Books I Wish I Read My First Year of Catholic Youth Ministry

These books aren't the usual required reading recommended to aspiring Catholic youth ministers. That's for another article. But looking back on the last seven years, these are books I wish I read my first year on the job as a Catholic youth minister. 

There are plenty of well-known books about youth ministry, and plenty of Catholic books youth ministers should read. But if you are interested in venturing off that well-worn path there are several books that helped me immensely. (This article contains Amazon affiliate links.)

The War of Art
by Steven Pressfield

What it's about:

This short book is a kick in the pants about overcoming the resistance we all face when trying to "make" anything worth making. Steven Pressfield describes accurately the human patterns we all fall for when faced with  important, large, or difficult work we need to do. 

Why you should read it:

As a youth minister, you set most of your own schedule and work on projects and tasks when you decide to. If you're not careful you'll unintentionally fall for the resistance traps Steven describes in the book: avoiding the most important work and instead finding other less important but easier to accomplish work to complete, leaving you feeling busy all day but your important projects left untouched.

For instance, you'll try to sit down and write a parent handbook – something you know is important and you've been avoiding for months – you'll suddenly find yourself redesigning your youth ministry facebook page instead. Which, you know, doesn't matter too much. 

Getting Things Done
by David Allen

What it's about:

David Allen describes a system for keeping track of everything and getting things done. He describes an easy and adaptable framework anyone can use to keep track of to-do lists, projects, and deadlines. He creates a system you can implement that will stop you from ever forgetting to follow through on anything ever again. 

Why you should read it: 

It wouldn't be that far off to say this book changed my life. You're going to have hundreds, probably thousands, of details, projects, tasks, emails, phone calls, dates, and paperwork involved while doing your job. Heck not just your job, everything in your life. Keeping a to-to list won't work in youth ministry. There's just too much to remember, too much to keep track of, and too many projects to stay on top of.

If you don't have a system in place, you'll try to keep all this in your head, and you'll end up having an anxiety attack as your brain fries itself trying to make sure you don't drop one of the hundreds of balls you're juggling. You'll end up becoming, in the eyes of everyone around you, the classic youth minister that never answers emails or voicemails, is unprepared, absent minded, and unorganized. You'll also have a harder time keeping work at work when you come home.

If you have a reliable system in place your brain can relax when you get home and not randomly remind you to send an email, because you'll know everything is taken care of.

The Non-Designers Design Book
by Robin Williams

What it's about:

A simple approach to a few design principles that anyone can learn and that immediately give you a better eye for design and, more importantly, the language to communicate what makes crappy design crappy.

Why you should read it: 

In the end, being great at graphic design isn't necessary for being the youth minister God called you to be. But if you're just starting out, you're probably frustrated by the crappy design you're seeing around you at the parish you just started working at. Or maybe you're wanting to try your hand at making the  flyer for an upcoming event a little better. This short book will explain four principles for design that can be applied to anything you want to make look good.

Most importantly, you don't want to become "that young kid" who just hates everyone's designs. This book will give you more constructive things to say than just "it doesn't look good". You'll be able to appeal to design principles like proximity, alignment, contrast, and repetition. You'll also learn the basics of using and combining colors, basic elements of typography, and how to combine fonts. 

Deep Work
by Cal Newport

What it's about: 

This is the longer and more in-depth follow up to The War of Art mentioned above. Cal Newport describes deep work as "the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task" and makes the case that deep work produces the most valuable results in any job or field and is a rare skill in today's world of distractions. Cal not only gives you advice on how to eliminate distractions in the workplace but also gives examples and habits you can adopt to cultivate the power of deep work in your own profession.

Why you should read it: 

As mentioned above, the life of a youth minister requires discerning between what is urgent and not important, and what is important and not urgent. Deep work that produces big results in the life of a youth minister involve things like developing a retreat, or planning a curriculum for the year, or reading a few books on discipleship and planning how to shift your ministry towards a small-group approach.

The ability to think hard and work deeply on a project or thought is invaluable, and not everyone comes out of college with the ability to do this. Without structure and direction, you can end up spending too much time researching, reading, and thinking without producing any results or finishing a project. But the opposite extreme would be constantly answering emails and updating social media, without ever taking the time to tune out all the less-important distractions and really develop a project you need to work on.

This book helped me set aside an appropriate amount of time each week to "practice" my deep work. It has helped me develop a pastoral plan for the parish, create core team training, think about how to shift our ministry towards discipleship groups, and helped me articulate a vision for our youth ministry that we have used for more than three years. This all required focused and structured deep work that at first I was not good at.

The Advantage
by Pat Lencioni

What it's about: 

Pat Lencioni is a master at organizational health. That's a phrase that just means the way a group of people work together to accomplish a goal. This book proposes a model and a few important principles for a group of people to get stuff done together and stay focused on results and the goal, without getting caught up in politics or inefficiency.

Why you should read it: 

This book will help you understand how your parish staff could work better together, and will equip you with skills you'll need to lead a team of volunteers or to work with any coworkers who are also in youth ministry – like another youth minister or an assistant.

After reading this book, our team started having weekly meetings, started holding each other accountable to tasks and projects, and came up with our core values for the culture we want to create at our parish. When I read a lot of the principles and habits in this book I couldn't believe that I hadn't been doing some of them since day one. These past seven years of ministry would have been drastically different and I would have accomplished so much more had I read this sooner.

Divine Renovation
by Fr. James Mallon

What it's about: 

Fr. James Mallon describes his journey to answer the call to make disciples and the work it took to take a parish from maintenance to mission. Fr. Mallon provides the background from Church documents to support his vision while also getting practical enough to provide a framework for a few key areas of the parish.

Why you should read it: 

Okay, this is the first book on this list I'm sure a lot of you have heard recommended and talked about in Catholic ministry circles. The reason I included it in this list is because every book I read up until reading this book only contained bits and pieces of various topics. This book brought together a lot of the good stuff out there on topics like evangelization, catechesis, the missionary dimension of the parish, discipleship, worship, and how to vision bigger than just one ministry at a parish.

This book is just a great synthesis of so many ideas and currents of thought in the Church and in ministries committed to making disciples in our modern time. This book will give you a broader view of what your parish could be and how your youth ministry can support a missionary view of the Church instead of an attitude of maintenance.

I also believe that Fr. Mallon wrote one of the most succinct and complete summaries of our recent Church history of evangelization and catechesis. In just a few pages he covers the currents leading up to Vatican II and the themes and issues we've faced in the Church after Vatican II. He also highlights the renewal and shift in evangelization and catechesis originating in Popes, synods, and Church documents. I thought it was so great I scanned and printed this chapter and distributed it to my entire parish staff. It's that important.

The Master Plan of Evangelism
by Dr. Robert E. Coleman

What it's about: 

Dr. Coleman uses only the Bible to answer the question: What was Jesus' strategy for evangelization? He distills Jesus' approach to a few key habits and makes a case for a simple, small, and practical approach to discipleship that looks much more like holy friendship with a few than preaching to thousands.

Why you should read it: 

I know this book is passed around in some circles like FOCUS, but for some reason I never heard of it. When you feel stressed and overwhelmed by the call God has placed on your heart, or when you feel like there are just way too many youth in your parish and not enough time, take this book and go away from the parish for a day and read it straight through. It is refreshing to your ministry, soaked in scripture, and reminds you of what is actually the most important thing to do – discipling a few deeply instead of preaching to the many.

I read this book straight through on a flight and felt like I had spent three hours with Jesus himself talking about discipleship and learning to see ministry through His eyes. I recommend returning to this book at least once a year.

Evangelii Gaudium
by Pope Francis

What it's about: 

Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the Church's mission of evangelization in the modern world. 

Why you should read it:

Okay, okay, I know. This book is widely known and you've probably already heard about it so why does it make the list? If you're in youth ministry, the three Church documents you should read that cover the scope of your ministry are: Evangelii Nuntiandi (on Evangelization in the Modern World), Catechesii Tradendae (On Catechesis in Our Time), and Redemptoris Missio (Mission of the Redeemer). These three books will give you a framework for the missionary and evangelistic dimension of Catholic youth ministry, as well as a healthy and evangelistic approach to catechesis. (Catechesii Tradendae is an under-appreciated document because people assume its only about teaching the faith to those who've already been evangelized. When in fact it addresses the need for kerygmatic-catechesis and provides principles for evangelical catechesis to cultural Catholics who need to know the Gospel. You'll be a better youth minister if you read it yearly.)

So why Evangelii Gaudium? When I read this document by Pope Francis, it was like all the things I loved about EN, CT, and RM had all been combined into one document with a direct and practical style that really resonates. If you don't read any Church documents, read this one. Even better, read it and then read or teach parts of it to your core team.

What books would you add?

Let me know in the comments what books you wish you read your first year working as a Catholic Youth Minister. Extra points if they are lesser-known, off the beaten path type books that had a big impact on your overall ministry or life in youth ministry.