Flammable Youth Ministry

Here are Four Flammable assumptions about Soul Tending in Youth Ministry

1. Soul Tending understands youth ministry as a holy pursuit, not a service profession.
2. Soul tending relies on the historic practices of Christian community as the decisive vehicles for ministry.
3. Soul tending fuels faith in young people, adults, and congregations simultaneously.
4. Soul tending offers a paradigm for being the Church, not for just being in Youth Ministry.

Where are the places that are Holy Ground for faith in Youth Ministry?

• Families
• Parish Life
• Significant Catholic Christian Adults

Discussion

1. What image best describes the faith of the young people you know; brushfire, bonfire, or hearth fire? If you are new, how do you find the faith of the young people you will be working with?
   1. What about your own faith?
   2. What kind of fuel is missing from your ministry right now: tinder, kindling, sticks, logs?
2. How have your family, your parish, your Christian friendships influenced your faith and your ministry?
   1. What person or events have been the most important “burning bushes” in your life? (a burning bush gives light without being consumed)
3. What would your Youth Ministry look like if families, parish life, and significant friendships between youth and Catholic Christian Adults became “holy ground” for your ministry?
   1. What would change?
   2. What would stay the same?

Taken from “The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry” Keda creasy and Ron foster, Upper Room Books, 1998