|
Cultivation Ministries, a unique Catholic organization, helps parishes transform teens into strong, mature Christians
By Bert Ghezzi
For Frank Mercadante, the founder and executive director of Cultivation Ministries, “teen disciple” is no oxymoron.
“We want to grow kids into fruit-bearing disciples, he says. “We want to transform teens from spiritual consumers
to world transformers. From asking, ‘Jesus, what can you do for me?’ to asking, ‘Jesus, what can you do
through me?’” (Are you asking with me, “Where can I sign my teen up for this treatment?”)?
Based in St. Charles, Illinois, for a decade Cultivation Ministries has served in 43 dioceses helping more than 70 parishes
establish effective youth ministries. “Our goal,” says Frank, “is to train the new generation in evangelization.
We want the motivation and skills to share the faith to become standard among young Catholics. We hope they become contagious
Christians, infecting everyone around them with faith.’” To accomplish this goal, Cultivation Ministries consults
with parishes, providing them with strategies and training for evangelizing teenagers. They also offer a number of services
that reach out directly to tens of thousands of teens (see sidebar, An Outbreak of Faith).
Cultivation Ministries developed out of Frank’s experience as a youth minister at St. John Neumann Parish in St. Charles.
During his tenure in the 1980s, the parish’s youth ministry experienced phenomenal success, growing from 12 participants
and 2 adult leaders to more than 500 participants and 75 adult leaders. “We even had a lot of non-Catholic kids coming,”
says Frank, noting how a vibrant youth ministry can reverse the usual trend of Catholic teens going to Evangelical programs.
Today 14 young men and women from St. John Neumann are serving in full time ministry.
Frank founded Cultivation Ministries to help other parishes benefit from the principles he learned at St. John Neumann. For
starters, Frank insists that contemporary youth ministry must be team-based. “A youth ministry led by a community doesn’t
fold when a leader moves on,” says Frank. Also, a team brings together people with a variety of gifts, which enables
them to relate more easily to a diverse group of kids. And the example of love and collaboration of a team has a bigger impact
on the teens than one person can have.
From the St. John Neumann experience Frank recognized four ongoing phases for building a parish disciple-making youth ministry.
He expressed them with agricultural metaphors commonly found in Scripture—preparing the soil, sowing seed, growing plants,
and reaping fruit. Cultivation Ministries take its name from this farming imagery. The principles behind these four phases
shape and direct every aspect of Cultivation Ministries and account for its remarkable ability to help parishes develop lively
and life-giving youth ministries:
Preparing involves laying a foundation by building and training a team of adult leaders and developing a strategic plan;
Sowing means finding innovative ways to evangelize young people, proclaiming the gospel so that teens will respond and come
to conversion to Christ and the Church;
Growing puts in place all the elements necessary to catechize teens in the faith and form them in Catholic spirituality;
Reaping consists in establishing approaches to help teens bear spiritual fruit by taking on the mission of the Church and
becoming leaders and ministers in evangelization and service.
When the Cultivation Ministries team consults with a parish, they do not present a pre-packaged youth ministry program. Rather
over a two-year period of training sessions and consultations, they use these four principles to assist the parish in developing
a strategy tailored to local circumstances and needs. This accounts for the success of the Cultivation Ministries approach
because it recognizes the real situations parishes find themselves in.
Parishes that do not choose a full strategy consultation may take advantage of one-day or overnight seminars that Cultivation
Ministries offers on each of the four key phases. The talks and activities on these events not only communicate valuable information
to parish leaders, but also draw them nearer to Christ and expand their faith for the work of youth evangelization.
Professional observers of Catholic parish ministry authorize the work of Cultivation Ministries. For example, renowned author
and parish renewal expert, Fr. Patrick Brennan says, “Cultivation Ministries has organized what has been long needed
in the Church: a youth evangelization process that is holistic, comprehensive, and grounded in the Catholic tradition.”
Cultivation Ministries is one of the best things going for youth in the American Church, a genuine and heartfelt response
to Pope John Paul II’s call for a New Evangelization.
An Outbreak of Faith
In order to fulfill their goal of causing an epidemic of faith among teens, Cultivation Ministries offers Outbreak of Faith
Youth Fests and Discipleship Clinics.
A Youth Fest is a one-day, large-group evangelistic event for Catholic teens. The fest incorporates a rich combination of
media, including drama, interactive events, music, video, pyrotechnics, and shadow mime. To make it easy for a parish or diocese
to sponsor a fest, the team brings all the necessary equipment—sound, lighting, live video, computer multimedia, large
projection screens, and LCD projectors.
“We create an environment,” says Frank Mercadante, “that helps teens experience God’s presence. And
we present the gospel to them with an exciting and irresistible relevance.”
Cultivation Ministries holds Discipleship Clinics as a follow up to Youth Fests. Over four days the Cultivation Ministries
team trains teens in large group evangelization. They receive a hands-on experience in creating the drama and video for a
large group event. This opportunity, plus the prayer, camaraderie, and mentoring at the clinic gives the teens confidence
for evangelizing their peers. They really become contagious Christians.
Cultivation Ministries sponsors an internship program to help staff the fests and clinics. In return for their work, interns
get valuable first-hand experience in youth evangelization and parish youth ministry. The program is an ideal opportunity
for young adults either to test their interest in full-time youth work, or just to give one year of service to the Church.
Youth Ministry Resources
Frank Mercadante, Growing Teen Disciples. A comprehensive presentation of the four key phases of community-based youth ministry.
Coordinator Leadership Resource Binder. Everything a parish needs to design and plan a successful youth ministry.
“Growing Teen Disciples” and “Seeds of Faith.” Two four-audiocassette seminars providing training
for youth ministry teams.
© Copyright 2009 by Bert Ghezzi
|
