Patti Brunner discusses Small Church Community on Truth of the Spirit. TOS211 Need of Community of God’s People traces Patti Brunner’s journey through small communities of the Catholic Church and provides scripture, papal quote, and direction of the Lord as she encourages her listeners about community. For Audio and Video links, script or references of Small Church Community formation please continue reading.
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Our Heavenly Father, Glorious Son, Holy Spirit: the Triune God shows us perfect Community. The Lord taught me, “As humans we each have our own set of needs; we are incomplete. God has created us to join together within the Body of Christ to experience and establish relationship. Fraternally we are our “brother’s keeper”. As disciples of the Living God, Jesus, we are called to disciple others. As neighbors we are called to minister to the needs of one another. We mentor. We fill in gaps, we share, we give opportunity for others to grow by helping us and taking care of our needs. We learn compassion, we find prayer needs and struggles to lay before the Lord. We enjoy each other’s company and lead each other on the pathway towards the fullness of Christ.
God did not create us to be alone.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I am Patti Brunner. Today’s discussion is centered on the Need of Community of God’s People. The Lord reminds us, “All it takes is a small step to welcome others of like-mind and then bring Me. Lives can change, lives can grow, lives can find freedom and support.”
At the end of the National Day of Prayer it was pouring rain and the Prayer Walk we had planned around City Hall was cancelled. A few of us, who had organized a Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast that morning stood under the pavilion at the City Hall in case anyone came that wanted to pray. A small group of like-minded people braved the weather to lift up our city to God on the local government grounds. At my turn to pray I lifted up the business owners who were adversely affected by the Covid pandemic. The Lord then put it on my heart to pray for the businesses that were suffering due to lack of employees—our town, like many vibrant towns, has a shortage of workers. One in our midst spoke up a few minutes later and said he needs 14 workers, and that he would be happy with even four. My prayers were also turned towards a state representative in attendance and the Lord prompted me pray an anointing for him of “atmosphere”; I prayed that as he stepped into state government meetings that the presence of God would go before him and with him and influence hearts towards God’s wisdom and will. As I prayed for him I saw him, in my mind’s eye, speaking to young boys and the Lord told me he was leading them to be young men of God by his example. I asked if he had children and he told me “no”; he was single. I shared the vision God had given me and he told me he was a substitute teacher for older children; it was something he does when the state legislature is not in session. Our God is an awesome God. In these few moments He made a group of strangers a community of prayer and praise—despite the rain. The next day the Lord told me this:
“My Child, as you discern the presence as you pray with others what did you hear? This is the function of the Body of Christ—to encourage and bless, to come together in my name, to change the world towards eternity in heaven. As you continue to reach out to others you may explore the needs of community of my people. Also share the groups you have been a part of in the past. Relate the joy and the formation value. Small steps and big steps. All it takes is a small step to welcome others of like-mind and then bring Me. Lives can change, lives can grow, lives can find freedom and support. I Am who Am; I Am with you.”
There are many groups of ‘like-minded people’ in the world. Some groups are pro-choice, some believe that women should be priests; some are vocal in their prejudice. Some come together to battle addictions and some come together to form fan clubs for comic book heroes. I am not in any of these groups. But their very existence reminds us that we do not want to be alone in our beliefs. We need encouragement. We need community. As a Christian, you might say, “Jesus is enough for me. It’s just me and Thee.” Yet, the wisdom of God says otherwise. Before He sent His Son Jesus into our world, he established community: Marriage, family, tribe, nation, and then kingdom. When Jesus ascended into heaven the Holy Spirit came and established Church. Jesus instructed us to take his message and thus his Church to the ends of the earth. That is a very big and diverse group. The apostles showed us God’s plan by setting up small communities within cities to learn the Way, to worship God together, and to take care of each other. Today these communities are called parishes. In some cities there are a multitude of parishes under the care of a single bishop. In Arkansas, we have very few cities that have more than one parish. Our bishop looks over the entire state. In something so big and spread out, how do we find our sense of belonging?
My current home parish, St. Vincent de Paul, is three times bigger than Pocahontas, the town I lived in for high school; it is 75 times bigger than Dell, the town I was born in! Over the years of high school I found many groups where I felt community: civic, sports, choir and school groups. We are made for community. But these did not satisfy all my needs. St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until we rest in You.” The Lord led me to small Church communities that gave my heart rest and encouragement and growth.
As a young mother in a new town that had very few Catholics, Russellville, I remember being a part of the Altar Society. The matrons of our parish met together for fellowship and to take on the responsibility of being the working servants at a parish-wide event. They welcomed me and their wisdom touched me and led me towards being a volunteer myself. My mother, who lived on the other side of the state, was encouraged by her pastor, Msgr. Gaston Herbert, to be a bible study group leader in Pocahontas. She encouraged me to join the Little Rock Scripture Study group in my parish that was in its earliest of days. Meeting with other Catholics eager to learn about the bible from learned teachers of our diocese exposed me to the Words I had never heard, read or understood. I have kept that love and continued studying the Bible for almost 50 years. I learned there’s more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more. There is a synergy when we come together and share our study as the Holy Spirit inspires us in various ways. Some spend hours on resources. Some can apply a verse or line to a particular need in their lives or our lives. We hear a fresh perspective of a scripture we have heard dozens of times and it soaks into our heart and forms us in new and delightful ways.
Another move brought my family to North Little Rock. A lot of the Catholics there had moved there from ‘somewhere else’ and many were military families who knew the importance of quickly finding a community group within their parish. They welcomed me into a young woman’s group that was mostly Christian fellowship of mothers with school children. The men welcomed my husband into a men’s group that included a basketball team. It was exactly what we needed to quickly make Catholic friends. We carpooled, babysat for each other, and lived community. We only lived there 18 months but we learned the important lesson of reaching out to others to offer community.
As we moved to Rogers we were firm in our desire to seek out community in our new parish. Our town was very small in those early days and most of the Catholics had moved to Rogers to retire close to Beaver Lake. We got very involved with our tiny Catholic school, we joined bible study groups, and were quick to volunteer. God had prepared us to ‘hit the ground running’. The Renew program sponsored by our parish and our diocese was the perfect opportunity to join in fellowship with adults not involved with the school and to learn more about Christ and his Church.
From one of the Renew groups we were mentored to attend Marriage Encounter. This led us to another small group of couples who started out with the daily scripture verse and meditation of Mark Link S.J.. We became life-long friends as we discussed our faith, our families, our lives. We reached out to other couples to form a new group and led them on the path we had taken. We celebrated birthdays, marriages and grandchildren, we mourned deaths together. We continued to find other studies that kept us studying and discussing then ending each meeting with fellowship. A few introduced us to Cursillo and we were blessed abundantly with an explosion of conversion of hearts and deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit as each of us attended the Cursillo retreats and some became leaders.
Then the Lord scattered us to other ministries of the Church. Many of us got involved with teen ministries. We set up new prayer groups and formation groups for the spiritually mature and for young mothers just starting out on their pathways to a deeper relationship with Christ and the circle of small church communities was continued. We took advantage of new opportunities as membership in our parish and the population of our town exploded. One couple in our parish began “Guess Who is Coming to Dinner?” They formed potluck dinner parties all over town. What fun to meet new people of our parish and share fellowship during a meal!
The Lord continues to put opportunities for study, fellowship, and fun in our pathways. We have to step out of our comfortable routine of isolation to join up and join in. When the Lord inspires us to be the one to step out to serve others through small community in our Churches or our towns, we need to remember that when it’s the Lord’s idea, He will take care of us and help make it happen—but we have to say, “Yes! You lead, Lord, and I will follow; and thus I will lead others.”
I contemplated why the series of small church communities was so impactful and successful in my life. Somehow, we challenge each other to grow; is it perhaps a competition? To do the homework of a study group so as to have something to say? It is accountability to press on. It is an opportunity to get to know people from various walks of life, even various belief windows; even though we are like-kind Christians, like-kind Catholics. Some we reach out to, to show what we have learned. Others reach out to us to share what they have learned that we need to hear. Sometimes we just need to be with people who understand our current lives because theirs is similar—we need a listening ear, and sometimes a shoulder to cry upon or a comforting pat on the back, or someone to bring us a meal.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “There is nothing new under the sun.” What we are feeling, many have felt before. Our needs and wants are needed and wanted by others. As Christ brings us together we find Christ within our midst. He will never leave us or forsake us. Small Church Communities, as I see them, are not opportunities to “do your own thing apart from the way the Church teaches” but to gather to encourage one another to follow what the Church teaches.
There are many Catholic parishes that have a plan of Small Church Communities for their parishes, especially those parishes that are large and filled with unacquainted people. Presentation Ministries[i] on their website has a plan for setting up small church communities. The Archdiocese of Atlanta has a formation plan for Small Church Communities on their website[ii] . They are not the only ones. Start small. Start large. But if the Lord is prompting you, take a step and start. The Lord cannot steer a parked car, as a dear friend once taught me.
In his 1998 post-synodal exhortation Ecclesia in America, John Paul II, our dearest Pope-saint, recommended small Christian communities as a way to reestablish human relationships in Church communities. Perhaps in post-Covid times we need to re-visit his suggestion. He wrote:
“It seems timely, therefore, to form ecclesial communities and groups of a size that allow for true human relationships (in) the parish to which such groups belong and with the entire diocesan and universal Church. In such a human context,” the Pope wrote, “it will be easier to gather to hear the Word of God, to reflect on the range of human problems in the light of this Word, and gradually to make responsible decisions inspired by the all-embracing love of Christ. The parish is not principally a structure, a territory, a building. The parish is first of all a community of the faithful… that is the task of the parish today; to be a community, to rediscover itself as community… Make yourselves builders of communities in which, after the example of the first community, the Word lives and acts.”
Here are a few verses from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2, about “Communal Life. 42 They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
You have been listening to Truth of the Spirit and Need of Community of God’s People. I’m Patti Brunner. To share in the abundant life God has promised us, I encourage you to join the community of your local church.
For more of what God offers you please check out the videos on our YouTube Truth of the Spirit channel and playlists. You can access this episode on our website www.patriarchministries.com/211 in the description of this YouTube. Please click ‘like’ and leave a comment about your experiences with small church communities. Subscribe with notification and you can more easily find new episodes because there is more. With the Holy Spirit there is always more! Amen.
[i] PresentationMinistries.com: Small Christian Community Resources Introduction to Small Christian Community Gives the basic teaching on Small Christian Communities as taught in the Bible and by the Magisterium of the Church.
“Unless the Lord Build the House…” — Psalm 127:1 Over 60 questions and answers on building Small Christian Communities. This is practical and detailed teaching concerning all aspects of community. Building Small Christian Communities (Team Manual) 12 Seminars designed to lead participants into joining or forming a Small Christian Community. The format of these seminars is similar to a Life in the Spirit seminar. These seminars are also available as audio/video recordings. Building Small Christian Communities (Guide Book) A daily guide book for the participants of the above 12 seminars. Training and Formation Discipleship Center For more information contact: community@presentationministries.com
[ii] Small Faith Community Models – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta | Atlanta, GA (archatl.com)
