[00:00:00] Jim Jansen: Hey everybody. Welcome to the EquipCast, a weekly podcast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. I'm your host, Jim Jansen. Now let's dive into some encouragement and inspiration to equip you to live your faith and to be fruitful in your mission. Let's go.

Hey everybody. Welcome to the EquipCast Coaches Corner. I break down important topics to equip you and your team for mission in your family, in your church, and in your ministry. So my name is Jim Jansen and today I'm gonna talk about how to begin with the end in mind for your mission. So this, uh, started for me, had a good moment.

Oh, I dunno, a couple years ago I got some really wise parenting advice. And, uh, the person who said this said, remember, you're raising adults, not children. I'll say that again. They said to me, remember, you're raising [00:01:00] adults, not children. See, it was a good reminder that the goal isn't just good kids. Now, to be clear, I do have good kids and I don't think they listened to the, to the equipped cast, but I'm really proud of you, all your great kids.

Uh, but the goal is happy and healthy and responsible adults. I'm trying to raise adults. That's the goal. And when I remember that, it helps me not freak out about things where they're, you know, maybe acting like kids and it helps me like parent for the long haul. This is just another way of articulating a really timeless philosophical principle that we wanna begin with the end in mind.

See, sometimes we need to ask ourselves, what do we really want? The example of a house is a really great example. It's kind of a classic one, right? You imagine a family gathered together around the fire to share stories and songs and prayer and fun together? Well, if that's what I want, and I'm gonna kind of build a house to do [00:02:00] this, the first thing I do is not start a fire.

The first thing I do is dig a hole. I. I start moving dirt for the foundation, and then the walls go up, and then the roof, and then the furnishings. And the last thing I get to do is start a fire and whip out the guitar and sing songs with my kids. See, the first thing in intention is the last thing in execution.

Now that's true, not just of family life, but also of ministries and parishes as well. If we begin with a really clear and solid sense of what we want the end result to be, or what it's supposed to be, then it's easier to reverse engineer the steps to get there. Again, not that it's easy, but it's easier, but if we only imagine a half-built house, we're unlikely to get to where we really want to be and to where the Lord is really calling us to be.

So let's see if we can apply that to what it means to be a parish. Like what is a parish supposed to be? I wanna start with a [00:03:00] quote from Pope Francis. He, uh, sent this out in a letter to Parish priests in 2024, and this is what he said. He said, parishes beginning with their structures and the organization of parish life are called to think of themselves.

Right? Do you notice the vision in this, to think of themselves primarily as being of service to the mission that the faithful carry out in society? He goes on to expand that family life and the workplace, and then he gives this warning, right, that parishes we're not supposed to concentrate exclusively on our own activities or organizational needs.

Then he goes on, he says, parish communities. Increasingly need to become places from which they're baptized, set out as missionary disciples into which they return full of joy in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness. Now, just [00:04:00] take a moment and imagine that, right? Imagine the weekly rhythms of parish life that sent out at the end of the liturgy.

People actually go out and they witness and they talk about the hope and the joy and the peace and the strength that they find in the Lord. And when they relate that, he does what he always does. He stirs in people's hearts and minds, right? When the gospel is proclaimed, something always happens and they can see it.

He's working wonders. He's healing hearts and minds. And when they come back together a week later. Part of what they're sharing in their worship is shaped by this gratitude, this Thanksgiving of the wonders they saw The Lord work in the lives of their children, in the lives of their friends, in the lives of their coworkers and their neighbors, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

It's a beautiful vision of what a parish is supposed to be, right? And it's not far from what he said in [00:05:00] Evangel gout. In evangel gout, the joy of the gospel. Paragraph 28. He says, in all its activities, the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers. It's a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a center of constant missionary outreach, like, can you see it?

He really sees the parish as a place. It's like a, it's like a mission headquarters. It's a, it's a missionary. Outpost in the middle of mission territory where people come, they're strengthening themselves and where they're trained to be evangelizers. It's a marvelous vision and I mean often. Right? Very different than our own experience.

Of course, Pope Francis isn't making this up. He's just taking this from Vatican two. Vatican two said something very similar. It says, moreover, the car of souls should always be infused with a missionary [00:06:00] spirit so that it reaches out as it should to everyone living within the parish boundaries. And if the pastor cannot.

Contact certain groups of people. He should seek the assistance of others, even laymen, who can assist him in the postulate. Now again, this is written in the sixties. Now many parishes here in the United States, the size, it's so that it's, it's actually practically impossible for a pastor or even a group of priests to be able to reach.

All of the peripheries, all those souls living within the parish boundaries. It requires a mobilization of the laity and this vision where parishes become training grounds and missionary outposts. Finally, I'll just give you a little bit from, uh, Canon law. You know, Canon law is the, is the name of the legal compendium of the laws of the church.

They're all kind of labeled, kind of, you know, uh, Canon by Canon. And the law, of course, is it's all about [00:07:00] governance and kind of keeping us in order, but the law often has a teaching quality to it. It teaches us a little bit about what we're supposed to be. Canon 771 is no exception to that. It talks about parishes.

It says pastors of souls, especially bishops and pastors, are to be concerned that the word of God is also proclaimed to those of the faithful who, because of the condition of their life, do not have sufficient common and ordinary pastoral care or lack it completely. Summary, like you're supposed to take care of people who, who don't really typically get that pastoral care within your community.

Okay. That's talking about believers, parishioners, people are registered, maybe the home bound, but then it goes on. It says they are also to make provision that the message of the gospel reaches non-believers living in the territory since the care of souls must also extend to them. Wait for it, no less than to the faithful.[00:08:00] 

It's like there's this co-responsibility to those who are disciples, those who believe, those who are parishioners, those who are members, and those who are non-believers, those who are not yet members, those who we often miss and overlook. It's a beautiful vision of what a parish is supposed to be. A missionary outpost for a particular group of people living at a particular time and place.

Now you can take this same exercise and apply to the question of youth ministry, right? I mean, I think our youth ministry, the goal should be not just to keep them safe, but to make them dangerous. I would love to see our youth ministries and shout out to my friend John Elli, who was able to do this as a, as a youth minister.

I'd love to see them be Trojan Horses where the young people are so on fire with the love of Lord and they, they've been equipped to share their faith that they enter into public schools and their select soccer clubs and all their other activities as missionaries, as ambassadors of the gospel to bring not just their [00:09:00] friends, but their, their whole friends, families into the love of the Lord.

So here's some questions to ask yourself. What do I really want for this ministry or this project? I mean, think about it. What do you really want The Lord's gonna be in those desires. So bring them forward and have a conversation with him about them. Ask yourself, what do I want it to look like and feel like three months from now and three years from now, what should it look like?

If this ministry or parish or project were fully mature and fully healthy and fully fruitful, what would it look like? Give yourself just a little, little bit of time to imagine. Let me pray for us. Father, we ask that you would inspire our hearts and minds with a vision and a dream. That fits your vision and your dream.

Lord, work in our hearts and our minds and inspire us with dreams for our parishes and our [00:10:00] families, and our ministries. We entrust ourselves to you and we ask that you would give us a vision so that we too can begin with the end in mind. Amen. Alright, what are your thoughts? I would love to hear 'em. You can respond back at the chat@quiparchomaha.org, and you can find the chat@quiparchomaha.org.

Thanks everybody. Thanks for listening to the EquipCast. We hope this episode has inspired you to live your faith and equip you to be fruitful in your mission. Stay connected with us by going to equip dot arch omaha.org. God bless and see you next time.