Are you in youth ministry and you've had it with crazed parents? Rollin' your eyes at the pastoral council? Tired of administration work? Love youth? Love the Church? Appalled at parish politics? Looking for some good games? For a creative ways to teach a lesson for Religious Ed? Just need a place to veg out and say "phew! Someone outside of the parish to talk to!"? Grab y'r Starbucks, turn the computer away from the staff's eyes, grab a seat on a donated dusty couch and let it all go.
Since I have a full time job in ministry, but not directly in youth ministry right now, I need help from you guys. I don't have a lot of time to blog what I have, but if you send me your info, I'll post it. It's totally helpful, too, if you can include a link for the resource.
posted by TCYM Lounge @ 4:43 PM
Are you in youth ministry and you've had it with crazed parents? Rollin' your eyes at the pastoral council? Tired of administration work? Love youth? Love the Church? Appalled at parish politics? Looking for some good games? For a creative ways to teach a lesson for Religious Ed? Just need a place to veg out and say "phew! Someone outside of the parish to talk to!"? Grab y'r Starbucks, turn the computer away from the staff's eyes, grab a seat on a donated dusty couch and let it all go.
What I'm Listening To:
YM Resources
Youth Ministers' Retreat
Like Oriental Trading but Cheaper!
Great Resources from our Bros and Sistas
EXCELLENT DVD on Priesthood Voc
General Directory for Catechesis
7 Habits for Highly Effective Teenagers
Catholic Culture-and Site Reviews!
3 Comments:
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I know this is mad obvious, yo, but I can't emphasize enough how important it is to simply use the Bible. I don't know about where you are, but where I am, most teens aren't getting any spiritual encouragement or formation at home - they have no idea what's in the Bible, and many have never opened one. If you ask them to turn to Luke Chapter 5, most of them start flipping pages without a clue. But once you explain the basics of OT vs. NT and the makeup of the NT, I find they start to like it. I think the Bible becomes less intimidating for them once they get the hang of how it's organized. I've had teens actually get excited about finding the verse before everyone else (watch out my Protestant bros and sistas).
Anyway, I know this isn't what you had in mind - you're asking for catechetical and youth ministry resources - but I really like the simplicity of opening up the Bible to a great Gospel story, especially one of the healings, and then helping the teens use their imaginations (with a healthy amount of humor mixed in - yes, we can laugh and talk about Jesus at the same time) to bring the story alive. To me, it's the most effective resource of all.
PS If you can afford to give your teens a Bible, do it. I don't care if they make a face when you give it to them. Even if they put it on a shelf at home and let it sit, you never know. One of the earliest and most important moments in my conversion came when I was really hurting and I reached for a Bible. I had never opened it before - but it was there when I needed it because someone gave it to me, and God spoke loudly to me through it, even though I had no idea how to use it.
The Bible and Catechism (obvious)
Catholicism and Fundamentalism (by Karl Keating), text book series from Midwest Theological Forum, which is awesome and I highly recomend them (www.theologicalforum.org). At the end of each chapter they have a list of resources. We just started a chapter of the Dead Theologians Society(http://www.deadtheologianssociety.com/index.asp?Content=Home) They have many resources on their web page but you must be a member to get it. When teaching about the saint I aslo use Butler's lives of the saints, Mysteries Marvels Miracles by Joan Caroll Cruz. I could go on and on.....
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