In January University Chris an Outreach (UCO) held its every two year Winter Retreat. 172 college students came from universi es all over North

Transcription

1 In January University Chris an Outreach (UCO) held its every two year Winter Retreat. 172 college students came from universi es all over North America. We gathered together to encounter God, place ourselves before him, and receive His Word. This retreat had a significant impact on many students, and already we are seeing the fruit of it in our students lives. The tle of our retreat was Here I Am and focused on offering our lives to the Lord and answering His call to mission. Mar n Steinbereithner spoke compellingly about ways of offering one s life to God. He used the examples of Abraham, Isaac, and Ruth. He also spoke from Acts chapter 1 about Jesus call to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. Addi onally there were sessions throughout the retreat that helped students grow in their iden ty as sons or daughters of God, catch a vision for mission as students, or explore how to serve the Lord through career and/or service a er college. A giant blizzard added to the flavor of the retreat by forcing us to leave early in order to beat the recordlevel snowfalls. Thankfully everyone made it home safe and the retreat became even more memorable because of the storm.

2 Servants of God, Ottawa, Canada For several years the Servants of God Community in O awa has hosted five men's breakfasts each year, a rac ng about 50 men to hear tes mony and Chris an teaching. Over the last year we were inspired to make it an ecumenical event during the Week of Prayer for Chris an Unity. So, we invited John Counsell, pastor of Bethel Pentecostal Church and host of an evening radio talk show, to be our guest speaker. He came bringing members of his church to our breakfast at Saint Augus ne Catholic Church. Pastor John gave us an encouraging exhorta on on Jesus our Savior something all Chris ans have in common. Last year we also sponsored a breakfast for couples. Edwin and Anita Andrade, from Jesus the Good Shepherd Community in Toronto came and spoke about the importance the Holy Spirit in married life. More recently, we invited Kari YliRenko, a member of Athletes in Ac on a former professional football and hockey player. He challenged the men to accept the love of Jesus Christ freely given. Photos: top, Edwin and Anita Andrade; bo om, Chris Currie welcomes Kari Yli Renko. UCO Maryland If you venture below the Mason Dixie line, you will be greeted by a small yet lively group of UCOers from the University of Maryland! University Chris an Outreach in Maryland has seen tremendous growth on all fronts this school year. We kicked the year off with four new staff members: Charles Wesley, Ma Beutler, Jus n Rise er, and Maureen Bacon. All are Michigan na ves reloca ng themselves for the sake of mission. With more feet on the ground, the chapter has established two houses near campus, each housing a mixture of staff, post grads, and students. With great enthusiasm the chapter has expanded its outreach through sports, game and movie nights, Sunday church services and brunch, and an outreach seminar being given this winter semester: Love, Sex, and Da ng. Sixteen people are par cipa ng in the UCO forma on program that combines talks with small group discussion to help students become established in Chris an and community life. Photo: UCO members a ending the ugly sweater party. Ephata, Montreal, Canada Ephata Montréal gathered for a retreat in rural and snowy Quebec in late January. A ending were 25 young people from different na onali es and backgrounds all united in the desire to open themselves to the Lord and to seek His path. Mar n Steinbereithner came from Ann Arbor to deliver an inspiring message answering ques ons and connec ng with the brothers and sisters while juggling three languages (English, French and Arabic). The retreat was not an end in itself as par cipants were invited to a end the Life in the Spirit Seminar in the weeks that followed. 2

3 Community Living Experiment, Grand Rapids, MI About two years ago a group of young professionals (mostly former members of University Chris an Outreach) began living together in Chris an community in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They call their experiment in community living, what else, the Community Living Experiment or CLE for short. Things are going well in the Community Living Experiment. In the new year we began mee ng at a local church for our fortnightly potluck dinner and prayer mee ng. We had outgrown the home where we had been mee ng, so this was a good sign! At the end of January, thirty five of us took some me for a wonderful retreat. Dan Kea ng joined us on Friday and shared about some of the unreasonable expecta ons of community life, and the humble and hopeful a tudes we can take in their place. On Saturday we had me for the first annual State of the CLE address wrestling with the ques on: What do we have to offer as a people? Prayers for us are deeply appreciated, and visitors are always welcome. Work of Christ, Lansing, MI In February, The Work of Christ Community held its 31st annual Men s Conference at FaHolo Conference Center. 165 men a ended the three day event. The conference theme was Men of Courage Doing the Work of Christ. In January, over 200 women a ended the Work of Christ s 25th annual Fes val of Tables. Hostesses go over the top decora ng their tables for the annual luncheon. The fes val is primarily a fun social event, but it also raises funds for a local charity. At the Work of Christ s Christmas Celebra on in December, community children performed The Children s Messiah and everyone enjoyed cookies and punch a er marks the 40th anniversary of our first underway commitment. Many enjoyable ac vi es are planned to celebrate the milestone. 3

4 Young Professionals Retreat Draw Me Forth was the first ever Kairos retreat specifically for 20 something young professionals. The retreat was focused on people who were involved in our college outreaches, Gap years, mission trips, and retreats and conferences during their late teens through early 20 s. We have been hearing that moving to new ci es, beginning career jobs, and trying to find support for their Chris an lives in their new situa ons can be difficult. Some of our graduates live in a community or work on staff for our university outreaches. They have a good network of support; but what about those who are working regular jobs? About 50 people came to snowy (and very cold) Michigan in January to reconnect with brothers and sisters, be refreshed in their spiritual lives, and to be encouraged through prayer and sharing. Emily, working in Delaware, flew in for the weekend. The Lord blessed me through this retreat by giving me a weekend I could spend with Him and with other Chris ans who are going through the same me of life. A er being part of the Michigan State UCO during college, I wasn't sure if I'd get the chance to go on retreats again. When I heard about this young professionals retreat, it was a very welcomed opportunity. One of the first talks of the retreat connected personal holiness with strong community. The talk helped me get back into a rou ne of daily personal prayer. It was a great opportunity to re connect with friends from university days, says Dallas, and to hear about the ways they con nue to pursue the Lord even as the circumstances of their lives have changed. It was especially encouraging to hear from others who were living their lives for the Lord in secular work places. I felt like God was speaking words of encouragement to us and calling us to find greater joy in our life together. Lynne is an alumnus of UCO at the University of Michigan. God used the talk on Saturday night to encourage me and to tell me that I am doing exactly what He wants me to be doing right now: living the life of a missionary! It's important that my lamp burn brightly, and that I never stop asking for more of the Holy Spirit. 4 Worship Leaders Weekend Over the weekend of February 14 16, 50 University and High School outreach staff gathered together in the Kairos na onal office in Lansing, Michigan, for the third annual Worship Leaders Weekend. This weekend was an a empt to strengthen our common way of worship and help new leaders care for this area. A endees came from across the region: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, and (awarded for traveling the farthest) Los Angeles! Talk topics ranged from leading an inexperienced group in worship to wri ng worship songs. It was a great me of teaching, worship, and fellowship a full and blessed weekend! Photo: the only surviving picture from the 2014 Worship Leaders Weekend.

5 Open Door For Mission in Poland In February of last year, Kairos in Europe held its annual weekend for young people in Szczyrk, Poland. There they heard about making a mess in order to start a mission. Some university students from Krakow a ended and heard the Lord say: Start UCO. The group met the next Sunday and asked the others on the weekend whether they were up for the risk. They were. They organized a core team. They set up their Facebook page and created a logo. Having heard how households can be a center for mission they laid plans for women's and men's households in the autumn. The autumn came. They reserved mee ng rooms, found chaplains, set up an official student group, and then they began invi ng other students to join them. Forty a ended their first mee ng. Within a couple of months they had 60 students involved. They are now running ten discipleship groups and are working on establishing the fundamentals of the Kairos way of life on campus: life characterized by evangeliza on, discipleship, bap sm in the Holy Spirit, prayer mee ngs, opening the Lord's Day, and having a rich social life together. The core team works with a leaders group that takes responsibility for pastoral care, worship, evangeliza on, social life, administra on, and all the other elements that make our university outreaches effec ve. Although Europe remains a difficult place to evangelize, Kairos in Europe is experiencing a new period of grace in many places and responding to it with faith in ac on! From Youth Culture Newsle er. To subscribe write: kairos.editor@gmail.com Photos: large, the first planning mee ng of University Chris an Outreach in Krakow, Poland; inset, UCO Krakow sisters. Tabor House Books Several members of the Sword of the Spirit have wri en books that are available from Tabor House, the North American Region s online book store. Visit the web site: Groceries on a Saturday Morning (Joanne Beckman) Winner of the Gold Medal for the 2013 Illumina on Book Award. "A deligh ul blend of humorous anecdotes and insigh ul reflec ons on ordinary, daily life. Joanne Beckman's wri ng is refreshingly honest and revealing, giving the reader a window into her heart, mind, and soul." Joanne is a member of the Word of Life in Michigan. A Grief Unveiled Fi een Years Later (Gregory Floyd) A classic work, updated a er fi een years. "An intense reflec on on the startling death of a six year old son. Over months, even years, Gregory Floyd ascends through the stages of grief: his wife's, his children's, his own. Floyd's experience will ease many hearts." Gregory is the senior coordinator of the People of Hope in New Jersey First and Second Peter, Jude (Dr. Daniel Kea ng) This book is part of the series: Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Dan Kea ng is a teacher and leader in the Sword of the Spirit. He has produced a clearly wri en commentary on the books of First and Second Peter and Jude in which he integrates exege cal insights with Catholic tradi on and teaching. A valuable resource to explore and be er understand these books. Dan is an elder in the Servants of the Word. 5

6 Formation is Integral to SPO Mission For almost 30 years, Saint Paul s Outreach (SPO), a Catholic university outreach affiliated with the Sword of the Spirit, has been reaching college students and young adults with the lifechanging message of Jesus Christ. In our experience we find that most young people on college campuses today do not have the founda on necessary to set them on the road to lifelong discipleship. If this is the case, we have a responsibility to help "complete" the basic forma on to Chris an maturity that is required if someone is going to persevere in the faith amidst the challenge of an increasingly secularized culture. When asked how it will be possible in the future for a truly Chris an model of life to get through to people, former Pope, Benedict XVI had this to say, A Chris an environment is an essen al factor if society in its totality is no longer a Chris an environment, just as it was not in the first four or five centuries, the Church herself must form cells in which mutual support and a common journey, and thus the great vital milieu of the Church in miniature, can be experienced and put into prac ce (Salt of the Earth, ). Forma on to Chris an maturity is integral to the success of our missionary efforts. This kind of forma on happens best in a Chris an environment or community. Building forma ve environments requires more than programs and events. What is needed is a comprehensive rela onal environment that awakens and matures faith. This kind of environment doesn't just happen, we have to be deliberate about building it. Our strategy in SPO involves a deliberate plan to build living Chris an communi es of students on campuses throughout the United States. We do this because this was also the strategy of Jesus: He came to bring the love of God into the world and he wants to spread it in the style of communion, in the style of brotherhood. That is why he immediately forms a community of disciples, which is a missionary community (Pope Francis, July 7, 2013). One of the primary ways we do this is through our Men s and Women s Households. Our Households are like a family environment. Living in them involves a commitment to a way of life that provides a prac cal path for students to express their dedica on to live daily as a disciple of Christ with others. Household life includes daily personal and communal prayer, meals together, upkeep of the property and service to the broader campus. Household life is the bedrock of building a living Chris an community on campus. Even though we are in the midst of a cultural crisis there are signs of great hope. Young people are hungry for the kind of forma on that will really prepare them for a life of discipleship. With the help of the Holy Spirit, SPO will be able to form more and more men and women who are mature and ready to take their place as builders of a new culture. Brian Fisher 6

7 Family Of Faith, New Jersey The Family of Faith celebrated their 20th anniversary as a Community on October 12, 2013 (photo above). The fes vi es included celebra on of the Mass, a fes ve dinner, music from a Rondalla trio playing Filipino folk songs, a mul media presenta on highligh ng the yearly Community themes, gree ngs from brothers and sisters from several SOS communi es, and songs by community children. Among the guest speakers were Brian Murray, coordinator from our neighbor community, the People Of Hope, and Bob Tedesco, Family of Faith's Missionary Coordinator. A highligh of the celebra on was the public commitment of nine brothers and sisters to the Community. Last January, the community held a two part Evangeliza on workshop. The purpose was to review our evangeliza on goals and approaches. We want to focus more on rela onal and person to person evangeliza on. In Feburary, we con nued focusing on evangelism with a talk, Evangelism as a Lifestyle, by Br. Jude Lasota from the Brotherhood Of Hope (photo below). Single Women s Retreat On a snowy Saturday in December, 25 post university, single women from Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Detroit, Michigan, gathered at the home of Jeff and Amy Brink for a day long retreat. This event was held to provide support to the single women in community. It has been several years since the single women met specifically to fellowship with each other in this way. The Young Professionals Day Away focused on the theme of Philippians 4:11 13, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situa on, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Speakers included Mar n Steinbereithner, Linda Eggenberger, Sherry Snyder, and Michelle Justavino. We were encouraged by what our speakers shared. In par cular, the take home message for all of us centered on fully embracing God s call in our lives right now, while at the same me con nuing to hunger for the Lord. Restlessness is part of our human condi on, we will only be at rest in heaven. Maturity in Christ means being content his plan. We took me to reflect on God s love for us, and to seek the Lord together. The day also included a brainstorming session to iden fy needs, future retreat topics, and ways to con nue to connect and support one another. We are planning a follow up day away again in the Spring for more fellowship and to address the topics that arose during the brainstorm session. 7

8 Coordinator Conference In February, 120 coordinators from every community in the north American Region of the Sword of the Spirit gathered in Romulus Michigan for the Regional Coordinator Conference. This conference takes place every four years and is an important opportunity to build vision, provide teaching, and build rela onships among leaders in the region. Conference sessions examined the following topics: Moving Forward: Our Time, Our Mission (Dave Hughes) Our Evangelis c Mission (Paul Dinolfo) Building a Bridge for our Youth (Mike Shaughnessy) Leaders Finding Life in God (Gregory Floyd) Vision for Mission (Dan Kea ng ) Workshops further developed conference topics: Communi es in Forma on: Tithing and Gatherings (Jerry Munk) Examining the Local Youth Bridge (Mike Shaughnessy) Evangelism that Leads to Growth (Paul Dinolfo) Raising Boys (John Yocum and Tom Giles) The Sword of the Spirit is dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthening Chris an people (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) through ac ve evangeliza on and by forming Chris an communi es. In our youth outreach and community building work, we encourage men and women to give their lives fully to Jesus Christ, prac ce daily Chris an discipleship, and to zealously proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to others. The Sword of the Spirit is supported by charitable contribu ons. Your support is welcome! Contribu ons to The Sword of the Spirit are tax deduc ble in the United States. Jerry Munk, Newsle er Editor 2014 by The Sword of the Spirit 4828 S. Hagadorn Road East Lansing, Michigan Telephone: (517)