Just like most people who write about ministry in the 21st century, we have to start by pointing out our shortcomings. We all know the data: baptisms, marriages, first communions, confirmations, students enrolled in faith formation or Catholic school... all are dropping precipitously. We also hear about the “nones” who used to be Catholic but identify as “none” when asked what religion they are. Yep, a lot of bad news. But, bad news rarely motivates a healthy and holy ministry.
Yes, people are leaving the Church in record numbers.
Yes, it's harder to find quality workers who can move the Church's mission forward.
Yes, leaders have not been effective with the power granted to them.
We can't deny it. We shouldn't hide from it.
And, we should not just think that blame lies with someone else.
However, we can actually do something about it.
Yes, there is a New Hope! In fact, it's not all that new. This blog will dive deeper into the wisdom of the Church and strategies for success that have been written about for decades. We can do this!
In fact, the Church is doing a lot of successful things already.
When I look back at my time in parish ministry, I can think of the young people whose lives were probably changed for the good because of the programming I made available. I can actually name about 7-10 young people who are active in their Catholic faith today in no small part because of an encounter with God or His Church that I helped to make possible. If there were asked to name positive religious influences in their lives, they might name me. That’s not nothing.
At the same time, there were 993 other young people that intersected with my ministry in one way or another. These young people are unknown to me. They were people with hopes, dreams, and fears who for some reason didn’t connect with what was available about the parish. Either I didn’t get to know them, or they didn’t want what we were were offering, or both.
Why is it that some people benefit from our work and others do not?
Why can one retreat be so powerful for some participants and absolutely meaningless or painful to others?
As I look back at seven long years of experimenting in parish ministry, I have discovered that an honest evaluation shows that I was probably successful in helping young people grow in their faith with noticeable progress about 1-2% of the time. I can think of those 7-10 teens with joy and self-rewarding thoughts.
What drove me to write this blog, though, is the other 993… the 99 sheep who walked away, were lost, and not sought. How did I fail them? What could I have done differently?
No other industry would tolerate a 1% success rate. For some reason, the institution that governs the Church and her ministries does.
At some point, we have to step back from the daily grind and ask ourselves if what we are doing is actually being fruitful. We have to ask if we know what fruitfulness would look like. We have to discern what we can do to actually move the needle toward fruitfulness. We also have to tease out the variables in life that we do not have control over and learn how to mitigate obstacles and differentiate ministry initiatives to address a diverse audience.
Good ministry is not a rinse and repeat. We have to know what we’re trying to do… and know how to do it.
That is the entire thrust of this blog.
Together, we will explore some of the flaws in the status quo mechanisms of ministry. Some of what we are doing is causing real harm in the faith lives of the very people we are trying to help. Sometimes we are accidentally successful and credit the wrong variable for our fruitfulness. We will explore the faith growth spectrum for a variety of audience, learn to diagnose the phase of faith that people could be in, and develop an awareness of the appropriate ministry emphasis that would make up the pastoral response.
This is not going to be an easy blog to read. Ministry is complicated and messy.
If you want to do something simple and ineffective, there are a lot of resources out there that you can plug-n-play.
That’s not what we are about. We are about building confident and competent ministry leaders who know what they are trying to do and know how to do it. This will require a combination of self-examination, stepping outside our systemic approach, analyzing our current assumptions, and making bold, adventurous changes to our thoughts, programs, schedules, and objectives.
This will be hard work!
But, at the end of the day (or year), we will be able to meaningful change… not just in 1% of your teens, but in most if not all of them.
This work requires us to offer a Groundbreaking Ministry. This will have to feel and look different. You will need to get your hands dirty and your ego bruised. You will have to ruffle feathers and rock boats.
I believe your people are worth it.
Do you?