Making missionary disciples

Feb 26, 2022

By Iruthaya Das Arulanadam, PDNEC
The Penang Diocesan New Evangelisation Commission (PDNEC) kickstarted its formation for 2022 with the first part of the ChristLife Series - Discovering Christ programme on February 16. The remaining two segments under the series are Following Christ and Sharing Christ.

The ChristLife evangelisation process is proven to make missionary disciples by helping people discover Jesus Christ personally, follow Him in their daily lives as Catholic disciples, and share Him with others. Seventy participants from the dioceses of West Malaysia, East Malaysia, India, and Singapore covering 31 parishes registered for this programme. This is the second time the PDNEC is running this series. The programme, held once a week, runs from Feb 16 to April 5.

It begins with a praise and worship session followed by a snippet related to the topic of the evening. Participants then listen to a 25-30 mins video talk presented by ChristLife founder and director Dave Nodar and ChristLife liasion for the Archdicoese of Baltimore, Fr Erik Arnold. This is followed by a facilitated breakout session where small groups share on the talk and some discussion questions.

The session was launched by Bishop Sebastian Francis who warmly welcomed participants and congratulated them on their hunger and enthusiasm to know more about Jesus. He said he felt blessed to be with them and complimented them on being a safe and matured community who were not afraid to “put out into the deep” – reminding the group of Pope John Paul II leading the Church into the Third Millenium with the Bible verse from Luke 5:4 – Putting out into the deep ……. not in shallow but in “deep water”.

Bishop Sebastian said he was drawn to the words ‘curiosity’ and ‘seekers’ from the programme. Curiosity or quest for meaning is infinite with no room for boredom, and of being in the company of seekers awaiting the right answers and asking the right, provoking questions. He emphasised that our relationships with Jesus was always personal, unique, intimate, deep and an individual decision or choice. Jesus on the other hand, always stresses the relationship with the Trinity and not with him alone.

Bishop also sang the short hymn based on the traditional invocations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus … “Heart of Jesus; Burning with Love for me; Inflame my Heart; With Love His Love for me”, before concluding the brief session with a blessing and assuring the participants his prayers. The session continued with participants viewing the video and the breakout small group session.