Making Disciples: Share the Call
Part Eleven: You’ve made it this far in Intentional Accompaniment. Now it’s time to invite the person you’re walking with to turn and accompany someone else towards Jesus.
Editor's Note: This column is part of a yearlong series on evangelization, breaking down what often feels like a tall order into real, practical, actionable steps towards intentional accompaniment.
I was praying every day. Reading Scripture. Diving into why our faith teaches what it teaches. Spending time with good friends who loved Jesus. Staying close to the sacraments. Truly trying to orient my life around Jesus so that I could cooperate with his grace more efficiently.
And he slowly began doing something new in my life.
At first, it was a renewed fascination with him. An excitement about all things holy — including the prospect of becoming holy myself.
Then, I began noticing a gradual distaste for sin and the things in my life holding me back from greater intimacy with God.
And then slowly — very slowly — I began sensing that the Lord was nudging me to leave Hollywood to do something for his Kingdom.
What that something was, I didn’t quite know. But I knew, deep down, that a big change was on the horizon.
So I began emailing and cold-calling different Catholic media organizations. My expertise and background were in film, so maybe the Lord was inviting me to work in Catholic media in some capacity?
But no one was hiring.
I shared all of this with a friend over the phone one day, and after listening to me, they simply said, “You should become a FOCUS missionary!”
“Heck no.” I was five years removed from college. There was no way I’d leave California to go back to a college campus. And to fundraise my salary on top of that! Ha!
“Why not? Just fill out the application and take them on a date.”
I applied twenty minutes later.
When I sat with the idea of becoming a FOCUS missionary, it felt like the Lord’s hand was on it. There was excitement. Peace. A sense that this was something the Lord was inviting me to do. And I never would have taken it seriously if my friend hadn’t given me a nudge in that direction.
Like a battalion sending orders to a soldier on the grounds through a platoon leader, sometimes the Lord’s mission for us is made clear through another person’s words.
92% of this year’s ordination class to the priesthood acknowledged that at least one person encouraged them to consider becoming a priest.
Words concretize ideas.
Let me put that another way: vocal encouragement can make the promptings of the Holy Spirit tangible.
God is communicating with everyone at all times. Intentional Accompaniment, in its most basic form, is simply entering into the conversation God is already having with someone.
Once you've noticed the person you've been intentionally accompanying commit more deeply to their relationship with Jesus, it’s important to offer them a clear, vocalized call to accompany someone else.
Something along the lines of, “Hey, we’ve been growing in discipleship together, and we know that the Lord called us to go make disciples of all nations. So I want to invite you to accompany someone.”
Or “A while back, I invited you to grow as a disciple of Christ, and you said yes. And so now I want to invite you to go deeper into mission with me. Is there someone in your life who the Lord has put in your path that you could intentionally accompany?”
Or “You’re really growing in your faith as a disciple. It’s been awesome to see, and I want to continue seeing it. And because our faith is designed to grow when it’s given away, I want to encourage you to consider accompanying someone to build them up as a disciple.”
Just as when you vocally shared the Gospel with your friend, vocally calling them to accompany someone else offers them a moment of renewed commitment to their discipleship with Christ. This call also cements the vision you cast with them earlier on in your accompaniment.
Better yet, this call articulates what the Holy Spirit is likely already stirring within their heart. When someone encounters Jesus, a subtle desire to share him with others is sparked. Verbal encouragement to share Jesus in a tangible way kindles that spark.
When Jesus called his disciples to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” the implication was that those disciples would do as their rabbi did and verbally call others to go and make disciples.
It can be intimidating to invite someone into more responsibility, but let’s be honest. This whole process has been intimidating! What’s one more ask? Especially when it’s for your friend’s flourishing? And the flourishing of someone else? And then someone else? And then… You get the point.
When you invite the person you’ve been accompanying to go and accompany someone else, they will likely have questions: Who? How do I even start? What do I do?
Because you’ve gotten this far with Intentional Accompaniment, you’ll be able to answer those questions.
You can help your friend discern someone to accompany, just as you yourself had to.
You can share the importance of authentic friendship and of finding spaces and times to be vulnerable, just as you had to build a friendship with the person you accompany.
And you can always reshare the why and how.
Your friend might feel like they’re getting thrown into a fire, but assure them you’ll be there to help them along the way. Exactly how you can help them will be the topic of my next column!
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Making Disciples is an ambitious, yearlong series of columns meant to equip readers with the formation, both theological and practical, to go and make disciples as Jesus himself commanded in Matthew 28. Through these columns, we hope Denver Catholic readers will join us in preaching the Gospel, so that in Jesus Christ all might be rescued and have abundant life, for the glory of the Father.
