Mark McDonald - an update

After almost six years Mark McDonald has finished up with Broken Bay Youth Ministry. Mark has moved to Melbourne so that his wife can take up a new position. Mark was one of the main authors of blog posts for Broken Bay Youth Ministry and the Internship blog. In the coming months Mark will continue to blog at Mark of Faith. His Blog will cover three topics:
1. Ministry
2. Leadership
3. Faith

You can check out the latest post at www.mrmarkmcdonald.wordpress.com

You can also follow Mark on twitter @mrmarkmcdonald

Personal Perspective about WYD

If we look at the average mass attendance figures for young adults in the Catholic Church, about 10-20% of young adults are attending mass on a regular basis.  So if you are attending mass and are also committed to going to WYD11, that puts you in the most committed group of Catholics within your age group.  Whilst this can be a little overwhelming at times when put into perspective it can present a great opportunity to help others.

It is important to remember that your personal perspective in not that of most other Catholic's or other young adults.  You see the world and the Church in a different way, as Bishop David says, you have a unique Catholic world view.  You see the world around you through the lens of the Catholic faith you believe in.  As you prepare for the WYD pilgrimage perhaps God has blessed you with this Catholic world view so that you can be a light to the world.  When you get an understanding of your personal perspective on life, you know how different you are to others and how you can help others.

Here are three things to keep in mind when preparing for the WYD11 pilgrimage:

1. Evangelise the message not the event - sometimes we can be so consumed with our excitement about going to WYD we forget that others don't care about WYD.  Rather than trying to get them excited by the actual event, share the message of WYD with them.  The theme of WYD is a wonderful evangelisation opportunity that everyone can join in on even if they aren't heading to Spain.  Perhaps God has blessed you with your personal perspective to strengthen you for these evangelisation opportunities.  For more check out this earlier post here
2. Go back to the beginning yourself - sometimes we need to take a break from our perspective on life and the Church to see things from other peoples perspective.  Perhaps you need to think like someone who is beginning their walk with God so that you can understand how to support your friends who are starting off their walk with God.  One practical strategy to imagine how you would describe WYD to someone who has never heard of it.  There are people out there, even in your friendship group, who don't understand the church language you use, words like Catechesis, Cardinal and Adoration.
3. Pray for people to know Christ - some people will never understand why you are going to spend $6000 to fly half way across the world to stand in 40 degree heat with 2 million others.  Rather than trying to change their minds simply pray that God may open their heart to a deeper relationship with Christ.  Whilst it would be nice for every young adult to experience WYD we know that can't happen, but every young adult can experience God's love.  One practical idea is to write the names of five people who don't have a relationship with Christ on a prayer card that you carry with you to WYD.

In a world where spin doctors have created an angle on every story, how can you use your journey to WYD to benefit others?  Perhaps in the coming months as we prepare to go overseas remember that God has blessed you with an amazing perspective on the World; one that not everyone shares just yet.

Lent 7 Day Challenge

Every year when I was growing up, it would come to Ash Wednesday and the conversation would turn to what each family member was giving up for Lent.  There were many easy things to give up for Lent, like the time my brother and I gave up lifesavers for Lent.  At the end of the 40 days we weren't any closer to God because it wasn't lollies or candy that were separating us from God.

As we got older the things that my family members were giving up go a little more difficult.  One Lent I gave up coffee, my sister in law gave up chocolate and my brother gave up soft drink.  Whilst these were good things to give up, the focus was more on surviving 40 days without these luxuries.  Usually at the end of Lent we almost consumed 40 days worth of the thing we had given up on Easter weekend.

So how can we enter into this season of Lent:

1. Take something up for Lent - one Lent I took on 30 minutes of spiritual reading every day.  I read a number of books, did more reading of scripture and in the end had better understand of God because of it.  Take on something really specific to drawing closer to God.
2. Give up something for Lent -  try giving up something to free time for prayer and reflection.  One year I gave up listening to music or the radio as I drove to work.  Each morning I had 45 minutes to sit with my thoughts.  Whilst it was hard at first but it was surprising how much God was trying to talk to me when I normally would listen to the radio.  Give up something that specifically distracts you from God.
3. Do the Lent 7 day Challenge - perhaps if you don't know what to give up or to take up this Lent, join with others doing the Lent 7 day Challenge.  There are seven habits, one for each day of the week, that will draw you closer to God.  Perhaps some will come easier than others and that is ok.  It is the journey not your performance that is the most important.  Download the Lent 7 day challenge card here

Lent is all about our preparation for Easter.  How will you use the time of Lent to draw closer to God?  Leave a comment that might encourage others about what you will do or not do during Lent.

Defining the Culture of your Ministry

Programs define what you do; Culture is determined by who you are.

Recently a friend asked me to define the culture of Broken Bay Youth Ministry.  Whilst I was able to share a few thoughts off the top of my head, I realised that there is no definite answer at the moment.  The challenge for us at the moment is to define the culture that we want to develop in our Diocese.  The challenge for you is defining it in your ministry.

The reason this is so important at the moment is because we have a number of parishes that are looking to begin a youth ministry.  What will the youth ministry feel and look like?  What will the parish begin with and what we will recommend they don’t do?  Ministry is more than a program it is relational, it has a look and a feel.  This look and feel is the culture of a ministry; it is this unique culture that makes your ministry different to the one down the road.

Here are four questions to ask about the Culture in your ministry:

1. What will you begin?  When you are sitting down looking for ideas, some ideas are attractive and you would like to give them a go in your ministry.  Perhaps you have seen another ministry in your area that has a better feel or a more positive attitude than where your ministry is at the moment.  In your ministry you could begin a whole number of activities or programs, but which ones would support your mission, your style or culture?  In your ministry what behaviours or attitudes could you begin or encourage that would strengthen your ministry?
2. What will you promote?  When you look at your ministry there are things that you are good at and you should promote them more.  We all promote our events or programs but we should promote the strengths and passions within our ministry.  There are also behaviours that you want to encourage and celebrate.  Perhaps you can celebrate people who “go the extra mile” in service so that you promote a culture of service. In your ministry what is the behaviour and attitudes that you could promote to new members?
3. What will you stop doing?  When you look at your ministry closely you will see things that you don’t like.  You need to stop doing those things and teach people what you do want.  For example you may have a culture of lateness, so teach people about the value of being on time by starting meetings on time, even if people are not there yet.  You may have a culture of “it is will be alright on the night”, so change the culture by asking people to submit their program a week before an event.  You just have to stop certain behaviours so that new people will pick up the behaviours that enhance your culture.
4. Major on the Majors and Minor in the Minors.  What ever you repeat as the leader, others will think is the Major thing.  If the leader of a youth ministry majors on social activity, then young people will think the major focus of the youth group is having fun.  If the youth ministry leader focuses on Bible study or catechesis, the young people will see that as the major focus.  If people keep referring to your ministry as “small” and talking about the attendance then people will think numbers are a major issue.  Remember to keep you focus on the major reason your ministry exists.  For example, Broken Bay Youth Ministry exists to assist parish based youth ministry, so social events or mission trips are nice but they are a minor part of our focus.  What are the behaviours and attitudes that enhance the major focus of your ministry?

By reflecting on these four areas in your ministry, people will pick up more of the positive behaviours that you want to develop in your ministry.  Your ministry will feel more like you want it to feel and look more like what you want it to look like.

To read a practical example of how this might look in a parish, read Part II of this post

Mark McDonald

Mark McDonald is the Diocesan Coordinator of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Broken Bay.  You can follow Mark on twitter @mrmarkmcdonald

Defining the Culture of your Ministry – Part II

Programs define what you do; Culture is determined by who you are.

In a Part 1 we had a look at four areas that build the culture of your ministry.  In this post we will look at a practical example of what that might look like in an imaginary parish.  This practical example might help you understand more about applying the general principles in your ministry.

Our made up parish will be called St Luke Parish for this example.  St Luke is a parish with one primary school, one Catholic high school and one government high school in the area.  The Parish has had a part time youth minister for two years as a trial.  The parish has three parish interns who are volunteering in the youth ministry team that we will look at in this example.  Imagine that you are also part of the Youth Ministry team at St Luke Parish.

Here are the four areas of Culture that we will reflect on in this youth ministry:

1. What will you begin?  Recently you heard about another Youth Ministry in the Diocese that has been running the Youth Alpha Course and you will look to run the course in a few weeks after a period of promotion.  This will encourage the young people in the ministry to develop a culture of learning (catechesis).  You want people to learn more about their faith and Alpha will enhance this.  One of the Interns heard about another parish that has some hospitality after their youth mass.  The Interns think this will work in St Luke parish.  This will develop a culture of hospitality and friendliness around the Youth Mass.  This will also keep the focus on the Youth Mass which St Luke’s have been working on for 12 months.
2. What will you promote?  Whilst the team have been working on the Youth Mass for 12 months, you haven’t really promoted the music ministry.  You will look for ways to promote the music ministry with young musicians as a way of drawing them into the ministry.  This will create a culture of inclusion where everyone can add their gifts to a ministry.  You also want to develop a culture where young people prepare for the Sunday mass during the week.  The Facebook group is one way of developing this culture.  An Intern will update the group page with links to the Sunday readings each week.  By providing links to Biblegateway.com the young people will become familiar with one tool that will help them study the Bible themselves.
3. What will you stop doing?  After months of social outings the Parish Priest feels this is distracting from the focus on the Youth Mass.  A culture has developed where people turn up sometimes and don’t RSVP at other times making events hard to plan.  Also people are choosing the social events yet say they don’t have any “spare time” for serving at the Youth Mass.  So the Youth Ministry will stop offering social activities on Friday nights and build a culture of staying after the Sunday night youth mass as a way of keeping the social connections.  The music ministry also decided that they will stop music rehearsal 30 minutes before the Sunday mass so that musicians can socialise with people arriving for Mass.  This will give space for CD music which will create a more vibrant atmosphere than the last minute practice.
4. Major on the Majors and Minor in the Minors.  After reflecting on your ministry, the Youth Ministry Team realise that the Youth Mass is important to the ministry, it is your Major.  The ministry team will work with the Interns to create a culture of service around the Youth Mass.  The attitude that you want to develop is that the Youth Mass is the high point of your ministry, not just something that we have to do.  So everyone in the ministry will place a major focus on building a culture of serving in the activities before, during and after the Youth Mass.  It is also important to develop a culture of invitation (Evangelisation) that encourages people to bring their friends to the youth mass not the social activities.  The social activities are a minor part of the culture so as a team you decide to reduce the emphasis on this for a few months.  The Interns suggest that the annual Christmas party be seen as a chance to celebrate the success of the youth ministry over the year.  This will be an “open mic” night where people share the stories of the year and the success of the ministry.

Now this is just one example of building culture.  In your ministry go beyond the programs you are offering to have a look at who you are as a ministry and what you are inviting new people to join.

Mark McDonald

Mark McDonald is the Diocesan Coordinator of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Broken Bay.  You can follow Mark on twitter @mrmarkmcdonald

What is your purpose?

In a recent blog post, we had a look at “what fires you up?”  We had a look at our passions, the things that we are discontent with and things that we enjoy doing.  There is a sense that many things could fill any one of these categories.  Over a life time there will many things that we are passionate about and many things we will get involved in.  But how do we narrow our focus to one key purpose for our life?

If we look at famous people they can be know for one key purpose that they undertake.  Mother Teresa did many things but her driving purpose was the poor people on the streets of Calcutta.  St Ignatius did many things in his life but his driving purpose was the establishment and growth of the Jesuits.

Whilst we may not achieve fame and fortune in our own life, God wants us to do something significant with our life.  Here are three areas where you need to define your purpose in life:

1. What is the purpose of your career? We can move from job to job but what is driving your decision about which job to stay in?  Many people chase money or status in their career but never find true fulfilment.  To really find meaning in your career you must find the jobs that match your life’s purpose.  If you find yourself in job that doesn’t give meaning to your life, God might be calling you onto other things.  To find the purpose of your career, take the lead from three areas in the post “what fires you up?”.

2. What is the purpose of your personal life? Again there are many hobbies or interests that you will have in your personal life, but some of them are not where you make a significant contribution to society.  In your personal life you should spend your valuable spare time making a difference in the community.  You should spend your spare time with a sense of purpose rather than distraction or entertainment.

Have you ever asked someone why they give up hours each week to a “hobby”?  My father will spend most weekends umpiring baseball because he feels he can make a difference in the sport.  Many people take on coaching or umpiring positions in sport so they can make a difference.  Many people commit years of time to community service agencies such as the Bush Fire Brigade so they can make a difference.   How is your personal life making our society a better place?

3. What is your purpose in the Church?  There are many things that need your time in our Church.  There is always more work to be done in your ministry.  The people who get burnt out in ministry are often people who are taking on too much.  If you look at people who spend decades serving the Church they usually have narrowed their focus to their main purpose in the church.  For example there are catechists who have served for 30 year because they are passionate about children in state schools.  For a given season you might serve in a ministry that really needs you, but to serve the Church for your entire life, you have to answer the question “what is your purpose in the Church?”

Perhaps you are going through a season where your purpose in all three of these areas has alignment.  On the other hand perhaps you are going through a season where your purpose is unclear in all three areas.  Whatever your situation is, pray that God will lead you to make a significant contribution in your career, personal life and the Church.  

Please leave a comment.

What fires you up?

I was at a conference recently when the speaker, Robert Fergusson, said “fire overcomes fear every time”.  At first I was puzzled.  Robert went on to say that anyone who is really fired up about their subject matter will be able to overcome any fear they have of public speaking.  Anyone pumped up enough about an extreme sport will be able to overcome the fear the task should naturally raise in someone.  So the best way to overcome your fear is to stay focused on achieving your goal.

Many of us have at least one fear within our ministry, what if it doesn’t work?  What if I can’t get support? What if I can’t find resources to make it work?  What if nobody comes?  Yet if we take this image of “fire overcomes fear”, when you are passionate enough (fired up) you will overcome your fears.  So in ministry how do we get “fired up” in a positive way?  Here are three simple questions:

1. What are you passionate about? When someone doesn’t want doing a certain job you can always tell.  The check out operators at my local supermarket don’t want to be there.  Yet when someone is passionate about their subject, topic or ministry it has a natural pulling power.  When I hear someone speak passionately about their mission trip I want to book my plane ticket right away.  When you are passionate about your ministry it fires up the other people around you.

How can your passion move people from caring about your ministry to helping in your ministry?

2. What are you discontent with? Is there some problem that makes you a little angry?  Do you ever wonder why nobody is doing anything to fix it?  We all have things that we feel need to be fixed, solved or corrected.  You might be the solution to a problem.  This discontent with how things are may give you an insight into what might fire you up.  If you can align your “holy discontent” with your ministry then you are more likely to overcome the fear of running the ministry. (find out more about this here)

How can you use your discontent to find a positive solution to a problem?

3. What do you enjoy doing? After almost 20 years in youth ministry people ask me why I still work with teenagers.  Because I enjoy youth ministry I find it gives me energy to keep going.  The people that I admire are those who work in children’s ministry; they have so much energy and patience.  People in ministry stay around longer when they enjoy what they are doing.  Perhaps you need to look at the specific tasks within your ministry that you enjoy doing; do more of that.  Have a look at the specific tasks that drain you of energy and see if you can delegate those to someone else.

How can you do more of what you enjoy doing and delegate the rest to others?

There are obviously parts of every ministry that are hard to handle.  Yet someone will still need to do them for your ministry to succeed.  Perhaps instead of enduring or fearing them, in the future you can stay fired up about your passions and enjoy your ministry.

Please leave a comment.

Customer Service tips for your ministry

In all my years of ministry service I have never had any formal customer service training.  It wasn’t until I served as a volunteer parking attendant at a Funeral that I saw the value of customer service.  On a day of sorrow and loss, people were leaving the car park after the funeral thanking the volunteers for their wonderful help and service.  It seems that the little things like saying hello to people as they drove into the car park made a difference.

I don’t know a lot about customer service, perhaps if I had more jobs in the retail sector I would have received better training in customer service.  I do know that when it comes to the church, we don’t think of people as customers or consumers.  We aim to treat people as members of a community or a family.  Whilst this is how we should treat members of the Church, some ministries have high number of visitors or new members, so how can we include them. 

Here are a few customer service practices that every Church or Ministry could learn:

1. First Impressions – if people are visiting you for the first time what do they see?  Try to think and see as they would, not what you want them to see or think.  Whenever you visit a shop or retail store for the first time, you get an impression of the company behind the shop front.  The same is true of your ministry, the first time someone visits you they get an impression of your ministry and the parish. 

How can you improve people’s first impression of your ministry?

2. Visitor Friendly – do people feel that they can visit your ministry?  Does your ministry feel like a club for a select group of people?  When I enter a retail store I know if they want my service by how the staff treat me.  So how can you make sure that visitors feel welcome, do you have a person who greats visitors and answer their questions?

How can you make your ministry more welcoming to visitors?

3. Building your Brand – have you noticed that Apple products have a similar look or style?  They have one of the most respected “brands” of any company.  The golden arches is recognised anywhere as McDonalds have built their brand.  Whilst you don’t have the same marketing budget, does your ministry have a “brand” or style?  If you want people to start to recognise your ministry then they have to identify the brand.  The brand can be a name or style or a logo but it is more than that.  For example Soul at Pittwater parish have brand that goes deeper than their logo.

How can you build the brand of your ministry or group?

4. Repeat business – why do you return to your favourite restaurant?  Many people return to their favourite café because they know the coffee is good or the staff are friendly.  How can you get visitors to come back to your ministry?  Perhaps you need to develop some flexible predictability in your ministry.  Your ministry has to be predictably good so that if people turn up again they know what they are getting.  Yet you should be flexible enough that you change things before it becomes stale.  This is a hard balance to achieve but many aspects of ministry are hard to balance.

How can you generate repeat business in your ministry?

Maybe your ministry looks a little different that this; please adapt it to your situation.  Whilst we can’t start treating members of our church purely as consumers of our ministries, it is important to learn from the customer service principles that our church members have come to expect from their shopping experience.

Getting service hours in Winter

I noticed that the winter time mid year sales are starting in the shopping centres and it is time for the Ski season to begin.  Winter time has interesting implications for ministry in a parish context.  Some experienced ministry follow the rule “never start a new initiative in winter”.  The unwritten rule developed because people are more uncertain about coming out for a meeting at night when it is cold.  Others find it difficult to drive at night time or public transport isn’t as appealing in the rain.  Perhaps people in your parish are in a bit of a mid year slump; there isn’t the energy of the new year to drive fresh starts.

So as an intern how do you get your hours in?  There are still four hours of service that you need to get in each week so where can you serve?  Here are a few thoughts about getting service hours in winter time:

1. Administration work – if people aren’t coming out for meetings, perhaps the parish has more material going out to the people.  Perhaps you might help in the parish office with mail outs or newsletters.  Maybe you could prepare a special “winter warmers” newsletter just for the winter months.
2. Sacramental programs – the sacraments still happen even if it is cold or raining.  Maybe there are events that you could assist at.  Some interns have been helping at Confirmations to help organise the children while the Sacramental Coordinator assists the liturgy.  Perhaps you could assist with Baptism preparation nights by providing a cup of warm soup as people arrive.  Even being available to open and close doors at church can make people feel welcome while keeping the cold wind out of the church or hall.
3. Research team – perhaps you spend hours on the internet, reading this blog, but others don’t have time for searching for new material.  Perhaps you could start a research team that helps ministry leaders find new material on the web.  Interns seem to know where to find things online that older ministry leaders just don’t know where to look.  Remember to log your hours and commit to a set period of research.  You can stay on task by trying to find three articles or resources each research session and report each week to the ministry leader on what you found.
4. Winter afternoon sessions – if people won’t come out at night time maybe Sunday afternoon activities are more appealing?  There is something about the afternoon sun in winter that makes everything feel better.  Perhaps use the afternoon time to run a prayer group in the church.  Move the bible study to after lunch and bring soup or nice coffee.  If people won’t come out at night, shift your events to times when they will venture out.
5. Planning for spring – just like a garden, good winter planning can lead to a fruitful spring.  It is the pastoral planning during winter that captures the spring time enthusiasm.  If your Junior High youth group plan to invite students finishing year 6 at the end of the year, then plan out each session now.  Planning meetings held with the committed leaders in winter will deliver well planned events to a fresh crop of participants in spring.

Perhaps this winter won’t be that cold and maybe your ministry participants are committed enough to come out rain, hail, snow or shine.  But if you find things slow down as it gets colder try these tips.  If you have your own tips for winter time ministry then leave a comment, we would love to get your advice, besides it is to cold to go outside, we can stay here a bit longer.

Content driven ministry

Duffy Robins is a Youth Ministry veteran from the United States. When asked the question “What's your biggest mistake when training leaders?” this was his reply:

“I was so busy teaching technique and how that I assumed people knew the why and what. So people became very good communicators of stuff that was nonsense” Watch the video

In another video he says that Theology and content matters. Even after working for years in youth ministry I was struck by that statement, content matters. It got me thinking, and I hope you as well, about the content of the material I teach to others. Is what we teach in our ministries driven by the question “how do we get our group to work?” or is it driven by the question “how can people love Jesus more?”

Whilst many interns and ministry volunteers what to know how to grow their ministry, the real focus should be on why and what.

• Why? – Why does your ministry exist? Why is your parish better off because your ministry is there? Why are the participants getting involved?
• What? – What is the focus of your ministry? What is the content that your ministry teaching? What are the participants in your ministry doing to grow close to God?

Here are three areas where content really matters:

1. Evangelisation – when we invite people into a ministry we are not marketing a product (technique) we are being a witness to our faith (content). We are all called to evangelise not just invite people to church. Evangelisation brings a person into contact with a God that loves them and desire a relationship. A good indicator for technique vs content in evangelisation is this:

If someone has said no to an invitation to your ministry, do they walk away knowing more about Jesus? Don’t just work on your ministry sales pitch, work on being a witness to the living relationship you have with God.

2. Catechesis: sometimes when we are teaching the faith we water it down to make it more appealing. We sometime believe that people will be turned off by the “God stuff”. We can focus so much on technique that we let the style determine the content. In ministry we need to teach the basics or foundations of faith. A good indicator for technique vs content in catechesis is this:

Are the people in your ministry searching for more? When Catechesis is focused on God rather than style, people are want to know more about how they can deepen their relationship with God.

3. Mission: mission is not about feel good activity or doing nice things, it is a call from God to make a difference. Mission that focuses on technique can try to shock people into activity or guilt people into activity. Mission focused on content will focus on the desire that comes from within a person. A good indicator for technique vs content in mission is this:

Will participants engage in missional activity even if nobody else does? For some there is no other alternative.

Over the coming weeks we will take each one of these three areas to unpack a little more. Check in each Friday for more thoughts on content driven ministry.

Youth Ministry Stereotypes

Yesterday I came to work in dress pants and a collared business shirt because I work in a corporate style building and I was meeting with a few staff from other departments. Today I sit here writing this in jeans, a “youthy” t shirt and my sneakers. Whilst I could get away with jeans on a casual Friday, it got me thinking about the image of a Youth Ministry Coordinator. What should a youth minister wear to work? Should a youth minister be trying to impress the youth or impress the boss? Those of us in youth ministry think about how we present what we do, how we dress and who we try to make an impression on.

What are the youth ministry stereotypes? One of the funniest things that I have see in a long time about youth minister stereotypes is an article by Jonathon Acuff titled “Wondering how youthtastic your youth minister is.” Jonathon asks the reader to give their youth minister a score for each “youthtastic” stereotype they fulfil on his list. Here are three of my favourites:

101. Knows how to multiply cheap pizza almost as well as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. = +3 points

103. Is often asked by parents, “What do you do all week?” = +3 points

109. Had someone in the church ask, “Do you think someday you’ll want to be a ‘real’ minister?” = +10 points

Here is my list of four Youth Ministry Stereotypes you need to protect yourself from:

1. Youth Ministry Coordinators are disorganised – recently a Youth Ministry Coordinator that I think is a real expert advised me to be super organised. He said that you can get more money out of the finance team if they think you manage money well. If you are organised with a plan for an event, have a good budget and keep receipts you will get further with people higher up the organisation, i.e. the people who run the parish or school.
2. Youth Ministry Coordinators need to keep up with the latest trends – believe it or not there are effective youth ministry coordinators who aren’t on facebook and twitter. Many youth ministry coordinators have realised that the youth subcultures change but the role of discipleship remains constant. To break this stereotype focus on the young people and their relationship with Jesus, not what songs they download or what they wear.
3. Rock music and entertainment is the key to drawing in young people – Many people think that the “Big Evangelical churches” draw young people in with rock music and entertainment. Yet when you go to these churches they have a discipleship focus that runs deeper than the first impression. Doug Fields once said that youth ministry can’t out entertain the world. In your ministry work towards making a lasting impression rather than just a good first impression.
4. You have to start Youth Ministry with Pizza – there are youth ministries that run very effectively without offering food. Many young people like pizza and will eat it if you provide it, but are they coming for the pizza or the relationships? Another Youth Ministry Coordinator said to design your youth ministry program for growth. He said that you can’t buy enough pizza for 100 people or take them all bowling so don’t make it part of the program when you only have 20 regulars.

We all encounter stereotypes in ministry. As a young intern or parish volunteer become aware of these stereotypes so that you can break the mould and be a unique gift to the Church.

Are we on the same team? dealing with unresolved disagreements.

Recently I was talking with a group of ministry leaders about their work in a variety of locations. This group included many experienced people yet each of them had a few areas of concern in there work. Each member of the group had at least one or two areas of ministry that were troubling them. Even though they had some conflict or concern, no one was paralysed by this. This got me thinking, how do you deal with conflict in a ministry setting?

As a Parish Intern or Leader you may encounter disagreements about ministry. There may be a disagreement between Interns or between ministries or even within a ministry. There are a couple of things to remember when handling conflict in a ministry setting:

1. We are on the same team: A very wise piece of advice that I heard from a work colleague was to remember we are on the same team. When we minister in the Church we are on the same team. Each team needs to work together rather than fight within the team. As a group of Interns remind each other that you are on the same team, there shouldn’t unresolved disagreements between Interns.
2. Work on a common understanding: Sometimes people get into a disagreement about one area of ministry yet they are really arguing over two different things. To develop a common understanding you need to make sure you are talking about the same thing. For example an argument may arise over starting small groups in your parish, but one person imagines bible study, another other imagines prayer groups and another person imagines personal accountability groups. Find the common thread by explaining the terms you are using, in this case what is a “small group”?
3. Focus on the Vision – sometime we get lost in the small details about our ministry and forget the bigger vision. There are many ways to achieve the big vision so find a way that works for the common good. Any task that you undertake should you’re your ministry achieve the vision. When a task fails to achieve the vision you may need to stop doing the task, even though some people may like performing that task. For example, Pizza nights might attract young people to a starting youth ministry but you might cancel the Pizza part once the ministry is launched. If the focus is on the pizza and not the goal of starting a youth ministry then people get distracted.
4. Who are you following – please remind yourself of this topic in the previous post. Ultimately if there is an unresolved disagreement over ministry in your parish, the parish leadership should have the final say.

We all get disappointed at times in our ministry because our vision is bigger than what we see in front of us. If you are to continue to develop as a Parish Intern or Leader, you need to ride through these disappointments. If we are to be effective leaders in the Church then we have to inspire people with hope, hope that comes from our daily surrender to God. As Andy Stanley wrote “The end of a God ordained vision is God”

Please leave a comment about how you have overcome conflict in your ministry.

Failure is essential

Have you ever heard the saying “Failure is not an option”? People say this when they know that they must succeed at all costs. I often hear this is war movies where it is a matter of life or death, then failure really is not an option. Yet most of us fear failure even though we don’t live in a life or death world. Many people don’t begin something or try a new adventure if they think they might fail.

Recently I heard Craig Groeschel say that in ministry “Failure is not an option, it is essential”. Craig has found that many people don’t begin new ministries if they think they might fail. In his experience, failing in ministry teaches you about how to improve a ministry, so failure is his path to success. For example, it was only after trying rock concerts in their youth ministry did they realise that the Church shouldn’t do rock concerts, yet what they did learn was that young people are attracted and engaged by music. So now they include music in their regular youth nights.

This week I have been meeting with a number of Youth Ministers across the Diocese. The common link I have noticed is that all of them have grown so much in their understanding of ministry. Whilst I hope that every youth minister has a few successes to keep them in the game, I know that each one of these successful youth minters has made some mistakes. It is the failures that they have experienced that make them successful today.

For example, one of the youth minsters spoke to me this week about improving their youth group. The current youth group is version two and is so much better than version one. The difference between the two versions is the experience of the youth minister. The youth minster is more hungry for the version two group to work because of the mistakes they made with version one.

In your ministry what mistakes are you making? How can you learn from the mistakes you make in ministry? In looking at starting something new, remind your group that failure is not an option it is essential. Don’t chase failure, but don’t be scared to try something new.

Please leave a comment about how you have learnt from failure or mistakes in ministry.

It started with Three

How many people does it take to change a light bulb? This is often a joke told where the answer gives an insight into a particular stereotype. When I heard this recently, I wondered how many Catholics does it take to start a youth group? Whilst I am sure that there are many humorous answers that we could give if we were telling a joke, some people actually want to know how many people do you need to start a youth group.

Let me tell you my answer with a real life story, you may even guess the group. About five years ago three Catholic young men were interested in starting something in their parish for young people. They wanted to lay a solid foundation for youth ministry in their parish and “get it right” from the start. So they decided to come together every Thursday night for prayer, to ask God for guidance, vision and direction.

Their next step was not to launch into a mega ministry or try to entertain the “youth”, the three young men thought “who can we invite into this group for prayer?” As they added the next person then the next person, the group began to grow. This was training the group in the evangelical spirit which characterises the group today. Not “Evangelical” by denomination but the group has a heart for evangelisation or to put it simply they want to share this with their friends.

Five years later those three young men have gathered 50 or 60 other young people to meet for prayer on a Thursday night. The group looks different from what it did five years ago but the element of prayer is still present. If you ask me what makes this group successful, the prayer element and evangelistic spirit would be it.

Sometimes as an intern or a youth minister, you may want to copy the program of a successful youth ministry that you admire. Instead copy the heart and culture of the ministry. Many people think that Hillsong is successful because of their music, yet it is the culture of small discipleship groups that drives the ministry. Some people might thing the group mentioned above is because they have a supportive Priest, but it is more than that.

So next time you ask yourself how many Catholics does it take to start a youth group, know that it only takes three.

Please leave a comment; perhaps you have a funny comment to make about how many Catholics it takes to change a light bulb or to start a youth group.

Thoughts on Ministry after 10 years

After 10 years in the Diocese of Broken Day, Ann Maree Whenman is moving on from the role of Director of the Parish Support Unit. Ann Maree has been a great supporter of the Parish Internship since it started. At a farewell gathering with the staff of the Diocesan Curia, Ann Maree shared her thoughts on ministry and work. Below is an extract of her speech. Ann Maree has served in a variety of ministry positions; many interns who are beginning in ministry might find these insights helpful.

Facets of Ministerial Spirituality:

Ministry not a job, ministry comes from the Spirit of God and from the individual’s personality.

Discernment: Ministry begins with openness to the “other”, the minister seeks ways of learning to be a prophet and an apostle. The abilities to listen and to serve require time apart, times of reflection and prayer. These nourish the analysis of grace in people and establish the point of departure for ministry.

Generosity: Ministry must presume a spontaneous and cheerful generosity. Service, difficult assistance, extra hours, disinterest in honour and possessions are the atmosphere of the minister.

Zeal: The minister needs to be something of a self starter, developing a spiritual life that acknowledges to importance of grace for living the Christian ideal, that recognises energy and instruction, but also accepts the limits of personality. There must be an energy and enthusiasm for the ministry, a willing and happy interest in being with other people and speaking to them of God’s work in Christ and his Spirit. Zeal needs to be filled with emotional exuberance.

Fish Philosophy

Choose your attitude: There is always a choice about the way you approach your work, even if there is not a choice about the activities you undertake in your work.

Play: Have fun in the working day – let things flow

Make their day: Engage people and invite them to join in – focussing ones attention on ways to make another person’s day provides a constant flow of positive feelings.

Be present: The person you are with or the meeting you are currently in engages your undivided attention and energy.

Ann Maree Whenman

As Ann Maree finishes her time as Director of the Parish Support Unit, we would like to thank her for all the support of the Parish Internship Program. We wish her well in her new position at the Australian Catholic University.

Making your hours count

Are you struggling to get enough hours for your long book each week? Are you reaching the end of the first six months with less than 100 hours of service? If you find yourself in this position, there is no need to panic. However I would encourage you to stop worrying about the hours and focus on the ministry time you are doing. Ministry is more than getting hours chalked up; it is about being with people.

If you are someone who is making the hours each week, are you focused on the people you are serving or filling out the log book? Paid ministry staff have to face this issue all the time because they have to justify their ministry hours. Whilst interns and paid staff have to justify their ministry hours with time sheets and log books, the focus should always be on the people you are ministering to.

When we work in a secular job that we don’t like, we watch the clock tick by because we are only there for the money. We don’t make the time count because we are counting time. When I worked as a check out operator for a major supermarket I didn’t interact with customers because I was there to earn money. Have you ever been in a job like that?

Ministry is different to a job because we are serving God not our employer. As an intern you are building the Church not building a company’s profits. As an intern, here are four things to remember to make your service hours count:

1. Spend time building people not hours – focus on the people you are serving rather than watching the clock. See every interaction with people as time to build them up and support them in their journey with God.
2. Focus on the ministry not the log book – work for the benefit of your ministry rather than just filling the log book with hours of service. Even if you clock your hours for one week, continue to serve the ministry for the rest of the week for free.
3. Every experience has a lesson – you can learn from everything even the failures. Ministry doesn’t always go well, whilst you can still count the hours, what have you learnt the lessons from ministry experiences that failed and the ones that succeeded?
4. Start small and build from there – don’t expect big results in the first Volunteer Service Period but cast your eyes on a big vision. We need big visions because our God is a big God.

What ministry tips have you learnt so far in your ministry? Please leave a comment so that others can learn from your mistakes and successes. Please leave a comment to tell us struck you most about this post.

Blessing

Mark McDonald