Section 1: The Heart Of The Matter
Contextualizing where the Church is today and what our focus should be.
Section 2: Something Ancient is Creating Something New
Conceptualizing how Preambula Group comes alongside individuals and communities and the real results we’ve already experienced.
Section 3: Operationalizing Our Mission
How together we can continue to develop something fruitful.
SECTION I
The Heart of the Matter
Tired of hearing bad news about the church?
Focusing on the “institution” and it’s failures isn’t just demotivating, it’s precisely why our solutions seem to fail…
Factors that founded American Churches
These factors are going or gone.
The early church did not rely on these factors to form the early Christian community.
They were the “ecclesia”, or a people individually “called out.”
What a great FREEDOM!…
to know we aren’t responsible for “what the Church needs,” but instead for creating the conditions for individuals to grow.
So, the REAL problem of the church isn’t institutional, organizational, or programmatic at its heart…
It’s fundamentally a crisis of personal spiritual growth.
That reality can only be addressed one person at a time. Who’s pouring into people?
What we need to renew the Church is formation at the heart of the Christian experience. When people meet the Lord in a meaningful and profound way, their lives change.
We’ve pooled 100+ years of collective experience in the following areas:
- priestly and religious formation.
- diocesan, parish, and apostolate administration
- lay spiritual direction and ministry
To set out in a pioneering direction
We are not providing merely doctrinal programming, or “things to know” but interpersonal, individual and small group encounters with Jesus guided by experts who understand the FINE ART of spiritual facilitation.
SECTION 2
By doing something ancient, we're seeing Jesus do something new
The ecology of spiritual growth:
Just as a Gardener relies on the mechanisms God wrote into nature to foster the right environment for growth, we are providing the conditions for the spiritual transformation of people lives.
We are now coming alongside parish communities to help their people grow.
We hear over and again the things people want to see happen in their lives and in their parishes…
So how do we create the best possible conditions so the things we want to see happen can grow?
Conceptualizing this organic growth process:
First, we must understand spiritual growth for individual disciples.
Second, we develop the methods for that process to change an entire parish culture.
More Than You Realize Ecosystem
Metanoia Ethos Key Characteristics
- Genuine and authentic long term investment in people
- Relationships are built on experiences of prayer and encounter
- Accompany and model rather than presenting teachings
- Build trust and unleash each person’s spiritual potential
As we all know, its our parish priest who often carries the heaviest burden and can have the greatest or most negative impact on our community. The “Metanoia Project” has begun a pilot experience that first focuses on our priests.
More Than You Realize Ecosystem
More Than You Realize Ecosystem
We call these experiences “More Than You Realize.” They have been uniquely constructed to meet growing disciples right where many programs leave off.
We meet people precisely when they find themselves asking, “how do I continue to grow in my faith.”
More Than You Realize Ecosystem
INDIVIDUALS:
Many of our alumni have made “discipleship a lifestyle,” activating their specific gifts for “kingdom building” activities.
COMMUNITIES:
We’ve seen clergy and past cohort groups create lasting friendships that are the cornerstone of healthy parish communities.
More Than You Realize Ecosystem
With this culture budding within our parishes, our well-formed missionary disciples can go out into our towns and cities to bring Jesus to others.
“More Than You Realize” has been developed to launch as a public facing branded campaign to start new conversations and make non-threatening invitations to our neighbors who are rooted in a post-Christian culture riddled with false assumptions about our faith.
Our Strategy is to invest in the few who can reach the many
Like Jesus, we pour into those who can do the same for others.
SECTION 3
Operationalizing Our Mission
Keeping It Lean
True to our philosophy that it’s people, not institutions,
we like to joke that our “world headquarters” only costs
$1 per year rent!
Charity must flow from Jesus himself. For this to continue, we need to invest in the spiritual growth of individuals.
We need those who can help us recognize that spiritual works of mercy will in the long run bring more good to the world through our faith than corporal works of mercy alone.
