Making Missionary Disciples
Just before the pandemic led to our economic and societal shutdown, during the last weekend back in March before the church was closed, we set up a table in the gathering space with a multitude of copies of a great book by Curtis Martin (founder of FOCUS – Fellowship Of Catholic University Students), called Making Missionary Disciples. Sadly, because of the shutdown, only half of the books were given away, but for those of you who have not obtained your copy, the remaining books are in the gathering space awaiting your return when at last the church can be opened again.
Curtis Martin’s book derives its title from an idea that Pope Francis promoted very early on in his pontificate: that the Church and every Catholic Christian need to return to our apostolic roots and be made once more into active and intentional disciples of Jesus Christ, sent forth on mission so as to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of every people and nation. We are to return to our core identity as beloved children of God the Father, beloved brothers and sisters of God the Son, sacred temples of God the Holy Spirit – and God the Holy Trinity calls us to Himself and sends us forth as missionary disciples to help others experience this same loving relationship with the Divine.
Martin’s book is a very simple, straight-to-the-point read that explicates how we can do this in our own modern day and age of very busy lifestyles.
The reason why I am stating all of this, and why I have obtained hundreds of copies of this book for a very inexpensive price (because I asked Curtis Martin if I can get a deal, and he gave it to me! Hey, it never hurts to ask!)…the reason why is this: our parish is poised right now to lead the charge here in Eastern Washington to rise up to the Holy Father’s missionary ideal and to embrace the method modeled by the Master, Jesus Christ, to make this happen.
Many folks here at St. Mary already in my first year here have been asking me for some sense of a five-year plan for the parish. Well, a larger-scope pastoral planning process for the parish hopefully soon will be in the making; I have already begun discussing matters with the parish councils. But in whatever we end up doing, I know already that discipleship formation and missionary evangelization have got to be at the core of what we do and what are going to be all about here at St. Mary. And so, to that end, I have already begun initiatives in this regard.
First of all, the parish has already begun a partnership with FOCUS. The regional coordinator of university activities for the Pacific Northwest, Jeremy Cassidy, has been working with me personally, our principal Ben Walker, and our parish Pastoral and Finance Councils to promote the vision and lay out the game plan as to how St. Mary can engage more deliberately and intentionally in activities pertaining to discipleship formation and missionary evangelization.
Following the initial presentation, I continued the conversation with members of the Councils to listen to them and determine who even now is ready to begin work. From those conversation, we have most of the members of the Pastoral Council involved directly in the work of being built up as disciples ready to proclaim the Gospel.
This work has taken the practical form of what I have been calling “family clusters of discipleship formation.” I myself have been leading three such clusters, each cluster comprised of three or four families. We have been meeting every four to six weeks since November, and our meetings involve fellowship together (over brunch or dinner), followed by reading through and discussing articles in a book published by FOCUS, which contain questions for reflection and discussion. Prayer is infused throughout our meetings, and each couple and family is encouraged to engage in lectio divina (praying with Sacred Scripture) prior to each meeting. In addition to these three family clusters, a fourth such cluster has been formed, and they are beginning their work together this spring. Also, I have been working closely with Ben Walker and with some certain other individual parishioners.
The intent is for the individuals in each cluster to be built up in faith, courage, and confidence to be able to do for others what I am trying to do for them: lead prayer/discussion groups; help others to be built up in their own faith in Jesus Christ, and then built them up also in courage and confidence to go forth and do likewise. It looks like a pyramid scheme (egads!)…but it is legitimate, and it works, and it is exactly what Jesus Himself did: He hiked around with twelve guys for three years, ultimately ending up with only eleven of the twelve (thanks to Judas!), but His efforts to dive deep into the lives of those few men inspired those men to go out and do likewise; Peter invested himself in Paul, who in turn invested himself in Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and Titus…and so on.
Now, here is the secret: ALL of us can do this! None of us needs to be a theologian! None of us needs to be a scholar in Sacred Scripture or to have memorized the Catechism of the Catholic Church! I myself barely know what I am doing – but I am trying to do it anyway! And I am enjoying success in any of this, it is because I am following the simple plan laid out in Curtis Martin’s book (which again I hope every parishioner will read): I myself am striving to be won over as a missionary disciple of the Lord…and I am striving to help others to be built up similarly…and finally, I am striving to get myself and these others ready to be sent forth so as to repeat this process of Win, Build, and Send.
If this plan of action results in nothing more than each of us here at St. Mary feeling closer to Jesus Christ, then it will be a huge success! And if this plan results in the added benefit of even just a few of us going out there into the world to proclaim Christ to others…then even better! Let’s make it happen!
~ Fr. Lewis