Uniqueness Of An F*E*E* Small Group
Help People Grow:
Help people grow in both living the faith (holiness) and reaching out to others (mission) at the same time, through:
(a) helping them find healing,and
(b) building relationships with God and others.
Provide Opportunities to Develop Christ-like Qualities and Skills:
Learn and practice Christ-like living in safe, intimate small group through ministering to each other’s needs, sharing of experiences and being influenced by good models:
(a) to sustain spiritual growth through continuous follow-up;
(b) to be equipped to talk one-on-one to reach others about faith;
(c) to be accountable.
Building Up Each Other:
Operating in an experiential small group, we affirm each other, make friends on a deeper level and encourage each other to be the best person God created us to be. In addition, more mature members provide one-on-one mentoring to help the new ones be brought up to speed and get integrated.
Provide Customized Help and Support:
Satisfy the needs of people (e.g. experiences, questions, objections, doubts) in preference to feeding them what we think they need (e.g. knowledge, teachings).
Emphasis on How-to:
Emphasize not just what to do (exhortation) but also the why, purpose and how-to.
Focus on Practicalities of Living and Giving Away the Faith:
Focus on simple, clear, practical tips and strategies which relate the Good News of God’s love and Jesus Christ’s offer of salvation and friendship to our lives.
Benefits Of An F*E*E* Small Group
Belongingness:
In hyper-individualistic, post-modern culture of instantaneous, ever-present, impersonal social media, people yearn to belong to a community where they are known, loved, challenged and supported. “Beliefs are changed not by preaching and teaching but by building trust through relationships, caring, belonging”. (Fr. James Mallon).
Community Building:
Per “to Heal, Proclaim and Teach”, pg. 55, “the most commonly cited reason for people leaving the Catholic Church is a simple lack of feeling welcome …. They do not feel accepted or loved and perceive the Church as a source of rejection and hatred.” Small groups permit members to get to know each other, care for each other, welcome newcomers, build bonds between members and develop interpersonal skills. Feelings of belongingness and being welcomed would grow the community and motivate people to come back for more and actually keep on meeting.
Spiritual Growth:
In a small, intimate setting, people are safe and free to come, to talk, to ask questions, to ask for help, and to be vulnerable in sharing their stories. This enables others to see themselves better in perspective, find solutions to their own problems, become more loving and therefore grow spiritually, sometimes just by listening and being present.
Before we can tell people about our faith, we need to live out the foundational belief that God loves them and we love them too. The F*E*E* is the opportunity to practice “doing the least actions for love” [St. Therese of Lisieux]. Furthermore, when we witness how others are growing in holiness, we feel accountable to also live out the Gospel in our daily lives.
We can also find some people as models or mentors and be influenced to reach higher in our spiritual journey.
Healing Opportunity:
Within a loving, caring, welcoming community, people may experience inner healing when others share raw, inspirational stories and personal testimonies. Inner healing occurs when our emotional wounds, hurts and brokenness, such as loneliness, rejection, betrayal, not being worthy or good enough, or oppression, are healed in the context of a personal encounter with Christ.
When people expose their inner weaknesses, we can also become open to our own weaknesses. When people open their wounds, we are relieved that we are not alone, can learn what others did to overcome their challenges, and how Jesus Christ is the healer, the “great physician”. This gives us hope and perspective we may never get elsewhere.
The community continually affirms our strengths, especially when we expose our weaknesses and can lead to healing. We feel we are loved as we are and are worthy to be loved. Additionally, the community can lead us to external healing opportunities to meet our own needs, such as healing services and Unbound programs.
Transformation Opportunity:
With spiritual growth and healing, we are better equipped to face the challenges and obstacles of the spiritual life. Then, we will be able to cooperate with God’s grace and “Let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind” (Rom 12:2). In this way, we can be transformed in Christ and for Christ gradually.
Regular Holy Spirit Refill:
Beset by the worries, stresses and temptations of the world, we may “leak” or lose the Holy Spirit by “quenching” [1 Thessalonians 5:19] or “grieving” [Ephesians 4:30] Him. The weekly F*E*E* is the place where one can be recharged and continually refilled, as in a weekly “Pentecost”.