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"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
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. The New American Bible. Saint Joseph Edition. New York: Catholic Book Publishi ng Co., 1992. Net Ministries, Inc. "Youth Worker's Handbook." West St. Paul, MN: Net Ministries, Inc., 1998. 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: 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. 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
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jesus Christ, Renewing Vision, Participation Liturgy, Sacrament Reconciliation, Gospel Church, God's Kingdom, Directory Catechesis, Youth Ministry, Holy Scripture, Advisor Healer, youth ministry, youth ministers, teach people, youth minister, renewing vision, jesus christ, christian life, united catholic, united catholic conference, catholic conference, net ministries inc, uscc inc, renewing vision confronted, youth ministers remember, washington uscc inc,
Approximate Word count = 3212
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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