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A Catechumenal Vision for Compact Congregations: Shepherding the Catechumens

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As I wrote in the blog post several weeks ago regarding congregations working together in a catechumenate, a joint catechumenate expands the pastoral and ministerial resources with two or more pastors and ministerial associates leading the catechumenate together. This mitigates against the demands of time and energy for the pastors and coalesces the imaginative, planning, and teaching gifts of all those involved. Within such a vision one of the challenges is coordinating pastoral care and oversight for the catechumens—the shepherding of the catechumens. The origin of responsibility for nurturing the catechumens is with the pastors. As Paul encourages the pastors in Acts 20:28, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” A pastor has primary responsibility within his congregation for the catechumens that the congregation incorporates into their life together. It is critical that he build a pastoral relationship with them individually. That cannot devolve only onto the other pastors. Especially so since the nurturing is oriented toward life within that particular congregation. The catechumens are learning to life by faith within the particularity of that congregation’s way of life. The pastor of that congregation must ensure that happens. Even as catechumenal classes and formation are shared responsibilities, it is important for pastors to arrange times to “meet” with the catechumens of his congregation. These don’t need to be formal. It could be through regular contact by phone, email, text, or other forms of social media. It could be through meeting at a coffee shop occasionally. Or it could be some kind of regular gathering with the pastor. Establishing and maintaining the personal, pastoral relationship is vital.

Yet, in a collaborative catechumenate the pastor is not solely responsible for pastoral oversight and nurture. As we discovered in all the congregations explored in our book Journey to Jesus, but especially at St. John, Wheaton, Illinois, the pastors nurturing of the catechumens is a practice that permeates the entire congregation. The members own and share that responsibility as a community. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” God’s mission to his creation is one and is shared by the one church of Christ. The shepherding of the catechumens is shared by the entire congregation and by all the pastors and congregations in a collaborative catechumenate. All are responsible for nurturing the catechumens’ faith. For this practice of shared pastoral responsibility to take form necessitates a unified catechumenal vision among the pastors and congregations. Pastors need to be in regular communication with one another about the catechumens and their newly-springing lives of faith. Catechists, sponsors, and members of the congregation actively involved in this responsibility need to regularly communicate with the pastors and with one another about the growth and the challenges to growth in faith of the catechumens. Healthy communication is central to this shepherding task. But the result of such a collaborative approach to pastoral care is as Luke describes in Acts 15 regarding the conversion of the Gentiles: it “brought great joy to all the brothers,” and sisters!

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Photo by Kent Burreson
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A Catechumenal Vision for Compact Congregations: Forming Disciples Together

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In Acts 13 as Paul and Barnabas are proclaiming the Word of the Lord to the synagogue in Antioch, some of the Jews willingly hear what they have to say while others contradict and contend with them. Which leads Paul to say, “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:47). So, the church, receiving this apostolic commission through the apostles, likewise seeks to bring the message of salvation to the ends of the earth. One of the ways in which the church fulfills its calling is through the catechumenate. For compact congregations, teaming up with other congregations can be a very effective way to, as Rhoda put it last week, follow the voice of Jesus’ calling. Coordinated, collaborative team-taught catechumenal classes can be an effective part of the church’s living into its identity and life together.

Accomplishing this, as I observed two weeks ago, brings together the imaginative, planning, and teaching gifts of all those involved and enriches the teaching with manifold gifts. But four basic questions come to mind with cross-congregational classes: Why? How? Where? When?

Why?

Beyond the eliminating duplication of effort and effectively deploying the energy and time of pastors and laypeople involved, toward what end should we pursue coordinated classes? The end is not just information. The end is the formation of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Coordinated catechetical classes allow all the resources of several congregations in one area to be deployed toward fully forming disciples for the long haul of life. The catechetical riches of each congregation forming disciples toward the abundant life in Christ.

How?

Rhoda highlighted the visioning that pastoral and congregational leaders across congregations need to engage. The pastoral leaders need to “fling wide the door” to consider all the possibilities for shaping rich, substantive, and formative collaborative classes. Be creative! As Rhoda indicated, both pastoral and lay leaders can and should be involved. Identify responsibilities and roles for pastors and laity. Pastors could rotate the teaching across the periods of the catechumenate. Or they could rotate on a monthly or weekly basis. What would work most effectively in your context?

Where?

The natural, default setting for the classes is the congregations. But think outside the box. Is there a gathering place that would be in the middle of the congregations? A coffee shop? A pub? A restaurant? An outdoor venue in nice weather? Even if you use some other space, it is beneficial to have classes in one of the congregations occasionally to remind the catechumens of their approaching baptism and discipleship centered in the body of Christ. When classes are in the congregations, they could rotate between congregations on a weekly or monthly basis, or across the four periods of the catechumenate.

When?

Context will be the determinative factor here. Demands on time are going to vary between a rural, small town, and urban context. In a rural context, one might imagine that later in the evening would not be a good time during harvest season when farmers are rising early. Perhaps early Saturday mornings are best in a small town. Or maybe Sunday late afternoon/evening would work well in an urban context. And remember the need to provide childcare. Without that, many younger adults might be unable to attend.

The questions are intended to prompt the kind of visionary thinking that needs to happen. When it comes to coordinated, collaborative catechumenal classes—to a collaborative catechumenate across congregations—forward-looking thinking is essential. In Paul’s words, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

We’d love to hear your ideas by contacting us at Kent@FormingLutherans.org or Rhoda@FormingLutherans.org.

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Photo by Kent Burreson
Font at Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

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A Catechumenal Vision for Compact Congregations: Congregations Working Together

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The challenges for compact congregations in developing robust catechumenates are apparent, as we have expressed in this series’ first two posts. We turn to addressing collaborative opportunities that would allow compact congregations to address those challenges. The first opportunity is for congregations to collaborate in developing an adult catechumenate. These could be congregations in the same denominational jurisdiction (in the LCMS’ case: circuits) or that are in the same geographical region. Developing a joint catechumenate in congregations in relatively close proximity to one another can address some of the challenges that we isolated:

  • The relatively small number of adult catechumens in a congregation
  • Conflict within a congregation and/or lethargy relative to a new approach toward making disciples
  • Lack of pastoral, ministerial, and lay staffing and insufficiency of time and energy to lead an adult catechumenate

Congregations joining forces to develop an adult catechumenate can address all these challenges. I believe congregations could work together to develop a join catechumenate in rural, urban, and suburban contexts.

So, what are the benefits of developing a joint adult catechumenate between two, three, or more congregations?

  • The Pastoral and Ministerial Team: A joint catechumenate expands the pastoral and ministerial resources. Instead of one pastor, and perhaps another church worker, in one congregation, two or more pastors and ministerial associates could lead the catechumenate together. This also mitigates against the demands of time and energy imposed upon a solo pastor in one congregation. It also brings the imaginative, planning, and teaching gifts of all those involved to the development of the catechumenate in that area. The planning efforts are not born by only one person.
  • Lay Volunteers: As with the ministerial team, this would expand the pool of lay volunteers to conduct the catechumenate. Catechists, sponsors, and volunteers could be drawn from several congregations, dispersing the service load and preventing burnout. With both the ministerial team and the lay volunteers, it avoids duplication of effort and drains on energy and time for those engaged in the catechumenate.
  • Larger Cohort of Catechumens: If a congregation has only one or two catechumens in any given year, associating with other congregations could significantly grow the cohort. Instead of 1 catechumen, when four congregations join there might be 4-8 in any given cohort. This decreases the sense of isolation, catechumens now making the journey with others walking the same path. It develops an awareness of the body of Christ, not only within the congregations, but also within the cohort. The gifts and challenges of becoming a disciple of the Lord Jesus are shared with others.
  • Video Communication Software: If the distances are simply too large for the catechumens to gather on a weekly or regular basis, then software such as Zoom could be used to bring the catechumens together. Such software would also allow catechumens to join when they cannot attend the weekly/regular gathering.

Through such a joint catechumenal effort, congregations would develop a clearer vision of the unity of the body of Christ across a geographic region and between congregations.

There are challenges with developing a collaborative adult catechumenate.

  • Congregational Isolationism: As with any congregation developing an adult catechumenate, the vision for it would have to be embedded in the leadership of the congregations. I would bring them together to share fellowship over a meal and to lead them through what the initial experience of the catechumenate might look like. These joint sessions would hopefully break down the walls between the congregations.
  • Distance between Congregations: If there is a significant distance between the congregations, there are a number of ways to tackle this challenge. I already mentioned video communication software. Classes could rotate between congregations on a weekly basis. Or they could be rotated between congregations during the four periods of the catechumenate. The rites that mark the catechumenate could be done individually within each congregation. Or they could be done in special services that would be shared among the congregations. There could be one Easter Vigil service at one of the congregations, rotated on a yearly basis.
  • Coordinated Planning and Leadership: It would be beneficial to have on pastoral, ministerial, and/or lay coordinator that would plan and organize the catechumenate across the congregations.
  • Financial Commitments: A plan would have to develop for the congregations to jointly share any costs associated with the catechumenate. Perhaps a joint fund to which all the congregations would contribute could finance any costs associated with the catechumenate. This might include ways to offset the fuel costs for catechumens.

I strongly believe that such collaborative efforts are needed to develop catechumenates among compact congregations. We’d love to hear your ideas by contacting us at Kent@FormingLutherans.org or Rhoda@FormingLutherans.org. We’d also love to see a region develop a joint catechumenate. You could apply for funds from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship’s Worshipping Communities Grant Program. Go to: Program Overview | Worshiping Communities Grants | Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.