The Making Disciples Today Blog has reflections to help you grow in your journey of missionary discipleship, reviews on recommended Catholic evangelization resources, and practical insight on how to evangelize in your daily life.
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
A pastor once walked out of a parish pastoral council meeting visibly unsettled.
Voices had been raised. People had disagreed openly. The conversation had grown intense in a way that made the room uncomfortable.
Afterward he pulled me aside and asked me whether the meeting had "gone badly.”
But what had actually happened was something very different.
For the first time, the council had begun wrestling honestly with mission. They were asking real questions about discipleship. They were naming programs that had been running for years but no one could clearly point to them bearing fruit in evangelization. They were noticing the gap between what the parish said it valued and what was actually shaping parish life.
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- Written by: Burning Hearts Team
Before you launch something new this Lent, before you tweak the calendar or add another activity, pause...
Ask yourself first: Where is the Gospel unmistakable in my ministry? Where is Jesus named clearly as Savior – not implied, not referenced, not embedded – but announced?
A gentleman in his late sixties pulled me aside after an Alpha session and said to me, almost embarrassed: “I’ve been Catholic my whole life. Catholic school. Daily Mass. And no one has ever explained to me that God really truly loves me.” He wasn’t angry or deconstructing. He had clearly been moved and was hungry for more.
I’ve seen that look before – the look of someone who knows the mechanics of Catholic life but has never been personally confronted with the Gospel.
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- Written by: Kristin Bird
When we sit down with diocesan and parish leaders to talk about mission, there’s usually a lot of energy in the room. They know something isn’t working. They feel it. And when we start naming mission clearly — when we start talking about actual discipleship — the Holy Spirit ignites something in us.
Ideas come quickly, people lean forward, and discussions get animated (and often louder). You can feel the possibility in the room.
I’ve sat in rooms where every staff member was on board. Not just nodding — genuinely willing to wrestle with hard questions about moving from maintenance to mission.
And then all too often… the decisions freeze.
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- Written by: Kristin Bird & Elizabeth Bird
In January, my college-aged daughter Elizabeth attended SEEK. She spent several days in an environment where faith was assumed to matter. When she came home, I asked her to write down what she noticed. Not as a critique or a debrief, but as an opportunity for discernment.
Parishes pour time, energy, money, and heart into young people. I’ve watched pastors and youth leaders carry that responsibility with real sacrifice. This is not written to diminish that.
Leaders need generational mirrors. We cannot see what we are standing inside. I'm sharing her reflection not because she is right about everything, but because formation requires the humility to listen across generations.
I know how much time, care, and love parishes pour into young people. I don’t write this as a critique, but out of an honest tension I’ve been trying to name. Being immersed in an environment where faith was assumed to matter awakened something in me that often stays inactive in parish settings, and I’ve been asking myself why.
