Core Team

Meet the St. Thomas the Apostle Youth Ministry Core Team! Each team member is committed to leading our youth into deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Many have extensive experience and training in youth ministry but every single one loves and cares for the youth in our Church and the community at large!

The primary Core Team Member mission is to share Jesus with youth. Core Team Members are the heart and soul of the middle school and high school youth ministry experience.

The most effective way to share Jesus with youth is through relationship with them. Youth need mentors who:

love God
remember the youth names
are interested in their lives
pray for them
are authentic
encourage and challenge them
believe in them
laugh with them
are patient
reveal joy

The goal of youth ministry is to create an environment to lead youth into a deeper relationship with Jesus and the Catholic Church. In this ministry we speak to youth on all levels: emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual.

Core Team Members challenge youth to live their faith as they experience the reality of their lives. Youth experience this sharing in an atmosphere of love and acceptance from their peers and the Core Team who are there to assist them in their journey.

For our youth ministry to achieve its full potential, the full support of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish is essential. Core Team works closely and seeks to initiate, organize and oversee experiences that will provide for an encounter with the Holy Spirit. Without an experience of the Holy Spirit in their lives there is no real relationship with Jesus and no chance to become who God created them to be.

Our Life Teen Core Team consists of adults who are twenty years old and older. Our EDGE Core Team also welcomes high school-aged leaders. Each Core Member is charged to reach out to youth on both an individual basis and as a member of their respective Core Team. Core Team assists in a leadership capacity with the fall high school retreat, spring family retreat and middle school day retreat in May.

Core Team ministry is about going, teaching, and making disciples.

LOVE - We love because He first loved us. – 1 John 4:19. We must strive in all moments and circumstances to love others as Christ loved. This foundation, simple in premise and command, serves as the basis for our ministry.

EVANGELIZATION - We speak truth to God’s people, inviting them to know Him more deeply. Driven by a desire for all to know the mercy and love of God the Father.

JOY - We live by an unrelenting belief in the goodness of God and in His desire not for our momentary happiness, but our everlasting life. The spirit of our Youth and Worship ministries is one of pure joy, keeping life in perspective and allowing the peace of God to reign in our hearts, regardless of what the world might bring at any given moment.

VOCATION  - We maintain openness to the call of God in our lives and a willingness to discern, respond and prioritize our lives according to that call. Whether designed for the religious, married or single life, we not only embrace the vocation for which we were designed, but ensure that it remains primary, not allowing God’s work in ministry to overtake God’s call to holiness.

AFFIRMATION  - We refuse to be overwhelmed by the negativity pervading our culture. Words and actions are designed by God to bring life to creation, not death. We make every effort and take every opportunity to build up the Kingdom on Earth, rather than tear it down.

AUTHENTICITY  - We live authentically, not denying our human weakness or shying away from the need for personal improvement, but working toward holiness, with resolve. The world needs quality examples of Catholic men and women who live out their faith. As leaders in ministry, we live our faith authentically, providing the living example of a Christian and giving hope that others, too, can follow Christ. 

EUCHARISTIC SPIRITUALITY  - We seek to become one with Christ in all ways. Through a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother, we develop a more profound understanding of Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Scriptures, we grow in sanctity through the Incarnate Word. Through openness to the Charisms of the Holy Spirit, we allow God’s love to permeate this world. Through adherence to the Church that our Lord established, we act in obedience and humility. Through our frequenting of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist in Most Holy Communion, we become one with the living God. These intimate experiences with Christ are unmistakable signs of His love.

Have you ever considered volunteering in youth ministry? Living our Catholic faith is very much about seeking to be in a deeper relationship with Jesus and then evangelizing what we encounter about Jesus to others. Our STAP Youth Team plans and provides experiences to High School teens, helping lead them closer to Jesus, so they might fall in love with him and his message.

Moments that have the greatest impact on lives come when we are in the presence of someone, being authentic and there for him/her.In our youth ministry offerings, we seek to help young people locate their experience of God within the language and experience of the Catholic Church. We then nurture their relationship with Him through practices of living that keep them available to God and others.

Jesus said I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly - John 10:10.The deeper purpose to our youth ministry is mentoring and modeling what it means to become fully alive. Our Core Team Members are essential to our faith sharing mission.

Pray over the call to become one of our Core Team Members. If you are college age or older and are interested in being a part of a dynamic ministry team, call Deacon Ed Sheffer at 520-577-8780, extension 111or eMail him at [email protected].