Author: Andy Baker, Faith & Family Formation, Youth & Young Adult Ministry Coordinator, Office of Marriage, Family Life, Faith Formation & Youth Ministry – Diocese of Palm Beach
It was just one of those ah-ha moments, standing in a 90-minute line for one of my family’s favorite theme park rides, Peter Pan’s Flight at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. As we stood there shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of strangers, I couldn’t help pondering one of the great challenges in ministry today, RELATIONSHIPS! As we slowly meandered the queue, it became apparent to me that this ride process looks an awful lot like the process of faith formation that we have used for decades. Not knowing whether it was the heat or the Holy Spirit, I knew that in this ride I was witnessing the dilemma and I had the answer.
Over the centuries the Church has enjoyed a solid amount of time ministering in what is known as a Christendom time. A time when the majority of the world’s society lives for and aligns its values to a life lived for Christ. A Christian society that deeply influences every aspect of life from families to politics, in media, and education, etc. It was in this time that the church created a process of formation that led the already believing faithful toward encounters with Christ in His Liturgy and Sacraments. Knowledge-based formation that helped believers grow in their understanding of the beauty and truths of our faith. This school-based model of formation served its purpose for a time, but in recent decades, amid a rapidly changing society and an ever-evolving human condition, it has proven increasingly inadequate. As more people become disengaged and disbelieving, the Church has called for a renewed model of formation.
To grow the church again we have been challenged to embrace the ancient ministry model of Jesus and the apostles, a model that has at its core the development of true and intentional relationships.
The current formation process, like most major theme parks, has mastered the art of moving large groups of people through a process. Like the ride, it all begins with an all call, an invitation for large groups of people to step onto a conveyor belt and into a generic process that moves them together, through a desired story line, within a very short and specific amount of time. When the process is over, the conveyor belt stops and the participants, often even more disengaged, are left wandering and wondering. This process may have worked in a Christendom time when the family, church and greater community were aligned in their belief and values, but in the post Christian era – it just isn’t working. It is failing us because it lacks the foundational elements of family, community, trust and friendship necessary. In other words, the model has no seedbed for the knowledge of our faith (the seed) to germinate.
Using the Synod on Synodality as a jumping off point, the theme that has reverberated through the Synod and its documents has been RELATIONSHIP! In this post Christian era, the way forward, the way to lead people to Christ and His salvific love is through a genuine relationship – a friendship. This is the ministry model of Jesus and His Apostles and in order to grow the church again within this new era that is being called an Apostolic time, we must see, understand, value, listen, accompany and evangelize a seeking people toward an encounter with and conversion to Jesus Christ. This is the Christocentric mission of the church and the commission given to each one of us at baptism.
The challenge of this shift is monumental but not difficult. In order for parishes to change their approach, we ourselves must change. We must step out of our comfort zone, embrace our baptismal call and proclaim joyfully the gospel, not just in words, but in our willingness to walk with others, just like the Apostles more than two thousand years ago. The parish can no longer pursue this mission alone; it needs our help. The idea that one person, a Director of Faith Formation or a Youth Minister can do it all by themselves is a mistaken belief. One person can’t build the relationships necessary with an entire parish to successfully lead them to a lasting and ever deepening relationship with Christ. Christ himself didn’t even do that, His primary focus was not the crowd but His twelve and in the twelve, Peter. So, if we are going to help our parishes turn off the conveyor belt and walk with people into the salvation story and not just sail over it, we must answer loudly, HEAR I AM, SEND ME! (Isaiah 6:8)
On this one-year anniversary of my first blog on relationships, I challenge you once again to become a Linus Van Pelt or in this storyline, Wendy, for someone else. Pick up the phone, call your parish and say here I am, send me, I want to help bring others to heaven. When we allow Christ to work through us, and we intentionally share scripture and the beautiful truths of our faith, we save lives, grow parishes and change the world. What are you waiting for, take the leap, and as Peter Pan would say, “Second Star to the Right then Straight on till Morning”, and together we can grow the church again!
A Glimpse into what scripture says about discipleship and relational ministry:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. (Luke 24:13-16)
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4: 18-20
You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5: 13-16)
Prayer of Paul: For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)