LIFE TEEN
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Life Teen is a Catholic youth ministry organization and movement originating in the United States. It was established in 1985 at St. Timothy's Parish in Mesa, Arizona. Pastor Fr. Dale Fushek, Youth Minister Phil Baniewicz, and Music Minister Tom Booth came up with the plan aimed to revolutionize youth ministry and bring the message of Jesus Christ to teenagers in a way they could understand it. It was decided that a new approach was needed to evangelize the Catholic youth in their area. According to Life Teen sources, they now have over 1000 individual programs in the United States and around the world. Life Teen programs are typically established in individual parishes.
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[edit] The Life Teen Ministry Approach
The primary Life Teen youth activities (e.g. LIFE Night and EDGE) consist of four components: Gather, Proclaim, Break, and Send.
- Gathering involves getting teens together, introducing them to each other, and "breaking the ice" in order for their comfort level to increase and for them to get the most they can out of the evening in a comfortable atmosphere.
- Proclaiming involves communicating the message of the night in varying kinds of format, usually a teaching, lecture, or activity that emphasizes the given topic.
- Breaking involves breaking the group of teens into smaller groups for discussion or some kind of small group project, like creating a skit, to further enhance the understanding of the topic.
- Sending involves wrapping up the session, reinforcing the message, and sending the teens out.
[edit] General Program Information
In the program, youth typically attend a Sunday Mass specifically intended for them, along with adult program leaders (CORE), which often teens' families and other interested parishioners also attend. In such Masses, music is selected as being particularly appealing to young people or similar to music they enjoy in secular contexts (e.g. songs in the tradition of Contemporary Christian music, including pieces written by Protestants and Catholic composers.)
Following Mass, a "LIFE Night" is held, which incorporates teaching in Catholic beliefs, interactive activities, and socialization. The intent of the program is to replace religious education of the traditional academic type, considered a "class", with a more interactive, social program that, program developers believe, will attract more interest among teens. This follows a general trend in Christianity in the United States in the late 20th-early 21st century toward such approaches to worship and religious practice.
Most Life Teen Programs utilize multiple events during the week, such as Bible Studies, Social Events, and the like to provide teenagers with healthy and holy activities to take part in during the week that will not only strengthen their bonds with each other, but will strengthen their relationship with God as well.
[edit] Additional Programs
In addition to High School Youth Ministry, Life Teen has been branching out as of late to many different other areas of ministry:
[edit] The EDGE
The EDGE is a Catholic middle school youth ministry for early adolescents in grades six, seven and eight. It is designed to meet the educational, spiritual, emotional, and social needs of young adolescents. The EDGE combines the best of Life Teen with the necessary adaptations to provide middle school youth with the ministry they need.
EDGE Nights occur once every week during the school year, and also has social and recreational activities designed to create a greater sense of community amongst Middle School Youth. In addition, several national EDGE Summer Camps are held in Georgia and Arizona.
[edit] Parents for LIFE
Life Teen recognizes the importance of ministry not only to teens but also to their families, especially parents. Parents for LIFE was created to have a lasting effect on Life Teen Parishes, as a program to, for, and with parents that allow them to draw closer to Christ. The program solidifies and strengthens the family structure, and builds community within the parish.
Parents for LIFE is facilitated by the parents themselves. One person or a couple coordinates the overall parent ministry to insure consistency. The leader/leaders are under the direction of the Pastor or the Youth Minister.
[edit] House of Prayer
As Life Teen has continued to progress and expand, the ministry has made strides to meet the ever increasing need for prayer and spiritual protection. In light of such, Life Teen has converted the house that originally contained their national offices into the "Life Teen House of Prayer". In this house are three lay women living in community with the Blessed Sacrament, offering prayers and attending daily Mass for the protection and intentions of Life Teen and teens everywhere. In time, the house is expected to accept additional members and expand into more areas.
In the chapel are offered such prayers as the Divine Office, Adoration, a Monday night prayer group, and frequent intercessory prayers. All prayer requests from “Need A Prayer?” on lifeteen.com and the email address prayers@lifeteen.com, are placed in a book that resides by the Blessed Sacrament.The women of the House of Prayer also visit various Life Teen sites, such as the Life Teen Headquarters, the Life TeenStudio, local LIFE Nights and XLT on a regular basis and offer prayer support.
[edit] Other information
The name Life Teen is trademarked. According to the Life Teen Inc's convention, the name should be spelled as two words and as seen as follows, "Life Teen". This change was made in late February of 2007.
