Part Two of Turn to the Lord provides you with clear guidance and a treasury of resources to help you form others in faith.
Want to learn about this way of formation? Interested in starting this in your parish or diocese?
Join me for an Info Meeting on March 3, 7:00pm EST.
Register Now!
The second part of Turn to the Lord is a guide for you to teach and form others who are preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation or deepening their discipleship.
Part two is called “Reflection and Practice.” It is about me sharing with you how I have taught this immersion into the Catholic faith to those involved in faith formation.
My primary groups have been young people preparing for Confirmation. Alongside other parents, I created a Catholic Formation Group that met regularly in a home and in which our young people
read Scripture,
learned doctrine,
prayed together,
ate together,
shared in meaningful conversations,
and developed the basic habits of a mature Catholic disciple.
This approach is flexible but it definitely requires buy-in. No good faith formation ever takes place without the commitment and personal investment of a team of leaders. The leaders for this approach to faith formation are, primarily, parents and mentors, godparents and sponsors. This is not at all meant to replace the parish – to the contrary, this empowers the parish to do what the parish is meant to do: empower the faithful to take responsibility for the mission of evangelization.
This approach also works well in schools, where it can be adapted for classroom use and then supplemented by out-of-school gatherings.
Especially as we have all had to learn how to be flexible and resilient in approaches to education and formation, the approach that Turn to the Lord presents has built-in flexibility and resiliency. As we build up a community of formators, we become less-reliant on the drop-off and pick-up programs. We become capable of adapting to smaller gathering, of having parents not scurry in an emergency to try to pinch-hit. That’s because this approach prepares parents all along to join in the leadership of their young people’s formation.
You will discover a basic, repeatable pattern in part two. Each of part two’s 25 chapters corresponds to each of the 25 chapters in part one. What part one does is guide you in how to teach and form others along the lines of what we have learned together in part one.
Each chapter in part two presents a template for a single gathering of a Catholic Formation Group – maybe an hour, maybe 90 minutes. Each gathering begins with prayer, journaling, and substantive conversation (possibly over meal). At times, these session include faith testimonies, first from parents or sponsors or godparents, and later from those who are preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation. The session continues with a lesson, which itself often takes place through conversation, and regularly happens through reading Scripture and learning how to read Scripture better. Sessions always close as they began, in prayer.
Part two is user-friendly. It is not a textbook – I do not try to replace you because you and your leadership are crucial to the formation of others. Instead, part two equips you to actually teach, witness to, and mentor those preparing for full initiation in the Catholic Church.
This requires something different than just providing resources for you to pass on. It requires a resource to inform and empower you – you yourself – so that you can become *the resource* for your students.
This entire approach is built on an investment in you, and part two offers guidance to enable you to teach, form, and witness well.
Read about Part One of Turn to the Lord: “Power and Wisdom”.
Continue reading here to learn about the single part volume of Turn to the Lord, which is perfect for parents or other mentors who are not leading a formation group, or for anyone interested in learning more about their faith.
Return to the general overview of Turn to the Lord’s approach to formation: “A Better Way to Form People for the Sacraments.”
Let’s connect. Please send me a message here:
In which I introduce (by video) part two of Turn to the Lord, which guides you in how to form others in faith.