A Review of The Kingdom of God Topic and The Catholic Conference in The United States

"Let the children come to Me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." In 1976, the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) issued a document entitled "A Vision of Youth Ministry." It was a guiding and illuminating response to the challenges of the effective bringing of American youth closer to God by showing them the ways and reasons of what it is to live a good Christian life in a relationship with the Lord. This document was a great success in youth ministry in the United States, but, two decades after its publication, in 1997, the USCC, in response to the new challenges and needs of the present day youth, issued a new document entitled "Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry." The new document is based on the fine tradition of the one of 1976, except that "Renewing the Vision" meets three new challenges. Since the new document is concerned basically with the same problems as the previous one, except for the three new goals, my research paper will be based on the concepts of the 1976 document as well as on the reviewing of the three new challenges of "Renewing the Vision."

Although these two documents are concerned with the spiritual development of the American youth, I think that they can be used by the youth ministers of the whole world, because, if we look at young people around the globe now, we will find them facing pretty much the same problems as the youth of the United States do.

. . . When Jesus Christ came down to earth with the Good News of salvation, He died and rose for the salvation of the people of all ages of all the nations of the world that were at that time, that are now, and that will be. After Christ resurrected and ascended to Heaven, He left the leadership of the Church to the apostles who have been succeeded later by bishops up to the present day. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Catholic Church's bishops with the pope as the head to ensure that the message of salvation is being rightly brought to the people of God who constitute the Church. Although the salvation message of Christ is always the same, the methods of presenting it to people by the Church are different, and that is because there are different age groups of people who accept it in many different ways. What that means is that you cannot, for example, present the same concepts of the faith that require the intelligence of an 18-year old to 6-year old children. That is why the Catholic Church teaches the principles of its faith depending on the age groups and capacity of the recipients. General Directory for Catechesis talks about four general age groups to whom the appropriate pedagogical methods of the teachings of the Church should be applied, and these groups are: adults, infants and young children, young people, and the elderly or the aged. In our case, we will be looking at presenting the salvific message to the young people.

Any ministry of our Church requires three things: "to proclaim the good news of salvation, to offer itself as a group of people transformed by the Spirit into a community of faith, hope, and love, and to bring God's justice and love to others through service in its individual, social, and political dimensions." Moreover, in any ministry of the Church, the life of our Savior Jesus Christ should always be as an example to follow. The vitally important thing for youth ministers to remember is that if they want to provide the ministry as the Church wants them to do, they must give themselves in relationship to others, namely, young people, not even being afraid to lay down their life in service to them. In other words, they have to put their whole heart and will in the ministry, because on them might depend the salvation of a young person's soul which is every person's greatest treasure.

Christ gives all of us different gifts that He wants us to develop as perfectly as possible, so, if we are feeling like we received a call for working with young people, then it is up to us to develop it to the best of our ability. But if you feel that you somehow cannot work with youth, it is better to leave the ministry than to continue doing it, because, otherwise, it might evolve in a gradual, and unnoticeable ruining of young people's lives. In other words, it is better not to be a youth minister at all than to be a bad one.

First of all, every youth minister should keep in mind two goals that the youth ministry demands in order to provide a good work with the young people, and they are:

1. "Youth ministry works to foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person.

2. Youth ministry seeks to draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission, and work of the faith community."

It is very important for a youth minister to establish a relationship of a confidence with the young people. If a young man or woman trusts a youth minister, then it will be much easier to work with such people and present Christ and His teachings as the model and pattern to follow. Moreover, the Sacrament of Reconciliation has great importance here, because through Confession, in addition to its primary goal of purification of the soul from the burden of sins renewing God's grace, a young person learns to trust other people. Why? Because if he or she is not afraid to tell his or her sins to God through the priest as the mediator, then it has some influence on him or her in learning to trust others. In addition, it is important to remember to show to a young person how God works in his or her daily life, that He is not someone who is unreachable, but someone who wants to communicate with His child, so that he or she would find the true and peaceful goal in his or her life.

Young people should see that their youth ministers really care for them and ready to listen and to help them in a Christian way with whatever problems they have. Youth ministers should also make young people participate in an active Christian life, and the best way to do that would be to get them involved in the life of their own parish, so that they would see and feel the joy of working for building God's Kingdom on earth. It is very helpful for young people to get a sense of belonging to a community, because "God [is] to be found in people" and, thus, the youth ministers should try to organize different sports activities, camping, helping poor people, visiting hospitals, doing some charitable volunteer work etc.

By working with youth, it is always good for the ministers to teach young people to share with others the knowledge and experience of living a good Christian life, because this is exactly the way the Gospel message is being spread around the world - through sharing in joy of salvation with other people.

The relationship between young people and their families is also essentially important in youth ministry, and that is exactly one of the new challenges that "Renewing the Vision" is confronted with. The problem in American society today, as well as in the most of the world, is that children do not spend enough time with their families, and that is because "consumerism and entertainment media often encourage a culture of isolation." That is why youth ministers should talk with the young people about the importance of mutual balancing their life in regard to spending more time with their families, because it is a family where young people learn how to go on with life in the world. That is why a task of every youth minister is to make sure that young people get from their families the best Christian moral and practical values.

Another part of the youth ministry is to teach the young people to be able to make the right moral decisions in their lives, and this process requires to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, because faith is "one's conviction of the ultimate character and meaning of existence - [it] is the resting place of the heart and the orienting guide of the mind," and who if not our Good Lord can give us this peace of heart in making morally good decisions. Very often the easiest solution to a problem is not always the best one, therefore, it is crucially important for a youth minister to provide explanatory and good Christian reasons for a young person to make the right moves in life. Youth minister should teach the young people the willingness to grow in Christ, and that means to grow in holiness, because this is something that is possible to do if they want to live a good Christian moral life, and that will help them not to be afraid of life challenges and the ability to choose the right path in life. Also, young, as well as adult youth ministers must remember that they themselves are the living example for the young people. If the ministers teach the young people one thing and they themselves do completely opposite thing, then they can loose the young people's confidence, and most likely will loose at all the young people themselves. Thus, this is a thing that is very important to remember in youth ministry.

Another important factor to remember for working with youth is that young people are naturally inclined to follow the example that their parents give them at their homes. If you see that the young people you are working with refer to their parents' bad example, such as alcohol addiction, as the result of their action, talk to their parents about it, or even the better way would be to tell the problem to the pastor of your parish who would be more appropriate to talk to the parents, because you do not want to teach the young people not to trust their parents, or even worse, to hate them - otherwise, the young people might be confused in what you are trying to teach them.

Another challenge that "Renewing the Vision" is confronted with is a lack of self-identity among many of the American young people today - they do not know who they are and what the whole idea of life is about. Why? Because at this stage of their life they are "trying to find meaning for [their] life and a new continuity between [their] past and [their] future." The adolescents at this span of their life have "crisis of faith" - they are dissatisfied with religion of [their] childhood but incapable as yet of an adult personal faith," and this "crisis of faith" is as much concerned with autonomy and values as it is with religion." Therefore, it is an important task of any youth minister to "help the adolescent to discern amid sometimes dramatic experiences the elements which really belong to faith and those which depend upon the culture or upon the growth process itself."

Encourage the young people you are working with to read the Holy Bible on a daily basis, because "the words of Gospel can never be exhausted." Holy Scripture is the book where the young people can find the answers on the questions that they struggling with, and, very often, for the questions they are afraid to ask you about.

Organizing group retreats is one of the best ways to teach the young people to develop their confidence with their peers, plus they will have a chance to learn to take time to talk to God in a prayer. Prayer plays a very important role in youth ministry as a mean of spiritual communication with God. By prayer, the young people learn to open their hearts to Jesus Christ who is the best Listener, Advisor, and Healer in any problem a young man or lady might have; "prayer gives the strength for great ideals, to maintain faith, charity, purity and generosity; prayer gives the courage to emerge from indifference and guilt, if unfortunately one has yielded to temptation and weakness; prayer gives light to see and consider the events of one's own life and of history in the salvific perspective of God and eternity." Participation in the Liturgy (which is also a type of prayer) is not less important too. Through the Liturgy and liturgical services, a young person better understands the meaning and importance of living a good Christian life. The young people should also understand the importance of the Eucharist, as the source of their Christian life, for, as Christ said, "whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him." Moreover, an important part of youth ministry should be teaching the young people the importance of sacraments as the "springs" of God's grace, which is so necessary in a spiritual growth.

Not to forget, the very important thing for youth ministers to remember is that the young people are always looking for models in their lives, therefore, it is vitally important to explain and present to them that the best model in their life should be Christ Himself, because He was the only one who gave us an example of how one can reach a perfection in his or her life. In addition, the youth ministers should create different programs that might help to discover different gifts that the young people have, because it very often happens that the young people have many talents, but they are shy to reveal them. Moreover, teach the young people to discover their leadership skills. Give them some kind of responsible work to do, so that they can see their potentials, and who knows - sometimes you will be surprised of what their abilities are. In addition, it is crucially important to teach the young people to meet the reality of life and not be afraid of challenges it might have, but, on the contrary, to be able to fight the difficulties in a Christian way - with love and compassion. Also, teach the young people to have self-respect for themselves, to love their neighbors, and hate the sin, because this is exactly the way Jesus wants us to live.

Nowadays, sexual ethics is a big issue not just in the United States but around the world as well. Try to explain to the young people that sex belongs to the Christian marriage only as one of the essential components in a healthy life of a couple, and that any sexual activities outside marriage is against God's and natural law, because "like all human actions, sexual activity has its consequences: physical, emotional, and spiritual" such as abortion, for instance, and the like. Moreover, talk with the young people about drugs. Explain to them that drugs ruin human body that is meant to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, as well as the soul.

The third challenge that "Renewing the Vision" is confronted with is to provide a different publications of documents foundation "upon which to build enriched and expanded vision and strategy" to solve the young people's spiritual problems, and that foundation needs "to be incorporated into a contemporary vision and strategy for ministry with adolescents today." Encourage the young people to read books that can teach them something morally good than to read all this "empty" literature that leads so many young people astray today.

Crowning it all, I would like to give you ten tips which might be very helpful for working with young people, in addition to what I have presented to you above on the basis of these two very important USCC documents, which I derived from "Youth Worker's Handbook" of Net Ministries, Inc., and they are: 1. Keep your relationship with the Lord first in your own life through regular prayer, participation in the sacraments, and support from fellow Christians; 2. Pray - we need to be in communication with God to receive His vision. Prayer releases grace. Pray for the following: God's vision/plan (Jeremiah 29:11-14), grace to accomplish His plan, your young people, your parish; 3. Work with a team of young people and adults who may be interested in being a support "core" group. Meet regularly with your core group for prayer, discussion and planning; 4. Provide clear presentation of the Gospel and Church teaching with practical helps for living the Christian faith; 5. Concretize your teaching by sharing personal illustrations and applications from your own life; 6. Identify and utilize the gifts of the young people in your group, thus enabling them to become peer ministers; 7. Have activities that involve parents and families of the young people; 8. Encourage and equip your youth group to evangelize their peers. Young people's faith and excitement grow as they share it; 9. Focus on people instead of numbers, spiritual growth rather than programs. Be encouraged by the young people who do come to youth group instead of discouraged by those who don't; 10. Let God be God. The young people are His children. Work with what you have, do your best, and let God take care of the rest (Philippians 4:6-7, 13). Again, I would like to remind you that if you really want to succeed in youth ministry, try to direct young people toward the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and His example, because He Himself said: "I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."