Those are good starting points, but are they enough?
In his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis challenges us to challenge ourselves and turn our churches into centers of missionary outreach. Our small groups should be part of that effort, and we should learn to think outside of our own comfort zone. We know the incredible power of working within our small groups. Why not share that power with others?
RENEW International is doing the same. We are stepping out of our own comfort zone to bring the Gospel and our small-group process to places we have never been before. Through the generosity of committed donors, Sister Terry, Father Alejandro López-Cardinale, and Manuel Hernandez this year traveled to the Dominican Republic to start working with marginalized people of Haitian descent living there. They are engaged in LEVÁNTATE. Unánomos en Cristo (ARISE Together in Christ) in the batey, the communities of migrant workers that formed around the sugar plantations.
While there have been many challenges, this has been a joy-filled experience for everyone involved. We know that the light of the Gospel will shine in the hearts of the people we touch and we will learn so much from them.
Where can your small group reach out to the marginalized? How can your small group become its own microcosm of a larger evangelizing Church? While you may not be able to travel to another country as RENEW has, you may be able to reach into places you have never been before.
This is the challenge the Gospel puts before us. When you think it is beyond you, keep in your heart the words of Pope Francis: “An authentic faith—which is never comfortable or completely personal—always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.”