Unleashing the Gospel
Session Five
The fifth session of Unleashing the Gospel met on Wednesday, March 21st at 9 AM and 7 PM. This week the participants readthree guideposts and the conclusion. The guideposts were Attraction, Encounter, Grow and Witness, Calling Upon the Advocate, and the conclusion.
Our first breakout session asked questions about the responsibility of each of us to seek, find and accompany the unchurched, to deliberately seek out the lost one; that everyone has hole inside them that can only be filled with God. How can knowing this encourage us to share the Good News at all times? Our service to the poor has to be a clear witness to Jesus the Lord, not mistaken for humanist philanthropy.
The first breakout session comments centered on being a parish that has a focus on hospitality. Some of the comments were as follows: Be inviting; Show the joy of being a Catholic;Be genuine to attract the unchurched; Have one on one time. We need greeters in the towers. We need to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit.
Our second breakout discussions were about intercessory prayer: why is it important to our parish?What can we do to resist the evil one in the work ahead of us? What are some of the obstacles holding us back from truly embracing the Holy Spirit and our call to the new evangelization? Regarding the conclusion, we were asked how we can better understand the new evangelization and the task ahead.
The comments made during the second breakout sessionwere: Our parish needs to learn how to reach people at all stages of life and have readiness to hear the word and be engaged; Bring more awareness to church ministries and how people can get involved; Remember to always be with Jesus; We have to be ALL in!
The new religion curriculum ties in with Unleash the Gospel and will aid in teaching evangelization to our young people.
We ended our session with prayer.
Our final session will meet on Wednesday April 18th at 9 am and 7 pm.