In a recent Gospel, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Luke 12: 49).
It is with this same conviction that Brad Grobbel and the Go Make Disciples team at St. Joseph Parish in Fort Atkinson have been working to coordinate events focused on evangelization for the parish.
Brad Grobbel is a fifth year seminarian and is assigned to St. Joseph Parish. Before entering seminary, he worked at Camp Gray and at Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in Sun Prairie.
In his role, Grobbel is focused on “[wanting] to help change the culture; I want to help support the priests in what they’re already doing by feeding into the sacraments. I think the goal is to show that we have life here, that there are things you can do to plug in.”
“We’ve been trying to create opportunities for people to encounter God and what I like to call ‘off-ramp opportunities.’ Sometimes the Mass and Sacraments can be intimidating for people, so where are the engaging, creative little ways to get people to work on their relationship with Jesus or to encounter him for the first time?”
For Grobbel and the parishioners of St. Joseph, two examples are Light of the World retreats and Discipleship Quads, which are year-long small-groups of four people.
Light of the World retreats
Grobbel said, “[As a Go Make Disciples team], we’re trying to find ways to enrich faith in the parish, and there are a lot of people really on fire for the Lord. Light of the World is an in-house parish retreat that focuses on good encounters, to keep people coming in, and on deep conversions.”
Light of the World retreats at the parish are an immersive weekend into the kerygma — or proclamation of the Gospel. The retreats are a full weekend of small group discussions, large group witness talks, Adoration and the Sacraments, and “very good hospitality,” said Grobbel.
“I’ve done two of them myself over the past two years and have seen people break open. Of all the retreats I’ve done, I’ve liked Light of the World the most because it’s very local and there’s a lot of pride put into it. Everyone knows, ‘Oh I should make that retreat, oh I should make that retreat.’ So the buzz is very much there for Light of the World.”
Discipleship Quads
Quads are a small group initiative where four people journey together for a year.
The program, developed by Franciscan University of Steubenville, consists of reading Scripture and a reflection every day and then meeting together once a week. “The idea is that after that year you do as a quad, you all split and you start another quad. If you continue to do this for a few years, you’ll start to see a lot of momentum for the parish,” says Grobbel.
To start discipleship quads at the parish, author Deacon Bob Rice visited to give a presentation and talk on the discipleship process of the program.
“The hope is that there is less of just one teacher around three students, but really that everyone is on the same level,” said Grobbel.
“A lot of the initiatives we’ve had in the past couple years are to create an environment of importance around evangelization. We’re trying to provide avenues for people to speak to the Lord in a different way or in a way that hits them on a deeper level.
“I just want to help change the culture. I think the hard part is creating that culture of people inviting others and knowing that this is something very good you’re inviting them into — a relationship with Jesus. So, trying to give people more confidence. An underlying mission I have is if people are properly filled up with Jesus, it should be very natural for them to share Him with others.”
Sharing Christ with others
During the Light of the World retreats at St. Joseph, Grobbel has helped out as a small group discussion leader and has given talks to parishioners. Last year, his talk focused on Into the Deep from a seminarian perspective — what the future of the Church looks like as a seminarian.
Grobbel said, “Our job never changes — as lay people, we’re called to make disciples of ourselves and then make disciples of others. That will never change no matter the structure or different doings of the Church. By your Baptism, you are called to share Christ with others.”
For more information on Light of the World, go to lotwem.org