Introduction to Chrysalis
Chrysalis is a three-day short course in Christianity for young people ages 15 - 18 that has grown out of the Walk to Emmaus movement. Chrysalis and Emmaus are two of several 'three-day' experiences with similar purposes, formats and follow-up that were inspired by the lay renewal movements which began in 1944 in Majorca, Spain called Cursillo. Both Chrysalis and Emmaus are copyrighted programs developed and provided by The Upper Room, a ministry unit of the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. The Upper Room's mission is to provide resources that help persons grow in their relationship with God. Upper Room resources include a variety of spiritual life programs, magazines and books. Upper Room ministries are inter-denominational, interracial and international in scope.
The purpose of Chrysalis is to serve as a ministry of the church to inspire and support the spiritual formation of Christian young people. Chrysalis provides young people in the church a course of essentials of Christian faith and practice that is educational and experiential in character. During the three-day event, Chrysalis becomes a Christian community in which persons experience the living Christ through daily flow of worship and reflection, systematic teaching and small group dialogue, creative expression and play, prayer and signs of support from the wider Emmaus and Chrysalis Communities. As a result young people experience growth in a variety of ways that contribute to their wholeness and their readiness to live lives of Christian discipleship in today's world.
During the Chrysalis three-days, young people are called to receive the dynamic friendship God offers through Jesus Christ, to become the unique and beautiful expression of God's image each was created to be and to grow together in the grace and love of Jesus Christ as servants of God in church and society. After Chrysalis, the young people are encouraged to share the love they have received, to be energetic and renewing presence in their churches and youth groups and schools and to keep the faith and fire alive through spiritual support groups and occasional gatherings of the Chrysalis youth and their friends.
Chrysalis has evolved from its original aim of serving upper high school youth into a spiritual renewal movement serving young people up to 24 years of age on university campuses and communities. Chrysalis for upper high school ages 15 - 18 is called a Chrysalis Flight. Chrysalis for post-high school early adulthood ages 19 - 24 is called a Chrysalis Journey. Chrysalis Journey is for post-high school young people who prefer to take their three day short course with peers rather than with the multi-aged adult company of an Emmaus Walk. A person falling in the early adult ages have the opportunity to choose between Chrysalis Journey and the Emmaus Walk.
The Butterfly - an ancient Christian symbol of Christ's death and resurrection - provides us with the central metaphor of the Chrysalis experience. The journey of spiritual growth into which Chrysalis invites young people is marvelously illustrated in the life cycle of the butterfly. At first as a caterpillar and then it undergoes an amazing transformation as a chrysalis in a cocoon, dying to what it was before in order to become what it is meant to be. Similarly, our process of transformation is Christ involves dying with Christ to our old self through faith in God's accepting love; rising with Christ to a new self, motivated by hope in the new life and continual growth that God gives through faithful living; and going forth and flying with Christ as the church by joyfully sharing God's ministry of reconciliation and love in an alienated world. Because of the symbol, participants attending a Chrysalis experience are sometimes referred to as a caterpillar.
Great care is taken in Chrysalis to provide a context and content through which individuals may experience a joyful encounter with Jesus Christ. Attentiveness to God is enhanced through the well-planned moments of worship and prayer, presentation and response, conversation and play and by the absence of many typical distractions to a sustained focus on matters of the heart. Each participant responds freely and uniquely to the unfolding message and to the presence of Christ is his/her life.
Our Lord commands us to go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15). In response, Chrysalis is a means for illumining the life of young people with the light of the whole Gospel in characteristic New Testament style. God's Word becomes flesh in a living experience with the risen Christ.