Youth Faith Formation

Understanding the social experiential nature of youth, the Immaculate Conception Church Total Youth Ministry (TYM) program for youth in grades 9-12 and Junior Youth Ministry (JYM) for youth in grades 6-8 focuses on community and faith building. We look to provide guidance and teaching for the youth in the areas of stewardship, worship, evangelization, scripture, and having a personal relationship with God. Our goal is to develop the youth into mature, life-long members of the Body of Christ.

Effective ministry with adolescents is built on relationships—to include our relationship with young people and their relationship with God. For this reason, everyone in a community has a role to play. As ministers of youth, we must always be open to the personal, social, and spiritual needs of the young people in our community! We must be ever vigilant to find ways to involve young people in projects and activities of formation, spirituality, and service. When we can give them ownership of their faith, they can begin to take reverence in it and treat it accordingly!

These goals are interdependent and equally important. This is our response to the need to involve young people in the larger community.

• Goal 1: To empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.
  Ministry with adolescents helps young people learn what it means to follow Jesus Christ and to live as his disciples today, empowering them to serve others and to work toward a world built on the visions and values of the reign of God.
   
• Goal 2: To draw young people to responsible participation in the life, mission, and work of the Catholic faith community.
  Ministry with adolescents recognizes the importance of each of the faith communities (family, parish, Catholic school, youth serving organization) in helping young people grow in faith as they experience life in community and actively participate in the mission of Jesus Christ and his Church.
   
• Goal 3: To foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person.
  Ministry with adolescents fosters positive adolescent development and growth in both Christian discipleship and Catholic identity. Promoting the growth of young and older adolescents means addressing their unique developmental, social, and religious needs and nurturing the qualities and assets necessary for positive development.

Ministry with adolescents utilizes each of the Church’s ministries—advocacy, catechesis, community life, evangelization, justice and service, leadership development, pastoral care, prayer and worship—in an integrated approach to achieve the three goals for ministry. These components provide a framework for the Catholic community to respond to the needs of young people and to involve young people in sharing their unique gifts with the larger community. Each ministry component supports and enhances the others.

The Ministry of Advocacy

The ministry of advocacy engages the Church to examine its priorities and practices to determine how well young people are integrated into the life, mission, and work of the Catholic community. It places adolescents and families first by analyzing every policy and program—domestic, parish-based, diocesan, and international—for its impact on adolescents and families.

The Ministry of Catechesis

The ministry of catechesis helps adolescents develop a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and the Christian community, and increase their knowledge of the core content of the Catholic faith. Genuine faith is a total response of the whole person—mind, heart, and will. The ministry of catechesis fosters growth in Catholic faith in all three dimensions—trusting (heart), knowing and believing (mind), and doing (will).

The Ministry of Community Life

The ministry of community life builds an environment of love, support, appreciation for diversity, and judicious acceptance that models Catholic principles; develops meaningful relationships; and nurtures Catholic faith. The ministry of community life is not only what we do (activity), but also who we are (identity) and how we interact (relationships).

The Ministry of Evangelization

The ministry of evangelization shares the good news of the reign of God and invites young people to hear about the Word Made Flesh. Drawing from Jesus’ example, evangelization involves the community’s pronouncement and living witness that the reign of God has become realized in and through Jesus. All of the relationships, ministry components, and programs of comprehensive ministry must proclaim the Good News.

The Ministry of Justice and Service

The ministry of justice and service nurtures in young people a social consciousness and a commitment to a life of justice and service rooted in their faith in Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and in Catholic social teaching; empowers young people to work for justice by concrete efforts to address the causes of human suffering; and infuses the concepts of justice, peace, and human dignity into all ministry efforts.

The Ministry of Leadership Development

The ministry of leadership development calls forth, affirms, and empowers the diverse gifts, talents, and abilities of adults and young people in our faith communities for comprehensive ministry with adolescents. It encourages others to call forth the gifts of all young people and empower them for ministry to their peers and leadership in our faith communities. We need their gifts, energy, and vitality.

The Ministry of Pastoral Care

The ministry of pastoral care is a compassionate presence in imitation of Jesus’ care of people. Pastoral Care involves promoting positive adolescent and family development through a variety of positive (preventative) strategies; caring for adolescents and families in crisis; providing guidance as young people face life decisions and make moral choices; and challenging systems that are obstacles to positive development.

The Ministry of Prayer and Worship

The ministry of prayer and worship celebrates and deepens young people’s relationship with Jesus Christ through the bestowal of grace, communal prayer and liturgical experiences; it awakens their awareness of the spirit at work in their lives; it incorporates young people more fully into the sacramental life of the Church, especially Eucharist; it nurtures the personal prayer life; and it fosters family rituals and prayer.

The Church and world need the faith, gifts, energy, and fresh ideas of young people. The entire Church, and in a special way ministry with adolescents, must empower young people for their mission in the world. We must ensure that young people are well equipped for the special mission in the world. All of our efforts to promote an active Christian discipleship and growth in Catholic identity must lead toward mission. This is our special responsibility to the young generation.

Our JYM and TYM sessions are held Sunday afternoons from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. in the De Sales Faith Formation Center behind the church. Sessions are normally scheduled from September to May.

For more information, please see our Youth Faith Formation Schedule and our Faith Formation Commission Schedule.