Discipleship Archives - Page 6 of 8

Start with Jesus in Your Parish

Serving parishes in her diocese as the Director of New Evangelization, Julianne Stanz has recognized a practical and motivational way to restructure a parish’s mission: start with Jesus. To help you do that, Julianne’s book Start with Jesus is about people, process, and culture, rather than an emphasis on quick fixes or unsustainable efforts. Embrace discipleship in your parish by reading the book and using the additional resources that accompany it: implementation tools for parish […]

Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts 2021 edition covers

Reclaiming the Fire: Six Keys to Making Our Faith Formation More Evangelizing

Joe Paprocki

Today, more than ever, faith formation needs to be more evangelizing—not only informing, but also transforming hearts and minds. In her book, Start with Jesus, author, speaker, and evangelist Julianne Stanz states that “too often our approach to our faith lacks the fire or energy that it deserves,” and she issues a call for us to “reclaim the fire.” With that in mind, I have identified six keys to reclaiming this fire so that our […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship - illustration of people talking

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #7 Doing

Julianne Stanz

This is the seventh and final post in a series about discipleship. We have explored the following keys of discipleship—desire, discernment, decision-making, discipline, dwelling in the Word, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. With this article, we will conclude our series by focusing on a key element of discipleship: doing. Essential to our growth in discipleship is our disposition (being) in relationship to God and how to put our faith at the service of others […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #6 Dependence on the Holy Spirit

Julianne Stanz

This is part six of a seven-part series on discipleship. Cultivating a dependence on the Holy Spirit is especially important for our continued intimacy with Jesus Christ. A good friend of mine often calls the Holy Spirit “the forgotten Person of the Holy Trinity.” When I asked him why, he remarked, “When Christians live as if their lives are not transfigured by the love and joy of the Gospel, then they have forgotten the Holy […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #5 Dwelling in the Word

Julianne Stanz

This is part five of a seven-part series on discipleship. So far in this series, we have covered desire, discernment, decision-making, and discipline. In this article, we will talk about an essential and critical key to discipleship: Dwelling in the Word of God. A couple of years ago, I spoke with a group of students about the importance of remaining connected to God through prayerful reading of the Scriptures at home. After the class, a […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #4 Discipline

Julianne Stanz

This is part four of a seven-part series on discipleship. In my last article, we discussed the importance of making decisions to say “no” to the things of the world so that we could say “yes” to Jesus Christ. Closely related to the key of decision-making for Christ is the key of discipline, which reminds me of a story about when I first immigrated to the United States. A couple of months after my arrival […]

A Template for an Evangelizing Catechetical Session - text over image of teacher with two children

A More Evangelizing Catechesis: What It Means and How to Achieve It

Joe Paprocki

We catechists are constantly bombarded with words and phrases (e.g. divine pedagogy, missionary discipleship, evangelizing catechesis) that are intended to inspire our ministry but often leave us scratching our heads with regards to what they mean in practical terms and how we are to translate these concepts into actual strategies in our faith formation settings. One such phrase, as mentioned above, is evangelizing catechesis. Personally, I am convinced that we desperately need a more evangelizing […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #3 Decision-Making for Christ

Julianne Stanz

This is part three of a seven-part series on discipleship. “Just make a decision,” I said to my two children as they were vacillating between two very simple options for dinner. If only all decisions could be so trivial! While some decisions in our life can be very simple, others will be pretty complex. This is especially true when making decisions in relation to our faith. In the last two parts of this series, we […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #2 Discernment

Julianne Stanz

This is part two of a seven-part series on discipleship. In my last blog post, we discussed desire as a key to discipleship and reviewed a number of ways that we can keep the flame of our faith burning. We will now look at a critical spiritual skill to help us to grow as disciples: discernment. Being a disciple means that we must make the time to reflect upon our lives. Just as Jesus went […]

The Seven Ds of Discipleship: #1 Desire

Julianne Stanz

This is part one of a seven-part series on discipleship. In the past few years, the terms “discipleship” and “missionary discipleship” have become very familiar to those in ministry. But the concept of discipleship and mission is not new and has been a part of our Catholic faith for 2,000 years. The word disciple comes from the Greek word mathetes, meaning “pupil or student of the master.” The Master is, of course, Jesus Christ. Your […]