Parish Liaison
In the following Standard Operating Procedures, the following definitions apply:
Parish Champion – the person at the receiving parish who has the primary responsibility for coordinating bringing the retreat to the parish. This could be a staff member or a designated lay person.
Receiving Parish – a parish that desires to start JOURNEY.
Alpha Team – 8 men and 8 women from receiving parish that are prayerfully discerned and personally invited by the Spiritual Director of the receiving parish to attend a Journey retreat and eventually lead in launching the JOURNEY ministry at their parish.
Mission Liaison – Discerned to be single point of contact to work with the parish receiving gift of JOURNEY: New Life in Christ weekend retreats.
Mission Team - 12 men and 12 women from lead parish that are prayerfully discerned and personally invited by the Spiritual Guide from the lead parish to serve on the mission team and partner with the Alpha Team to deliver to Team 1 at the receiving parish.
Mission Partner – Discerned to assist Mission Liaison and serve as emergency backup. The Mission Partner helps to discern and mentor co chairs after Team 1 weekends.
Lead Parish – a parish currently active with JOURNEY. From this parish will come the Mission Liaison, 2 Spiritual Guides for Mission Teams, Mission Partner and the bulk of the Mission Team members.
Spiritual Guides (SGs) – people discerned to lead a team through formation. One man is discerned as SG for a men’s team and one woman is discerned as SG for a women’s team.
Team 1 Spiritual Guides – 1 man and 1 woman usually from the Alpha team who are discerned to lead the first team at a new parish through six-month formation period.
6 months Prior to Alpha Team Weekends
Pray
Mission liaison participates in JOURNEY U sessions as is needed
Mission liaison meets with parish champion and other staff members as needed to help them understand the JOURNEY process and calendar for retreats, formation, etc.
Mission liaison can provide parish champion with JOURNEY level login credentials to the JOURNEY website
Alpha team members are discerned, invited, and register for JOURNEY retreat which will be held at a nearby hosting parish
All Alpha team members will attend a JOURNEY retreat at nearby hosting parish and the majority will need to agree to go through the formation development with mission teamers to help fill all necessary ministries to deliver to Team 1 at the receiving parish.
3 Months Prior to Alpha Team Weekends
Pray
If parish champion is to receive administrative level access, they should attend JOURNEY U session CC 121
Mission liaison can track registrations for Alpha teams or provide parish champion with administrative level login credentials to the JOURNEY website for purpose of tracking registrations
Once a parish has assembled their Alpha teams, the mission liaison will discern mission team SGs within 30 days. The SGs will then discern the Mission teams within the next 45 days.
Once a parish has assembled their Alpha teams, the mission liaison works with the parish champion and Spiritual Director to achieve the following:
Establish dates for initial Men’s and Women’s Weekends to be held on receiving parish campus.
Ensure that rooms are booked for reoccurring dates for spring and fall weekend retreats, JOURNEY Begins, JOURNEY with Christ, Living a New Life in Christ
4 Weeks Prior to Alpha Team Weekends
Pray
Mission Liaison discerns and invites a Mission Partner to serve with Liaison for purpose of depth, contingency and continuation.
Mission Liaison works with SGs as needed to ensure that Sharing facilitators are discerned and able to serve immediately after Alpha team weekends.
Mission Liaison works with SGs as needed to ensure that Evening with the Holy Spirit facilitators are discerned and able to serve a few weeks after Alpha team weekends.
Immediately after Alpha Team Weekends
Pray
Alpha Teams and Mission Teams come together at JOURNEY Begins which will be facilitated by Mission Team SGs
Sharing the Journey follows immediately after JOURNEY Begins
In advance of Evening with the Holy Spirit, Parish champion provides Alpha Team and mission team if necessary, with JOURNEY level login credentials to the JOURNEY website
After the Evening with the Holy Spirit, Mission Team SGs along with Mission Liaison and Spiritual Director discern Team 1 SGs, Evening with Holy Spirit Facilitators and Sharing Facilitators from Alpha Team. Each member of Alpha Team will lead or shadow a leader at JOURNEY begins, Sharing the JOURNEY, Evening with the Holy Spirit, JOURNEY with Christ, Living a New Life in Christ
Establish monthly meetings with parish champion to begin after Alpha weekends to review progress as advancing upon Team 1 weekend retreats at receiving parish campus
4 Months before Team 1 Weekends
Pray
Mission liaison meets with parish champion for first of monthly meetings to answer any questions, introduce the invitations worksheet, finalize the calendar for coming year and address any other time sensitive items.
Utilize Parish Scorecard to ensure that action items are completed timely
3 Months before Team 1 Weekends
Pray
Mission liaison meets with parish champion for a second time to answer any questions, revisit the invitations worksheet and then work together to create strategy for outreach to all relevant ministries in parish. It would be ideal if invites to Team 1 include a number of leaders from a variety of ministries within the parish.
Spiritual Director and Alpha Team members responsible for inviting and securing registrations for 24 men and 24 women for Team 1 weekends
Utilize Parish Scorecard to ensure that action items are completed timely
2 Months before Team 1 Weekends
Pray
Mission liaison shares best practices for feeding retreatants and plan is established
Mission liaison meets with parish champion a third time to ensure that all is on schedule.
Team 1 SGs attend JOURNEY U sessions SG 111, SG 112, and SG 113 to learn the tools and resources available to them and their teams
Utilize Parish Scorecard to ensure that action items are completed timely