Change the culture, change the Church!

In my long and depressing struggle to alter the focus on my parish from maintenance to mission, I think I hit gold. As the Adult Faith Formation Coordinator I have multiple opportunities to encourage evangelism and discipleship, and now I'm just getting more aggressive with the little things.

First, the Lighthouse Media CDs in our narthex are ALL testimonies or on evangelism. And we sold out in about two months.

Second, I've purchased Forming Intentional Disciples (ya heard?) for people like my parish receptionists, clergy admin assistant, RCIA coordinators, as well as staff members and influential parishioners.

Third, I have offered to lead a day of reflection for a bunch of different ministries. I led one for our Cornerstone bible study group and talked about- you guessed it- evangelization and discipleship. My goals are to offer this same thing to two other AFF ministries, then the Liturgical and Outreach groups.

Fourth, we had our first parish-and-school day of retreat last August, and I ran it. The first half was focused on having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the second was focused on becoming a better parish instead of a mediocre one. They asked me back to lead it again, which is a first for our parish/school staff.

Fifth, I hate our monthly staff meetings. They are largely pointless and painful. So I offered to take that heavy burden from our Leadership Team and run it for them. This will give me a platform to "shape the shapers" of our parish/school in an ongoing way. Meetings will be from 11:30-12:30 one Tuesday a month. We start with prayer, lunch, and fellowship. Then we have an agenda-driven "Awareness and Enrichment" segment. Awareness is the business people covering all those things we need to know for the month, like payroll changes, large events, etc. Enrichment is my baby, which will cover topics like productivity, hospitality, spiritual growth, aaaaaaannd evangelization and discipleship.

Sixth, I finally got my biggest Bible study ministry to cut back their offerings in 2016 so that we can launch "A Year of Biblical Literacy." The goal is to offer a score of introductory courses to Scripture that anyone, regardless of education or comfort level, can dive into, as well as other initiatives.

Yes, it is a drudgery at times, but the good Lord is opening some windows around here, letting some light and a sweet breeze.