Book Review: How To Start A Fire by Jack Regan
'How To Start A Fire' is essential reading for anyone who wants to carry out Spirit-filled, evangelistic and effective youth ministry, writes Andy Drozdziak
Most of the Church’s work with young people is failing.
This is how Jack Regan’s book, How To Start A Fire: A Blueprint for Catholic Youth Ministry, begins. It’s a risky start, but don’t be fooled. This is not a depressing takedown of the Church’s failings, but an excellent guide on how to carry out effective Catholic Youth Ministry. Coming from a varied and experienced background in youth ministry, including his current role as Director of Youth Services in the Diocese of Lancaster, Jack’s passion for high quality youth ministry shines through.
In the opening chapter, he outlines the varied and many problems of Catholic Youth Ministry, quoting the author Mike Yaconelli who pointedly states: “Youth ministry as an experiment has failed.” This sets the tone for what Jack describes as ‘a pretty big problem’ as he outlines the current problems within youth ministry.
This is no quick fault finding exercise, either. The first 50 or so pages go into painstaking detail about how and why the Church is seriously falling short in providing high quality discipleship and ministry to young people today, pointedly highlighting such issues as ‘a failure to evangelise and disciple young people’, ‘the blind leading the blind’, ‘a failure to catechise’ and ‘cultural Catholicism’.
Although difficult to read, this section is actually very strong and essential reading in terms of content. Having diagnosed the problem, Jack then sets the scene for ways to improve and develop effective Catholic youth ministry. He begins by exploring effective ministries.
'If you make Jesus the centre of your life, your life will be different'
Jack takes a deep dive into three UK projects which are working well in evangelising young Catholics: theASCENT, Youth 2000 and the Metanoia Project. Explaining the reasons for their effectiveness, this section will be essential reading for youth ministers. A common feature of all three ministries is a focus on building community, sustaining an effective prayer life and making effective disciples in the light of Jesus’ command to ‘Go, make disciples of all nations’ (Matt.28:19).
Jack quotes Joe White from Metanoia, who explains the vision behind their team’s mission, saying: “Youth groups of the 70s, 80s and 90s were very much ‘we need to do something for young people because there’s nothing for them to do’ but for us that's really not a good reason. We want to bring people alive in faith…If you make Jesus the centre of your life and accept him into your life, your life will be different.”
There is also a very helpful checklist on the steps taken by successful projects to make their missions effective, including ‘successful projects are schools of prayer’, ‘successful projects think about follow up’ ‘successful projects encourage faith sharing’ and many more.
An Accessible Read
It takes a while to get used to Jack’s conversational style, but the book is designed to be as accessible as possible. Highlighting a wealth of useful resources, including some lesser-known Vatican documents — Together on European Roads from 1998 was a new one — youth ministers will be grateful for these helpful aides to their ministry and outlook. The inclusion of quotes from Christus Vivit, Pope Francis’ groundbreaking document on youth ministry, are also highly inspirational.
There is plenty of encouragement for those struggling to find ways of helping young people to be missionary disciples. Jack offers examples from his own life and ministry, sharing his failures as well as his successes. One section is entitled ‘Don’t be afraid of failure’ which outlines how one project Jack pioneered, Faith 2012, seemed to produce little fruit and ‘fell a little flat.’ However, this project taught Jack many lessons, and it became the forerunner of a far more successful project called ‘Encounter’, which he describes as ‘one of the best things I have ever done.’ He encourages readers to ‘learn the lessons’ of failure, adding: “Failure really shouldn’t be feared.”
Jack is at pains to underline, for youth ministers and team members, the importance of personal prayer and discipleship, and taking responsibility for one's own formation as a disciple of Christ. "We won’t accomplish anything by ourselves. We need God,” he writes.
An Important Book For Catholic Charismatic Renewal
Why is this book important for Renewal? Young people need to be evangelised, to be filled with the Spirit and to hear the Gospel. Renewal contains many opportunities for young people to be discipled effectively, whether through the Ascent, Metanoia, Sion Community, Jesus Youth and other communities and realities. Jack shines a light on these ministries, which are bearing the ‘fruit that will last’ called for by Jesus.
Highlighting the relevance of the book for Renewal, Jack recently told CHARIS England and Wales: “There’s little doubt that (youth ministry is) an area the Renewal has definitely impacted and very definitely moved forward. Almost everything vibrant in youth ministry has been at least influenced by the Renewal somewhere along the line.
“The three projects that the book focuses on were theASCENT (that’s how they write it), Youth 2000 and the Metanoia Project, with bits and pieces from elsewhere popping up here and there. Youth 2000 are careful to avoid the charismatic label (“it’s just Catholic”) but the other two are overtly ‘out’ as charismatic entities.”
'How To Start A Fire is an excellent guide for those involved in or interested in youth ministry in Renewal'
There is a sense of urgency in his call, as if to say the time for poor quality and inadequate youth ministry is over. For Jack, the standard needs to be consistently high, and it needs to start in prayer and holiness in the power of the Holy Spirit. As he comments in the book: “It is possible to draw young people towards being disciples of Christ in the Catholic Church.”
How To Start A Fire, then, is an excellent guide for those involved in or interested in youth ministry in Renewal. I suspect it may become an indispensable read in years to come, a kind of second Bible for youth ministers, chaplains and catechists. A whole swathe of topics are covered and, for those with questions, there will undoubtedly be answers within these pages.
If you’re looking for a great book on how to carry out Spirit-filled, evangelistic and effective youth ministry, make sure you get a copy of How To Start A Fire.
HOW TO START A FIRE: A Blueprint for Catholic Youth Ministry is available now on Amazon UK in Paperback and Kindle formats https://amzn.eu/d/0do48hFc
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