Cultivation Ministries

Engaging A New Generation

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:10:14 +0000

Reaching teens has always been a challenge. Add in the swirl of rapidly transforming culture and technology and no wonder today’s teens learn more… Price: $19.95 [...]

Our Greatest Challenge?

admin — Wed, 18 May 2011 15:16:10 +0000

In 1633, the Vatican condemned Galileo and placed him under house arrest for the remainder of his life. His crime was that he stated the earth revolved around the sun. He ended up taking back his statement. In 1992, John Paul II righted the wrong by apologizing for the “Galileo Case.” It only took 359 [...]

Unleashing the World Changers

admin — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:22:39 +0000

While leading a discussion with a dozen Millennial teens, I asked, “Do you feel your parish cares about you as teens?” One young man spoke for the crowd when he exclaimed, “They care if we come, but they don’t care if we’re involved.” For many Millennials, going to church and sitting passively is not enough. [...]

Church As Rufuge

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:56:29 +0000

Youth ministry must change in order to reach the present generation. Many of our youth ministry assumptions and practices are rooted in approaches that were created during the Baby Boomer and Generation X teen years. But, the Millennial Generation possesses some unique characteristics that challenge our past approaches. Millennials are high achievers. They spend more time [...]

Church As Choice

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:06:30 +0000

While growing up, I remember having two basic choices on Sunday morning. I could choose to go to church, or, I could choose to go to hell. Church seemed the better option to me. Thoughts like these are hardly a consideration for teens today (and many adults, really). Over the past several posts, I have been focusing [...]

Increasing Faith & Reducing Risky Behavior

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:13:41 +0000

In my last blog, I detailed some of the distinctions and differences in today’s teens, known as the Millennial Generation. In this blog I want to discuss something that hasn’t changed. We’ve all heard the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” I think that old adage originated while watching the behavior of a group of [...]

Those Special Millennials

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:07:30 +0000

Today’s teens are a part of the newest, youngest, and largest American generation known as the Millennials. They were born between 1982 and 2002. They have some unique characteristics that require some changes in our youth ministry game plan. Over this next year, I will be detailing some of the qualities of this present generation and [...]

The Elephant

admin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:55:20 +0000

There's an elephant crowding our pews

Evangelization Doesn’t Work Anymore

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:34:53 +0000

Trading in "evangelization" for "immanuelization"

The Medium is the Message

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:37:32 +0000

Over the past several years I’ve talked a lot about change. The world is changing. Young people are changing. Teens’ responses to our established catechetical methodologies are changing. But, few of our parishes are changing. There are several major cultural currents converging into a Niagara-sized force. First, we are transitioning generations—from Gen X to Millennials. Secondly, [...]