Mission to Build Community
BECs
Help Deepen
Our
Faith
Small Christian Communities are absolutely crucial for a parish to be relational in our culture. We need systematic, dynamic intentional structures to deliver adult faith formation. These structure help people to be in radical union with each other. They help people deepen and renew their faith. They help people experience conversion.
The Small Christian community becomes a center for telling our stories. We don't tell our stories enough. Yet, it is absolutely essential that we verbalize our stories.
When we tell and share our stories we build interpersonal ties. It is where we deepen our faith in th God who lives in our very flesh and blood. It is where the incarnation comes alive.
The Small Christian community is where we say what we feel and what we mean. It is where we practice the art of listening to what others are saying. It is where we may even reflect back to them the feelings and concerns behind what is being said.
The Small Christian community is where we make every effort to hear that others are saying. We simply listen and hear. We don't try to fix. We don't give advice. We help one other overcome our separateness and isolation by just empathetically listening. The Small Christian community is built around compassionate listening. People listen with concentration and with commitment. Members follow one another's point of view with no preconceived notions.
The Small Christian community members are passionate about hearing one another's stories. And this is the seed more than anything else that facilitates the breakdown of loneliness and isolation. The Small Christian community is all about helping each other go deeper into the mystery of the human person and the mystery of God. The faith-sharing facilitates our growing in the faith. It promotes growing from within.
The Small Christian community is where we unburden our sick hearts; where we unburden our sick souls; where we unburden our sick bodies; where we unburden our despair; where we unburden our hopelessness; where we unburden our loneliness; where we unburden our boredom;
The Small Christian community is where we get another perspective from just the simple sharing of our stories. It is where we build relationships. It is where interpersonal ties are strengthened. It is where new perspectives are reborn.
The Small Christian community satisfies the search of the human heart and mind of God. It is where we connect deeply with our one and only lives. It is where we are comfortable in our clothing and comfortable in our skin.
By Msgr Thomas Morgan
