3 practical ways that will propel you to become a great catholic youth leader
Effective youth ministries & successful programs are always a result of great leadership.
If you want to become a great catholic youth leader, you must have a passion for youth, you must have the drive to effectively & positively influence others and lastly, you must commit to meeting all the challenges of leading the youth ministry.
If you really feel you have a passion for youth leadership, here are three practical ways that will surely propel you to become a great catholic youth leader. These are;
1. Self-development
2. Workshops/Training/Seminars
3. Experience
In this article, I’ll share with you the specifics and the minor details of each of the 3 ways — [these minor details are more often ignored but are very important.]
This might be a long post, but it’s worth reading if you want to become a great catholic youth leader. So let’s start.
1. SELF DEVELOPMENT
The first way to become a leader in through self-development at a personal level.
In my 3 years in youth leadership in my home parish, one thing I came to realize is that leadership is a field of practice and research.
And in those three years, I came to note that there are five [5] things that were obviously almost common in all places where people usually meet whether at home, in church, school, places of work or in meetings.
And because you will be leading people, it’s good to take note of them.
In all the places I had visited, I highlighted 5 common things that were regularly done. These are;
1. There is an opening prayer
2. There is singing of several choruses (songs)
3. There is an introduction part or an open chance to greet or say hi to other people.
4. There is the reading of the Word of God & preaching
5. There is a closing prayer
I came to realize that, if I wanted to become a great leader, I had to invest my time and develop myself first in these 5 highlighted areas.
How did I develop myself in these 5 areas? Let’s find out in the next part.
(i). Leading the Opening Prayers
In this area, I started by teaching myself how to pray by reciting prayers using different prayer books written in different languages.
When I knew I’m going to any place to meet a group of people, I used to write down an opening prayer beforehand. Then, I made sure I have recited and memorized the prayer before I stepped out of the house. I did this in case I’m called upon to lead in opening prayers.
I could repeat this over and over until I became a master in it.
(ii). Leading the Closing Prayers
For the closing prayer, I followed the same script of the opening prayer.
I wrote the prayer beforehand, recited and memorized it in case I’m called upon to do so.
I also took time to teach myself how to lead the morning prayers, evening prayers, prayer before meals and prayer after meals.
And whenever I was asked to lead in prayer, I could do so with confidence and courage.
In some places, I even volunteered to do so while others could be hiding or not willing.
By doing this, I expressed courage and confidence thus raising my stakes and ratings in the eyes of other youths.
Incase there was elections looming in the near future, you will be a potential leader to them. Perception!
(iii). Leading the Choruses and Songs
When it came to choruses and songs, I wrote down several favourite songs, took time to teach myself and memorize them.
In the eventuality I was called upon to do so, I confidently did it without fear, guesswork or hesitation.
Again in doing this, I expressed courage and confidence raising my stakes and ratings in the eyes of other youths who perceived me as a real leader. Again earning their trust!
(iv). Reading the Word of God & Preaching
When it comes to the Word of God, this is where the rabbit hole begins and ends.
Most youths don’t read the Bible but if you want to become a great catholic youth leader, you must get used to it.
So what did I do in this area,?
There was no magic here. The Bible became my closest friend and whenever I read it, I often wrote down some notes and favourite verses.
I recited & memorized them and prepared short sermons & teachings in reference to the verses.
And if there was an opportunity to read the Bible or preach, I could volunteer right away.
Of course, I would choose my favourite verses and if time allows, I could give a great sermon on the same confidently without stammering or staggering, again earning their respect in the process.
I did all this with courage and confidence thus raising my stakes and ratings in the eyes of other youths who perceived me as a real leader.
(v). Greeting and introducing myself to others
The other part I worked on was how to introduce myself before other people.
There comes a time when everyone is required to greet and say hi to other people but most of the young people just stammer and stagger in fear.
However for me, other than just saying hi, I took advantage of this platform to train myself the art of motivating and giving hope to other young people whenever I was given a chance to talk. This earned me the tag of a great leader.
Expressing such courage and confidence raised my stakes & ratings in the eyes of other youths who perceived me as a real leader.
The reason for doing all this is because I came to realize that it takes time to prepare something than to present it. This means a leader must be pro-active and not reactive.
You raise your confidence and courage whenever you have prepared something in advance.
I must admit that I learnt all the above skills in my Jumuiya (Small Christian Community).
But how did my Jumuiya inspire me to learn these skills? Let’s find out in the next part.
St. Bakhita Small Christian Community (Jumuiya)
Back in my local church, we used to have Jumuiyas every Sunday after Mass.
My Jumuiya was christened as St. Bakhita exclusively for our local church youths.
When we meet in a Jumuiya, we had a schedule of our day. And in this youth setting, we would start with several choruses, then we recited the rosary, read bible verses and preaching, then we used to have prayers of the faithful and we shared other great stories.
Thanks to the demands of my jumuiya, I had to learn very important skills through personal development.
✓. Important skills gained through self development
In a youthful setting, such as small groups, meetings or Jumuiyas there are other important skills that you gain in your way to become a great leader.
First you gain confidence and courage. Two, you learn something or two about communication skills.
Through a simple youthful setting such as Jumuiya, you can learn important skills. So invest a lot of your time in such small groups at the local level.
All in all, Personal Development consists all the activities that will develop your capabilities, your potential, that will build your human capital, facilitate your leadership, enhance the quality of your leadership and the realization of your dreams and aspirations.
Therefore initiating, defining and executing your personal development plans (PDPs) is key in your leadership.
If you have reached at this point and you still have the desire to keep reading, I can safely wager that you want to become a great catholic youth leader who wants run an efficient youth ministry and successful programs.
2. TRAINING, WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS
The second way to become a great catholic youth leader is by attending Trainings, Workshops and Seminars.
Leaders don’t happen by accident. You must invest your time, energy and other resources to get trained for leadership, ask questions and develop in the process.
As a person with a passion for youth leadership, there is a need to be more informed than your fellow youths.
You need to be more informed about your faith and other youth-related issues that matter most to them.
As they say, leaders are readers. So you must invest your time to read, research & write on many areas.
This is because the information is key, so invest your time in formational projects as much as you can.
✓. What did I do to get formed & informed at the same time.?
I remember my lecturer back in Laikipia University told me that: you are not there to know everything but on the contrary, you are there to know where you can get everything.
Since I had a smartphone, I used to Google and read more about the Catholic Church, the bible, Christianity, culture, incarceration and many other areas.
Using YouTube, I watched a lot of videos about the above topics
I also attended very many faith formation seminars where I learnt important topics such as The Sacraments & Sacraments, Sources of Catholic teachings, Mariology & the Holy Rosary, The Bible, Dogmas and doctrines, and saints and angles among others.
On matters touching on morals, I attended seminars organized by Catholic Justice and Peace Department (CJPD) with topics on Catholic Social Teachings (CSTs).
Youth leadership is much more than only leading the youths.
There are logistical, spiritual, and relational challenges that come with the job. Make sure you are prepared for all these aspects of this important role.
However, you will get well prepared on these aspects if only you are attending as many workshops, seminars and training as possible.
If you get a chance, kindly attend leadership training, Challenge Weeks, Team building, Environmental programs, Entrepreneurship training, Mental health seminars among others.
In those trainings, you’re likely to meet former youth leaders, take notes, connect ideas, debunk theories and receive other youth-related resources written by youth trainers meant for youth.
3. EXPERIENCE
The third way to become a great catholic youth leader is through experience.
If I am asked to explain what youth leadership is all about, then I could summarize it with only three words: Sacrifice, Commitments & Huge-demands.
Leaders who lead their youth ministries through challenging activities and rigorous periods, tend to gain important skills to easily overcome similar periods with similar obstacles and challenges in successive years.
Leadership is a demanding role that requires incredible organization and time-management skills, as well as the ability to cultivate others’ strengths, persevere in the face of countless obstacles, and to build relationships—the same skills and experiences needed to lead within a variety of contexts.
For instance, let’s say you had planned & organized a Marian Procession Pilgrimage this year in your home parish. However, when you eventually hold the event, you note some things did not go as planned. Let’s assume you highlighted sone issues such as; some things were not in order, timing of the event was bad, some people were late, the necessary materials for choir were few, some duties were never allocated among others.
With all the highlighted areas at your disposal, you will correct the mistakes that happened and plan a more successful and orderly Marian Procession Pilgrimage next year.
Therefore, the leadership practices you develop in a given year, will greatly strengthen and help you in the successive years if you are planning a similar event.
You will continue to draw upon these skills and experiences wherever you find yourself planning or organizing an event.
Your experience as a leader will give you the opportunity to build a unique set of leadership skills that you can draw upon throughout your term.
With more than 2 years of experience as a youth leader, you will be adept in organizational management, strategic planning, time management, team building and communication skills.
Hence there will always be a huge difference between the leadership of a first-time leader and an experienced most-accomplished leader.
Required of you
After mastering the art of youth leadership, it’s time to go beyond improving oneself and recognize the need to also develop others. You can develop other people’s skills and personalities.
This can happen through roles such as those of a teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the skills of a travelling companion in developing the potential leaders) or through a professional service (such as providing training, assessment, or coaching).
You should mentor and help others to navigate the unique responsibilities that come with overseeing other youths.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to inspire and motivate these impressionable youths to maintain Christian values in a world that is often dark, complex, confusing and increasingly secular generation.
The final scoop
We said leadership is a field of practice and research.
As a field of practice, leadership may includes:
• Designing Personal-development methods
• Learning & Running programs
• Gathering Assessment systems, tools, and techniques.
As a field of research — [leaders are readers as they say] — you need to be reading more on leadership topics that appear in psychology journals, education research, management journals and books, and human-development economics.
Remember that knowledge is power but — power to serve not to dominate.
Conclusion
Any sort of development—whether economic, political, biological, organizational or personal— requires a framework if one wishes to know whether a change has actually occurred.
In this case of leadership, an individual often functions as the primary judge of improvement or of regression, but the validation of objective improvement requires assessment using standard criteria.
The standard criteria framework may include:
1. Goals or benchmarks that define the end-points.
2. Strategies or plans for reaching goals.
3. Measurement and assessment of progress, levels or stages that define milestones along a development path.
4. A feedback system to provide information on changes.
2023 is your year to rise up higher in your leadership skills, spread the Gospel, be successful, mentor others and most of all, walk with God. As you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.
Receive this article by faith and declare, “Yes, God, you are my past HELP and my HOPE for years to come. This is me today. You have something great coming my way tomorrow!”
Divine Providence
The article was written by;
Paul Ikua Nyawira
Youth Program Coordinator
Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri
