The Diocese of St. Petersburg has produced a video series to help local churches equip individuals as missionary disciples, one of the goals of Courageously Living the Gospel.
The video series begins with an introduction by Bishop Gregory Parkes sharing information on evangelization. All Catholics are called by their baptism to be disciples and to share their faith. This is why the videos feature narrators who represent the faithful from many walks of life. The videos are also in Spanish and those are narrated by Father Carlos Rojas. (Click here to read more about these videos.)
The videos highlight the importance of receiving Christ’s love through prayer and worship, sharing Christ’s love through hospitality and being Christ’s love through advocacy and service. Reflection questions have also been provided to help individuals and small groups explore how they are fulfilling their mission to go and make disciples.
These videos can be shown at Mass with permission of the pastor. They can also be shown at faith community meetings, ministry gatherings or other events. They can also be emailed or texted to your friends, family or ministry groups. If you have questions about the videos, contact Teresa Peterson, tlp@dosp.org.
Introduction with Bishop Gregory Parkes
English: Video (Length 2:51) – Video (Length :59) – Script – Questions for Reflection
Spanish: Video (Length 3:04) – Script – Questions for Reflections
Receiving Christ’s Love
English: Video (Length 2:22)- Video (Length :57) Script – Questions for Reflection
Spanish: Video (Length 2:33) – Script – Questions for Reflection
Sharing Christ’s Love
English: Video (Length 2:22) – Video (Length :59) Script – Questions for Reflection
Spanish: Video (Length 2:58) – Script – Questions for Reflection
Being Christ’s Love
English: Video (Length 2:02) – Video (Length :58) Script – Questions for Reflection
Spanish: Video (Length 2:17) – Script – Questions for Reflection
Promotional Materials
Flyer: English PDF | Spanish PDF
Email Header: English | Spanish
Bulletin Ad 4×3: English | Spanish
Bulletin Ad 5×4: English | Spanish
Social Media Graphic: English | Spanish
What is a missionary disciple?
To answer this question, we should turn to Pope Francis, who introduced the term in his exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel.
In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (Mt 28:19). All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization, and it would be insufficient to envisage a plan of evangelization to be carried out by professionals while the rest of the faithful would simply be passive recipients. The new evangelization calls for personal involvement on the part of each of the baptized.
Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization; indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.
Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are “disciples” and “missionaries,” but rather that we are always “missionary disciples.” If we are not convinced, let us look at those first disciples, who, immediately after encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to proclaim Him joyfully: “We have found the Messiah!” (John 1:41). The Samaritan woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and many Samaritans come to believe in Him “because of the woman’s testimony” (John 4:39). So too, Saint Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ, “immediately proclaimed Jesus” (Acts 9:20).
– content via the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s website.