A few weeks ago, a 58 year-old man came up to me after a mission night. His eyes were red with tears. He shared with me his cradle Catholic story and how he wasn’t planning on attending the mission. At Sunday’s Mass, he was confronted with the fact that he was 58 and didn’t know how God was going to get him to heaven. So he decided to give me one night.
Four nights later, he is standing in front of me describing how he was totally sold out to the world and would never move until, through the Spirit’s grace, he was confronted with questions that he didn’t have answers for. He changed his entire work travel schedule because he knew he had to be there.
Frequently, I ask a crowd – if they had the opportunity to live with the living, loving God now, would they? Almost everyone in the crowd raises their hand. While they all want to be with God, they all may not understand what that really means. This is where our message and our conviction must become crystal clear. When we are able to give credible answers to why we believe, people are willing to look.
One of the key fruits of developing a Pastoral Plan for making Disciples is a basic statement that easily and concisely articulates what the parish seeks to accomplish. This vision will enable everyone to see the direction of the parish and understand why. Every staff will be able to refer back to the parish vision when supplying reasons for changing the status quo.
Why do you want to get baptized?
At the beginning of the Rite of Baptism, the Church asks the individual or parents of the baby, what do you ask of the Church today? This should be more than words within a rite; it should be the beginning conversation where the Church examines what they want to achieve by receiving the sacrament.
Most often, the opening conversation lays out the rules and regulations for receiving the Sacrament, and the Church perpetuates the assumption that they are here for the right reasons. We are not leading them to properly dispose their hearts to receive the sacraments. We “assume” they are already disposed.
Does your parish have a Pastoral Plan for making disciples?
- It has to be more than a mission statement.
- It has to have a clearly defined mission with actionable and measurable goals.
- It has to be articulated in every possible medium.
- Preached from the pulpit
- Worked toward and referred to in every ministry of the parish
- Church signage
- Website and all other social media.
- Every parishioner must know and be able to explain the vision
Lastly, it has to be lived, modeled.
People are willing to look when they witness
the conviction behind the message!
You always speak with such clarity and challenge me to grow. Now if I only knew how I could assure the hearts of my teens were at all disposed to the sacrament of Confirmation! I wish you would develop a Confirmation program.
Humble Thanks, Arlene, but the Church really had a powerful method in the past it was called the process of discipleship. Individual members of a church would make it their priority to lead others into a relationship with Jesus and guide them in growing in their new-found relationship with the Holy Spirit.
I fear that we hav grown so fat and lazy, leaving this work for a few to do. That we have totally lost the vision and purpose of following Christ. To build his Kingdom on earth. My hope and prayer is that we would return to that model and help our people in the pews o rise up and lead others to Christ.
Meet you in prayer, drp