Starting a Catholic Youth Group from Scratch – Part 4 of 10 – Networking and Communication

This is number 4 of 10 from our series.

Our focus on this post is to talk about starting out with networking and communication, it’s importance, and how effective it can be for your ministry.

Why Is It Important?

I assume I will write several more posts in the coming days about networking because it is so important.  Networking and communicating with others is ministry.  You can type up all of the lessons you want, come up with your own crazy games, and put in all of the bulletin announcements possible.  Without a greater sense of networking, you will end up dry.  Networking brings people together, keeps them informed, and makes them a part of a group.  There are four ways of networking that I will talk about.  Networking with the youth, parents, other youth ministers, and parish staff.

Networking With Parish Staff

I will start with the easiest one.  You must also be working towards good communication and networking with your parish staff.  They are the ones who are paid to back to you up.   Find ways to get them involved in your ministry and how they can help, share resources with them, and keep them informed.  Our parish went from being in offices that were not in the same building, priests that could not get along, and staff that were absolutely clueless about the other ministries to the complete opposite.  We now have our new parish office building and everyone is just down the hall from each other, our priests are great spiritual leaders, and we meet weekly to discuss our ministries and upcoming events.  It has made a huge difference in our ministry.

Networking With Other Youth Ministers

I would like to be able to say everything you need is here at Prepared Catholic, but it is a good start.  Please bleed us dry of anything you can to get what you need.  There are so many other helpful ways to network though. Here are a few.

• Connect with youth minister in your Diocese - I have two youth ministers from my Diocese that I through ideas at all of the time and get feedback.  Most of the stuff on our site is looked over by them first.  They also send me stuff to look over.  Call the Diocese and get names and numbers and just make a few calls
• Connect with local youth ministers - If you have other Catholic Youth Ministers in your town/city great! You can also connect with non-Catholic youth ministers and get great ideas.  Check www.nnym.com to get signed up as part of a network of youth ministers in your area.  Find out if there are meetings for youth ministers and get involved.
• Connect Online – There are tons of great resources out there.  Sign up for automatic updates through blogs and resource sites.  Chances are you do not have much of a budget just starting off, so get as much free stuff as you can and save it to your computer.  Find groups on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.  You just have look a minute or two and you will find so much more than you can take in.

Networking With Parents

If you are able to be involved in programs in the parish that are for adults, please do.  We need our spiritual nourishment too.  Volunteer to help with breakfasts and concessions at games.  This varies by community, but just find some program for adults that is young and vibrant.

Keep parents and other parishioners informed by putting out monthly calendars or keeping everything updated online.  Do not just announce events in the bulletin but thank people and praise things that have happened.  Have youth group nights where parents are specifically invited.  Thank parents for allowing their child to be involved.

Send out emails once a month just to parents with all of the upcoming dates, times, costs, etc.

Start a Youth Group Booster Club for parents to organize and be involved in it.

Networking With Youth

This will probably be outdated in no time, but here is how I have networked for the past couple of years with the youth. With this generation of kids, there is one thing to know.  Give them short bursts of information with the option of clicking to learn more.

• Weekly Emails – Each week I send out an email with a teaser for youth group, upcoming dates, and any other random info I can think of.  I try to keep them very short with lots of links to more information.  If they are too long, kids will stop reading them.  Have links to your website if you have one.
• Website – We have a discussion forum and online sign-ups on our web site.  Also kids can sign up for automatic emails when we have updates or news.  We have another post dedicated to this called Youth Group Web Site – Not Just PDF’s.
• Facebook – Set up a FAN page immediately for your group.  Suggest the page to all of the kids that you can.  Put random stuff on there all of the time.  Again, short bursts of info that lead them to a place full of information.  I also think it is great if you can set aside time to be available on Facebook, like after school and some Friday or Saturday afternoons.  Those times when kids are home and are ‘thinking.’  Facebook is a great place to meet the kids where they are at.  We have another article written on Protecting Yourself – Facebook In Youth Ministry.
• Twitter – Youth are not using twitter yet, but for those that are, you can easily connect a twitter account to Facebook, so each time you post something in Facebook, it is automatically posts in to your twitter account.

Again, I am sure I will write plenty more on social networking with youth in other posts.  But these are the main that I use.  Networking will help you connect with those youth that are lonely and struggling.  It also makes you much more available.  Although these things can be very time consuming, it is well worth it.  Check out the next post in this series to learn how to stay sane and organized within your ministry.

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ALL ARTICLES

Part 1 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Set Goals and Mission
Part 2 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Core Group – Students
Part 3 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Core Group – Adults
Part 4 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Networking & Communcation
Part 5 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Organization
Part 6 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Outside Involvement
Part 7 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Curriculum
Part 8 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Games
Part 9 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Media
Part 10 of 10 – Starting a Catholic Youth Group From Scratch – Adult Team

Related posts:

1. Starting a Catholic Youth Group from Scratch – Part 2 of 10 – Core Group – Students
2. Starting a Catholic Youth Group from Scratch – Part 3 of 10 – Core Group – Adults
3. Youth Group Web Site – Not Just PDF’s
4. Facebook in Catholic Youth Ministry – Protecting Yourself
5. Youth Group Trading Cards