us: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” In the power of the Holy Spirit, young people are not weak sinners but powerful witnesses to the Resurrection.

 

When I was a young priest, in the 1990’s, our youth group heard a talk by our Bishop inspiring us to be Saints of the new Millennium.  We were reminded that we called by God to be a generation that made a difference in the world.  Back in the 1990's the young people were told by business to get a good job and earn your way to the top; today young people are told they can achieve anything they want to.  So perhaps this current generation knows they can make a difference in the world but do they realise that God called them to do this?  Perhaps this generation of young people in our youth ministries need to hear that they are called by God to be saints, set apart for the work of God.

 

Perhaps in youth ministry we need not just the sinner language or saint language but both.  We are a new creation in Christ, saved from our sins in order to be the saints who help build the kingdom of God through participation in the very life of the Church and her Sacraments  :anyone:

Edited June 19, 2013 by cappie

[Basilisa Marie]

I think what youth need most is a comprehensive, counter-cultural message from the Church.  I think it's wrong to just go with the rather fluffy "Jesus loves you and is your personal savior!"  Kids are smart, they see right through it. Youth are starving for something more than that.  They're desperate for something real, something true, something solid to which they can cling while everything else in their lives seems to blow up.  We can best combat the insecurities society throws at them by giving them the tools to take ownership of their faith, to chew some solid food and give them opportunities to grow, to be challenged, to heal.  

[BG45]

I want to prop both of you, but I reached my positive quota for the day.  

 

Catholicism, to me at least, was interesting in that there was both the saint and sinner language being used, often in the same message.  Especially when it dealt with the saints "but he or she was a great sinner" and then you hear what some of the saints did and how they changed...it was transformational.    And not only was there an acknowledgement of sin and that saving sacrifice of Christ for our sins, but also an intellectual basis to back it up; being used to hearing "The Bible says it, we tell you X, now believe X or shut up" is far different than "Well according to the Bible, X.  Now in addition to the Bible, even though it is Sacred Scripture, we have the writings of Y who lived during the early Church and said Z about X, which agrees with the Bible and provides a fuller context for the cultural values of the time and why X is such an important thing to understand and believe.  Furthermore if you look at the writings of these other martyred Church Fathers, you'll find that X was taught in the early centuries of the Church and didn't really change until Luther said he was all about Sola Scriptura, which wasn't in the Bible, and he started removing stuff from the Bible."

[CatholicCid]

One comment I like to use with youth (and everyone else): â€œThe ways of the Lord are not comfortable. But we were not created for comfort, but for greatness.” -Pope Benedict XVI

 

That being said, I've always felt that Youth Ministry, at least in the US, is one that seems a bit more stuck on a different tangent, with the thought that Jesus is your friend. You're ok who you are and Jesus loves you. This, of course, ignores both the sinner and saint language.

[let_go_let_God]

Also one aspect that I believe needs to be addressed is that of the parents. Most parents of our youth gained their catechesis in between the early 70's and late 80's and their parents between the changes of pre and post Vatican II. Sadly their parents were not properly Catechized and do not have the proper tools and resources to become the primary Catechists at home.

 

Now as the full shift and weight of Vatican II are being realized there has been a greater push for in depth catechesis and intergenerational Catechesis. A problem comes about when parishioners nearing or over retirement age will not help because they have already given of their time and parents saying they are afraid to help because they don't know enough to teach. This leave students feeling undervalued and resentful because a sibling didn't have to do this or their parents may not care. It also leaves those whose parents are the primary Catechists feeling let down because they do so much more than their peers who get by on the minimum amount of effort.

 

God bless-

LGLG