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Samples

 
The Growing Faith Project
is published by



A division of


Pastoral Planning Website

Suggestions for Use


Growing Faith is a supple and flexible resource. It’s beauty is that it can be used throughout the parish, in a variety of settings to meet a variety of needs, but retaining unity among learners.

First, download the free Growing Faith Project planner to keep your GFP materials and lesson plans organized.

This is the general process for using Growing Faith with your parish/prayer group/religion class/family, whatever!  But remember, Growing Faith is flexible in its use, and lesson plans are meant to be adapted to your catechetical needs.

1. Gather those who are going to take part for this session.

2. Make sure everyone knows everyone else. If there are newcomers or strangers, name tags are a great way to become familiar with each other.

3. As folks gather, even within the household or small group, play sacred music as a way of setting the stage and preparing the mind and heart.

4. It’s always part of Christian hospitality to have food and refreshments to share. As your group gathers, members can help provide this on a rotating basis.

5. Once everyone is introduced and settled, begin with the gathering song for Growing Faith, “Lead Us to the Water” by Tom Kendzia. You may either listen to it or sing. It is found on the PowerPoint CD-ROM accompanying the Facilitator’s Guide and may be played either on a CD player or your computer.

  • This opening prayer song is followed by a brief period of breaking open the word based on the Liturgy of the Word from the previous Sunday. Notes on how to do this are included in other whole community catechesis resources. Keep this to a maximum of fifteen minutes.

6. Then simply follow the notes in the Facilitator’s Guide (which are reproducible) and work your way through the Growing Faith booklet for that evening. Take your time and do not rush this process. Let everyone have a chance to share, wonder about things aloud, or express his or her beliefs. If you don’t get all the way to the end, save it for next time!

7. Encourage people to write notes in their booklets, to personalize them and own them. You may wish to provide a means with which folks can easily store and retrieve the booklets for on-going use throughout their lives.

8. At the end, make sure everyone knows when the next gathering will be held.

Get specific suggestions on using Growing Faith 
with various groups

 
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