Forming Intentional Disciples
Forming Intentional Disciples

Author: Sherry A. Weddell

Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor

Published: 2015-11-30

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1612789439

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How can we transmit a living, personal Catholic faith to future generations? By coming to know Jesus Christ, and following him as his disciples. These are times of immense challenge and immense opportunity for the Catholic Church. Consider these statistics for the United States. Only 30 percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing. Fully 10 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics. The number of marriages celebrated in the Church decreased dramatically, by nearly 60 percent, between 1972 and 2010. Only 60 percent of Catholics believe in a personal God. If the Church is to reverse these trends, the evangelizers must first be evangelized-in other words, Catholics-in-the-pew must make a conscious choice to know and follow Jesus before they can draw others to him. This work of discipleship lies at the heart of Forming Intentional Disciples, a book designed to help Church leaders, parish staff and all Catholics transform parish life from within. Drawing upon her fifteen years of experience with the Catherine of Siena Institute, Sherry Weddell leads readers through steps that will help Catholics enter more deeply into a relationship with God and the river of apostolic creativity, charisms, and vocation that flow from that relationship for the sake of the Church and the world. Learn about the five thresholds of postmodern conversion, how to open a conversation about faith and belief, how to ask thought-provoking questions and establish an atmosphere of trust, when to tell the Great Story of Jesus, how to help someone respond to God's call to intentional discipleship, and much more. And be prepared for conversion because when life at the parish level changes, the life of the whole Church will change.

Foundations for Discipleship
Foundations for Discipleship

Author: FOCUS

Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor

Published: 2020-12-15

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1681927861

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There’s a lot of talk about Missionary Discipleship. But how do you practically live it? Foundations for Discipleship is not simply a book you read. It’s a tool you use to form and accompany others on their journey as Christian disciples. For use with small groups or individuals, these captivating articles provide the roadmap for training in the basic skills of Christian living and evangelization, including: How to live “The Little Way of Evangelization” How to accompany others on the journey of “Win,” “Build,” and “Send” How to help others grow in prayer, Eucharistic devotion, Christian friendship, and care for the poor How to share the Gospel and your testimony How to deepen one’s own interior life, from which all evangelization flows How to invite others into mission This book is a toolbox for leaders who want to walk with others in discipleship. If you read it by yourself, it might change your life; if you use it to lead others, you might change the world.

The Activated Disciple
The Activated Disciple

Author: Jeff Cavins

Publisher: Ascension Press

Published: 2018-11-05

Total Pages: 53

ISBN-13: 1945179724

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Are you ready to take your faith to the next level? If you yearn for a life that moves beyond believing and practicing your faith, if you want to radically live your faith, if you want a more profound relationship with Jesus Christ, then it is time for you to become an activated disciple. The Foundation of discipleship is imitation. True discipleship requires such a close relationship with God that every area of your life is transformed. It is about opening yourself to God and inviting him to dwell within you, becoming holy as he is holy, loving as he is loving, disciples of Christ become the instruments God employs to transform the world. - Move beyond simply believing and practicing your faith and begin radically living it! - Overcome obstacles that keep you from being the disciple you are made to be.
- Be a positive influence and an instrument of transformation in the Church.

Disciples Called to Witness
Disciples Called to Witness

Author: Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis

Publisher: Usccb / United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Published: 2013-01-20

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 9781601373861

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This statement by the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis on the New Evangelization focuses on reaching out to Catholics, practicing or not, who have lost a sense of the faith and seek to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church. This resource examines what the New Evangelization is, its focus, its importance for the Church and how dioceses and parishes can promote it.

Into His Likeness
Into His Likeness

Author: Edward Sri

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2018-07-01

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1681497972

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In the ancient disciple-rabbi relationship, the disciple would follow the rabbi so closely that he would be covered in the dust kicked up from his rabbi's feet. Thousands of years later, though we walk on roads of pavement and not dust, we are still called to be disciples—to follow our Rabbi, Jesus Christ, so closely that we are covered with his life, changed, and made new. Into His Likeness provides an approachable but in-depth exploration of how to live as a disciple and experience the transformation Jesus wants to work in our lives. We might desire to live more like Christ, but we know we fall short. This book simply helps us follow those initial promptings of the Holy Spirit, so that we may more intentionally encounter Jesus anew each day and be more disposed to his grace changing us ever more into his likeness.

Making Missionary Disciples
Making Missionary Disciples

Author: Curtis Martin

Publisher: eBookIt.com

Published: 2019-01-29

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13: 1456632795

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"I dream of a 'missionary option'... a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything..." Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium Do you have the same dream as Pope Francis? Would you like to see your parish, apostolate, or family flourishing in Christ like never before? In Making Missionary Disciples, Curtis Martin, founder of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), explores how to build a vibrant culture of faithfulness and fruitfulness. He doesn't just remind us how every disciple is called on mission to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ. He gives us practical ways to do this in our ordinary daily lives. • Know the three crucial habits of effective evangelization. • Grow in Divine Intimacy following the four essential practices to which the early disciples devoted themselves. • Learn the importance of becoming not only a disciple, but a missionary disciple. • Understand the three-phased "Method Modeled by the Master"--the approach to evangelization modeled for us by Jesus in the Gospels and rooted in Catholic magisterial teaching. Experience the transformation for which we all long--through Making Missionary Disciples.

Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples
Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples

Author: Sherry A. Weddell, Editor

Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor

Published: 2015-01-15

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 1612783791

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"It is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him, not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly, not the same thing to hear his word as not to know it.... We know that with Jesus life becomes richer."-Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel In her first book, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus, Sherry Weddell, cofounder of the Catherine of Siena Institute, captured the attention of Catholics across the globe as she uncovered the life-changing power that accompanies the conscious decision to follow Jesus as his disciple. Now, in the groundbreaking Becoming a Parish of Intentional Disciples, she has gathered together experienced leaders and collaborators whose exceptional field-tested wisdom and enthusiasm for transforming Catholic parishes into centers of discipleship and apostolic outreach is both inspiring and practical. The authors consider: The role of intercessory prayer in parish transformation How "fireside chats" can help a pastor connect with his parishioners and call them to personal discipleship and mission The co-responsibility of lay people andpastors in the work of making disciples The revolutionary impact of a discipleship approach to youth ministry How one parish successfully fostered a culture of intentional discipleship, and much more As Sherry asks in her own chapter, "Are we willing to answer the call and pay the price necessary to become a new generation of saints through which God can do extraordinary things in our time?"

Conformed to Christ
Conformed to Christ

Author: The Evangelical The Evangelical Catholic

Publisher:

Published: 2010-08-01

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9781494283452

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6-Week Small Group Scripture Discussion GuideWhen we want to grow in our relationship with Jesus, we become his students. Questions on St. Paul's letters to the early Christians help groups and individuals consider all the topics crucial to discipleship in everyday life: love, temptation, virtue, suffering, the Spirit, and the Church.Exploring some of the most famous passages from the epistles, Conformed to Christ develops disciples through deep consideration of Paul's teaching on Jesus, his advice to the young Christians in the house churches he founded, and his honest sharing of his own struggles and victories in the interior life. Small group participants or individual readers learn how to live lives "worthy of the calling you have received" (Ephesians 4:1): fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father (Colossians 1:10).Each study offers a weekly "Connecting to Christ through St. Paul" activity inspiring group participants or readers to open their hearts to Jesus in a new way, allowing him to transform every part of their lives.An individual using Conformed to Christ will "grow in relationship to Jesus through experience, reflection, prayer and study" (Our Hearts were Burning Within Us, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops). The sessions are designed, though, to serve as tools for building intentional Catholic Christian community. So that all parishes may be truly communities of Christians, local ecclesial authorities ought to foster... small, basic or so-called 'living' communities, where the faithful can communicate the word of God and express it in service and love to one another; these communities are true expressions of ecclesial communion and centers of evangelization in communion with their pastors. -John Paul II, The Lay Members of Christ's Faithful PeopleSmall group leader training is ideal, but any group could begin meeting using the basic guidelines in the appendices of Conformed to Christ: how to prepare; small group facilitation; prayer in the group; and group dynamics. The Evangelical Catholic (EC) helps parishes, dioceses, and university and college campus ministries build vibrant, fruitful, self-sustaining local ministries. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the EC is approved by our local ordinary, listed in Kenedy's Official Catholic Directory, and belongs to the national Catholic Campus Ministry Association. We partner in mission with the University of Notre Dame Institute for Church Life; the Sisters for Life, the Knights of Columbus, and the Center for Liturgy at Notre Dame, which co-sponsors and provides faculty for our nationwide training camps.