Need advice again...new ministry flyer

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brishen

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I’m starting a new ministry at our Parish the Pastoral Council thought was needed. A single adults ministry, as we already have a young adults ministry that ages out at 40, this new one would be 30 plus.

Anyone with experience with this let me know what has worked or not for you please! I’m very shy, so not sure why I took this on lol.

In the meanwhile I have to make a flyer for the church foyer, ideas on appropriate catholic images that make sens in the context? Thanks!
 
How is this new ministry different from the “young adults” ministry?
 
Based off of what the OP stated, this would be for singles aged 30 and higher. The young adults ministry was 40 or younger. So while a 35 year old single person could nominally participate in both, a 35 year old husband with a 32 year old wife would not.
 
Our group gets together once a month and goes out to eat, maybe a movie. Every couple of months they take a day-trip or over-nighter.
 
As Brendan said below, the Young Adults ends at 39, so there is basically nothing for people over 40 (Bible Study & Lectio Divina not withstanding). It wasn’t my idea, the Pastoral Council I guess sees a need.

@brendan: This will start at 35, but otherwise, yes you are correct.
 
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I belong to a very active group that officially serves 4 parishes but really is open to anyone. They have events for all ages, and also sub-groups for specific age brackets. Some of the events they do:

Hiking once a month.
Various talks by priests and other speakers, with a social afterwards.
Mass and brunch, or Mass and dinner
Feeding the homeless
Social events like dancing and happy hours

Once you get on the mailing list, you receive weekly emails with upcoming activities. They also have a meetup group. The lady who runs it does it as a paid job, so she has a lot of time to put into it, and she does a great job.
 
Ok you said 30 and up and that seemed like a lot of overlap with the YA group. Now you say 35+. Well it’s still got overlap which may confuse people.

Are you in this age group? Will you be ministering to peers?

In my experience (with almost 10 years of YA ministry) it should be a group that is peer led— formed by those with the interest and run by them. The activities likely won’t be much different from those of the YAs. Ours were a mix of: social, spiritual, service, and sports. That was the “4S” model we came up with.

I don’t see older singles as “different” only as needing people their own age— not the 20-somethings— to engage with.
 
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Sorry for the confusion, that was a typo on my part. There will be a 5 year overlap. Yes, I am 41, and involved in all the groups at church so I know many of the people that would potentially be joining.
Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut! 🙂
 
It is very important to form Catholic communities again. So that people get to know each other and perhaps become friends. To enjoy the company of other Catholics. I hope your ministry will be fruitful.

Ed
 
To avoid confusion, I’d call it a “Single Adults Group” and list it as for ages 30 +. Most 40 year olds I know do not consider themselves “young adults”.
 
Well, if I cause as much confusion in this ministry as I have in this thread, I’m in trouble! We have a “Young Adults” ministry for 18-39, this would be 35+ and yes, it would be called “Single Adults” or similar. Sorry my original typo(s?) has lead to all this…
 
brishen said:
In the meanwhile I have to make a flyer for the church foyer, ideas on appropriate catholic images that make sens in the context? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Blessings and Prayers [which is the thing you need to do daily with any ministry]. You can GOOGLE “Catholic Prayers” to teach or at least expose NEW Prayers too.

Another idea if the group is more along the studious lines is to learn about a NEW Saint each week [That becomes your task; again not more than 15-20 minutes. Maybe 10/15 for the sharing and 5 minutes for the discussion part??? This too can be Googled or use the Catholic Encyclopedia: “S” for Sain ts

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Home

Here’s an Idea for the title of your Flyer and maybe even the Ministry:

LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDID THINGS:

The in the ministry I would consider the following elements

Prayer opening [for guidance and open minds and hearts] and closing [I thanks and gratitude]

A brief bible passage {I suggest you stay in the NT and avoid the book of Revelations} OPEN discussion :What do YOU get from this… there is NO wrong answer; say 15 minutes [TRY without being PUSHY to stick with the times allotted]

Then an extended time for socializing; maybe BINGO or card playing? say 45 min to 1 hr]

Then closing prayer; asking for a volunteer; but don’t push it; you be ready with one.

You can also have a “SUGGESTION BOX” for idea’s that you take seriously for guidance.

Hope this is of some help to you my friend.

Let Us know how it works out.

Blessings,
Patrick
 
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Thanks Patrick, I appreciate your thoughtful reply. I’m afraid I’m not a super “social” person, and when asked if I wanted to lead this ministry I was so excited to get more involved in a ministry I didn’t really think before agreeing wholeheartedly…I would actually prefer if it was more faith based activities ( I love our bible study and lectio divina groups for example) but I’m going to hope the holy spirit was involved in me taking this on and I will have some modest success. fingers crossed
 
Thanks my new friend,

If you’d like a more Spiritual class, pole the people who come and get their ideas for what THEY would like; I can tell you from personal experience if you fail to meet expectations on meeting their needs {read that as wants] you can expect quick drop-outs.

So be sure to get names and phone numbers so you can invite them back.

This about filling their needs and expectations.

Give then options to choose from; then majority wins; OR you might even consider alternate class content to appease a larger group. A two week cycle.

Thanks again for stepping up for Christ, pray very much
Patrick

“PM” me if you’d like my e-mail address
 
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