Proclaim God's Glory
Proclaim God’s Glory
We live in a broken world. We are wounded and in need of healing. Many do not know or have never truly heard the good news of the Gospel. That’s the bad news, but God has gifted each of us uniquely. He is calling us to deeper trust and surrender to live out a radical missionary discipleship identity. We are called, and through us more people may come to know the salvation that comes to us only through Jesus.
What is Proclaim Columbus?
Proclaim Columbus is a movement that unites missionary disciples with training and resources throughout our community to be equipped to go make disciples. By joining the Proclaim Columbus movement, you are saying "yes" to God’s call in a particular way in this particular time and place. You will be responding to the deep need of the world and inviting others into a relationship with Jesus. Does this sound exciting and perhaps a bit overwhelming? Good, then you know you can’t do it alone. In response to an invitation of the Holy Spirit, and in collaboration with other missionary disciples, you will see God at work as you Proclaim God’s Glory!
Why now?
Because things aren’t getting any better. Turn on the news or scroll through social media if you need evidence; violence, addiction, suicide, war, famine, the list goes on, but don't lose hope because we are not alone. God provides the path through all of this. “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
God does not call us to despair, we are a people of joy. In the opening remarks of his exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis tells us, “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.”
Later Pope Francis says, “I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete in Domino The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.”
Pope Francis calls us all to participate, “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized. Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love. Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are “disciples” and “missionaries”, but rather that we are always “missionary disciples”. If we are not convinced, let us look at those first disciples, who, immediately after encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to proclaim him joyfully: “We have found the Messiah!” (Jn 1:41). The Samaritan woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and many Samaritans come to believe in him “because of the woman’s testimony” (Jn 4:39). So too, Saint Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ, “immediately proclaimed Jesus” (Acts 9:20; cf. 22:6-21). So what are we waiting for?”
And so with a great reliance on the Holy Spirit, we are responding and stepping into our baptismal call to be missionary disciples. This is a defining moment for the Church in Columbus. Equipped with the training and resources to invite others an encounter with Christ, we are coming together to respond to God's call, as we Proclaim God’s Glory to the Diocese of Columbus and beyond!