ECI 2006
Sorry, but this will be a long post. :-)
I finally got back today from the Evangelical Catholic Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It was absolutely amazing. I picked up a lot of new info and new ideas and am really excited about implementing them. What is even cooler is that several of my friends were able to go to the conference as well. This year, I won't have to try and implement them as a student all by myself. There are others on board. Our pastoral associate was awesome in helping last year, but the other students lacked my vision. This time they have shared in it and I am very excited.
The Evangelical Catholic movement is clearly spreading within the United States and across the world. It is quite possibly going to be the future of the Church. Those students and youth who are excited about their faith will be ON FIRE and ready to share their faith. These same youth will further be leading the Church. It is really exciting.
The EC model focuses on several points. An Evangelical Catholic experiences a daily interior conversion and has a rich sacramental life. Further they engross themselves in a strong Christian Community and devote time to both the Word and Scriptures. It is through Prayer that they grow stronger in their faith. The emphasis upon EC is Christ and not apologetics. Often I find myself making this mistake. Too often I am focused on the little things and fail to see the big picture. I am focused on an idea and not a person.
Brad Klingle sp? from UW gave an awesome speech on this and in it he said, "A theist is someone who believes in God, a Christian is someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, and a Catholic is someone who believes that Jesus is alive in His church." How true is that. I feel that often I forget this. My faith has been based on ideas and not the person, it is so off the right path. It is necessary to make Christ your best friend, if this happens then it is easy to share Him with others. Don't you always introduce your best friend to others? Christ needs to be our best friend.
I learned many other things as well. In specific I learned about leading one-on-one groups and Discipleship Training groups. Both of these things emphasize training disciples into becoming workers who will go and help in the fields. "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38.
Well more to come later.
I finally got back today from the Evangelical Catholic Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. It was absolutely amazing. I picked up a lot of new info and new ideas and am really excited about implementing them. What is even cooler is that several of my friends were able to go to the conference as well. This year, I won't have to try and implement them as a student all by myself. There are others on board. Our pastoral associate was awesome in helping last year, but the other students lacked my vision. This time they have shared in it and I am very excited.
The Evangelical Catholic movement is clearly spreading within the United States and across the world. It is quite possibly going to be the future of the Church. Those students and youth who are excited about their faith will be ON FIRE and ready to share their faith. These same youth will further be leading the Church. It is really exciting.
The EC model focuses on several points. An Evangelical Catholic experiences a daily interior conversion and has a rich sacramental life. Further they engross themselves in a strong Christian Community and devote time to both the Word and Scriptures. It is through Prayer that they grow stronger in their faith. The emphasis upon EC is Christ and not apologetics. Often I find myself making this mistake. Too often I am focused on the little things and fail to see the big picture. I am focused on an idea and not a person.
Brad Klingle sp? from UW gave an awesome speech on this and in it he said, "A theist is someone who believes in God, a Christian is someone who believes Jesus is the Son of God, and a Catholic is someone who believes that Jesus is alive in His church." How true is that. I feel that often I forget this. My faith has been based on ideas and not the person, it is so off the right path. It is necessary to make Christ your best friend, if this happens then it is easy to share Him with others. Don't you always introduce your best friend to others? Christ needs to be our best friend.
I learned many other things as well. In specific I learned about leading one-on-one groups and Discipleship Training groups. Both of these things emphasize training disciples into becoming workers who will go and help in the fields. "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38.
Well more to come later.
posted by ForeverSearching77 at 8:09 PM
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