Go Make Disciples has already been a tremendous blessing at our parish. Fr. Paul Arinze and I made sure that our core team was representative of all the different people in our parish so that we would have a diversity of perspectives and experience. The core team began meeting in July and even at the first meeting, you could feel that something special was happening.  

One of the first things we did with the core team was explain that the focus of Go Make Disciples, especially the first phase, is on their personal formation and spiritual growth. They needed to know that this is not a committee or another “program.” This is a life-changing opportunity to deepen your relationship with Jesus and become the disciple He is calling you to be. With that in mind, we provided a list of the spiritual practices everyone needed to not only commit to, but embrace with love and enthusiasm.  

Our monthly meetings start with check-ins to see how people progressed with their spiritual practices. These are occasions of personal sharing—both our victories over the past month and our struggles or failures. By having conversations that are honest and vulnerable, we have found accountability with each other and that people truly help each other with amazing ideas and encouragement.  

As we work through the newsletters and supplemental books and videos each month, the core team really helps us understand what will be helpful for the parish as a whole and which areas will be most challenging for people. The group always has fantastic ideas that will definitely drive our work in phase 2 and beyond. We are keeping a list of all their recommendations and insights. Their feedback even shaped what we are doing with other leadership groups in the parish, such as the school staff, parish staff, and catechists.  

There is a tendency to think people are too busy and won’t have the time for meetings or assigned reading, but it has been the opposite. Our core team hasn’t just read the monthly newsletters, they have read entire books (Into His Likeness and Prayer for Beginners were particularly helpful). In addition to the monthly meeting, they asked for weekly prayer meetings! People show up at 6:30 a.m. before work to meet each week because they can tell the difference it is making in their spiritual lives.   

My advice to other parish leaders is to throw yourself into Go Make Disciples as if you were throwing yourself into the arms of God. Read everything the newsletters recommend. Push yourself to the next level in your own spiritual practices.  It can be a lot of work: organizing, communicating, learning, etc. but when the end goals are the glory of God and the salvation of souls, what could be more important?
- Kris, Evangelization Lead

If there is one thing in GMD we’ve been successful with at St. Patrick, it is getting creative with our monthly Evangelization Team meetings. Especially in 2002, we have become quite skilled at rolling with any obstacles that get in our way, by the grace of God.

This was especially true in the success we experienced in our October Evangelization Team meeting. The focus of October was the interior life, specifically prayer. Rather than getting together in a typical large group setting, Fr. Brian and I split up the team and met with individuals or couples.  Because prayer life is an intimate topic, this arrangement offered an avenue to go deeper with one another.

The meetings took on all sorts of forms. There was a Saturday morning breakfast at the local café, talks at a coffee shop, walking the bike trail, and a few family dinners. With the personal time devoted just to the members of our Evangelization Team, we could really get into the when, where, what, and why.

Some couples reminisced about prayers they used to do together and how they would like to do that again. One couple shared the beautiful prayer traditions they had with their grown children, especially with high Feasts of the Church. Some were able to share times in which they could hear God’s voice so clearly. We talked about praying with young children and for adult children. We could also challenge one another in cultivating our prayer lives. It was such a beautiful experience, and I could not recommend it enough!
- Kristia, Evangelization Lead