Youth group ideas

[Renarax]

Hi
I posted this earlier today in a different section but got very few replies. So I thought I’d try another section to see if this is the correct place.

In this culture, how do you pass on on your faith to other peoples kids? In other words- if you had a youth group of 7 to 9 year old’s, how do you influence them so hard that they’ll be more than Sunday Catholics and instead be Catholic their whole lives?
My theory is that if they think they’re doing something important in the world they’ll try getting more involved. Let me know what you think of my ideas
1- we can give badges like boy scouts do. For example they’ll get badges for various activities. The badges will be joy, love, self control and whatever the other fruits are.

2- they will spend time with physically handicapped kids and make friends with them. They will personally bring them to every Saturday youth group and Sunday mass. I’m a bit hesitant to bring mentally challenged kids because of the way kids can bully them, but maybe I’ll change my mind.

3-the same thing with old people. They can help each other grow in faith and enjoy together.

4-making church grounds beautiful and some can help make a healthy post mass meal and games to glorify the body.

5- emphasizing living like a christian (I don’t believe children should read the bible) but clearly stating that creation didn’t happen in 6 days or that god sends people to burn. My version of hell is more orthodox ( heaven and hell are in same place but non believers will ‘gnash their teeth’ seeing gods love for his believers)

6- Using themes to celebrate patron saints days

So tell me what you think. You think my ideas will work? Please list some of your own ideas.

Also if you can, I have one other question that needs answering. (In evangelism)

 

[aTraditionalist]

That all sounds great but try focusing on the core issues like the four last things. Heaven, Hell, Death and Judgement is what it’s all about.

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[aTraditionalist]

Sorry for the double post but I just caught your “orthodox” hell. Check your facts before you begin instructing others.

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[Cat]

My husband and I were Evangelical Protestants for the first 47 years of our lives. As you probably know, Evangelical Protestants have some awesome youth groups. Both of us have great memories of our youth groups.

First of all, when you use the term “Youth Group,” what are you talking about? I have never heard this term applied to 7-9 year olds. “Youth Group” refers to teenagers.

Children need some kind of “club”, not a “youth group.” The club should be very well-organized and planned out. Nowadays, children and their parents are busy with many activities, and a club that involves just sitting around and coloring will be a waste of time for many families.

I believe that there are Catholic clubs already available, with guide books and materials that you can purchase. One club that I have heard of is “Little Flowers.” I have not heard of any Catholic clubs for boys, but they’re probably there. Do some looking around.

If you can’t find anything, then I strongly suggest that you spend some time visiting the various Protestant children’s clubs in your area. I personally love Pioneer Clubs because of their emphasis on adult role modeling of Christian behavior. Lot of churches do AWANA, which I do not like because of the competitive nature of the activities and the emphasis on rote memorization of Bible verses with no attempt to teach the children what these verses mean. But I do think that Catholic children (and their parents) could benefit by memorizing at least some Bible verses. There are other children’s clubs in Protestant churches, and some are denominational in nature. Ask if you can visit and then study what goes on, and figure out what you like, what you don’t like, and how you can develop a Catholic children’s club in your parish.

IMO, a good scouting program is a great way for a parish to minister to their children. Boy Scouts is still a pretty good organization with values that are consistent with Catholic teaching. Girl Scouts is problematic, but if a Catholic parish can run it themselves with a minimum of interference by the regional or national organization, it can work really well.

I do believe that religious clubs for children should be segregated by sex; i.e., boys and girls separate. Only very little children (6 and under) should be mixed. Boys and girls are very different and have different interests. Even though it is fashionable at this time in history to blur these differences and treat boys like girls and girls like boys, this is not a wise way to run a church club for children.

I love your ideas about service projects, but I think that most children are not mature enough to do most of the things on your list. Children’s service projects need to be geared towards their abilities and skills. Certainly there are children who are capable of doing gardening and yard work, but most children are just not physically or mentally mature enough to do a full-fledged yard clean-up for a parish. Same for working with handicapped children–some children would be upset and disturbed to be around children who are handicapped.

When I taught Pioneer Clubs, we did things for the local Pregnancy Life Care Center, because all our children (girls) understood babies and loved them. One of the best projects we did was stenciling baby t-shirts–the children loved doing this, and the little shirts were so cute. The children were assured that each new baby born to a Pregnancy Life Center mommy would receive one of their t-shirts, and this thrilled our children!

Children could also do All-Church Collections of Diapers, which is always a huge need at Pregnancy Life Care Centers.

As for giving badges, a lot of the church clubs available for purchase have some kind of badges or pins, but I would discourage giving them for service projects. We shouldn’t be doing these projects for any material reward, and we shouldn’t teach our children this, either. What I suggest is after a project is done, having a party at a local McDonald’s and asking each child to bring 5.00 to buy a Happy Meal. Or perhaps a kind parishioner will pick up the tab for this–this used to happen in my Pioneer Club all the time–a dad would offer to treat all of us to pizza.

As for teaching the children, please leave that to experts. Don’t try to do it yourself. As aTraditionalist pointed out, you have some fuzzy theology. So bring in a priest if you want to teach theology.

Now for my hard saying, and I know this will offend you. But I don’t apologize.

I think that your statement that “children should not read the Bible” is so very wrong that I question your qualifications to lead or even be involved with children’s ministries or youth group. When it comes to working with children and teenagers, the workers/volunteers/sponsors need to be rock-solid when it comes to Catholic teachings, and you don’t appear to be rock-solid. My suggestion is that your bring your concerns about a children’s church club to your priest or to the staff person in your parish who works with education, and not be involved other than as a volunteer helper at the activities.

Children WANT to read the Bible! They WANT to understand it. I don’t believe a church club for children should be a big Bible study/teaching time, but there should be some teaching time and qualified people should do that teaching.

You ask how you pass on your faith? By living it, and allowing the children to see you living it. I believe strongly in role-modeling as the best way to teach children. Not only the parents, but the club leaders should be role models for the children that they work with, and show them by their lives and words what “being a Christian” means. That is the best way to teach children.

 

[Richard_White]

5- emphasizing living like a christian (I don’t believe children should read the bible) but clearly stating that creation didn’t happen in 6 days or that God sends people to burn. My version of hell is more orthodox ( heaven and hell are in same place but non believers will ‘gnash their teeth’ seeing God’s love for his believers)

Whoah! You don’t think children should read the Bible? Why? They should read with their parents and know certain verses by heart.

No, obviously God doesn’t send people to hell; it is there own choice that they have disobeyed God in such a way and that therefore that is their consequence. However, your “vision of hell” makes no sense whatsoever. Heaven, the abode of God, His angels, and His saints, is completely and utterly separate from hell, the place of the devil and the damned.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I don’t think you should start going around, spewing your false ideas to any children or their parents.

 

[Renarax]

Those are some great ideas. Good for your hard work in your church. Like you said I’m not qualified ( I’m only 17. Not starting before 30) so plenty of time to learn.) Though I I just read about the orthodox hell just yesterday. Pardon me for that.
But the reason I said kids shouldn’t read the bible that young is that when they become teens they start getting doubts. I had my doubts as recent as two months ago when I read that the pyramids are older than the flood (though my faith became stronger after that)
But come on. . . How many parents would want their kids to read about the daughters getting pregnant by Lot. They should atleast be 14 to read that kind of stuff. The new testament I agree to.
The reason I said 7 to 9 years is because I I can’t deal with teens. Making friends with them is all right but preaching will make it odd. Small kiddos are are the best.
Perhaps you have more ideas? I also had an idea to take them to synagogues someday to show how the ancients used to pray. Anyone is welcome to share their ideas. I can always learn more.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Hi
I posted this earlier today in a different section but got very few replies. So I thought I’d try another section to see if this is the correct place.

In this culture, how do you pass on on your faith to other peoples kids? In other words- if you had a youth group of 7 to 9 year old’s, how do you influence them so hard that they’ll be more than Sunday Catholics and instead be Catholic their whole lives?
My theory is that if they think they’re doing something important in the world they’ll try getting more involved. Let me know what you think of my ideas
1- we can give badges like boy scouts do. For example they’ll get badges for various activities. The badges will be joy, love, self control and whatever the other fruits are.

2- they will spend time with physically handicapped kids and make friends with them. They will personally bring them to every Saturday youth group and Sunday mass. I’m a bit hesitant to bring mentally challenged kids because of the way kids can bully them, but maybe I’ll change my mind.

3-the same thing with old people. They can help each other grow in faith and enjoy together.

4-making church grounds beautiful and some can help make a healthy post mass meal and games to glorify the body.

5- emphasizing living like a christian (I don’t believe children should read the bible) but clearly stating that creation didn’t happen in 6 days or that god sends people to burn. My version of hell is more orthodox ( heaven and hell are in same place but non believers will ‘gnash their teeth’ seeing gods love for his believers)

6- Using themes to celebrate patron saints days

So tell me what you think. You think my ideas will work? Please list some of your own ideas.

Also if you can, I have one other question that needs answering. (In evangelism)

#1 and most importantly Pope St John Paul II pointed out that the parents are the primary educators of their children. So if you wish to have any lasting effect on kids, you need to involve the parents and educated and change their lives, so that their children will follow.

1. badges are ok. But kids will most likely not be interested in them.
2. Horrible idea. How are they supposed to personally bring a handicapped person to mass? And the WILL be friends with them!? There is so much wrong with that idea. Luckily no parish I know of would let you do anything like that!
3. Ok. Give concrete examples of this. Are you talking about visiting an old folks home and maybe doing a Christmas Pageant? Ok good idea.
   4)Good idea.
4. I will get to 5 at the end.
5. I think that with number 4 these are your two best ideas.
   But here is the problem. Many saints contradict #5.

(I don’t believe children should read the bible) but clearly stating that creation didn’t happen in 6 days or that god sends people to burn. My version of hell is more orthodox ( heaven and hell are in same place but non believers will ‘gnash their teeth’ seeing gods love for his believers)

This one tells me that I would pull my children out of your youth group. Your views are not correct or Catholic here. This would cause me concern over any other thing you sought to teach. 1) My children from age 6 on read the Bible. We read it every night before bed. IF my children were in your class they would quote chapter and verse what subject you were teaching. Suppressing Holy scripture is horrible.
You say your version of hell is more orthodox yet it is quite heterodox. Can you show your version of hell in the Bible or in the great theologians of the Church? Namely that it is the same place and that the punishment is the jealousy of God’s love? Because the Bible is very clear on this. There is a great chasm between heaven and hell, there is no communication between one and the other, and the Prince of Hell is the Devil.

Finally, despite your odd ideas so far, that you would seek to tackle “creation” in a way that you do not have authority to claim is also concerning to me. While I do not subscribe to the 6 day theology literally. Most likely, I also do not subscribe to whatever other position you have. The Church has not seen fit to go as far as you have and declare something false. Creation need not be a part of any youth group except to say that the world was created by God and created good. And how you will talk about this without the kids reading the Bible I will never know.

No, Your youth group is not something I would send my kids to.

 

[pianistclare]

Those are some great ideas. Good for your hard work in your church. Like you said I’m not qualified ( I’m only 17. Not starting before 30) so plenty of time to learn.) Though I I just read about the orthodox hell just yesterday. Pardon me for that.
But the reason I said kids shouldn’t read the bible that young is that when they become teens they start getting doubts. I had my doubts as recent as two months ago when I read that the pyramids are older than the flood (though my faith became stronger after that)
But come on. . . How many parents would want their kids to read about the daughters getting pregnant by Lot. They should atleast be 14 to read that kind of stuff. The new testament I agree to.
The reason I said 7 to 9 years is because I I can’t deal with teens. Making friends with them is all right but preaching will make it odd. Small kiddos are are the best.
Perhaps you have more ideas? I also had an idea to take them to synagogues someday to show how the ancients used to pray. Anyone is welcome to share their ideas. I can always learn more.

Oh! You’re 17?
I was alarmed at your initial post. Some of the things (already addressed by others) are worrying.
Volunteer to be a classroom aide for a seasoned and certified Catechist.
Watch and learn. Meanwhile, go any catechist classes and Bible studies that are offered in your parish or Diocese.
The Diocese generally ask for at least 2 people per classroom, so you would be helping your parish in a very necessary way.
Approach your DRE and then do whatever he or she will permit you to do. Don’t worry if your big ideas don’t come to fruition right now. Plenty of time to save the world.
Now is the time for YOU to learn your faith. One can’t share what one doesn’t have a firm grasp of. Having said that, I have a few teens who are classroom aides and the children love them. They are a big help to the teacher in watching the children, helping them with projects, and helping them to learn their prayers.
There is a place for you in the ministry. But ask your parish leadership where that would be, and then, humbly do it.
Peace.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Oh! You’re 17?
I was alarmed at your initial post. Some of the things (already addressed by others) are worrying.
Volunteer to be a classroom aide for a seasoned and certified Catechist.
Watch and learn. Meanwhile, go any catechist classes and Bible studies that are offered in your parish or Diocese.
The Diocese generally ask for at least 2 people per classroom, so you would be helping your parish in a very necessary way.
Approach your DRE and then do whatever he or she will permit you to do. Don’t worry if your big ideas don’t come to fruition right now. Plenty of time to save the world.
Now is the time for YOU to learn your faith. One can’t share what one doesn’t have a firm grasp of. Having said that, I have a few teens who are classroom aides and the children love them. They are a big help to the teacher in watching the children, helping them with projects, and helping them to learn their prayers.
There is a place for you in the ministry. But ask your parish leadership where that would be, and then, humbly do it.
Peace.

I missed that as well about the OP being 17.

My answer may appear harsh because I thought I was writing to a person in charge of youth ministry.

OP

It is wonderful that you have this drive and pull to work in youth ministry. And it is great that you want to draw the youth to the faith.

As a former youth minister I can tell you that it is a great thing to do. But you need to be formed well in your own faith first and also be at an age where you can take on parents who in my opinion can be the hardest part of youth ministry. at 17, your role needs to be as a support for an existing youth program.

Good luck!

 

[Cat]

Oh! You’re 17?
I was alarmed at your initial post. Some of the things (already addressed by others) are worrying.
Volunteer to be a classroom aide for a seasoned and certified Catechist.
Watch and learn. Meanwhile, go any catechist classes and Bible studies that are offered in your parish or Diocese.
The Diocese generally ask for at least 2 people per classroom, so you would be helping your parish in a very necessary way.
Approach your DRE and then do whatever he or she will permit you to do. Don’t worry if your big ideas don’t come to fruition right now. Plenty of time to save the world.
Now is the time for YOU to learn your faith. One can’t share what one doesn’t have a firm grasp of. Having said that, I have a few teens who are classroom aides and the children love them. They are a big help to the teacher in watching the children, helping them with projects, and helping them to learn their prayers.
There is a place for you in the ministry. But ask your parish leadership where that would be, and then, humbly do it.
Peace.

Good ideas, all.

And same for the other posters on this thread so far.

OP, I’m a little worried about your comment–“small kiddoes are the best” in context with “making friends.” This kind of sets off some alarm bells in my mind. It sounds like you want to influence people to adopt your way of thinking about God and religion, but your way of thinking is mixed up at the moment and it would confuse children.

I think you need to back off of any kind of ministry other than helping older experienced people, and instead, concentrate on forming your own faith in line with the teachings of the Church. You need a club or youth group more than the “small kiddoes” need a club. Take care of yourself before taking care of others.

I do think that older teachers would appreciate some of your ideas about educating children by doing rather than speaking. But they would be able to adapt your ideas to the age group.

 

[pianistclare]

Also, in regard to #2

People are not allowed to transport other children to Mass if they work in church programs. It’s called “Safe Environment”.
Read up on the policies of the Diocese regarding the care and ministry of “Children and Vulnerable Persons”. It’s a VERY serious matter. For their protection and yours.

I get that you’re excited. But from reading BOTH of your threads, you are in no way qualified to consider forming your own group, furthermore, you will not be permitted to form your own group. Your priority should be to enroll yourself in a good faith building group. Not to mention a priest-driven Bible study.
Sorry. But as Director myself…your posts are red flags.

 

[Xantippe]

When I taught Pioneer Clubs, we did things for the local Pregnancy Life Care Center, because all our children (girls) understood babies and loved them. One of the best projects we did was stenciling baby t-shirts–the children loved doing this, and the little shirts were so cute. The children were assured that each new baby born to a Pregnancy Life Center mommy would receive one of their t-shirts, and this thrilled our children!

Awww. That’s adorable. That reminds me of a project a vegetarian friend did for her daughter before sending her to non-vegetarian grandma–they were onesies with hand-drawn puffy fabric paint messages that said stuff like “I’m sweet but don’t give me candy!” and “Animals are friends, not food!” (that’s a rough paraphrase). I can only imagine what the grandma thought about it, but they were actually adorably illustrated with little candies and piggies and so forth.

 

[Xantippe]

As for giving badges, a lot of the church clubs available for purchase have some kind of badges or pins, but I would discourage giving them for service projects. We shouldn’t be doing these projects for any material reward, and we shouldn’t teach our children this, either. What I suggest is after a project is done, having a party at a local McDonald’s and asking each child to bring 5.00 to buy a Happy Meal. Or perhaps a kind parishioner will pick up the tab for this–this used to happen in my Pioneer Club all the time–a dad would offer to treat all of us to pizza.

**That’s a very good idea–that the reward for doing good together is getting to have a fun meal together.

Even better if it’s a McDonald’s with a play structure and the kids are small enough to enjoy it. (There is a height restriction.)**

I think that your statement that “children should not read the Bible” is so very wrong that I question your qualifications to lead or even be involved with children’s ministries or youth group.

Yes.

/QUOTE]