What does it take for youth ministry to be successful?

by John Sorce
john.sorce@theleaven.org

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — One of the most important but perhaps overlooked roles in a parish is that of the youth leader.

Youth leaders are responsible for shepherding the youth of the archdiocese in the Catholic Church.

Kyle Kuckelman, consultant for youth ministry for the archdiocese, started that role last May after serving as youth minister at Sacred Heart Parish in Shawnee and at Prince of Peace Parish in Olathe.

“One of the things I really wanted to do when I took the job was to serve where I felt there was a gap,” Kuckelman said. “The skills required for a youth minister in today’s church are a lot more than just to love Jesus and love young people, and playing games.

“Young people in today’s church want to know the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church, and all the knowledge these leaders have is only good if they know how to relate to teenagers and communicate the message in that way.”

Kuckelman is launching a new onboarding process this year for any youth leader in the archdiocese. The program will run for three weeks, during which he will meet one-on-one with leaders, either in-person or virtually.

Some of the topics that will be covered include safe environment tips and permission waivers. But he will also be providing leaders with a baseline understanding of what is required for youth ministry to be successful at their parish.

“We are moving towards a new model of going to every deanery and putting on a youth leader formation event of some variety once a month,” Kuckelman added. “Every deanery will also have an adult parent formation night once a semester, because I believe our office is called to train parents as to what is going on in the lives of teenagers today.”

Angie Bittner is the primary coordinator for outreach in the archdiocese’s rural communities, and a member of the archdiocesan youth office.

“With rural outreach, we are tasked with taking formation opportunities out to the rural parishes so they don’t always have to travel to Kansas City,” Bittner said. “This year, we have eight different locations set up.

“The majority of youth leaders in our rural parishes are volunteers. So, we just want to give them the tools . . . to do what they need.”

One of the staples of the archdiocese for over 25 years, Camp Tekakwitha in Williamsburg also contributes to the formation of leaders.

Deacon Dana Nearmyer directs the camp along with wife Deborah. He talked about how many of its staff are recent high school graduates that go through a weeklong training process.

“They have daily meetings and constant supervision and mentoring, and that’s been a good feeder system for all kinds of leaders,” he said.

Once out of the camp environment, Deacon Nearmyer noted that its leaders tend to lead in other areas within the archdiocesan community.

“There are leaders that are former camp staff within our city and region that are doing amazing things,” he said. “Archbishop Naumann has said numerous times that he loves what this does for campers, but it also has a double effect. The staff is also being poured into while being able to share their faith over a long period of time.”

While Camp Tekakwitha focuses on youth, Kuckelman’s office focuses on training the adults needed to lead them.

He, Bittner and director of Wyandotte Youth Ministry and ReachKCK Jessica Cabral spend a lot of time on the road traveling to meet personally with youth leaders in the archdiocese. (Cabral is the third member of the department.)

Bittner said their main priority is meeting people where they are at in their faith journey.

“We love meeting with parish leaders individually and seeing what they need,” Bittner said. “Everyone is at a different space in their faith journey, so the process depends on the needs of the individual and the parish.”

Kuckelman wants leaders in the archdiocese to know that they are seen, and that they play an important role in today’s church.

“A lot of youth ministers tend to feel like the forgotten stepchild of church leadership,” he said. “But what they are really doing is forming the actual church by reaching out to young people who are not the future church, but today’s church.

“It’s important these leaders feel like they are valued, and we take their job seriously.”