Reaching teens with the life-giving message of the gospel isn’t always easy, and managing your youth ministry budget isn’t always easy, either. Here at Ascension, we get that, and we want to give you four ideas for using free online Catholic video content in order to help you succeed on both ends.
1. Give teens something they are comfortable disagreeing with. When you’re faced with discussing a difficult teaching of the Church, show a video where an expert in a particular area presents the Church’s position. Teens will want to voice their opinions in response, but they will be more likely to speak up if they don’t feel like they are disagreeing with you personally. You can then direct the conversation and ask questions that challenge your teens to think differently than they have about that issue in the past, but you may be able to avoid alienating certain teens.
2. Show a video to break up the monotony. If you or someone on your ministry team gives a twenty to thirty minute presentation on a given topic, break up the presentation by showing a video just when you sense you might be losing your teens’ attention. (Let’s be honest—that happens pretty quickly these days, and it’s not just because you are ridiculously boring….
They are probably just looking at this adorable cat and baby.)
The music, images, and different voices within a video can help infuse energy back into the room and recapture the distracted teen. You also get the benefit of an expert “voice” reinforcing the concept you are trying to communicate.
3. Send a video to teens in a midweek message reminding them that their faith isn’t just for Sundays. While you probably don’t want to do this via text, don’t be afraid to use Facebook, Twitter, or Flocknote. You can even turn it into a friendly competition at the start of your following Sunday’s gathering by asking trivia questions inspired by that week’s video’s content.
Unless your teens are like these kids….
4. Bolster your own knowledge about the Faith! We know that you answered the call to become a youth minister because you love Jesus Christ and the beauty of the Catholic Faith. But, sometimes it’s hard to keep going in the midst of all the pressures, responsibilities, and disappointments that can sometimes come with the position.
So, take the time to get inspired again. You’ll get ideas for different ways to explain tough concepts to your teens, find videos to share with them, and connect with a Church community that is bigger than it sometimes seems.
If you haven’t been to AscensionPresents.com, we encourage you to check it out. You’ll find a wide variety of free 5-10 minute videos on a host of Catholic topics, featuring popular speakers such as Fr. Mike Schmitz, Leah Darrow, and Matt Fradd.
If you have more suggestions as to how youth ministers can use free Catholic video content, leave them in the comment box below!
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