DIRT ROAD DISCIPLESHIP
A Quarterly Newsletter from Rural Catholic Youth Ministry
for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester
- YEAR 1 | SUMMER -
In this issue...
- In case you missed it...
- Games Highlight: This Is a Fork
- Tilling the Soil: "Our parish is too small to have a youth group."
- Bosco's Toolbox: Sign-Up Notebook + Flocknote
- The Youth Minister's Almanac: Summer Stretch
In case you missed it...
Whether your parish HAS a youth group, HAD a youth group, or wishes it did: this webinar is for you! Rural Catholic Youth Ministry founder Kevin Losleben discusses why youth ministry in rural parishes is not only possible, but powerful. Personal testimony, proven strategies, and positive encouragement are all provided.
Accepting Reality Rurality: Youth Ministry in Small Parishes
Recorded May 7, 2026 just for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester
Recorded webinars are hosted in our online community, Bosco’s Garage.
By clicking the button above, you will be asked to create a free account.
GAMES HIGHLIGHT
This Is a Fork
Group Size: 10-30
Duration: 20+ minutes
Posted by: Kevin Losleben | St. Mary’s, Sleepy Eye, MN
Instructions:
The game everyone loves to hate! The bigger the group, the harder it gets…and the more addicting.
Here’s how it works:
Get a fork and a spoon (I suppose you could use anything, but…the name).
Choose one person to hold the fork in his right hand and the spoon in his left. We’ll call him the leader.
The leader turns to the person to his right and says, holding up the fork: “This is a fork.”
The person to the right responds with: “A what?”
The leader responds to the question with: “A fork.”
The other person then says, “A fork” and takes the fork from the leader.
That person then turns to HIS right and says, “This is a fork.”
That person responds with: “A what?”
The person holding the fork turns to his left and asks the leader: “A what?”
The leader responds: “A fork.”
The person holding the fork turns to his right and says: “A fork.”
The person to his right takes the fork, saying “A fork” and then turns to his right and the process repeats itself, always going down the line back to the leader and then back to the person who asked “A what?”
NOW, immediately after the leader handed the fork to the person to his right, he turns to his left and says, holding up the spoon: “This is a spoon.”
The steps for the fork are repeated, but just to his left.
IF someone messes up by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, THE WHOLE THING STARTS OVER! You can use an honor system, but it helps to have a ref on either side of the circle following the responses.
Obviously, things get hilarious when the two people in the middle turn to each other and say, “This is a fork” and “This is a spoon” simultaneously and then sit there in a stupor while their brains try to comprehend what they need to do next. I played this game with a room full of Totus Tuus missionaries and it lit up the room. So fun.
I only found two videos for this one and they both do things slightly different (I ALWAYS start with both the fork and spoon going at the same time), but this one shows the response progression pretty well:
Tilling the Soil
"Our parish is too small to have a youth group."
Was Assisi too small for a St. Francis?
Was Ars too small for a St. John Vianney?
Was Okarche too small for a Bl. Stanley Rother?
Was Nazareth too small for God?
Among the many lies that small parishes buy into, chief among them is that their smallness is their weakness. But the reality is that when it comes to youth ministry, discipleship happens best in smaller settings. Youth ministers in larger parishes try desperately to break up their large youth groups into small groups. In a rural parish, however, small group is the default.
Bosco's Toolbox
Sign-Up Notebook + Flocknote
At RCYM, we’re all about being “simple and sustainable.” So often, youth ministry tips and tools are too fancy to actually be helpful: complex programs, overly-involved fundraisers, “best practices” that aren’t even practical.
But what is often overlooked is the need to capture basic contact information, whether for general youth ministry outreach or for specific event registration/interest.
So behold: the simple notebook.
For starters, start a sign-up sheet. Three columns: Name, Number, Email.
Pass it around during youth group one night. Then, every time a new kid shows up, have him fill it out.
Enter: Flocknote.
Start a free Flocknote account (no, this is not sponsored), enter the contacts, and now you’ve got a way to send texts to your youth group without the safe environment issue that comes with actual texting, since youth cannot text back and forth with you individually.
The Youth Minister's Almanac
The Summer Stretch
Summer can be a challenging time for rural youth ministry. Vacation, summer sports, the general schedule shift that comes with a new season. For a youth group that typically pulls around 10 kids, missing even a few can make a big difference in how the youth group is run. Throw in the fact that many parishes host Totus Tuus or VBS and often coordinate some sort of youth trip over the summer, and summer youth ministry can feel a bit like baseball: slow…slow…slow…EVERYTHING GOES CRAZY…slow…slow…
What is one to do? Postpone youth group until the fall? Change the frequency of meetings? Cancel it for four years until a new parent takes up the reigns?
Well, certainly not the latter option! One thing is for certain: the youth group must keep going, even if that means it slows or pauses for a season.
Every parish is so different, so my caveat is always the same: you’re the one doing youth ministry on the ground in your parish, so pray about it, feel it out, consult those around you, and then make your decision based on what you get. One major question to ask yourself is: “Is this youth group giving me life right now?”
With that being said, here are some common solutions for the summer doldrums:
- Use RCYM’s Weekly Youth Group Plans! Dedicated Members of Bosco’s Garage receive ready-to-use youth group plans, written by me! They’re easy to use and modify to fit your needs and style. And here’s a little hack: you can get a month free by clicking the button below 😉
- Pause. Restart in the fall. This can be helpful if you’d like to change the trajectory of your youth group. A pause + reset wipes the memory a bit and allows you to start up in the fall with a fresh start.
- Pause before the trip. Restart afterwards. Trips are a lot to coordinate: it’s okay to scale back a bit leading up to the trip so that you don’t go crazy! Once the trip is over, capitalize on the momentum and restart your youth group by intentionally inviting everyone who went on the trip.
- Lighten your load and keep going! Meet less frequently. Have a bonfire. Shift the schedule to be more games-heavy. Basically, do things that make planning easier for you. The only warning I’ll give you in this regard is that it may be hard to move back to your old schedule if the kids get accustomed to the new one.
JESUS WAS A SMALL-TOWN KID.
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