The Meeting House: A Model of Discipleship

Ive recently been blessed with the opportunity to worship with my Protestant bretheren at The Meeting House, a Mennonite-based church that happens to be the fastest growing church in all of Canada. As a Catholic, this experience has been invaluable, as it has clearly shown me where the Catholic church needs to grow.

I expected first of all blown away by the preaching. Thats the old cliche; that Protestants have great preaching while for Catholics its all about the Mass. Well this is certainly true. But what really struck me was the issue of discipleship. The Meeting House had regular projects for the entire congregation to follow Christ more closely. Their focus at the time was relieving the suffering of AIDS victims in Africa through the assembling of 'Care Kits', and by sending volunteers to work abroad in Zimbabwe.

However I want to stress that this is not simply ambitious social work; the remarkable thing about the Meeting House is that their projects are truly done in a spirit of community. This is cultivated organically as half of the worship takes place in the context of intimate house-church gatherings where the congregants actually get to know each other personally and can truly feel that they are on this great journey of faith together.

It was seeing this sort of thing week after week that made me realize that as Catholics, we may have charity divisions within our church that are effective (i.e. Development and Peace), but the average parishioner is far removed from any meaningful participation in collective service projects, beyond the occasional 'second collection'.

But the deeper issue is not about whether or not we are doing enough 'good works'. The deeper issue is discipleship. It seems as though as Catholics, we are cultivated through the sacraments of first communion and confirmation--but then its like we plateau; just when were at the gate and ready to go, we are given few opportunities to actually live out this calling in the context of our faith community.

Ive met many Catholics who want to do more through their church but just dont know what to do (Ive been there myself!). They hand out the hymnals or volunteer at sunday school, and this may occupy them for a short season, but these are young people who are highly skilled and have much to offer, and soon find themselves back in the pews frustrated and withdrawn.

The question the Catholic Church must ask is, How can we foster discipleship in our congregations that is a lifelong journey of growth and service in Christ, and is also a communal response to God's salvific activity?

Thankfully, ecumenical exchanges such as this can help illuminate this question.

On Churchgoing

I was recently talking to a mother concerned that her adult daughters were no longer interested in going to church. She wanted to know what could be done to get them going again, since thats how they were brought up. Not an uncommon situation.

I told her that not going to church was only the symptom. The heart of the matter was the issue of whether or not they had a personal relationship with Jesus; because it is from that relationship that the Christian life flows. Going to church, prayer, charity etc. are all expressions of that inner life of faith, that place where we encounter the living Christ.

"So, how do I get them to encounter the living Christ?" ...The good news is that a lot of that is up to Christ - so relax! But of course concerned parents want to do something, so here's what I propose:

1) Pray for that relationship between Jesus and your loved one to spark.

2) Model the Christian life: if your kids see you going to church but know that deep inside you're just going to keep up with the Jonses, some soul-searching may be called for. Make sure your own house is in order before trying to save the world. The best evangelism is when people encounter that deep peace and love of Christ in your heart and then put two and two together. To quote St Francis: "Preach the Gospel at all times; and when necessary, use words."

3) Discover and Address the Blockage. Often it is a particular issue that keeps people from faith. Perhaps they feel that Christianity is complicit with colonialism; then maybe its time they discovered Liberation Theology. Maybe they think they cant be Christian because Christians are dumb and dont believe in dinosaurs or science; then maybe its time they checked out Intelligent Design Theory etc.

Prayer of the Chalice

by Francis Nuttall

Father, to Thee I raise my whole being,
a vessel emptied of self. Accept Lord,
this my emptiness, and so fill me with
Thyself - Thy Light, Thy Love, Thy
Life - that these, Thy precious Gifts
may radiate through me and overflow
the chalice of my heart into
the hearts of all with whom I
come in contact this day
revealing unto them
the beauty of
Thy Joy
and
Wholeness
and
the
serenity
of Thy Peace
which nothing can destroy.