St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church at 834 S. Orange Blossom Tr., Apopka, FL 32703-6560 US - Information
What is Youth Ministry?
Youth ministry at St. Francis is a comprehensive program designed to minister to the youth in our parish by reaching teens on spiritual, emotional, and social levels.
We are guided by a document published by the Unites States Catholic Bishops called Renewing the Vision. In 1995, Pope John Paul II called the Church to become the “traveling companion of young people.”
What is needed today is a Church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his body which is the Church, to propose the possibility of a choice which ill require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus so the Church must become today the traveling companion of young people...(Youth: Sent to Proclaim True Liberation, World Youth Day 1995, Philippines).
Renewing the Vision takes up the Holy Father’s challenge by focusing the Church’s ministry with adolescents on three essential goals: (1) empowering young people to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today; (2) drawing young people to responsible participation in the life, mission, and work of the faith community; and (3) fostering the personal and spiritual growth of each young person.
We strive to accomplish this by encouraging teens to embark on a journey of faith and walking with them in their journey to Christ.
Each week in our Blaze and Edge sessions, the youth ministry teams lead the teens deeper into their Catholic faith. We help them grow as a faith community and more fully understand what it means to be young and Catholic in the world today. We don’t have text books or classrooms—youth ministry is experiential, active, and hopefully innovative. Our hope is that through youth ministry, our young people will grow as people and leaders; grow in their faith; develop values and skills to face life’s challenges; and to have an active role in the parish, continuing that involvement as college students and young adults.
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