Youth ministry

Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry. Faith groups or other religious organizations carry out youth ministry to involve and engage with young people who attend their places of worship, or who live in their community. Christian youth ministry usually encompasses one or more of the following:

As well as organizing events and activities, youth ministry will usually include some form of religious instruction and pastoral oversight of young people.

In Protestant churches, the term "ministry" often implies the service of an ordained minister or pastor. In youth ministry, however, this is not always the case — a youth ministry leader may be an ordained member of the clergy, an employed lay person, or a volunteer. Titles applied to youth ministry leaders vary widely as well, even within denominations, using terms such as "Youth Minister", "Youth Pastor", or simply "Youth Worker".

Catholic youth work covers a worldwide range of activities carried out with young people, usually in the name of the Catholic Church and with the intention of imparting the Catholic faith to them and inviting them to practice and live out the faith in their lives. Activities in the field range from small scale youth groups attached to parishes or Catholic schools, to large international gatherings, such as World Youth Day. It is a field which has evolved much over recent decades, especially in comparison to more formal methods of education or catechesis within the church. Nearly all dioceses and a great deal of parishes have some form of youth provision running, although a great deal of areas particularly in the developed world are finding youth work both more difficult and rare as the numbers of young people regularly practicing the Catholic faith continue to decline. In contrast, though, the new and exciting developments of recent decades and particularly the influence of the new movements within the church are ensuring that youth work continues to be an active and fruitful field.

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