The Necessity of Ongoing Formation

Lifelong formation is key to our journey as Catholic Christians. For lay ecclesial ministers, whether paid or volunteer, ongoing formation is a necessity! How can we expect to form young people, if we are not participating in the journey ourselves?

If we are to be youth ministry leaders, then we must attend to our own education and formation, hone our talents, and strengthen and/or develop our own skills. We are called in Renewing the Vision of Youth Ministry to empower young people to live as disciples of Christ, as responsible and active participants in the life and mission of the church, while encouraging their total personal and spiritual development. How can we do this?

In the themes of comprehensive youth ministry, leadership is called forth to guide comprehensive ministry. Leadership development is one of the eight components of comprehensive ministry. The bishops are giving us a number of clues as to how this must be accomplished. We are to call forth, affirm and empower youth and adults to use their gifts and talents, as well as train them to draw out gifts and talents in others. To do this, we must attend to developing our leadership skills in ministry.

Getting Started

A good place to begin is with your diocesan youth ministry office. This is where you will find local educational opportunities and training courses. On a national level, look to the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) for a variety of leadership training opportunities such as in-services, the New Diocesan Directors Institute, the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry and the Called to Witness program. On the NFCYM website there are a number academic institutions and organizations listed that offer degree and certificate programs in youth ministry.

Do not leave the website without looking at the list of Collaborating Members, many of which also offer resources and/or training in leadership and youth ministry.

Brief Overview of Opportunities

• The Center for Ministry Development offers a number of training programs as well as a variety of conferences and workshops for leadership in youth ministry. The Certificate in Youth Ministry Studies is a leadership training program to equip coordinators of youth ministry and program leaders to develop a comprehensive youth ministry approach. Empowering Adults for Youth Ministry provides a systematic, hands on, inspirational approach to youth ministry leadership development. Adult workshops include: Effective Practices for Dynamic Youth Ministry, and Sharing the Faith with Young Adolescents. Programs for teams of youth and adults include: Young Neighbors in Action, YouthLeader, and YouthServe.
  CMD also provides resources, training and support for family and intergenerational and young adult ministry.
• Cultivation Ministries offers an Institute for New Youth Ministers, to train adult leadership and a Peer Ministry Retreat for youth leadership training. There are also one-day seminars such as Growing Teen Disciples, Recruiting, Training and Retaining Youth Workers, and Renewing the Soul of the Youth Worker.
• Instituto Fey y Vida focuses on pastoral ministry with Hispanic youth and young adults. They offer a certificate program, advanced seminars, an initiation course, a national leadership symposium, and training of trainers for ministry with Hispanic youth.
• Ministry Training Source provides ministry formation programming and courses to individual ministry leaders and teams. MTS offers such services as workshops, computer based ministry training, online courses, and continuing research on adult learning and ministry.
• The National Black Catholic Congress sponsors regional Lay Leaders Training Workshops that provide various community based models, including strategies for parish organization, forming teams, and evangelizing the unchurched and inactive Catholics in the African-American community. The National Black Catholic Congress Convocation seeks to provide training to priests, deacons, lay leaders, and religious who work in the African American apostolate. The objective is to maximize their effectiveness as ministers in a parish and/or diocesan setting.
• St. Meinrad's Youth Liturgy Leadership Institute, through the Office of Youth and Young Adult Formation, offers programs for youth and young adults in addition to training for campus and youth ministers. One Bread, One Cup is a liturgical ministry leadership formation conference for youth and adult leaders. Their college internships offer a summer spiritual, academic and leadership formation program for college students.

As indicated, there are many more leadership development programs available. Just take a look and discover all the possibilities. We are always in formation—keep at it—and discover where the possibilities can lead you!