Resources to Disciple Youth | Evangelize Boston

Archdiocese of Boston’s Vision for Discipling Youth

The Archdiocese of Boston aims to empower and accompany parishes as they build teams of adult disciples to grow in their own holiness, share and live out their Catholic faith, evangelize youth, and journey with youth in their relationship with Christ. We see discipling youth as adult disciples engaging with young people in the parish and broader community and inviting them to join small groups with peers for prayer, fun, and discussion about Jesus and living the Catholic faith. By May 2027, each parish is encouraged to have at least two adult mentors actively discipling youth in their faith journeys.

The Archdiocese of Boston’s Vision for Youth Ministry

“Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!” – Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 1

Setting an ambitious goal

We seek to support parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston in building committed teams of adults capable of accompanying, evangelizing, and equipping young people to pursue ongoing conversion and growth in personal holiness, evangelize their peers, and lead others closer to Christ.
We seek to encourage parishes to identify at least 2 adult disciples accompanying young people on a journey of discipleship in every parish of the archdiocese by May 2027.
We understand youth ministry to be a variety of adult disciples using a variety of means to walk with young people on their individual journeys of faith, in small groups of their peers, in community with other young people, and active in the life of our parishes.

Working towards fulfilling our goal

The Secretariat for Evangelization and Discipleship of the Archdiocese of Boston intends to support parishes in fostering and enhancing comprehensive youth ministry as outlined above in the following ways:

Spiritual Formation – providing a community of prayer and support for clergy, staff, and volunteers in parishes to grow in holiness together as we work to accompany young people
Human and Pastoral Formation – providing opportunities – including workshops, trainings, and seminars – to grow in understanding of young people themselves; how to recruit, form, and train adults to accompany young people; how to actively listen, ask good questions, and walk with youth appropriately one-on-one and in small groups
Intellectual Formation – providing opportunities for clergy, staff, and volunteers to deepen their understanding of the teachings of the Church and effective strategies for evangelization and catechesis of young people today

The Church’s Vision for Youth Ministry

In June 2024, the Catholic bishops of the United States approved a National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults entitled “Listen, Teach, Send.” This text serves as the United States’ response to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on young people, Christus Vivit. It is also a summons to local Catholic communities to renew and revitalize their approach to the accompaniment and evangelization of youth (in junior high and high school) and young adults (in college and in their 20s and 30s).

The Church’s Vision for Youth Ministry

Listen, Teach, Send

In June 2024, the Catholic bishops of the United States approved a National Pastoral Framework for Ministries with Youth and Young Adults entitled “Listen, Teach, Send.” This text serves as the United States’ response to Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on young people, Christus Vivit. It is also a summons to local Catholic communities to renew and revitalize their approach to the accompaniment and evangelization of youth (in junior high and high school) and young adults (in college and in their 20s and 30s).

The methodology is rooted in the Gospel story of the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) and invites pastoral leaders and families, in their engagement with young people, to imitate Jesus who listens attentively, teaches from the heart, and sends disciples into the world. The document begins with a preface letter addressed directly from the U.S. Bishops to youth and young adults and continues with the three-part framework text for pastoral ministers, families, and young leaders in the Church.

Directory for Catechesis

As the Catholic Church embarks on the mission of teaching the Christian faith, the new Directory for Catechesis (2020) lays the how-to guidelines for catechesis and presents universal norms to guide pastors and catechists in the work of evangelization.

First released in 1971 and then updated in 1997, this latest edition considers both the opportunities and the challenges which the Church faces in an ever more global and secular society. The new Directory builds upon the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the ongoing work of the new evangelization.

The Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization presents the Directory to guide the proclamation of the Gospel by the Christian faithful to people of all ages and in all seasons of life.

The Directory places catechetical instruction and formation of catechetical teachers clearly within the realm of evangelization. It offers guidelines to assist in the creation of local directories and catechisms and clarifies the importance of catechetical renewal in Christian communities. The Directory affirms the presentation of the Catholic faith articulated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a sound point of reference for instruction while drawing deeply from Scripture and the writings of recent popes, especially Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium.

These guidelines are important for bishops, who are the primary catechists in their local diocese. The Directory will also be indispensable for all those responsible for formal religious instruction, including pastors and parish priests, deacons, lay and religious catechists, and religious education teachers in dioceses, parishes, and schools. The Directory will furthermore aid directors of formation who train the faithful in the forms and means of catechesis, including seminary rectors, directors of formation for the permanent diaconate, and lay ecclesial minster formation program directors.

The Directory for Catechesis (2020) is not currently available online as per the Holy See’s request. You may purchase it with various publishers including:
OSV
Amazon
Directory for Catechesis | Catholic Books Direct

Christus Vivit

Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit from 2019 casts a vision for youth ministry that emphasizes the role of young people in the life of the Church today. This document discusses the role of young people in the Bible and the life of the Church, addresses some of the pressing issues of the day, invites young people into relationship with Christ, reviews the current forms and needs of youth ministry, encourages young people to be missionary disciples, and asks young people discern their vocation. Of particular interest is Chapter 7: Youth Ministry.

Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry

Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry, approved as a statement of the United States bishops in June 1997, builds upon the tradition begun by the 1976 document by the bishops, A Vision of Youth Ministry. To respond to the challenges and opportunities of the present age, the Catholic bishops of the United States have given the Church this pastoral framework as a blueprint for the continued development of effective ministry with youth and adolescents in local communities of faith.

Renewing the Vision identifies three goals for ministry with adolescents:

empowering young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ
drawing young people into responsible participation in the Catholic Church
fostering the personal and spiritual growth of young people

The document identifies seven themes of a comprehensive vision. Youth ministry must:

be developmentally appropriate
family friendly
intergenerational
multicultural
have community-wide collaboration
have strong leadership
have flexible and adaptable programming for young people

The document identifies eight components of comprehensive ministry with young people:

advocacy
catechesis
community life
evangelization
justice and service
leadership development
pastoral care
prayer and worship

Accompaniment

You are not alone in your desire and efforts to help youth encounter, love, and follow Jesus! Look below at all the ways you can be connected with other in this work.

Spiritual Accompaniment for Youth Leaders and Volunteers

We want to encourage everyone to pray for efforts around discipling youth in support of bringing young people to know Christ present in His Church.

We want to come pray with your youth ministry team! Please fill out this form to schedule a time for someone from our team to come pray with your youth ministry team.

We’d like to invite you to pray for youth ministry on your own or submit prayer intentions. Perhaps you are able to offer a weekly or monthly rosary, holy hour, Mass, or other time of prayer for this intention. Perhaps you have a prayer intention related to youth ministry you would like us to share with those praying for this initiative. Please let us know here if you want to pray for the work of inviting young people to encounter Jesus so that we can let those engaged in this work know that people are praying for them.

if you have a particular prayer request related to youth ministry in the archdiocese that you would like us to share with those praying, use this form to share the request with us.

Building Community for Lay Leaders Across the Archdiocese

Would you like to gather with others engaged in youth ministry across the archdiocese? We might go for a hike, visit an art museum, have a picnic, or enjoy some candlepin bowling. Fill out our form to express interest.

Accompaniment of Parishes

We are pleased to announce that we are partnering with a few organizations – including but not limited to Andrew Ministries, Life Teen, YDisciple, and Young Life – to provide parishes in our archdiocese with coaching, training, and support for a year or more at little to no cost to the parish.

If you are interested in individualized coaching in youth ministry for your parish or collaborative and your parish leadership (pastor, staff, councils, and volunteers) is supportive, please reach out to our team at youthministry@rcab.org to be considered.

The archdiocese currently has 7 parishes/collaboratives and 1 high school officially working with Everett Fritz from Andrew Ministries, 4 parishes/collaboratives officially working with YDisciple, and a number of other parishes/collaboratives exploring possibilities with all of the aforementioned organizations.

ReKindle: Community for Lay Leaders

ReKindle is a monthly gathering of staff and volunteers who minister to youth, from middle to high school. It is an informal space to share and support the ministry and each other.

Contact ReKindle at rekindle.rcab@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page.

Join them on Facebook

Video Training Resources

These webinar sessions are led by a mix of local and national youth ministry leaders and panelists. View the ones below, sign up for upcoming sessions, and watch the full series on our YouTube channel.

Watch the full Series!

Resources to Disciple Youth

Peruse the following to discover various resources to assist you in your work.

Key Resources for Youth Ministry

Jesus, himself eternally young, wants to give us hearts that are ever young. God’s word asks us to “cast out the old leaven that you may be fresh dough” (1 Cor 5:7). Saint Paul invites us to strip ourselves of the “old self” and to put on a “young” self (Col 3:9-10).[1] In explaining what it means to put on that youthfulness “which is being renewed” (v. 10), he mentions “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other if anyone has a complaint against another” (Col 3:12-13). In a word, true youth means having a heart capable of loving, whereas everything that separates us from others makes the soul grow old. And so he concludes: “above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14). – Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, 13

Andrew Ministries

Discipleship is a process, not a program. When you have a team of people who pursue youth, offer their witness and shoulder their crosses, life-changing ministry can take place. Andrew Ministries helps build high-impact small group ministries.

Life Teen

Life Teen is a movement within the Roman Catholic Church, Life Teen leads teenagers and their families into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.

Marathon Youth Ministry

Experienced youth minister and speaker Christopher Wesley offers youth ministry coaching and resources.

National Study of Youth & Religion

This groundbreaking, long-term, study directed by Christian Smith, Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, began in August 2001 and provides a wealth of information regarding the religious lives of American youth from adolescence into young adulthood.

NET Ministries

NET challenges young Catholics, through relational ministry, to follow Christ and embrace a life of community in the Church

ProjectYM.com

ProjectYM, invests in the ADULTS who are making a difference in the lives of young people.

YDisciple

YDisciple understands that programs don’t make disciples – disciples do. They provide a robust library of training content ranging from practical to spiritual skills helps train faithful adults to be more than instructors, but disciple-makers. YDisciple gives you tools to create small group environments where teens are known, loved, and cared for. With adolescents, you need to earn the right to be heard. YDisciple video resources for teens center around personal testimony in order to communicate theological truth and are never filmed in a studio, but in real life. YDisciple provides strategies for engaging parents and parent resources (in English and Spanish) to help parents engage their teens in meaningful conversation. An ever-growing number of YDisciple studies have guides with activities and questions specifically designed for middle school students alongside the standard guides for high school students. Whether you have 10 young people in your parish or 1000, or 1000 teens but only 10 who are involved, small group discipleship can be scaled to fit your parish’s needs.

Young Life

Young Life doesn’t start with a program. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. These relationships don’t happen overnight — they take time, patience, trust and consistency. Simply put, the mission of Young Life is introducing adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith. Young Life is a Christian organization, not a Catholic one. Here is an article on why Catholic dioceses are teaming up with Young Life. Here is a blog post on Young Life’s attempts to build bridges with Catholic dioceses.

Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers

This book reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are “spiritual but not religious.” And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes.

Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry

This book by experienced Evangelical Protestant Youth Minister Doug Fields is a helpful resource for new coordinators of youth ministry and parishes considering starting youth ministry or hiring a coordinator of youth ministry.

Growing Teen Disciples by Frank Mercadante

Engaging a New Generation by Frank Mercadante

Faith Beyond Youth Group by Kara Powell, Jen Bradbury, and Brad Griffin

Youcat

Docat

Helping Teens with Stress, Anxiety, and Depression by Roy Petifils

Zoom Youth Ministry Training Series

On the 2nd Thursday of the month beginning in October 2025 and going through May 2026 we are offering trainings on Zoom from 7:00 to 8:30pm on various topics. These sessions are led by a mix of local and national youth ministry leaders and panelists.  Register today and mark your calendars for upcoming sessions! See video of past sessions below!

Upcoming Meeting Dates and Topics:

What’s Next After Confirmation? How to Disciple Youth

Join us for this practical session with Annie Grandell of YDisciple on how to disciple youth after Confirmation.

We are offering this session 3 times. Please choose the date and time that works best for you.

Youth Ministry and Confirmation

The decision to lower the normal age of reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Archdiocese of Boston gives us the chance to reflect on how well parish confirmation preparation and youth ministry efforts complement one another. We have three upcoming sessions this fall on that topic:

In Fall 2024 Katie Gray, Director of Parish Outreach at Life Teen, came to the archdiocese to discuss Confirmation and Youth Ministry: A Wholistic Approach. Here is a recording of that session:

Whether you simply want to learn more about starting a youth ministry or are looking to improve what the parish has already, review our Step-by-Step process to discover more resources and things to consider when working with adult disciples and youth.

Take me Step-by-Step!

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