The Good News of Jesus spreads most fruitfully within trusting relationships—through both words and actions. Before we do much verbal sharing about Jesus as the Good News, we must “win the right” to be heard. We do this through getting to know people and loving them well. Love seeks to know others and draws them […]

For most new disciples, following Jesus inspires changes in habits and attitudes as we conform ourselves to Christ. If you are meeting with someone regularly to establish them in their discipleship, you may find these tips for motivating change helpful in your conversations. Keep in mind that these strategies presume a relationship of mutual trust […]

The idea that people must be apprenticed in faith may be utterly foreign to you. You may not have even been conscious you were apprenticed into the heart and habits of a Catholic disciple of Jesus. In the best of worlds, it happens in an integrated way through family, Catholic education, and formation of the […]

Before you start asking your small group any of the three types of questions, help the group warm up by planning a launching discussion. The general goal of the small group launching discussion is simple: get people talking. Even better: get people sharing meaningful things in a simple and unthreatening way. This builds trust and […]

It is often difficult for those of us who are cradle Catholics to identify a single moment of initial conversion to Christ. Some evangelical Protestant traditions put great stress on a certain moment when one was “saved.” Someone makes a decision to “accept Jesus as personal Lord and savior” and prays “the prayer.” As Catholics we […]

Jesus cares about the little things, and his loving knowledge of us is the foundation of his loving relationship with us. He knows us so well that he knows exactly what we need and how we need him to interact with us in order to be able to receive it. If you don’t really know […]

Good questions are a critical ingredient in all great discussions. Jesus himself was the master questioner, often responding to questions with deeper questions.[1] Questions open us to God and one another, engage us in a topic, and bring out one of the great gifts God bestowed upon humanity: an inquisitive nature that seeks after truth. […]

Since the Church began, small groups have unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit in believers. Through Christians alive in the Spirit, God has transformed the world.   Relational Ministry Small groups work because they are rooted in relationships, not in organizational structures or edifices. Within the relationships people want and need, they find what […]