• Empowering the Parish for Evangelization

    Action Items

    1. Watch Recap video and three videos on Empowering the Parish for Evangelization (ASAP).
    2. Consider the following actions:
      o New to Alpha: Identify a leader with a heart for evangelization and a contagious personality. Make a plan together to launch Alpha. Don't launch it as just a program but instead as a tool that will change your parish culture. Aim of your evangelization tool:
             • radical hospitality is modeled
             • community is built
             • people are invited into a relationship with Jesus
             • people encounter the Holy Spirit
             • people learn to pray with and for one another
             • a culture of invitation is created and normalized
             • new leaders are identified and raised up.

      o Expand Alpha: If you've been doing it for a while and no longer seeing the fruit assess if it has become just another program. Refocused aims of your evangelization tool:
             • build a strategy with your team to expand it (more than setting start and end dates)
             • preach on it – frequently (share guest testimonies)
             • challenge the parish to invite (may take 5 invites to get one yes)
             • create next steps for Alpha alumni that continue to build on their experience in Alpha
             • over-invest in your Alpha team and/or evangelization team
             • work toward a hybrid model...don’t stop online
             • get creative (Pub night Alpha, Sushi Alpha, Date Night Alpha, School Alpha, Workplace Alpha, etc.)
             • raise up new leaders AND develop the culture of invitation
             • share testimonies in the parish of lives changed through the Alpha
      o With your leadership team, identify 5 names of FACT people
      (Faithful, Available, Contagious, Teachable). Edit your list as needed by adding names, removing names, making notes, and then starting to put leadership roles next to each name.
      Make a plan for investing in them and inviting them into leadership. Don't forget to support them along the way.

    Recap Culture of Evangelization

    https://vimeo.com/562514904/c919cf7ec3?share=copy
    Lives are transformed by a personal encounter with Christ. ‘Faith is not taught, it is caught.’ For decades, we have focused on teaching people about Jesus, rather than facilitating an encounter with Christ.
    In this session, we will discuss evangelization tools.  We will highlight Alpha as the most effective tool today.  Not only does Alpha help build a leadership pipeline and form a community for intercessory prayer, but it also establishes an environment where anyone can come and be invited to encounter Jesus. Together, we will discuss how Alpha can transform lives and the parish. Also, we will discuss how we identify and raise up leaders, who can use their gifts to bring fruitfulness into the Church.

    Videos for this Session