Discipleship Game Plan

En español

Grant, we pray, O Lord, 
that we may always find delight in the paschal mysteries, 
so that the renewal constantly at work within us 
may be the cause of our unending joy. 
Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The Holy Spirit has been guiding the Church over the last 40 plus years to a renewed hope and joy in and how the Church shares the Good News.  Several years ago, our parish launched a pastoral planning process to better understand how we at St. Francis de Sales are to respond to this call. The first part of the process concluded in 2018  with the unveiling of our parish pastoral plan which we titled “Growing Passionate Disciples.”  Shortly after living out our this first phase of the plan, two needs became evident.  The first was the need to have some common understanding of what a passionate disciple looks like, and the second was to have an understanding of the process one would undertake to be come one.  After several months of a discussion and planning between parish leadership including staff, the pastoral council, and an ad hoc committee, a process was discerned and a plan was put together on how our parish could support such a process. 

Our prayer is that in presenting this discipleship game plan, we can focus much more attention on this process of initial conversion and then too to that we face throughout our faith journey.  We see this process becoming an integral part of the life and culture of this parish so that we can very intentionally grow passionate disciples of Jesus Christ.  If we are successful in doing this, we believe we will witness something truly remarkable taking place.  We will find ourselves with a parish filled with passionate disciples who know, love, and serve the Lord and give witness to the hope and joy of the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

What is a Passionate Disciple?

One who lives in relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church and cannot help but share the Good News. 

What does a Passionate Disciple look Like? 

Our center and focus for our parish’s plan to grow passionate disciples begins and ends with Jesus Christ and the love and mercy He offers us.  We know of His love and mercy first and foremost through His Pascal Mystery – His life, death, and resurrection.  He desires to be in relationship with us through His Church to whom He has gifted the sacraments and authority. 

We understand that because of this love, our response is… 

  • to worship the Triune God, seeking God’s grace through a vibrant sacramental life focused on the Eucharist.  In the area of worship, as passionate disciples we celebrate Mass on a weekly basis and regularly celebrate and live the sacraments. 

  • to grow in faith as individuals and as the body of Christ in fidelity to the Church.  To grow in faith, passionate disciples have an individual formation plan (IFP) which sets goals for personal prayer, faith formation/learning, service of others, fellowship, evangelization and scripture study.  Additionally, as disciples, we ought to be involved in a small group or Christian community. 

  • to evangelize, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bring others into a relationship with Him.  A passionate disciple is witnessing their faith to family and friends while also intentionally discipling five individuals, people who they are praying for and walking with at one level or another to help them in their process of becoming passionate disciples. 

  • to love God and people of all nations, opening our arms to everyone in our community with the love of Jesus Christ. A passionate disciple demonstrates one’s love of God by praying daily and openness to the will of God in their lives. A passionate disciple demonstrates one’s love of neighbor by practicing the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and shares one’s talents in minimally one ministry or service in or beyond our parish. 

Process of Growing Passionate Disciples

Encounter

Intimacy with Jesus has always been at the core of the Catholic faith.  Jesus seeks to meet and know each person in an intimate and personal way. At this phase we seek to provide opportunities for parishioners to truly meet Jesus, again, or perhaps for the first time and expect a conversion of heart to take place. 

Equip

Jesus equipped his disciples with the Holy Spirit and the Word to come to fully love, know, and serve God.  We have these gifts available to us and we must learn how to live and work together to call on the Holy Spirit and reflect and study the Word to grow a faith that bears fruit in our lives.

Witness

Now as passionate disciples, we are commissioned and must go out living and sharing all that Christ has taught us and given us through the sacraments.  As passionate disciples, we live our values – worship, grow, evangelize, and love – in many ways, but we have some basic guides as a parish on how to do that. 

Game Plan

Alpha

Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith. Each talk looks at a different question around faith and is designed to create conversation and openness to faith. It also includes a one-day retreat. Sign up and learn more about session fall 2020...

St. Andrew School of Evangelization (Spanish only)

The St. Andrew School of Evangelization is a Catholic ministry of lay people and clergy, evangelizing, proclaiming the gospel in the model of the apostle St. Andrew.  Learn more...

Individual Formation Plan

Either done in a small group or one-on-one setting one will work through a resource to assess how one is growing in maturity in different areas of the Christian life (prayer, learning, community, and mission; based on 4 pillars of formation) and encourage a commitment to next steps to foster continued growth. Learn more and create your own plan...

Connect Groups 

Personal mentoring and small group support are key vehicles for formation in discipleship. Here we seek to deliver formative teaching which is oriented to the process of discipleship and provide a context in which that teaching can be applied to daily life with the support of a mentor and/or small group. 

Roots of Our Catholic Faith 

Using the four pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church those not yet catechized will explore the beauty and wonder found in the 2,000 years of teaching and Tradition of the Catholic Church.

Discipleship Making Retreat 

Offer participants the opportunity to reflect on their decision and journey to follow Jesus Christ as passionate disciples, equip them so that they can help others encounter Jesus, and celebrate with a commissioning ceremony.

Implementation Schedule

Here is a rough schedule of how our discipleship game plan has been and will continue to be rolled out.

2019 

  • June-July – Alpha Core Team Formed; Message Series Planned 
  • July – August - Training Alpha Leaders / Recruitment for Fall Alpha 
  • September – October – Connect Groups Core Team Formed 
  • September – December – First Alpha (open to select individuals only) 
  • November – Individual Formation Plan for Parish Ministers 

2020 

  • January – June – Roots of Our Catholic Faith Planned 
  • January – March – Alpha (small focused group) 
  • February - April - Individual Formation Plan launched to entire parish
  • February – March – Training Connect Group Leaders 
  • September – December – Alpha for Adults (open to entire parish)

2021 

  • January – March – Alpha for Adults (open to entire parish); Alpha for Middle and High School, Sprouts for Elementary
  • April – August – First Connect Groups Kick Off; Roots of Our Catholic Faith Kicks off 
  • September – Second wave of Connect Groups; Roots of Our Catholic Faith continues; new Alpha opportunities for all ages
  • October – First Making Disciples Retreat