ILTP - July 2006, Bangalore
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
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International leadership Training Programme
Venue : Logos Retreat Centre, Bangalore
Time and Dates : 28th July 2006 , 9 am – 30th ,5 pm.
The I.L.T.P program was initiated by the national JY team members . This was a 3-day “closed” leadership program, organized at the Logos retreat center–Bangalore from the 28th to 30th July 2006.
This program was patronized by the JY members from all over India. There were presence from North eastern states of Arunachal, Guwahati, Orissa etc, from central India of Delhi, Chattisgarh, Mumbai, Nagpur etc, from Western states of India from Gujarat, Rajasthan etc, Southern Indian states of Kerala, Bangalore, TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh etc …. There were a total of about 120 participants of which Andhra Pradesh was represented by 15 members from Hyderabad, 2 from Adilabad, 2 from Khammam and 2 from Vijayawada.
This training program was conducted for all the future prospective JY leaders of India. It was a mission to foster and nurture new talent, bring in new perspective and new blood, to become aware of the JY activities all over India and at a national level, to be introduced to members of the JY community across states and above all – “The mission of self discipline for being a leader”.
The program was aptly named “Feed my Sheep” and as leaders each of us now had the onus of carrying forward that leadership entrusted to our care.
In order to facilitate us in our mission of leadership, we were accompanied by Bro. Collin Calmiano and Bro. Jude Antoine who were the main speakers for all the 3 days.
Bro. Collin is a full time missionary from Bangalore and has always been an integral part of the JY family, imparting wisdom and counsel whenever required.
Bro. Jude is an international missionary from Malaysia and is a full time evangelizer along with his family, always at the disposal and service of the Christian community and strengthening faith.
Prior to imparting this training program at Bangalore, together bro. Collin and Jude have trained many JY members at America, UK, and Saudi Arabia. This training was just their fourth endeavor in their list of training schedules.
This leadership training program was very well encapsulated in a ten point agenda by the eminent speakers over the 3 day period, ala the “Ten commandments” for every JY leader. This was an eye opener for all of us, a real challenge to live up to these expectations but most importantly to be a true disciple – one who follows and imitates the lifestyle of Christ. Unless, we ourselves are humble and set an example by our living how could we possibly be leaders and shepherds to our flock ???? The 10 simple yet ironically difficult answers to being a good leader and a worthy disciple, as elicited to us are as follows:
I.- NEED FOR FORMATION:
God has called us to
Ø renew our love for him,
Ø to deepen our commitment to the Lord and
Ø to make us aware of our missionary calling
II – CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP:
Discipleship – The word disciple comes from a Greek word called Matheles, which means one who learns from one another. We are called to discipleship by learning and imitating Jesus.
Call to discipleship is a call to –
1. Glory – Rom 8:30 - A call to discipleship is a call from God to share his glory with us so that we may be glorified.
2. Be Saints – 1Cor 1:1- It’s a call from God for us to become saints just as Paul was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
3. Freedom - Gal 5:13 -We are called for freedom. But we should not allow this freedom become an excuse for letting our physical desires control us.
4. Eternity - 1 Pet 5:10- We are called for eternal glory in Christ and after we have suffered for a little while the god of all grace who has called us for eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, support, strengthen and establish us
III – CONVERSION OF HEART:
According to the bible the “heart” is the centre of all human activity and sin is rooted in the heart.
And so “True Repentance” has to come from the heart which will lead to discipleship.
Repentance involves 3 steps – Lk 15:11-33
Ø Realization : Lk 15:17 To test and examine our ways and return to the lord
Ø Resolution : (Lk 15:18-20) making a decision
Ø Renunciation (Lk 15:21) to give up with all the heart
IV – CONSTANTS IN THE LIFE OF A DISCIPLE:
1. Personal prayer – We should spend at least one hour of committed time in prayer everyday. Only when we spend time in the Holy ground can we be prepared to go the Battle ground.
2. Word of God – It’s very important to study the word of God. St Jerome said “Ignorance of scripture is Ignorance of Christ”. We should read the word and only then will the word inspire us. Studying the word of God should be in a systematic way and not just flicking and opening the bible.
3. Sacraments – We should know and keep the sacraments of the Catholic Church.
4. Ongoing forgiveness – Forgiveness as an ongoing process is a decision, it happens over a period of time, it’s a willingness to let go of the past, its not to forget but to remember without pain and it’s the willingness to see others in the word of God.
5. Ongoing repentance – we need to forgive and repent everyday
6. Lifestyle of worship – Worship is crucial in the life of an individual
V – QUALITIES OF A DISCIPLE:
1. Speech – its very important for a disciple to speak properly, he should never be involved in gossip, slander, back biting etc.
2. Life – the life of a disciple should be like the light shining, so that people will see the good things we do and praise our father in heaven.
3. Love – a disciple should show the way to his flock with love. God said in Jn 13:34-36 “I give you a new commandment: love one another, same as the way he loved us”.
4. Faith – Faith is the assurance of the things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. According to CCC 1816: The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it but must also profess it, confidently bear witness to it and spread it.
5. Purity – A disciple should be pure and it is possible only by heeding to the word of God.
VI – COMMITMENT TO THE CALL:
We have to be committed to the call come what may. The answer of how to be committed to the call is “radical discipleship”.
Conditions of discipleship – Putting the Lord above all things. We should never get dependent on anything not even the ministry we serve but be dependent only on God.
Cost of Discipleship – Following the Lord cost something. We should always remember Job 1:21 “I was born with nothing and will die with nothing. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. May his name be praised”.
VII – KNOWING THE WILL OF GOD:
There are 3 steps involved in knowing the will of God
1. Surrender – Saying “Yes” to God is surrender.
2. Separation from the World – To know God’s will separation from the world & worldliness is important.
3. Spiritual mindedness – In order to attain spiritual mindedness we must put to death the earthly desires within us like sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passion, greed, etc.
VIII – SETTING PRIORITIES:
Its very important for a disciple to set priorities and to lead a disciplined life. This helps in setting goals and to become a purpose driven person. As a disciple we should define and set goals in all areas of our life ie. Spiritual Goals, Family goals, Intellectual, Ministry, Physical, Financial and social goals. Goals set should be SMART ie. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and tangible.
IX – TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR LEADERSHIP:
A good leader should evaluate his leadership and follow the 10 commandments.
The 10 commandments are
1. Keep his own personal prayer in good shape
2. Stay Teachable
3. Do not neglect the charisms
4. Preach, teach & minister the Baptism of the Holy Sprit
5. Have a vision
6. Be available – and not isolating oneself from the people
7. Keeping his feet firmly on the ground
8. Acknowledge his weakness, failures, mistakes and problems
9. Meeting people where they are and not where you think they should be
10. Look out for and encourage new leaders
X – NEED AND EMERGENCY TO EVANGELIZE:
We need to evangelize because the love of God compels us to do so.
Matt 28:18-20 Jesus asks his disciples, to go to all the nations and make people his disciples and teach them to obey everything.
There is an urgency to evangelize as the last days are coming soon.
During the daytime, on all 3 days, the Holy Eucharist would be celebrated and the day would inevitably end with benediction. On the final day, before the closure, we had a session on “Infilling of the Holy Spirit” – a time of great blessing and outpouring of the Spirit, and everyone as an individual was prayed upon. Finally, this culminated in acknowldgements and thanks to one and all messages.
In retrospect, the 3-day program was a true blessing and a calling to our personal commitments for Christ. It was a journey to expose ourselves to being a new “Disciple” and a challenge to become an effective leader to lead the flock and to “Feed my Sheep”. It is a missionary calling to evangelize and spread God’s work in our own areas in little ways by being a witness through our lifestyle. As Bro. Jude rightly mentioned in his parting address that,
We can make a difference ……
If not ME …………WHO ???
If not NOW ………WHEN ???If not HERE ……. WHERE ???
This program was patronized by the JY members from all over India. There were presence from North eastern states of Arunachal, Guwahati, Orissa etc, from central India of Delhi, Chattisgarh, Mumbai, Nagpur etc, from Western states of India from Gujarat, Rajasthan etc, Southern Indian states of Kerala, Bangalore, TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh etc …. There were a total of about 120 participants of which Andhra Pradesh was represented by 15 members from Hyderabad, 2 from Adilabad, 2 from Khammam and 2 from Vijayawada.
This training program was conducted for all the future prospective JY leaders of India. It was a mission to foster and nurture new talent, bring in new perspective and new blood, to become aware of the JY activities all over India and at a national level, to be introduced to members of the JY community across states and above all – “The mission of self discipline for being a leader”.
The program was aptly named “Feed my Sheep” and as leaders each of us now had the onus of carrying forward that leadership entrusted to our care.
In order to facilitate us in our mission of leadership, we were accompanied by Bro. Collin Calmiano and Bro. Jude Antoine who were the main speakers for all the 3 days.
Bro. Collin is a full time missionary from Bangalore and has always been an integral part of the JY family, imparting wisdom and counsel whenever required.
Bro. Jude is an international missionary from Malaysia and is a full time evangelizer along with his family, always at the disposal and service of the Christian community and strengthening faith.
Prior to imparting this training program at Bangalore, together bro. Collin and Jude have trained many JY members at America, UK, and Saudi Arabia. This training was just their fourth endeavor in their list of training schedules.
This leadership training program was very well encapsulated in a ten point agenda by the eminent speakers over the 3 day period, ala the “Ten commandments” for every JY leader. This was an eye opener for all of us, a real challenge to live up to these expectations but most importantly to be a true disciple – one who follows and imitates the lifestyle of Christ. Unless, we ourselves are humble and set an example by our living how could we possibly be leaders and shepherds to our flock ???? The 10 simple yet ironically difficult answers to being a good leader and a worthy disciple, as elicited to us are as follows:
I.- NEED FOR FORMATION:
God has called us to
Ø renew our love for him,
Ø to deepen our commitment to the Lord and
Ø to make us aware of our missionary calling
II – CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP:
Discipleship – The word disciple comes from a Greek word called Matheles, which means one who learns from one another. We are called to discipleship by learning and imitating Jesus.
Call to discipleship is a call to –
1. Glory – Rom 8:30 - A call to discipleship is a call from God to share his glory with us so that we may be glorified.
2. Be Saints – 1Cor 1:1- It’s a call from God for us to become saints just as Paul was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.
3. Freedom - Gal 5:13 -We are called for freedom. But we should not allow this freedom become an excuse for letting our physical desires control us.
4. Eternity - 1 Pet 5:10- We are called for eternal glory in Christ and after we have suffered for a little while the god of all grace who has called us for eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, support, strengthen and establish us
III – CONVERSION OF HEART:
According to the bible the “heart” is the centre of all human activity and sin is rooted in the heart.
And so “True Repentance” has to come from the heart which will lead to discipleship.
Repentance involves 3 steps – Lk 15:11-33
Ø Realization : Lk 15:17 To test and examine our ways and return to the lord
Ø Resolution : (Lk 15:18-20) making a decision
Ø Renunciation (Lk 15:21) to give up with all the heart
IV – CONSTANTS IN THE LIFE OF A DISCIPLE:
1. Personal prayer – We should spend at least one hour of committed time in prayer everyday. Only when we spend time in the Holy ground can we be prepared to go the Battle ground.
2. Word of God – It’s very important to study the word of God. St Jerome said “Ignorance of scripture is Ignorance of Christ”. We should read the word and only then will the word inspire us. Studying the word of God should be in a systematic way and not just flicking and opening the bible.
3. Sacraments – We should know and keep the sacraments of the Catholic Church.
4. Ongoing forgiveness – Forgiveness as an ongoing process is a decision, it happens over a period of time, it’s a willingness to let go of the past, its not to forget but to remember without pain and it’s the willingness to see others in the word of God.
5. Ongoing repentance – we need to forgive and repent everyday
6. Lifestyle of worship – Worship is crucial in the life of an individual
V – QUALITIES OF A DISCIPLE:
1. Speech – its very important for a disciple to speak properly, he should never be involved in gossip, slander, back biting etc.
2. Life – the life of a disciple should be like the light shining, so that people will see the good things we do and praise our father in heaven.
3. Love – a disciple should show the way to his flock with love. God said in Jn 13:34-36 “I give you a new commandment: love one another, same as the way he loved us”.
4. Faith – Faith is the assurance of the things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. According to CCC 1816: The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it but must also profess it, confidently bear witness to it and spread it.
5. Purity – A disciple should be pure and it is possible only by heeding to the word of God.
VI – COMMITMENT TO THE CALL:
We have to be committed to the call come what may. The answer of how to be committed to the call is “radical discipleship”.
Conditions of discipleship – Putting the Lord above all things. We should never get dependent on anything not even the ministry we serve but be dependent only on God.
Cost of Discipleship – Following the Lord cost something. We should always remember Job 1:21 “I was born with nothing and will die with nothing. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. May his name be praised”.
VII – KNOWING THE WILL OF GOD:
There are 3 steps involved in knowing the will of God
1. Surrender – Saying “Yes” to God is surrender.
2. Separation from the World – To know God’s will separation from the world & worldliness is important.
3. Spiritual mindedness – In order to attain spiritual mindedness we must put to death the earthly desires within us like sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passion, greed, etc.
VIII – SETTING PRIORITIES:
Its very important for a disciple to set priorities and to lead a disciplined life. This helps in setting goals and to become a purpose driven person. As a disciple we should define and set goals in all areas of our life ie. Spiritual Goals, Family goals, Intellectual, Ministry, Physical, Financial and social goals. Goals set should be SMART ie. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and tangible.
IX – TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR LEADERSHIP:
A good leader should evaluate his leadership and follow the 10 commandments.
The 10 commandments are
1. Keep his own personal prayer in good shape
2. Stay Teachable
3. Do not neglect the charisms
4. Preach, teach & minister the Baptism of the Holy Sprit
5. Have a vision
6. Be available – and not isolating oneself from the people
7. Keeping his feet firmly on the ground
8. Acknowledge his weakness, failures, mistakes and problems
9. Meeting people where they are and not where you think they should be
10. Look out for and encourage new leaders
X – NEED AND EMERGENCY TO EVANGELIZE:
We need to evangelize because the love of God compels us to do so.
Matt 28:18-20 Jesus asks his disciples, to go to all the nations and make people his disciples and teach them to obey everything.
There is an urgency to evangelize as the last days are coming soon.
During the daytime, on all 3 days, the Holy Eucharist would be celebrated and the day would inevitably end with benediction. On the final day, before the closure, we had a session on “Infilling of the Holy Spirit” – a time of great blessing and outpouring of the Spirit, and everyone as an individual was prayed upon. Finally, this culminated in acknowldgements and thanks to one and all messages.
In retrospect, the 3-day program was a true blessing and a calling to our personal commitments for Christ. It was a journey to expose ourselves to being a new “Disciple” and a challenge to become an effective leader to lead the flock and to “Feed my Sheep”. It is a missionary calling to evangelize and spread God’s work in our own areas in little ways by being a witness through our lifestyle. As Bro. Jude rightly mentioned in his parting address that,
We can make a difference ……
If not ME …………WHO ???
If not NOW ………WHEN ???If not HERE ……. WHERE ???
