Attracting Young People to Youth Group

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Hi everyone,

We have a youth group that has been running for two year, since WYD 08. We’re in a medium-sized Cathedral parish in the country with two Local Catholic High Schools and a University. At the moment we are having real problems attracting young people. We have a rotating program on Wednesdays with a Bible Study, Catechesis, Social night and Prayer night and even a mission statement, but getting the word out there is impossible. I’m on the Parish Council which has an over-representation of teachers, and when I approached them about our problem they showed an distinct apathy to it. Instead of helping us with funding they decided to fund a chaplain for themselves, with no connection to the parish. Thankfully our priests are very supportive, one even helps organise.

The last night we had we were down to 7 people, 2 were priests and two were organisers. I’m beginning to really worry that we aren’t attracting enough people to make it worthwhile. I have no idea where to start getting the information out there. 🤷

Any help would be much appreciated!
 
Suggestions:
  1. Design a nice flyer on your computer and pass it out to anyone you think might be interested, or even to people from that age group who might not be interested. If they see/read/hear enough about it, they might eventually come to a meeting, or at least refer a person who might be interested in Youth Group. It is pretty cheap to print lots of copies at Kinko’s or a similar store, or maybe the parish can print them for you.
  2. You might want to modify the program a bit so it appeals more to young people. Make socializing part of every meeting (not just social night). And talk about issues that are important to the age group your Youth Group is directed at so they are interested in coming. You can pray and study, but have a theme that people can talk about to relate to the readings and prayers of the day/week/whatever.
  3. Change up the meeting places every so often. Instead of meeting at your regular place, sometimes just go bowling, to the park to play a sport/game, skating, have a game night, or whatever you can think of. Variety will keep people more interested and give them something to look forward to. It will also subconsciously help people live their faith in their day-to-day life. If they do these things with their Catholic Youth Group, they can live their faith when they do those things with their secular friends.
  4. Provide snacks for the people who attend (free food is a good incentive to come). As it gets bigger, you can assign a different person to bring snack to each meeting, or you can do a potluck on one of the days where everyone brings something to share with the group.
  5. Ask the Priest to make an announcement about the Youth Group before Mass or after Mass. That is a great way to tell a lot of people at once. Something like " will be meeting at this at to discuss . Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Flyers are available on the ____ table."
 
stephe1987 said:
Suggestions:
  1. Design a nice flyer on your computer and pass it out to anyone you think might be interested, or even to people from that age group who might not be interested. If they see/read/hear enough about it, they might eventually come to a meeting, or at least refer a person who might be interested in Youth Group. It is pretty cheap to print lots of copies at Kinko’s or a similar store, or maybe the parish can print them for you.
  2. You might want to modify the program a bit so it appeals more to young people. Make socializing part of every meeting (not just social night). And talk about issues that are important to the age group your Youth Group is directed at so they are interested in coming. You can pray and study, but have a theme that people can talk about to relate to the readings and prayers of the day/week/whatever.
  3. Change up the meeting places every so often. Instead of meeting at your regular place, sometimes just go bowling, to the park to play a sport/game, skating, have a game night, or whatever you can think of. Variety will keep people more interested and give them something to look forward to. It will also subconsciously help people live their faith in their day-to-day life. If they do these things with their Catholic Youth Group, they can live their faith when they do those things with their secular friends.
  4. Provide snacks for the people who attend (free food is a good incentive to come). As it gets bigger, you can assign a different person to bring snack to each meeting, or you can do a potluck on one of the days where everyone brings something to share with the group.
  5. Ask the Priest to make an announcement about the Youth Group before Mass or after Mass. That is a great way to tell a lot of people at once. Something like " will be meeting at this at to discuss . Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Flyers are available on the ____ table."
Click to expand...
These are all very good ideas. I would like to add the following to the list:
  1. Send the flyers you make to the local Catholic schools and ask the principals if you can speak to the children at an assembly or go room to room accompanied with some of the young people who already attend the group.
  2. Post an advertisement in the church weekly bulletin or even local newspapers.
  3. Make attractive posters to be placed in the windows of the local businesses that patronize the church.
  4. Technology and kids go hand in hand. Set up an account with facebook, Myspace, Twitter, design a web page, or create a blog, etc. that shares information, stories, pictures, events, and news about the things happening at the youth groups.
  5. Many kids like to feel needed and useful. Set up activities that make kids feel they have a purpose in life and are contributing to the community. Example: Have the kids help organize and run food & clothes drives for the poor, get the kids engaged in environmental endeavors like planting a garden, have the teens tutor younger students, gather the group together to make home visits to sick children or the elderly or even do big brother/ sister type activities with disadvantaged kids.
  6. Pray, Pray & Pray! Gather all the leaders, organizers, & priest to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and ask God to bless your endeavors so that they can bare fruit that glorifies God alone. Ask the parish community to keep the youth group in their prayers. Also, seek the aid of the Virgin Mary, all the angels and the saints by asking for their intersession. To me, this one is the most important of them all. WIth God, all things are possible.
I wish you the best.
 
If you currently have a few young people who are coming to the youth group, ask them what would make their friends want to attend. Perhaps start a youth council to run the youth group with the help of a trusted adult or two. Young people are much more likely to come to something planned by someone their age, especially if they come the first time to help out a friend who was on the planning committee. Let the youth take ownership in the group, let them take pride in building something that they feel connected to. By having them take over the leadership, they will take on the responsibility to bring others to the group.
 
paperclip21 said:
Hi everyone,

We have a youth group that has been running for two year, since WYD 08. We’re in a medium-sized Cathedral parish in the country with two Local Catholic High Schools and a University. At the moment we are having real problems attracting young people. We have a rotating program on Wednesdays with a Bible Study, Catechesis, Social night and Prayer night and even a mission statement, but getting the word out there is impossible. I’m on the Parish Council which has an over-representation of teachers, and when I approached them about our problem they showed an distinct apathy to it. Instead of helping us with funding they decided to fund a chaplain for themselves, with no connection to the parish. Thankfully our priests are very supportive, one even helps organise.

The last night we had we were down to 7 people, 2 were priests and two were organisers. I’m beginning to really worry that we aren’t attracting enough people to make it worthwhile. I have no idea where to start getting the information out there. 🤷

Any help would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Paperclip:

I’ve dealt with Terrorists, and with Church Politics. Frankly, I prefer the Terrorists - At least they’re honest about who they are. The one time I had an agreement with Terrorists, they kept it, while the time I had an agreement with a Bishop, he didn’t.

Have your Parish Priests talked to the Parish Council about the need for Youth Evangelization? Have they expressed their “regrets” about the Parish Council not funding the Youth Group while providing a “Chaplain” for themselves? You said these people are Teachers - Has anyone asked them why they won’t fund an outreach to the students they teach? or, Why they believe Catholic students don’t need to learn the Catholic Faith or to meet and pray with other Catholics their own age?

This may be one way to get a couple of the members invested. Have you thought of inviting one of these “Teachers” to lead the “Youth Group”? or, Asking if they have kids themselves and would like to be involved if they don’t want to lead the Group?? There are a lot of things one (or more) of these people could do - providing a house to meet in, preparing a Bible Study, leading music, bringing food, printing fliers…

I suspect you’re getting resistance because of “Hurt-Feelings” and “Not-Invented Here” Syndrome. The devil has used this combination to hobble/destroy more ministries than almost all causes combined - they’re both tied to good old human pride. You’re going to use vanity to counteract Satan’s appeal to human pride. and, You’re going to pray like heck:
Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
traditioninaction.org/religious/b009rpMichael.htm
St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer
joyfulheart.com/stpatrick/breastplate.htm
Grateful to the Dead - St. Patrick’s Breastplate

FYI, It won’t hurt to ask if one of them either knows how to play the guitar or knows someone who knows how to play the guitar. This will make it “Their project”…

No matter what -
  1. Announce the meetings at all Masses in all parishes,
  2. Print and distribute fliers to all Parishes, High Schools, Community Colleges;
  3. MySpace, Facebook,Twitter - A Facebook Page can do wonders
  4. Find someone who can play the guitar and some songbooks - Here’s a sampling. I admit they’re Protestant, but they’re ahead of us on this:
    The Praise & Worship Fake Book:…
    Best of Contemporary: Over 400 Songs…
    Praise and Worship Songbook - Singer’s Edition …
    John Michael Talbot Songbooks
Here’s another idea –
Check into something called Catholic Underground
catholicunderground.net/home.html
Catholic Underground will come into a Parish or Diocese and Hold Monthly worship services (Includes Vespers done to music, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confession with concerts afterwards) for young people ages 15-30. I’ve seen as many as 300 young people in my local parish praising the Lord and adoring Him in the Blessed Sacrament (90+ received the Sacrament of Reconciliation - The Friars of the Renewal brought 6 priests, the Parish supplied 2 more & they were busy for 1-1/2 hours).

Calvary Chapel used to play music before their concerts - First recorded music, and then sing-a-long. Here is a sample of Christian Music young people listen to…
Project Damage Control - Mechanism
indieheaven.com/artist_main.php?id=20013
Project Damage Control - PDC
cdbaby.com/cd/projectdc
John Michael Talbot Discography
facebook.com/discography/?id=199640365334
Resurrection Band
resurrectionband.com/
Petra
petrafiles.com/petraspective/index-petra.html
Servant
new.music.yahoo.com/servant/albums/

I admit that I know the Protestant Artists, but a reasonably ambitious search should produce a couple of Catholic artists… I hope this gets you started.
Your Brother & Servant in Christ, Michael
 
paperclip21 said:
Hi . I’m beginning to really worry that we aren’t attracting enough people to make it worthwhile. I have no idea where to start getting the information out there.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
you won’t attract more kids until those now attending invite their friends, because no matter what you call it, they still see this as primarily social

following the advice of my 9th graders last night, I am getting my granddaughter to help me set up a puzzleannie.ccd facebook this weekend, they are unanimous that this is the only way they will get any information I want them to have
 
Paperclip21:

Have you considered the resources and programs offered by:

lifeteen.com

or

catholicyouthministry.com/

The “Lifeteen” program has been active at my parish for several years, there’s a “Lifeteen Mass” held every Sunday evening with a “Lifeteen Choir/Band” that sing both contemporary Catholic music as well as traditional music. After Mass, there’s a “Life Night” with pot luck supper, programs, social, etc. (Actually, the Lifeteen Mass is often the best attended of all the services at our Parish. ;))

Although we have a large parish (over 2500 families), the only negative I can think of about the program is that a higher percentage of the “youth” don’t participate. Presently, there’s only around 125+/- active in Lifeteen.😦

As far as contemporary “Catholic” music, have you heard of David Kaufman (not the actor:thumbsup:):

goodforthesoulmusic.com/
 
First of all make sure the youth group has a catchy and appealing name. For example the youth group I attend is named, “Breath of Life” (BOL - pronounced “bowl”). Its short, straight to the point and its catchy.

A useful tool this youth group in particular uses is making youth videos/movies/skits.

To get a feel for this very powerful youth group of the perish I belong to, you can watch this, youtube.com/user/BreathOfLife27#p/a/u/1/OUMJVo3rBj0.

That video was created a few years ago (I believe 4 or 5) and it is still going on today. As of now we have an average of 100 teenagers on a Saturday night attending weekly.

Their agenda is (starting off every week with) Rosary, Talk/Game, Small group. Every week is different but the things I listed are things they do more often. (kids LOVE small groups)

MAKE SURE to get the perish to recognize the youth group and set an ad on the churches website,
kaldu.org/15_Youth/BreathOfLife/BOL.html.

More work done by people from this youth can be seen on this page,
youtube.com/user/boltz5287#p/u/2/g1CiWsBznCA. (Joe Everyman, Making Saint Andrew, Cloud of Witnesses, etc. -series).

I really hope this helped.
P.S. KIDS love if you do something like this,
youtube.com/user/boltz5287#p/u/69/NlNGlOkAxvM.

(“God is good, All the time,” is the slogan of the youth group. The leaders yell God is good! and the kids reply, “All the time” and vice versa, “All the time”, “God is good”. That is also a good way to quiet the kids down).

God bless 🙂
 
The most successful Youth Ministry that I see in my city takes place on the weekends, and has roles for the Youth to do - the only things the adults do are provide the food (yes, there has to be food) and help the kids get organized.

They have planning meetings with the core group of kids (10 high school aged kids) every Saturday evening (which gives them the rest of the week to gather materials, rehearse skits, make music CDs and PowerPoint presentations, etc.) and they have the main event every Friday night (which brings out about 50-100 kids, depending on the time of year and on what they are doing).

They start every night with ice-breaker games and music, and they finish every night with Adoration. The kids themselves run the Friday event, with the adults in attendance just to stay in the background and give quiet reminders and suggestions to the kids who are actually running it. The non-leader kids never even really notice the adults - all of the focus is on the leader kids.

The Saturday meetings are also made very attractive for the leader kids, too, by having them read, sing, or usher at the 5:00 pm Saturday Mass, followed by pizza or spaghetti and planning directly after the Mass. The parents love it because they get the evening off from their teenagers, and they don’t have to give them dinner. 😉

But to get this, you do have to make it a parish priority, and you really do have to fund it - materials for that number of kids don’t come cheap (a lot of what they do is on PowerPoint, and they also make good use of the Internet), and neither does the food - but you won’t get the kids out, if you don’t have a slick-looking program, and if you don’t feed them. Last I understood, they had a budget of $100.00 a week - and they were spending the whole thing.
 
paperclip21 said:
At the moment we are having real problems attracting young people.
Click to expand...
Go where the young people are:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Go where their parents are:
  • Flyers
  • Bulletin announcements
Get a core group of youth, design programs that *they *think are interesting and meaningful, at times when *they *can attend, and have *them *promote it through *their *social network.

Target the activities in four areas:
Social
Sports
Service
Spiritual

And, most of all, you must always remember it is **not **about numbers. One or one hundred, it’s about souls and personal relationships with Christ… not getting a lot of people to attend. I’ve seen youth programs that have lots of attendance-- but it’s for the free pizza not Christ.
 
This seminarian have attracted many youths in the Bay Area.
Check out one of his YouTube videos,
Evangelizing Through Rap, is one of his ministry.
You can show his videos on one of your meetings.

youtube.com/watch?v=ibhTMyyaChA
 
Welcome to our world. While trying to observe a young couple at our son’s youth class I was accused of being confrontational after being refused admittance to the building they were located. After several lies and overexagerations designed to discredit me I found my faith on the line with the entire will of God over us being Catholic. Why would God allow such self-serving people in charge over the Faith Formation programs for youth? They’re afraid I guess of losing control over their PAID ministry. 🤷 I’m used to youth ministers being volunteer and that makes for a better more heart felt ministry IMHO.

Anyway, my wife suggests having the teens schedule outings, i.e. movie night, paint ball or lazer tag night, etc. Outings with their friends in the context of the Catholic Youth Program. The kids want fellowship with other kids with similar backgrounds. Include prayer, short lessons that get straight to the point (pithy), and make it meaningful to them. One can harp about all the worlds tragic qualities, but these children need a positive environment that moves them to want to develop a personal relationship with God - meanign own their faith, Take them on a “Go See It” seminary, convent, etc. These are some good examples I can come up with. Solid youth programs spread by word of mount more than fliers. But it doesn’t hurt to have a good one to pass around or post around town or parish.

As far as Catholic teachers are concerned, I fear they are a lost cause and are tremendously guilty of many sins in chasing unsuspecting Catholics desiring to participate. Catholic schools no longer exist to meet the needs of Catholics being persecuted in the public school, but rather to exist for the extra pompous mentality associated with the upper middle class. SEE ME! I’m better than you. Unless you live in a huge metropolitan city with gang infested schools Catholic schools have become worst than the public schools both academically and spiritually. I don’t mean to start a fight, but it is my opinion and I’m sticking to this because I want to help transform those in charge in the schools to be there for Christ and not their own selfish desires. We’re supposed to serve, not be served. I refuse to donate anything to the parish school in our parish now after experiencing what its like to send our sweet children to those den of self-serving wolves. The most anti-Catholics I’ve met are in control of the Catholic schools and love to misguide our youth down the wrong path with false Church teaching. We prefer CCD over Catholic Schools now.

PLEASE, continue to work for the good of the children. Hopefully we can band together across the world to increase the CCD program to the same level of support the Catholic schools receive because CCD serves many more Catholics in the world than Catholic schools do.
 
The teens should have an opportunity to ask questions anonymously, like scratch pad and Q&A box. It can be their own questions, or pointed questions other kids ask them (typical anti-Catholic stuff), or whatever–collect the questions each week and that gives you time to prepare good responses for the Q&A segment for the following week. Treating their questions seriously will help them a lot. Then if there’s discussion, it’s about how do we live out this teaching, how do we prepare ourselves for the questions and comments others have about the Catholic faith, etc.

Don’t water down the message to be cool–kids want to be challenged and to feel heroic and needed and like they’re contributors. Get them New Testaments or Gospels, even–get them in the habit of Scripture reading. Sometimes a whole Bible is intimidating because they begin at page 1 and get lost in the census and begats fairly quickly. Start with the Gospels, then NT, and then grow from there.

A basic Bible literacy seminar like the Bible Timeline or Great Adventure or Our Father’s Plan–that can give them the big picture understanding of how the Bible fits together and leads to the fulfillment of the promises in the Catholic Church.

Have a special program for the recent high school graduates about to go off to college–how to keep your faith in college. They are going to hear a bunch of attacking statements from professors, likely. So this is helping them prepare for a challenging time in their life.

Teach them about different devotions, and art, and music, and cultural and historical contributions of the church–guest speakers with brief programs. I was so poorly catechized I could not understand religious themes in art until I taught myself as an adult.

The more the youth can be mentored for leadership and involvement, the more the agenda and content is based on their interests and (name removed by moderator)ut and needs, the better. If it’s just a program adults are doing at them, they’ll smell that and think it’s lame and fall away from participation. Adults at war over petty turf is even lamer.

Good luck!
 
paperclip21 said:
Hi everyone,

We have a youth group that has been running for two year, since WYD 08. We’re in a medium-sized Cathedral parish in the country with two Local Catholic High Schools and a University. At the moment we are having real problems attracting young people. We have a rotating program on Wednesdays with a Bible Study, Catechesis, Social night and Prayer night and even a mission statement, but getting the word out there is impossible. I’m on the Parish Council which has an over-representation of teachers, and when I approached them about our problem they showed an distinct apathy to it. Instead of helping us with funding they decided to fund a chaplain for themselves, with no connection to the parish. Thankfully our priests are very supportive, one even helps organise.

The last night we had we were down to 7 people, 2 were priests and two were organisers. I’m beginning to really worry that we aren’t attracting enough people to make it worthwhile. I have no idea where to start getting the information out there. 🤷

Any help would be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Hi Clip, visit the highschools for a day, specifically computer class to recruit some kids to make a Facebook page for your youth group. Let them run a little wild to attract non-catholic kids too. Stop the alternating thing that is a big turn off. Schedule those things on seperate days. You may want to try running the youth group in the warm weather at a park or beach.
 
Ok, I’m a young person, so I thought I would insert my opinion.

The most important thing is community! The group could be doing the most boring things ever, but if I like the people there, I’ll come anyways.

Things that might be cool:
  • a bible study
  • discussion nights
  • a book club (Theology of the Body for Beginners? Letters to a Young Catholic?)
  • Pasta Feed (a night where you just hang out and eat delicious pasta!)
The most important is that the young people feel a sense of ownership… so maybe have the few young people still left help plan the activities! That way they’ll be even more motivated to invite their friends.

Another thing that can really help is personal invitation. I myself have seen the power of this! If you run into any young folks, ask them personally to come. The priests and other young people can do this, too.

just my two cents!
 
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