Videos - Skills as a Youth Minister 
1. Genuinely Care about a Person (Mark Hart) 
2. Where Leaders Fail (Mark Hart) 
3. What's Your Dream? (Matthew Kelly)
  • "People are people. They're most engaged when you allow them to be people."
  • "If you want people to do something for your business, teach them to do it for their lives."
4. Every Person and Organization Needs a Vision (Matthew Kelly)
5. Moving People Forward: Leadership Secrets of Christ (Mark Hart)
  • "We cannot forget the importance of the contemplative spirit. If a leader is not trying to embrace a contemplative lifestyle...you are only going to be able to lead people to the depth that you have."
  • "Teens are far more adept and far more capable of going to the spiritual depths than people give them credit for oftentimes because their leaders are not spiritually deep themselves."
  • Youth ministry takes on the complexion of the spirituality of the person in charge...a true leader looks at their own spirituality, and they themselves search out other spirituality and ways to pray
6. When God Calls Your Name (Video)
7. An Organic and Comprehensive Ministry for Youth (Bob Rice)
8. Youth and Young Adult Catechesis (Bob Rice)
9. New Pentecost for Catechesis (Bob Rice) 
  • "Without the Spirit, you can still make great flyers promoting your event. You can coordinate snacks and beverages for a successful getting to know you night. You can teach information about the Faith, and have a large number of students pass the test. You can have what others would consider 'successful' ministry. Most dangerous of all, you can even fake your own holiness."
10. Missionary Nature of Youth Catechesis (Bob Rice)
  • How do I reach them? We enter their world. We learn their language. We be ourselves. 


Working With and not against 
your Parish /Pastor
1. Youth Ministers: Working with your Pastors (Bob Rice) 

Avoiding Burn Out/Family Life  
1. Avoiding Burn Out in Youth Ministry (Bob Rice)
2. Monotony in Ministry (Blog)
3. Don't Let Ministry Rule your Marriage (Blog)
4. Fitting Ministry into Motherhood (Blog) **NEW

Surviving Awareness Resources
  1. Survivors of Suicide Loss
  2. Preventing Youth Suicide - Student Training
  3. Preventing Youth Suicide - Adult Training
  4. Suicide Awareness​
  5. How to find the suicide crisis hotline for your county

Small Group Studies
1. Bible/Catechism Weekly Reading Log (FOCUS)
2. Evangelical Catholic Small Group Studies for Purchase
3. Small Group Preparation Video Series (Evangelical Catholic)

Bible Studies
1. Living Gospel: 7 Habits for Highly Effective Catholics (FOCUS)
2. The Crux: To Preach Christ Crucified (FOCUS)
3. 1 Corinthians Bible Study (FOCUS)
4. Ignite Series: Who do you Say that I am? (FOCUS)
5. Ignite Series: The Sower and the Seeds (FOCUS)
6. Ignite Series: Following the Good Shepherd (FOCUS)
7. Ignite Series: Rock and Sand (FOCUS)
8. Acts of the Apostles (FOCUS)
Discipleship 
1. This is Discipleship (Video)
2. How do you Begin to Invite Students? (Video with Curtis Martin from FOCUS)
  • Created for College Students, but can be adapted for high school 
  • "It is within human relationships that a relationship with God is best communicated to other people."
3. 4 Steps to Mentoring Teenagers 
4. Belonging (Bob Rice) 
  • "We want to offer you real, genuine, authentic belonging. And we know that in the midst of that you might be willing to try on our behaviors...and in the context of that, you might choose to believe." 
5. Working Among Young People (Pope John Paul II) 
  • "The true educator therefore shares the life of the young, is interested in their problems, tries to become aware of how they see things, takes part in their sporting and cultural activities and in their conversations: as a mature and responsible friend he sketches out for them ways and means of doing good, he is ready to intervene to solve problems, to indicate criteria, to correct with prudent and loving firmness blameworthy judgements and behaviour."
6. Ministering to Millennials (Bob Rice) 
7. Create a Simple Yet Effective Ministry 
8. Six Steps to Make it the Best Year Ever (LifeTeen) **NEW
Adult Volunteers 
1. Attracting Volunteers (Bob Rice) 
  • Although Jesus desired all of humanity to hear his voice, He spent most of His time with twelve men, and even more of his time with three. 
  • "How does a volunteer benefit from being a part of this ministry?" 
2. The Importance of Training Your Core Team
  • Having a clear set of directions and expectations eliminates the fear and hesitation that comes with being in the dark.
  • If Core Members are also friends with one another, then they will be more excited and eager to come together to serve the youth of the parish.
3. Building a Team of Relational Youth Ministry Volunteers **NEW

Methods of a Youth Minister 
1. The Ecclesial Method of Catechesis - Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS 
  • Your readiness for them when they arrive - knowing their names, not being too preoccupied
  • The important thing is to explain, so that even if the truth reaches to the height of transcendence it is reasonable and wonderful. It does not insult intelligence, rather it informs and inspires.  

3. Key Elements in Vital Youth Ministry - Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS 
  • The four components that seminaries use to form future priests are: the human, the spiritual, the intellectual, and the pastoral. These four pillars of priestly formation, developed by Pope John Paul II’ (I will Give You Shepherds), is a model for us in engaging the whole person. 
  • We, as Youth ministers, assist God.  God creates conversion, forms hearts and works constantly in the deepest part of each of our beings, calling us home as his children.

Life Teen
About the Life Teen movement overall.

Additional Life Teen resources.

Two resources for your use: