The HSI School of Discipleship is a structured program intended to help people on the journey of discipleship that all Christians are called to travel. It begins with an introductory retreat held over three evenings called the Discipleship Program, which is then followed by two-three hour sessions once a week in the School. Participants are required to live the lessons they learn in a communal atmosphere.
Coming Next!
HSI's next Discipleship Program will be held in St. Patrick's Church, Bangalore, India in February 2011 followed by Beirut, Lebanon in March, 2011. The Discipleship Program, which is the introductory module to the School of Discipleship, has been held in over a hundred parishes in several countries over the world. It has proved to a powerful program, not only transforming the lives of those who have attended, but empowering them to take the gospel message to others.
Why study the Bible? Paul, in his second letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16-17), gives a concise answer: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” Read the following verses for a few more reasons:
To make progress of any noticeable merit on this journey towards becoming more like Christ, we need to have a healthy relationship with God, and this can be achieved only by spending time in prayer. Traditional community prayers that many of us are accustomed to are excellent ways of praying, but in order to build a truly meaningful relationship with God a prime requisite is personal prayer. When the apostles asked Jesus for advice on the subject of prayer, He said to them: “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)
Congratulations on your decision to continue on the journey of discipleship that all Christians are required to take. Though the journey is an arduous and challenging one, it is also extremely fulfilling, and all those who take it are blessed. Before we go further, however, it might be a good idea to take our bearings to see how much progress we have made thus far.
We continue our study of the book of Acts with Chapter 4, where we see the first case of persecution against the church. Peter and John are put into custody because their preaching on the resurrection of Jesus disturbed a number of the religious leaders, in particular the Sadducees who denied any resurrection. In spite of this, the number of men who believed came to be about five thousand.
The Second Vatican Council was the 21st council to be held. It was so called because this was the second council to be held at the Vatican. It opened on October 11th, 1962. Pope John XXIII sought to define the nature, scope, and mission of the Church along with over 2,000 bishops from all over the world.
The HSI Schools of Discipleship in the UAE have been opened to the general congregation and are all running very successfully, with the community in St. Michael's Church, Sharjah, getting over 200 people each week. The community in St. Francis of Assisi Church, Jebel Ali, gets over 300 people each week, while the community in the much smaller parish of OLPH Church, Fujariah gets close to 100.
A fourth community in the UAE begins in St. Joseph's Church, Abu Dhabi in March 2011 and shortly thereafter in St. Mary's Church, Dubai.
For more details about starting a School of Discipleship in your parish, please email dp@holyspiritinteractive.net. The request has to come from a parish priest.
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