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LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINARS An Effective Tool for Evangelisation
James Wilkinson, a parishioner of St Anne's parish in Chertsey, Surrey, shares his experiences of running the Life in the Spirit seminars, and reflects on their power to transform lives.
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I knew the power of the Seminars. In 1996 our then Parish Priest, the late Fr Eric Darwell, ran them in my parish of St Anne in Chertsey, Surrey. Several people entered into a new deep relationship with Jesus. The transformed parish undertook a number of initiatives including some serious evangelisation both of ourselves and outsiders. As the people left the Mass which closed the evangelisation day with a non-sacramental anointing 'go forth and evangelise' I was wondering how to set about running the Seminars in the diocese but the Lord had other ideas for me including some pruning. My father, whom I had been nursing for a couple of years, died a month later. After the funeral, when I did not need to be brave any more, I suffered emotional and physical collapse. I recovered in time to lead a parish team which contributed to a town evangelisation in Holy Week 2003. "Phone calls came to nothing" On turning my attention to the Seminars, phone calls to parishes and organisations which I considered likely candidates came to nothing. The priest whom I considered the best bet was supportive but feared burn out in his team who were already over stretched. One lead from the Bishop came to nothing and an address to a meeting of priests in one deanery produced polite applause but a distinct feeling of 'don't call us, we'll call you' and the call never came. Praise the Lord for the Brighton group which attended the Evangelisation day and decided to run the version of the Seminars called 'Sons and Daughters of the Living God'. I was delighted to be one of their speakers on three of the four occasions they ran them. I understand that two other groups ran the Seminars using their own resources. Several weeks passed before the lead for which I was praying came; the name of a priest who might be interested. We met with a couple of his friends who were willing to help. We decided to run the Seminars in his parish between Easter and Pentecost 2004 using the original Ann Arbor version; seven sessions entitled 'God's Love', 'Salvation', 'New Life', 'Receiving God's Gift', 'Baptism in the Spirit', 'Growth' & 'Transformation.' "Everyone needs to hear the kerygma" Everybody needs to hear the kerygma - the essential message the Apostles proclaimed after Pentecost. It is embodied in the Seminars and is as powerful today as it was 2,000 years ago. Jesus, God made man, died taking the punishment due to us for our sins but God raised Him from the dead. When we believe this in our hearts and repent we are saved - made acceptable to Almighty God - and receive the new resurrection life.
Many Catholics associate 'salvation' with making it to heaven. That is one meaning. Paul sometimes speaks of salvation as a future event (e.g. Rm 13:11). However, people who only see it that way easily fall into the error of believing that they can earn their own salvation and view dying in a state of grace as something approaching a lottery. This is hardly news worth sharing. We cannot earn salvation because Jesus has already earned it for us. Salvation in the sense of being made righteous - being transferred to the winning team - really is good news. When we proclaim it the Spirit acts decisively to confirm it. This is the other great blessing of the Seminars; people learn that, far from being a passive presence, the Spirit acts tangibly and powerfully in our day yet in a way that is tailor-made for each individual. "Offer to lead seminars picked up" Around 80 people attended the seminars in Crawley. At the fifth session the Spirit came with power to change lives as several testimonies at the final session proved. One of the tangible fruits of the Seminars was the formation of a local prayer group. The news that somebody is available to organise and lead the Seminars spreads quickly. Many prayer groups would like to run them but lack speakers. By offering to lead the Seminars, doing the talks or recruiting other speakers myself, I have been able fill that need. Prayer groups are the ideal springboard for this work because they can undertake the many essential local roles. The first group to make contact was from North West London. They asked me to lead the Seminars over a weekend. We decided to merge the final two talks so as to be able to fit into the time available. Around 80 people attended and the Spirit came in great power. As has happened on a number of occasions since then, somebody in the audience asked if I would lead the Seminars for his prayer group. This led to a weekend in North London attended by over 100 people. "Six seminars over last 15 months" Over the last 15 months I have led the Seminars six times, including once as an ecumenical venture. The most distant venue was in Cumbria where the Salesian Sisters hosted a weekend. We are presently running them in my parish to launch our new RCIA cycle, the speakers making no assumptions about people's level of knowledge.My preference is for running the Seminars one session a week over seven weeks; this allows the small groups to gel so there is a better chance that they will continue afterwards as a prayer or Bible reading group. However, weekend Seminars may reach more people because they can commit more readily to a Saturday and Sunday afternoon than to seven evenings.
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It
had been a day to remember. I ended the talks at the evangelisation
day I ran in the Diocese of Arundel & Brighton in October 2002 by
speaking about empowerment. I said that we need the power of the Holy
Spirit to evangelise successfully and that a good way to receive this
empowerment is attending the Life in the Spirit Seminars. The applause
from the 200 strong audience told me that there was a need for the Seminars
to be run in the Diocese.