How to Engage Youth With WeCreate Content

Need some help engaging the youth at your parish? No problem! We’ve collected some resources for you directly from our WeCreate library of Catholic art and content that will assist in reaching the younger generations.

Elementary School

Under the Children’s Art section in WeCreate there are over 150 assets featuring our Growing With The Gospel coloring pages and puzzles. Each week of the liturgical year has 2 corresponding Growing With The Gospel options for parishes to drop into their bulletin, print out for families, or use within a faith formation setting or children’s liturgy. One of these weekly options is catered to younger elementary aged children and the second, corresponding one is catered to children in the later stages of elementary school.   

The more engaged children are with your church’s bulletin, the more engaged their parents will ultimately be! Consider adding one of these puzzles, coloring pages, or both to your weekly bulletin and passing out crayons to little ones as they arrive with their families to attend Mass. If families are in the habit of taking a bulletin at the beginning of Mass for their children to color in, you may increase the number of bulletins taken by parish families who might otherwise forget to grab one on their way out as they wrangle their kids and socialize. 

Middle School

The church teaches that parents are, first and foremost, the main catechists of their children. Knowing this, we provide a plethora of useful content in WeCreate that can be useful to catechists, both inside the domestic church and out. Here are a few asset collections catechists can use to help middle school youth grow in their faith:

• The "Month of" Series — This series highlights a theme from the liturgical calendar for each month. Bulletin editors can drop these ready-to-go images into the bulletin each month alongside a little educational description about the month to assist families in teaching their children about that particular season of the liturgical year. 
  
  
• The Saint of the Week Series — Here we have a collection that provides an image and biography of a new saint, or holy person on their way to sainthood, to make use of every single week of the year. The educational pieces are ready to be dropped right into your bulletin, added to your website, or posted on your social media platforms to assist families in talking with their children about these heroes of the church. This year we are focusing on featuring American saints and our team is making custom illustrations for each! We even have bulletin page templates you can make use of in WeCreate that already incorporate the saint of the week, saving you time when it comes to formatting!
  
  
• Our Weekly Gospel Illustrations — This series can also be used for educational and entertainment purposes. It features a weekly modern, original illustration that gives youth a glimpse into the story being told in the Gospel readings at Mass. Including these illustrations in your church bulletin can assist parents in redirecting youth’s attention during the readings and can also help spark conversation about the Gospel after Mass is over. For example, at brunch after Mass, a family might reflect on the readings using these illustrations — “Remember the Gospel reading from Mass? What part of it is this illustration representing?”

High School

Engaging high school youth can be tricky but, we’ve got you covered! Parents, youth ministers, catechists, campus ministers, retreat leaders, and anyone else who is invested in walking alongside teenagers on their faith journey have an incredible resource in our WeCreate library. 

• Social Media – WeCreate has entire sections where we’ve collected all of our assets that are made especially for sharing on social media platforms — making it easier for you to find these pieces and use them for youth ministry Simply select the sections titled Social Media Posts , Social Media Banners , and Social Media Stories to access hundreds of images already optimized and ready for you to post. Or, simply dive into our monthly social media content calendar and copy and paste the curated liturgical content available there directly into your feed!
  
  
• Youth Event Support Imagery — If you can think of a youth group event, we likely have images to support it! Search WeCreate for vibrant and fun digital graphics to use for event advertisements, youth group newsletters, Sacrament preparation programs, celebrations, retreats, game nights, camps, and more.
  
  
• Flyer Templates — Use WeCreate’s growing collection of flyer templates and save time when it comes to securing the advertising for your next youth retreat, game night, or service project! We’ve done the design work for you so, all you need to do is drop in your event’s information into the template. Voilà — A professional looking flyer for your next youth event!

Updated on 03-13-2024