By Annie Grandell
I had been a youth minister in the same suburban parish cluster for 9 years and I loved my job. I loved putting on my weekly youth group. I loved working with my Core Team of young adults. The mission trips, the World Youth Day pilgrimages, the retreats – I loved it all. But after 9 years of watching the vast my most engaged teens go off to college and stop going to Mass, I had to ask the question: “Is youth ministry working?” When I discovered YDisciple, God turned my entire paradigm of ministry on its head.
Reversal of Small Group and Large Group Opportunities
YDisciple gives the training and resources for parishes to launch small Discipleship Groups for their teens. Many youth ministries offer a weekly large group gathering and occasional small group studies. Conversely, YDisciple emphasizes regular small group gatherings meeting at different days, times, and locations, freeing parish leaders to offer more intentional large group gatherings spread throughout the calendar.
Parent-Driven, not Dropped-Off
Parent engagement is central to YDisciple’s process. Parents are asked to be the driving force in the forming of Discipleship Groups and hosting groups in their homes. YDisciple also makes it easy to share the video content as well as a Parent Sheet with discussion questions with parents. So, rather than a parent asking vague questions about the group, they can ask specific questions about specific content, making Discipleship Groups a springboard for faith-sharing in the home.
Mentors are Recruited by Families
Finding good volunteers is often one of the most difficult tasks for parish leaders. Instead of the parish being inundated by staff requests, teens and parents work together to identify someone in the parish they want to be their group’s mentor. Imagine how an adult would respond when being told, “Johnny wants you to mentor him.” This sort of invitation makes youth ministry bigger than a youth minister.
Dialogue vs. Monologue
People are more likely to retain and internalize information when it is received as part of a dialogue. While most youth ministry hinges on large group talks and limited small group processing, YDisciple is structured to provide solid content from some of the top people in Catholic youth ministry, but in short segments with well-crafted discussion questions throughout.
Customization of Formation
No teen is interested in answers to questions he or she isn’t asking. One of the great difficulties of large group ministry is that each meeting has to have one topic posed to a large number of teens who may or may not be interested in the content. YDisciple offers dozens of videos that cover a broad range of topics from personal prayer to sexuality that allow mentors to follow the needs of his or her small group. Each group in the parish may be discussing a different topic, but parish leaders can be assured that the content is high quality and solidly Catholic without spending hours writing studies themselves.
Yes, YDisciple turns youth ministry on it’s head, but in truth it turns it right-side up.
