Youth ministry workshop presents new ideas, strategies

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
March 2, 2006

STORM LAKE - A youth ministry workshop was offered on Feb. 23 for people in the Diocese of Sioux City involved in or interested in being involved in youth ministry.

Ann Marie Eckert from the Center for Ministry Development presented the workshop at Buena Vista University from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The title of the workshop was Effective Practices for Dynamic Youth Ministry.

Eckert is the author of Ministry Resources for Community Life and Ministry Resources for Youth Leadership Development in Total Youth Ministries series. Eckert previously held the position of associate director for youth and young adult ministry in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and assistant director of the Youth Department in the Diocese of Buffalo. She holds a master of arts in pastoral ministry from Christ the King Seminary in Buffalo.

In all about 40 people attended the workshop including four priests from the diocese.

The workshop was to further the knowledge of parishes that already have youth ministry programs. It was also for parishes that do not have youth ministry to give them ideas on how to get it started. "One parishioner said she was losing momentum and this really helped her get back in," said said Jessica La Fleur, director of youth and young adult ministries for the diocese. "Another parish said, 'this really gives us a lot of ideas for getting something started.' It served its purpose. I wanted it to be something all parishes could be a part of, not just those that have youth ministry or those who don't."

Registration began at 8:30 a.m. Prayer and session one, "The Willing Parish," started at 9 a.m. Session two was titled "Qualities and Dimensions of Dynamic Youth Ministry" and offered examples of what it looks like.

Eckert used a PowerPoint presentation to get her points across. Each attendee was given a copy of her presentation as well as a packet of tools to help implement the practices of youth ministry presented in the workshop. They also received the book "Effective Practices for Dynamic Youth Ministry."

Session three focused on "Putting it Together: Models for Dynamic Youth Ministry."

"The youth minister is the bridge between the youth and the adults," said Eckert.

The final session was called "Leading and Planning for Dynamic Youth Ministry" - finding leaders, giving ideas on how to train and how to keep it going. Eckert pointed out that people just need to be asked to help with a project or event.

"Someone said to me the other day, when I was talking about getting volunteers, when they asked this young man to help, his face lit up. That is a cool thing," said Eckert.

There was time for group discussion for the parishes that decided to bring a team as well as getting ideas from other parishes.

"I think things went really well," said La Fleur. "People seemed very engaged with discussions and the presentation. Afterwards many of them spoke to me about how excited they were about it and how it gave them a lot of inspiration."

Charlotte Willenborg, youth minister at Sacred Heart in Manning, decided to attend the workshop to get ideas, to reinforce what she is doing with youth ministry and to get rejuvenated.

"I have gained ideas on how to connect the youth back in with the parish and do things to get the parish to support the youth in what they are doing," said Willenborg.

Ryan Berg, teacher at St. Mary's in Storm Lake and parishioner at St. Mary Church, pointed out that Father Matt Hewitt had mentioned the workshop to him.

"Since we both have kind of started helping find more ways to include the youth in our school and parish, we are looking for more ideas," said Berg. "We are just starting a youth group. It is in the initial planning stages, so we need more resources and help over all."

He commented that he gained different ideas about what has worked for other people.

"This will give us a model to follow and build around," said Berg.

A resource table of materials from Saint Mary's Press was available for the attendees to look at.

The follow-up workshop slated for May 8 will also be presented by the Center for Youth Ministry Development.

"That will be a leadership day," said La Fleur. "Ann Marie will be helping us, number one, figure out how we can train adult volunteers and leaders and also how we can keep them. How do we motivate them? Anyone who works in the church knows that a lot of what we do is dependent on parents or volunteers. It will help us to figure out how to work with volunteers."

La Fleur continued that what she likes about the next workshop is that, while Eckert comes from a youth ministry background, Eckert noted that the workshop is for all ministries.