My friend asked if I would help volenteer at a big youth ministry event (non catholic)

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One of my good friends who is non catholic asked me if I would help out in this big youth ministry event called “Acquire the Fire” acquirethefire.com/

He asked me because they are hurting for volunteers. They need about 80 by this weekend, and so far they only have about 10.

I’m usually put off by things that are non catholic, because I don’t know what their message is going to consist of. I want to help out my friend, as well as help young people get closer to God. I just don’t know if this is the way I should go about it.

I found this thread forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=298879

I just don’t know if by going, I might get confused with any possible false teachings. However, I don’t know if by not going, I’m being a “stuck up catholic” which will box me in to sharing the true faith with others. Its possible that my Catholicism could come up in conversation and I can share why I believe the Catholic church to be the true church. Then again on that same note (which I suppose will be the case in every situation) They could ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to. (Which I can then go home and find the answer to further educate myself. But again, I’m taking all scenarios into consideration.

What do you guys think?
 
Go if you want, it might be interesting to see what goes on, after all your not there to be in Church but to help out, but if the preaching is bad you’ll know , I think it’d be interesting.
Just because your Catholic doesn’t mean you can’s do some volunteer work at another Christian Church as a one time thing. And your friend asked you.
 
Personally, I would not go. I recommend getting involved with LifeTeen if you have a heart for helping young people grow closer to Jesus. You don’t know what they will be teaching at this event.
 
I would say that you can go but there are to caveats. The first is that you must understand the teachings of the Catholic Church well enough to defend them and the second is that you make it clear ahead of time that if asked you will share the Catholic teachings and not anything that it is contrary to those.
 
It sure looks like a huge place, I"m older so it would not be my cup of tea, as it looks like it might be loud, their beliefs are

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

We believe that there is one God eternally existent in three persons: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the deity of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe in the present day works of the Holy Spirit to inspire and empower believers to be effective followers of Jesus Christ.

We believe in the resurrection of the saved to eternal life, and the everlasting punishment of those who have rejected God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation through His Son.

We strive to contribute to achieve greater unity in all that we do within the Body of Christ.
 
Bryan77 said:
I just don’t know if by going, I might get confused with any possible false teachings. However, I don’t know if by not going, I’m being a “stuck up catholic” which will box me in to sharing the true faith with others.
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Would your position be such that you could do this and, if it was, would this be something the sponsors would be ok with? That is, you do not want them to accept your help under false assumptions. In the same way that you do not want to give tacit support to things that are wrong, you also do not want to accidentally subvert their program.

Which is not to say that it would be wrong to present your faith there, only that it would be if they were expecting you not to.
Its possible that my Catholicism could come up in conversation and I can share why I believe the Catholic church to be the true church. Then again on that same note (which I suppose will be the case in every situation) They could ask me questions that I don’t know the answer to. (Which I can then go home and find the answer to further educate myself. But again, I’m taking all scenarios into consideration.
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What do you guys think?
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For me, it would depend on what the focus of the event was. If it was essentially a lot of prayer event, with lots of people from different Christian faiths sharing their beliefs etc, I’d probably be ok with it (although I personally would probably still not go, just because those types of events have never been my thing). In such an event, you could freely share your own views with anyone you interact with, and it would be understood that no one there speaks for everyone there. It could be, as you said, an opportunity to help others come closer to God and to share you belief in Catholicism.

But if it had any emphasis whatsoever on doctrinal instruction, with one particular, or a small group of, (non-Catholic) sects attempting to teach everyone else what was true, then I would not even consider it.
 
I second getting involved with LifeTeen.They are Catholic and they do good work. The group behind Acquire the Fire, Teen Mania Ministries, looks a little dodgy to me, at least going off Google and Wikipedia. There’s been some accusations of brainwashing and other cult-like activities. There have also been reports of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Regardless of the truth of these accusations, they do take a very hard line when it comes to Evangelicalism and do not believe that Catholics, or anyone else who disagrees with them, however slightly, are true Christians.
 
I agree with what the others have said but there is one thing you said that bothered me, and that was you being concerned others would think of you “being a stuck up Catholic”. Never EVER feel that way! You are being true to your faith by standing up for what you believe in and the Church’s teachings. That is NOT being stuck up - it is the OPPOSITE! It is to be greatly admired. A neighbor who attends an Evangelical church nearby attended the same “Acquire the Fire” gathering (in our particular state) a couple of times in past years, and she said that it is VERY charismatic and Evangelical. It is basically, oh how do I delicately put this, kinda like a “speed dating” approach to spreading their message, in that it is non-stop activities preaching the Gospel in their charismatic and evangelical view of things, and that is the ONLY thing that is discussed non-stop. The way she spoke of it kinda brought to mind mixing the old negro Southern Baptist “revivals” and their fervent and intense methods of messaging with the new evangelical “mega-churches” of today . I do agree with the others who said you need to find out in advance what your responsibilities are, whether you will be expected to help teach/spread their views of their beliefs (however you want to phrase it) and whether it will clash with your Catholic teachings. This alslo wouldn’t be a 2 or 3 hour event like chaperoning a school dance or football game – you would be there for quite awhile, and you need to take that into consideration also.
I will be blunt now - the very rural area I live in is comprised mostly of those who attend churches/functions which fall under the group you named. If it was me, I personally would NOT even consider going, because I have discovered here that those same God-fearing evangelical people are extremely INTOLERANT of Catholics, even referring to them IN PUBLIC PLACES such as the grocery store, school sporting events, etc., as “THOSE DAMN PAGAN PEDOPHILE CATHOLICS”.

I wish you luck in making your decision. I honestly do not feel that they would be at all receptive to you sharing your faith, even if they asked you first, and I fear you would be made to feel extremely ill at ease and unwelcome if you did share your beliefs. But, the choice is yours. But if it were me, there would be no way I’d even consider it, knowing how they feel about Catholics. Also, pray on it as much as you can before you give an answer. God may give you the answer if you just ask.
Good luck with your dilemna,
Pat
 
Woah. I did some more research, and I have decided NOT to go!

I don’t know how truthful these blogs are, but the word “cult” keeps ringing.

According to these blogs, it looks like Acquire the fire is a recruiting tool for Teen Mania’s other things, such as a 1 year internship program. These videos don’t seem right. I don’t see anything wrong with being disciplined in proper setting. Such as in sports, But forcing kids to do stuff or else feel like a failed christian is not right!

(has some links to the videos)
teenmaniawatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/acquire-fire-where-it-all-begins.html

What does having a clean room have to do with being a good Christian?
viddler.com/v/956a98e4

“If you fail this program, you aren’t a good Christian” Is the message I get from it.

I also came across this website.
recoveringalumni.com/

Look at the disturbing youtube search results of “teen mania”
youtube.com/results?search_query=teen+mania&oq=teen+mania&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=31134l32927l0l34029l10l10l0l1l1l0l123l918l2.7l9l0
Watch the first video which is a news story. I’m disgusted!
 
Bryan77 said:
Woah. I did some more research, and I have decided NOT to go!

I don’t know how truthful these blogs are, but the word “cult” keeps ringing.

According to these blogs, it looks like Acquire the fire is a recruiting tool for Teen Mania’s other things, such as a 1 year internship program. These videos don’t seem right. I don’t see anything wrong with being disciplined in proper setting. Such as in sports, But forcing kids to do stuff or else feel like a failed christian is not right!
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Good decision. I am somewhat familiar with the group from my time in evangelicalism, and I was never comfortable with it even then. There is too much loud annoying “Christian” music at this event, and they basically emotionally manipulate kids into making “decisions for Christ.” Like most of these groups, they are probably well-meaning, but it’s really not something a Catholic should be involved in.
 
Thanks for your thoughts guys. Also, thanks for letting me know about LifeTeen. I see there’s one in my city. I’m going to look more into it!
 
Bryan77 said:
Thanks for your thoughts guys. Also, thanks for letting me know about LifeTeen. I see there’s one in my city. I’m going to look more into it!
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Good for you. My parish has a big LifeTeen program and they do a lot of good. A couple of years ago, one young woman who went through the program and joined the staff team left to become a religious sister with the Dominican Sisters of Mary in Ann Arbor. I just checked the site to get an update on her, and found out that she is now a novice. 👍
 
Now I just have to find a way to tell my friend about all their shady activity. He’s a busy guy, so I don’t think he’ll sign up to one of their things at least.
 
In this day and age us Christians need to be united together. I would look at this event as being an opportunity to sort of bridge that gap that exists between protestants and Catholics. Plus the event is christian and will inevitably be doing some good work so why not help it succeed.
 
zertech said:
In this day and age us Christians need to be united together. I would look at this event as being an opportunity to sort of bridge that gap that exists between protestants and Catholics. Plus the event is christian and will inevitably be doing some good work so why not help it succeed.
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We’ve already listed ample reasons why not.
 
zertech said:
In this day and age us Christians need to be united together. I would look at this event as being an opportunity to sort of bridge that gap that exists between protestants and Catholics. Plus the event is christian and will inevitably be doing some good work so why not help it succeed.
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Good to see another Christ-follower who understands the idea that baptized non-Catholic Christians (no matter how poorly they understand the Catholic faith) are fellow members of the Body of Christ (as the Church teaches).

I’d be curious what kind of youtube and google results would be found when searching for topics critical of the Catholic Church or any of its ministers/ministries…

#1 internet user lesson: don’t believe everything you see on the internet!!! That would be called JUDGING, and could also be considered GOSSIP. Until a person has actually experienced an “emotionally charged” or charismatic non-Catholic Christian sermon/worship service, it’s best to hold your judgments to yourselves. (And just because some of those non-Catholics might be very judgmental of Catholics, it still doesn’t make it right!)

I think Jesus talked about this on a couple of occasions in His Gospels.

Peace, Joy, & Love to all of you in Christ!!!
 
i had a similar situation in high school where a close friend of mine invited me to an event that was going to be taken place at their christian church. even though i’m a strong catholic, i decided to go. while i was there i had a great time. i tried not mixing and comparing the christian church to the catholic church because though some of the beliefs and rituals differ, we’re still honoring the same god. it was an awesome experience and as long as you are there to help people get closer to god and to serve god, there is no shame in doing so. i even talked to my priest about attending the “zion” (christian church) because i found myself attending every wednesday for youth night and he said as long as i’m still attending the catholic mass on sundays, he didn’t see a problem with spending an extra day honoring god. anyway, i hope it all works out for you!

p.s if you do decide to go, try not to think too much about it…enjoy the good christian music & awesome people there 🙂
 
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