Pastor's Points: "Intentional Discipleship"

Pastor's Points: "Intentional Discipleship"

There are two words that I need you to be familiar with: Intentional Discipleship (ID). You may have heard these words in a homily or read about them in such things as my letter that was included with your recent contribution statement. Most of us have a good sense of what the word “discipleship” means in terms of one who follows Christ. However, ID takes things to the next level. 

The great hero of ID is Sherry Weddell from the Catherine of Siena Institute in Colorado Springs.  Over the last couple of years, some members of our staff (myself included) and parishioners have travelled to the institute to learn more about how ID can really transform a parish community. It is not another parish program. Rather, it is way of going about all that a parish does. Deacon Bob Troy, who has attended the institute, summed up ID best in this way: It begins with the idea of inviting people to open their hearts and minds to the possibility of developing a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  The goal over time is to allow that relationship to grow to the point where the person consciously chooses to give themselves over to Christ as a disciple, putting their lives in Christ’s hands in faith, and using their unique, God-given abilities to work for the Kingdom of Heaven.

We can find many similarities between ID and the process of dating someone.
 

Intentional Discipleship Threshold	Dating
Initial Trust: A person is able to trust or has a positive association with Jesus Christ, the Church, a Christian believer, or something identifiably Christian. Trust is not the same as active personal faith. Without some kind of bridge of trust in place, people will not move closer to God.	A first date leads to another one and then to another one because you begin to trust the person and want to be with them.
Spiritual Curiosity: A person finds him or herself intrigued by or desiring to know more about Jesus, his life, and his teachings or some aspect of the Christian faith. This curiosity can range from mere awareness of a new possibility to something quite intense. Nevertheless, a person at the threshold of curiosity is not yet open to personal change. Curiosity is still essentially passive, but it is more than mere trust.	You continue the dating relationship and want to learn more and more about the person.  You trust level increases in this person.
Spiritual openness: A person acknowledges to himself or herself and to God that he or she is open to the possibility of personal and spiritual change. This is one of the most difficult transitions for a postmodern nonbeliever. Openness is not a commitment to change. People who are open are simply admitting they are open to the possibility of change.	You are open to this person being a serious part of your life.
Spiritual Seeking: The person moves from being essentially passive to actively seeking to know the God who is calling him or her. Seekers are asking, "Are you the one to whom I will give myself?" At this stage, the seeker is engaged in an urgent spiritual quest, seeking to know whether he or she can commit to Christ in his Church.	The relationship is getting more and more serious. You want to know all you can about the person. You begin to ask the question is this person “the one?” You begin to ask if you will be able to commit to this person for the rest of your life.
Intentional Discipleship: This is the decision to "drop one's nets," to make a conscious commitment to follow Jesus in the midst of his Church as an obedient disciple and to reorder one's life accordingly.	You make the very conscious decision to marry that person which involves a reorientation of your life and a pledge to be with the person for the rest of your life.

This is a vision that I have for us as a parish community: that we will become Intentional Disciples.  In doing so, we will be a community that takes our faith seriously.  There will be no shortage of people to assist with all of the various ministries that we have because the Intentional Disciple will actively seek ways to live his or her faith through action, ongoing formation and prayer.  We will see an increase in people want to learn more about the Catholic faith through the RCIA because people who are Intentional Disciples bear witness to the Gospel by the way they live their life and hence draw others to the faith.

The process of ID is not something that happens overnight. It takes years because it is a culture shift for a parish community.  I invite you to begin to think about ID and where you might be in terms of the five thresholds above. As community, we are striving in various ways to help each other grow in our faith and take up this call of ID.   One initiative we are launching soon is an Adult Evangelization Team that will be looking at all of our adult formation programs in order to see where we are with them and what more we could be doing.  You will hear more about this team as their work progresses. 

So why should all this matter to you?  Why should you become an Intentional Disciple? The answer is pretty simple. To have life.  In John 10:10 we hear,  I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  Jesus offers us nothing less than an abundant life.  We encounter Jesus most authentically through His Church and through living out a life of discipleship in a very intentional way.  For us, Christ is life.  Do you want that life? Do you want to know the fullness of what Christ has to offer each of us?  Intentional Discipleship will really help us to live fully the wonderful and beautiful life that Jesus offers to us.

I would like to offer you some suggestions as to how you can take a few initial steps toward growing in your adult Catholic faith.  All of these will assist us in the process of becoming Intentional Disciples.

• Read Sherry Weddell’s Books on ID. They can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sherry+weddell
• Participate in one of our upcoming small groups for Lent. You can sign up at: https://stmchapelhill.org/lent
• Take advantage of the online adult formation resources available through formed.org. Our parish pays a monthly subscription in order to make this service available to our members. The parish code is: DHYCGW.  
• Consider participating in the next “Come and See” retreat for adults that will be held at the parish May 18-20: https://stmchapelhill.org/come-and-see.  During the Retreat, the Gospel is proclaimed to participants through a series of personal testimonies where speakers share their faith stories, which are reflected upon in small groups.

Through the intercession of our patrons, St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, let us pray that may we seek to become a parish community of Intentional Disciples as we discover the abundant life that Christ has come to give to each of us.