How to Use Youth CaFE

Youth Ministry

Plugged In Youth CaFE can be a kick-start to Youth Ministry in a parish. It’s an easy way to bring young people together with a focus, help them to build relationships with one another, discover that Church can be fun and hear the Gospel proclaimed in a relevant way.

Plugged In Youth CaFE could also feed into an existing Youth Ministry. Run over an extended period of time, it can raise the spiritual input of the ministry without overwhelming the Young People, or it could run as an optional course for those who want the chance to go deeper with their faith.

Sessions can take place after school, in the evening or at the weekend. Ideally they’d last an hour and a half – giving plenty of time for icebreakers, watching the DVDs, small group discussion and prayer.

Suggested session plan:

7:30 Arrivals
7:35 Intro
7:40 Large group icebreaker
7:50 Table group icebreaker
8:00 Clip one
8:10 Table group discussion
8:20 Chill out time
8:30 Clip two
8:40 Table group discussion
8:50 Prayer
9:00 Finish

Click to watch

The response has been very positive indeed with a unanimous vote of enthusiasm for the programme. They are quite keen that we continue in the same format now that the actual course has finished.

Robert Main, Youth Leader

Confirmation

Anyone who’s been involved with preparing young people for confirmation knows that there tends to be a few candidates who aren’t quite sure what they’re confirming . Somehow the very basics of their faith seem to have passed them by. Rather than this being something we despair of, it can be a great opportunity to enable young people to really explore their faith – the basics including teaching regarding the sacraments. Plugged In Youth CaFE can play a part in this, whilst offering a structure for working with young people that is proven, including icebreakers, small group sharing and interactive prayer.

Catechists have chosen to use the Plugged In Youth CaFE course in various ways. The six episodes can form the basis of the teaching content. Additional sessions would probably be required to ensure that the theology of the sacrament and the gifts of the Spirit are adequately covered. These would be well placed either side of session four, which focuses on the Holy Spirit and confirmation.

Catechists may also choose to have additional sessions for relationship building and looking at the practicalities of the confirmation Mass.

Plugged In Youth CaFE could also be run as a pre-confirmation course. This would mean that by the time the sacramental preparation began, the group would already be used to exploring their faith together.

Alternatively, Plugged In Youth CaFE can offer an ideal follow up to Confirmation. There can be such a void for teenagers after the celebration of the sacrament, and Plugged In Youth CaFE can provide a focus for continued meeting, growing in community with one another, and a vehicle for further spiritual input.

N.B. info on saints names can be found at www.youthcafe.org under "links".

Suggested session plan:

7:30 Arrivals
7:35 Intro
7:40 Large group icebreaker
7:50 Table group icebreaker
8:00 Clip one
8:10 Table group discussion
8:30 Chill out time
8:40 Clip two
8:50 Table group discussion
9:10 Prayer
9:20 Announcements
9:30 Finish

Click to watch

"My suggestion would be that Youth CaFE be run as a course for those of confirmation age, as a stand-alone to really encourage them to take their faith further, and that the parish invite those who have attended to make their confirmation rather than having just a blanket call for candidates, though this is quite radical, it should help minimize the idea of confirmation being the sacrament of exit!"
Teresa Carvalho, Brentwood Youth Services.

Schools and Colleges

Plugged In Youth CaFE can be a way of enabling young people in a school or college setting, who want to explore their faith further, to do so in a relaxed, informal environment. It can be a time whereby young people with a faith identify one another and begin to support one another.

Plugged In Youth CaFE is a tool that can be used by chaplains and teaching staff in a variety of situations. As a series it can be run at lunch times, as a breakfast club, after school, or in free-periods. Where time’s not an issue it could be used with the Youth Ministry suggested session plan. However, it’s designed to be flexible, and with a short lunch time, it could be run over 12 sessions instead of 6.

The Plugged In Youth CaFE pack includes the trailer which can be used for advertising, as well as sample publicity material, all of which are attractive and non-cringe-worthy, which means some of the barriers to getting involved, created by peer-pressure, are brought down.

The DVD material could also be use in assemblies, PSHE time, RE lessons or on retreats.

Suggested session plan
(for half hour lunch time):

1:00 Eat together
1:10 Show clip
(whilst finishing lunch)
1:20 Buzz in twos or threes
1:25 Prayer
1:30 Finish

(It can also be used in lessons, or after school. For suggested plan see above)

Click to watch

‘We used the Youth CaFE course in the second school term. We targeted Yr12 students using part of their lesson time-table. First led by Derby City Catholic Youth Worker, peer ministers continued the course with a new 6th Form group. The young people responded very well. As a young person myself, I think this is a fantastic course which gets young people thinking and exploring their faith in a fun and relaxed manner. It’s about young people learning from other young people and there’s nothing more powerful than that.’
Sadie Iliffe, peer leader, Nottingham Diocese

Retreat Centres

Plugged In Youth CaFE can be used by retreat centres, an appropriate episode being chosen to compliment the theme of the retreat. Alternatively, many short clips from within episodes can lead into discussion or prayer. (See other uses below.)

This can also be a concrete way for retreat centres and schools or parishes to work together for the young people. The clips are attention grabbing, which make it easy to promote the course, which could be run as follow up to the retreat.

Other Uses

Plugged In Youth CaFE need not be run as a series. Clips can be used in different contexts to help with anything from school assemblies to youth groups. For a document suggesting which clips can be used for what click here.