Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
This post is the second in a series on how the conversion process in the RCIA makes lifelong disciples. If you have not yet read the introduction, please click here. In the introduction, we said, “Our biggest challenge in RCIA formation is deepening the conversion of our seekers to such a level that they become […]
The first two RCIA steps for turning seekers into disciples
Our biggest challenge in RCIA formation is deepening the conversion of our seekers to such a level that they become lifelong disciples of Christ. This task is so mysterious and so overwhelming that we sometimes give in to temptation. The temptation is to tell ourselves that it is up to the Holy Spirit, not us,
RCIA’s six keys to making lifelong disciples
If someone asks you about becoming Catholic this summer, don’t tell them to come back in September. You can start catechizing them right away, even if you don’t have a year-round process. Here are 20 ideas to get you started. 20 ways to catechize this summer — even if you don’t have a year-round catechumenate.
20 ways to catechize this summer — even if you don’t have a year-round catechumenate
At a recent Making Disciples Institute, Diana and I were making the point that the encounter of a seeker with the mystery of Christ is first of all an emotional experience. The Holy Spirit moves the heart of the seeker, causing her to be restless and to long for something that she cannot yet name.
For RCIA to be effective, it has to be affective
If you are trying to attract inquirers to your parish, consider blogging. A blog will draw people to your community every day of the year, at all hours of the day. Why should you blog? Here are five benefits to creating a blog for your outreach ministry. Attraction. When you write about compelling topics and
Recently, Diana and I were leading a Making Disciples Institute for the archdioceses of Winnipeg and St. Boniface. We had been advocating, as we always do, that the RCIA teams move their catechumens and candidates out of the “classroom” and into the life of the parish community. One of the participants asked, “If we do
In a previous article, I talked about the fear that some seekers have when they find us and how we sometimes mistake that fear for sullenness. Our inability to recognize the fear in the hearts of the seekers inhibits our mission to accompany them on their journey of faith. Why is so hard for us
How fear builds walls in the RCIA process
Parker Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach, asked teachers to name the biggest obstacle to good teaching. The answer he almost always got was “my students.” If we asked a similar question of RCIA catechists about the biggest obstacle to their formation efforts, I wonder if the answer would be “the catechumens and candidates.”
The problem with RCIA formation
One of our most popular articles was one I wrote a while ago about how to improve what we say about RCIA in our parish bulletins. Almost every parish has something in their bulletin that invites seekers into the RCIA process. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people who we are writing to in those announcements
Four ways to attract more seekers using social media
When you talk about your faith story, do you start with sacrifice? When people ask you about becoming Catholic, does your initial reply focus on sacrifice? When you describe the Eucharist, do you do include images of sacrifice? When the first disciples began to tell the story of Jesus, they began by talking about his
Can we still talk about sacrifice?
