Collaborative Catholic Formation
Ministries
Staff Testimonials
Staff Testimonies
Chris Johnson
I love working with CCFM. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, "Of course he does. They sign his paychecks." Yes, that is true. But let me tell you why working with CCFM has been a thousand times more beneficial to me at this stage in my life than any other youth ministry job could have been.
CCFM stands for Collaborative Catholic Formation Ministries. The word I want to focus on is collaborative. First, I want to thank Matt (the founder of CCFM) for teaching me how to correctly spell collaborative without a second thought because it is now an integral part of my email. Second, I want to explain how awesome this concept is. While some youth ministers are afforded the luxury of an assistant, usually most youth ministers fly solo. Usually, youth ministers rely on volunteers and other parish staff. However, here at the office I work with three other youth ministers (one who I call my partner, like a cool blend between assistant youth minister and co-youth minister). They each have their own unique youth groups. We also have a great administrative assistant dedicated to helping out all of us youth ministers. We also have a missionary on staff who is a theology guru here to help us with research, questions, and problems. To round it all out, the founder
of CCFM has many years’ experience in youth ministry and is constantly forming us into more well-rounded ministers. And yet, with all this support and collaboration, my ministry is still my own. I have this awesome staff to fall back on, yet I still feel completely confident in my ability to lead my ministry on my own. This collaboration is a sourceof constant improvement of my ministry. If I had just jumped into a youth ministry program without this formation, I can guarantee I’d be half the youth minister I am today.
Here’s an example of how great this collaboration effort pays off. One night, on my way back from my weekly youth night, I received a call from one of my parents. Her child, one of my youth, was being sent to a hospital. Naturally this mom was somewhat hysterical. It didn’t matter at all that the hospital was about 45 minutes away. As soon as I got off the phone my partner looked at me and said, “When are we heading over.” We picked up another employee and headed straight over to the hospital. We spent time with the family and came back the next morning. We helped the family get food, supplies, and whatever else they needed. Now, any youth minister could have done this. However, knowing that I had three or four other people at the office looking over my ministry, knowing things wouldn’t miss a beat with me missing a day of work made a huge difference. I didn’t have to work from the hospital, I had someone to drive with, balance me out, help buy things. In a word, it was reassuring. It’s great knowing that your nights or even retreats won’t fall apart if you get sick. It’s great knowing you have five people in the office to “blasphemy-check” every talk you give if you want. It’s great heading into an office everyday where I see six of my favorite people everyday, supporting me in my ministry.
In summary, CCFM has been a great start to my life in ministry. Having the support of people who have been in the same position as me on an everyday basis has had innumerable advantages for my ministry.
Jeremy Stavinoha
I have been working with youth for a while now, first as a public school teacher, now as a youth minister. When I first started teaching, I felt that my previous education had truly prepared me for the task of working with students. However, I soon found out that working with young people is a lot harder than any class or seminar can prepare you for. Although those around me were willing to help and support me, there were many times when I felt like I was all alone. When I got a chance to look around and see how my coworkers were doing, they all seemed just as defeated, as I did, just trying to keep their heads above water.
I’ve heard many ministers describe their first experiences in ministry much like I just described my first year of teaching. Many of them start out so excited about working in ministry and bringing youth closer to Christ. Then they get overwhelmed and decide ministry isn’t for them. I was worried I was going to have a repeat of my teaching experience. When I answered God’s call to ministry, but this time I didn’t go it alone. Since working with CCFM, I have always felt supported and prepared for the battlefield that is youth ministry.
One of the best things about being a ministry leader at CCFM, is how much we work together, which definitely bears fruit in our ministries. This collaboration saved the day at one of my youth nights this semester. I started setting up and my technology was not working, which was great, because my whole night was based off movie clips. While I was trying to figure out what we would do instead, I realized - I have an experienced middle school youth minister, on
my core team, one of my co-workers. I asked her for advice and she helped me think out a plan that made the night better than I had originally planned. This all happened in the span of about three minutes. We also plan our retreats together as youth ministers. We’ re able to share ideas and draw on our strengths, which results in a more powerfully spirit led retreat than we’d ever have been able to plan on our own. Its so great that the youth I serve get such good quality ministry because I am surrounded by such amazing people.
I can’t say enough about the practical ministry formation that I have received with CCFM. It started off with us attending the Bosco conference this past summer. The sessions were fantastic, but what made it even better was being there with the CCFM team. After each session, we where able to process everything together and unpack how we were going to use the knowledge we were receiving in our ministry work back home. This happened again when we attended the National Youth Workers Convention. We each attended different breakout sessions, so we were able meet after the presentations we attended and share what we learned. It’s been encouraging to have CCFM invest in me, but it wasn’t just the conference that was the investment, it was the team that challenged and helped me learn more than I could on my own.
Lastly and probably most important thing I have received from CCFM, is spiritual formation and accountability. As leaders in youth ministry, we are on the front lines of the battle for young souls. This at times can be very taxing and spiritually stressful. It takes a relentless consistency in prayer and the sacramental life to maintain a healthy relationship with God. It has been so much easier to do this, knowing that the people I am working along side day in and day out are doing the same thing. It is so encouraging to share with one another the things that are going on in our prayer life. Since working at CCFM, I can’t think of a time when I was not being challenged spiritually by the example of my coworkers around me. This keeps me spiritually fit and ready for the battle that is youth ministry.