Army building

I’m going around asking fellow ministers and church members if they can recommend to me 3 people that are currently not in ministry that would totally benefit from ministry. They don’t have to be hard core Christians, just people they feel are safe to work with teens and open to the experience of “volunteering” in a Catholic church. I’m excited by the list I am compiling because a lot of the names I do not recognize which is good because it’s going out of my sphere of relationships and friends. I’m hoping to create a system over the next year where ministers are recruiting ministers. This is something that most successful churches do, they hand over the authority of recruiting to their ministers.
Yes, this means we will have to set-up guidelines to make sure that everyone who applies for ministry is suitable for ministry. If someone is new to the church or to the faith and wants to serve in youth ministry I’m not going to put them into Confirmation Mentoring, instead put them in the crowd program where they can greet teens, serve them food and make them feel welcomed. Both ministries are important but require different levels of experience and a desired belief. By having that person come once a week or twice a month to serve they are exposed to the message given to teens, invited to go to Mass and given the chance to grow in their faith. Ideally after some time if this person desires to do more relational ministry they are ready to do that.
I’m really hoping this summer to mobilize an army of youth ministers to take on the spiritual warfare that so many teens face. The other ministries at Nativity are great, but I want to make Youth Ministry the place to serve…you know a little friendly competition. Anyway, if you know of anyone who would work well with teens and is open to the experience of serving inside a church let me know.