Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend their places of worship, or who live in their community. Christian youth ministry usually encompasses one or more of the following: * encouraging young people (whether they have professed a faith or not) to learn more about a given faith and to become more involved in spiritual life * providing open

youth club A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, vid ...

s or other activities for the common good of the young people, sometimes without an overtly religious agenda The doctrine of Sunday Sabbatarianism held by many Christian denominations encourages practices such as Sunday School attendance as it teaches that the entirety of the Lord's Day should be devoted to God; as such many children and teenagers often return to church in the late afternoon for youth group before attending an evening service of worship. Youth ministry often consists of students in sixth grade though twelfth grade and adult leaders. Every youth ministry is structured differently and the culture will vary among youth ministries depending on how the ministry cultivates culture. Some youth ministries are also student led where students take on the responsibility of planning services.

Christianity

Protestantism

In Protestant churches, the term "ministry" often implies the service of an ordained minister or pastor. In youth ministry, however, this is not always the case — a youth ministry leader may be an ordained member of the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, an employed lay person, or a volunteer. Titles applied to youth ministry leaders vary widely as well, even within denominations, using terms such as "Youth Minister", "Youth Pastor", or simply "Youth Worker".

Catholicism

{{main, Catholic youth work Catholic youth work covers a worldwide range of activities carried out with young people, usually in the name of the Catholic Church and with the intention of imparting the Catholic faith to them and inviting them to practice and live out the faith in their lives. Activities in the field range from small scale youth groups attached to parishes or

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syst ...

s, to large international gatherings, such as World Youth Day. It is a field which has evolved much over recent decades, especially in comparison to more formal methods of education or catechesis within the church. Nearly all dioceses and a great deal of parishes have some form of youth provision running, although a great deal of areas particularly in the developed world are finding youth work both more difficult and rare as the numbers of young people regularly practicing the Catholic faith continue to decline. In contrast, though, the new and exciting developments of recent decades and particularly the influence of the new movements within the church are ensuring that youth work continues to be an active and fruitful field.

Catholic young people

Unlike the case in some Protestant churches, a youth minister in the Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the clergy. Ministry, including youth ministry, is considered one of the functions within the Church because most believe that people should start learning about God at a young age so they have more time to grow spiritually through adulthood. Therefore, it is more likely for a Catholic youth minister or youth ministry leader to be a lay person, rather than an ordained priest.

Unitarian Universalism

There are organizations within the

Unitarian Universalist Association Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, both P ...

(the primary organization of Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States), as well as within the

Canadian Unitarian Council The Canadian Unitarian Council (french: link=no, Conseil unitarien du Canada) (CUC) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada. It was formed on May 14, 1961, initially to be the nationa ...

(the national body for Unitarian Universalist congregations in Canada), which minister to and with youth, of which

Young Religious Unitarian Universalists Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) is a term used within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in the United States and formerly the Canadian Unitarian Council. YRUU was an organization at the continental level primarily run by ...

(YRUU) is the largest and most apparent. YRUU strongly emphasizes

youth empowerment Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciou ...

, along with

youth-adult partnership Youth-adult partnership is a conscious relationship that establishes and sustains intergenerational equity between young people and adults. Youth-adult partnerships often display a high degree of youth rights and autonomy, and is often synonymo ...

. There are also specific youth-oriented programs, such as

Coming of Age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

, and

Our Whole Lives Our Whole Lives, or OWL, is a series of six comprehensive sexuality curricula for children, teenagers, young adults and adults published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries. Pub ...

, a lifespan sexuality education program with a youth age group.

Education and career path

Youth ministers may be trained in an education specifically to work with youth. Many Bible and Christian universities and colleges now offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in youth ministry. While youth ministry was previously considered a stepping stone on the way to becoming priests, nuns and other important vocations, the trend is currently moving toward treating it as its own vocation. Most congregations or places of worship have a strict vetting process for their youth ministers, including but not limited to background checks, educational requirements and previous relevant experience.

References

Youth work People who work with children Christianity and children