Intentional Discipleship Makes all the Difference

This past summer, I attended a wedding where I ran into an old friend. His name is Andreas, and he is a former Swiss Guard who used to protect Pope John Paul II. He developed a great love for our former Holy Father and now teaches many of the Pope’s principles at the Catholic University of America. I greatly admire his work in the academic area of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. Yet, we did not spend the bulk of our time together discussing business and intellectual endeavors; rather, we talked about life in the Catholic parish to which he belongs. His parish, which is just outside Washington, D.C., has been noted for developing a culture of intentional discipleship. You might ask, what is that?

Intentionality is the single most strategic area of disciple making. It is the difference between just wanting to help people and making disciples of Jesus Christ. Stated succinctly, disciple-making is directed toward helping people to come to faith in Jesus and to form their lives around Jesus Christ. To me, it makes all the difference in the world. In fact, one of the biggest things that turns people off about churches in our culture is the lack of intentionality. Too many of our Catholic people are just going through the motions. If you asked them why they are Chistian, they could hardly give an answer. They might answer simply that they were born into it. They might answer, “I want to be kind to people.” Would they even identify their Christianity with Jesus Christ? If you asked them if they were a follower of Christ, they would have to think twice. They might not want to get that personal about their faith. Imagine, a Christian not being able to identify with Jesus Christ. I wonder how many of our fellow parishioners do not really have a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what we mean when we speak about “intentionality.” Are we “unintentional” Christians or “intentional” Christians?

My friend, Andreas, told me that in his parish every person is welcome to participate and expected to participate. As I listened to Andreas, I became more convinced that “Intentional Discipleship” is fundamental to our Catholic identity.

I am a pastor of four parishes in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some people say my parishes are in an extremely secular part of our country. Well, I love my parishes and all the great liturgies, events and activities we have. I love the people. Even so, I know that we can get better. We can always grow, and we can always broaden our horizons. My greatest wish for every person in our community is that he or she discovers that they are a child of God and that it is in Jesus Christ that they find their greatest life and value. To put it succinctly, I want you who are reading this message to develop a personal and deep relationship with Jesus Christ.

We have “to know” and “love” Jesus Christ and we must “know” that we are loved by Jesus Christ who knows us better than we know ourselves. We must become His friend. We must become His followers. The presentation of the Gospel must be renewed so that it can be engaging, credible and compelling and this is “our” task and “our” mission. We must be truly disciples of Jesus before we can “go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19) We need to get away from people coming and going into our churches without encountering Jesus in a personal way. We need to put as a top priority both adult formation and youth formation, but even more so, we need to get on the road of discipleship. In the early church, before followers of Jesus were called Christians, they were referred to as “members of The Way.” Each person knew they were on a special journey. In these days, I am speaking about intentional discipleship in nearly every meeting I have. Let us walk together on “The Way” as disciples of Jesus Christ, the road of “intentional discipleship.”