What makes a successful parish?
A parish in New York City recently made headlines for tripling the number of young adult converts.
If you go to their website it's obvious why it's working.
They have a few core weekly events targeted to young adults designed to help them encounter Jesus and grow in their faith.
The temptation is to copy and paste. "Let's do wine and theology! Let's start street evangelization!"
Don't. Here’s why
The Problem With Copying Programs
Parishes do this all the time.
Someone reads a book about how Alpha changed everything at a parish in Texas, so they launch Alpha. A parish across town has a successful young adult ministry, so they try to replicate it exactly.
It rarely works.
That's because success at a parish isn’t one-size-fits-all. What works in Manhattan won't work in rural Pennsylvania. What works for a growing suburb won't work for a town where every kid moves away after high school.
But here's what you should copy: the principles behind the programs.
The Four Activities of Every Parish
Every thriving parish does four things well. The specific programs vary, but the activities stay the same:
1. Help people find community. That NYC parish does it with young professionals groups and a mom's ministry. A rural parish with 100 families might do it with a potluck dinner every Sunday after Mass. Different programs, same activity.
2. Help people meet Jesus. The Manhattan parish has perpetual adoration. Your parish might have a twice-yearly parish-wide retreat and regular holy hours.
3. Teach people about their faith. Wine and theology nights work in the city. A Bible study or catechism group can also work.
4. Teach people how to evangelize. Street evangelization is one way. Assembling blessing baskets for the poor and delivering them personally is another. Both teach people to bring their faith outside the parish walls.
Look at any successful parish and you'll find these four things happening. They might not be formal programs. They might not even be named. But they're there.
What Happens When We Get This Wrong
Numbers aren't everything. But if your town is growing and your parish isn't, something's broken.
There is a cost of getting this wrong. You’re missing people. People who move to your town looking for community. People who are curious about the faith. People who need Jesus and don't know where to find Him.
Your parish should be the place they find Him.
Do it yourself
If you think your parish is missing something, ask: Which of the four jobs are we not doing?
And then start doing it yourself.
You are your parish. You can get friends together for potlucks and Bible studies and evangelization nights. Start small and maybe it will catch on.
If your parish isn't doing all four jobs, start there. Don’t waste time with a borrowed program from a best-selling book or envy a successful parish across town.
Start small and let the Holy Spirit handle the rest.
This explains it perfectly! I started a young adult ministry in the Chicago Suburbs. We clearly don't have the same population as the city, yet church leaders were trying to get me to do things like theology on tap or organize big speaking events. What worked was just consistent meetings and listening to what YAs were looking for. We now have 75 YAs in a group chat after a year and it cost the local parishes nothing.