Connections

Abundant Blessing

At the 2006 NCCYM in Las Vegas, I provided a snapshot of youth ministry in NFYCM’s 25th year. Here is a condensed version of my reflections.

We gathered in Las Vegas as the Catholic youth ministry community. We came together to share the gifts we have been given and to benefit from the giftedness of others. What a blessing to gather not just for a conference, but to also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. Founded in 1982, NFCYM has grown in its services, resources, conferences, and leadership simultaneously with the field of Catholic youth ministry.

The backdrop to the conference was 25 years of creating an organizational identity and structure, advocating for a comprehensive approach to youth ministry, and advocating for the profession of the youth ministry leader.

From my vantage point, I have identified three major shifts over the past 25 years and three challenges that we must confront.

The Shifts

There have been many shifts over 25 years, but I want to highlight three:

1. There has been a shift in our overall vision. The original “Vision of Youth Ministry” document, in 1976, used the Emmaus story as the primary image for youth ministry. This was an accompaniment approach, where we walked with young people along their faith and personal journey. Though this is still important, “Renewing the Vision,” in 1997, proposed a discipleship image where young people are sent out on mission. Today we call the young Church to a great adventure, to be disciples of Jesus, called to transform the world.
2. The second shift is in methodology. Our ministry has—or must—shift from youth group to youth groupings. We can no longer rely on a single youth gathering or community to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse youth population. In terms of culture, ethnicity, family, lifestyle and geographic setting, our young people have a wide range of needs, interests, resources, time, and spiritualities. It is unrealistic—and ineffective—to expect a youth group to be the primary vehicle for comprehensive youth ministry.
3. The third shift is one of emphasis. We ha’ve shifted from a focus on developing a sense of community among our young people to an emphasis on evangelization and catechesis. Effective evangelization and catechesis must lead towards an engagement with the world through justice and service.

Where we once focused on bringing young people into the community, we now emphasize sending them out to transform the world.

The Challenges

Again, many challenges confront our ministry, but I will highlight three:

1. Youth ministry leaders will move from seeing themselves as missionaries to youth and youth culture, bringing the gospel and the church into their lived reality, to being advocates for young people in both the church and in society. Not only will we continue to advocate for their responsible participation in the life, work and mission of the faith community, but we will advocate for their responsible participation in society. Immigration, health care, education, poverty, juvenile justice, and violence and war are their issues now. We must remind the church and society that young people are a gift to be shared, not a problem to be solved.
2. We are challenged to assist young people in fostering their Catholic identity. In the postmodern world of individualism, relativism and religion-less spirituality, we are challenged to develop a comprehensive approach to catechesis that includes religious education, faith formation and discipleship. We need a catechesis that provides a language for their experiences of God!
3. And the entire Church is challenged to renew parish life. If it takes a village to raise a child—if it takes a faith community to foster the faith of young people—we have to attend to the parish. This requires that we no longer think of our ministry as only involving youth. The National Study of Youth and Religion highlights the significant impact that family has on the spiritual beliefs and practices of young people. The study, “Hardwired to Connect,” emphasizes the importance of intergenerational experiences in healthy adolescent development.

Clearly, the signs point towards an evolving model for youth ministry. Parish is still the best vehicle for supporting faith along the entire life span, so we in youth ministry need to bring our gifts of liturgy, justice and service, pastoral care, prayer and catechesis to the broader faith community. We have a theology of ministry, an ecclesiology and the creative methodologies that will benefit the entire parish community. We need to think broader.

Shifts, Challenges, and a Closing Image

NCCYM was held as we entered Advent—the time of waiting and preparation. The theme, “And the Desert Shall Bloom,” provided an image for our work. We have all had desert experiences—times of dryness, barrenness and loneliness. Perhaps in this postmodern world, the desert is characterized by the lack of depth in life, the tendency to “live fast, but not live deep;” by “touch and go” relationships lacking commitment; and by the replacement of gospel values with consumerism, individualism and militarism.

But if you have ever hiked in the desert, you know it has its own pace and timeline and, indeed, flowers and vegetation. So hold on to the belief that the desert carries within it the seeds of new life. Out of the dryness comes hardier growth; from the barrenness comes beauty for those with eyes to see. Even in the desert, new life breaks through.

The reign of God is continually breaking through. Jesus announced and embodied the reign of God characterized by a fullness of life for all God’s people, loved unconditionally by the God who created them. It is the Christmas message—the light has come into the darkness. It is the Easter message—death does not win, crucifixion does not win. Resurrection wins, the reign of God wins. The desert shall bloom.

NCCYM was an opportunity for renewal and rejoicing, and hopefully, we returned to our ministry settings as witnesses to the reign of God, as renewed disciples of Jesus, and as signs that, indeed, the desert has bloomed.