Catholic School Discipleship

What does it mean to be a discipleship driven Catholic school? First and foremost it means that a student's relationship with Jesus is of the highest priority. Impacts on that relationship (discipleship) are considered at every level of decision making. In the Designed for Discipleship System of Evangelical Catechesis, we look at four broad categories of behavior as evidence of lived, fruitful relationship with Jesus:

• Prayer (Relationship With God)

• Sacraments (Reception of God's Grace)

• Service (Care for Community)

• Virtue (Relationship with Self and Others)

Discipleship driven best practice for Catholic schools involves looking at these things in four specific expressions: environmental evidence of practice (classroom and school environments including online), formal instruction (catechesis, religion, or theology coursework), structured communal opportunities (sacramental schedules, school planned service projects), and spontaneous evidence of practice (community interactions). Watching for spontaneous evidence is always my favorite! During a kindergarten religion lesson I observed last year a young girl was clearly feeling uncomfortable in her own skin. I observed the following interaction between two classmates when a nearby child noticed her quiet distress.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Near tears at this point the girl whisper-exclaimed, "I have an ITCH on my back!"

Without even hesitating the concerned classmate leaned over and whispered, "Don't worry! I've got you!" She promptly leaned over, gave her friend a good back scratch, and then they both moved on as though all was right in the world. What does this interaction tell us about discipleship? More than you might think! First of all, the first girl was uncomfortable and upset but she was doing everything she could to demonstrate self-control and not burst out and interrupt the lesson. This is no small feet for a child of not quite six! Second, the responding child noticed the distress of her friend and was moved to respond. We spend a great deal of effort teaching older children, teens, and adults to have this level of compassion for even the small sufferings of another, but it is often spontaneously demonstrated in the early years. The third thing (that showed me a lot about the true heart of this school) is that the teacher did not interrupt the interaction it in any way. The girls were genuinely trying to be discreet, and I wasn't even sure the teacher actually noticed it! When I mentioned it later though, she knew exactly who I was talking about and I even heard her share the story with a parent of one of the girls after school.

Obviously intervening (or not) is a situational call on the part of the teacher who had far more knowledge of her students than I did, but building discipleship requires teachers and staff who are willing to look beyond the surface level of behaviors (both positive and negative) and see the bigger picture of human formation. Building Catholic school dischipleship doesn't only mean increasing theological instruction and Mass. It also means providing encouragement for students to pray together spontaneously, serve others, and seeing genuining examples of virtuous behavior. We can observe spontaneous virtue in the way teachers handle everything from nose-picking (quiet redirection versus public shaming) to lesson distractions like the one above. It can be helpful to ask, are we teaching our students what to do and how to behave in our school with a set of suggestions of how to interact with others outside the school?

Or, are we helping them know their own identity as a child of God in a way that then overflows into their relationship with God and others in the community?

In other words are we helping them perform in a particular way academically and athletically or are we training them up in the way that we want them to go? Are we are teaching students methods of behavior or introducing gospel-centered principles of living?

For each of these question pairs, one option is easily vulnerable for rejection the moment the individual is no longer under the influence of the school setting. The other option will impact not just the student positively, but the world for decades to come.

That is what Catholic schools emphasizing discipleship can deliver. Results that are based on formation rather than performance. Admittedly, influencing performance (be it academic or athletic) is more straight forward than forming disciples of Jesus Christ. That's why formation needs to start at the very beginning and take place far outside the context of a single lesson or community prayer or sacrament schedule.

What school doesn't want capable students grounded in their true identity and dignity, rooted in relationship with Jesus, and passionate about following the call of the Holy Spirit to serve their community? These graduates form a class of disciples with gifts of academics, athletics, artists, musicians, teachers, leaders, and more who are prepared to serve Jesus through the application of those gifts today and and for the rest of their lives.

Have you ever looked at your school and been overwhelmed at the thought of finding a starting point for developing authentically Catholic discipleship? Wondered how to prioritize tasks when it seems like it all needs work?

We can help with that! Be sure to check out our Schools page for more information on our two main school services- the Discipleship Check Up and Discipleship Jumpstart.

During a Discipleship Check Up, we help Catholic Schools find a reasonable starting line for discipleship driven planning. Using the qualitative, discipleship-driven observation tools that we developed, we will help you identify where your school supports and reflects maturing discipleship and where it has room to grow.

Discipleship Jumpstart offers on the ground discipleship education to leadership teams, staff, and other community members. Think authentically Catholic professional development created by teachers for teachers to help them understand the who, what, why, and how of nurturing friendship with Jesus at different ages.

I'm excited about the possibilities and the fruits that will come from the work our school has already done with Tim and Heidi. The future is bright for the students at our school!

K-8 School Religion Teacher After Completing Jumpstart & Check Up