Equipping Disciples

Uncomfortable sharing your faith? This class is for you

Eager to share your Catholic faith with the people around you, but unsure how to do that without feeling uncomfortable and awkward?

St. Gerald Parish in Omaha is willing to help.

Through a six-week program, the parish will be teaching prayerful, deliberate ways to reach out to people you know, to build lasting relationships with them and to help lead them into the Church and into a relationship with God.

The program, called Reach One More, will be held Wednesday evenings, April 19-May 24, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the parish’s fellowship hall at 96th and Q Streets.

The basics of the course are derived from an ecumenically based program by Minister Mark Ashton and a team at Christ Community Church in Omaha. The church has shared its program and welcomes other church communities to adapt the program as they see fit.

Jenny Wiswell, coordinator of discipleship and evangelization at St. Gerald, and Father Marcus Knecht, associate pastor, said they tweaked the St. Gerald program to make it more Catholic.

It’s not meant to be heavy on theology or apologetics, Wiswell said. Instead the program focuses on how to have conversations about God, and over time, to share the good news that Jesus offers.

Participants will learn how to listen to people, how to share their own faith stories and tell Gospel stories in a way that makes sense and is inviting, she said.

“It’s basically a workshop,” Father Knecht said, that allows opportunities to practice methods of faith sharing. Participants don’t follow a script, he said, but use their own words and experiences.

Anyone who is interested or has questions about the class should contact Wiswell at 402-331-1955 or see the parish website: https://stgerald.org/discipleship.html

She encouraged people to register at the site or by phone as soon as possible.

A $10 fee, collected at the first class, will help pay for course materials.

Limited child care will be available.

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