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Ministry Resources
Work the Word

In collaboration with Mustard Seed Communities, Paulist Press is proud to introduce an important Catholic formation program designed to build a deeper spirituality and raise the level of awareness and commitment in service to the most vulnerable in your community and around the world.

The Work the Word program is based on a small group structure and is organized into two seasons with an additional mission component.

The first season provides participants with a spiritual foundation through prayer and reflection, and grows out of the experience of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Reconciliation.

The second season assists the participant to hear and to follow the call of Christ to live out the Gospel through the sacrament of Confirmation. It builds on and takes shape through the experience of mission and service within the Church and the world.

The mission component stems from the heartfelt desire to do more than just reflect on one’s faith. Many participants request the need to do something practical so that their faith can live out the Gospel. This component gives parishes and communities who use the program the opportunity for participants to express their faith in a practical way and to “work the word” in the local community and beyond.


Basic Structure:

The First Season
Session 1: Simplicity of Commitment
Session 2: Simplicity of Faith
Session 3: Simplicity of Life
Session 4: Freedom to Be Myself
Session 5: Freedom of Desire
Session 6: Freedom of Action

The Second Season
Session 1: Bread and Generosity
Session 2: Community of Faith
Session 3: Global Community

How Can I Work the Word? Practical Options
Option 1: A Service Mission in Your Community
Option 2: Service Projects for Mustard Seed Communities
Option 3: Work the Word Immersion Trip
Option 4: Mission Trip outside the United States

Skills and Materials:

The entire program is contained in user-friendly manuals for both leaders and participants.

The Leader’s Guide includes simple-to-follow instructions for facilitating the gatherings—no special skills are required, nor does a leader need previous experience in the Work the Word Program..

The separate Participant’s Booklet for each season outlines each session and provides all the material required for reflection and small group discussion.

Additional resources are available, including a Mission Trip Leader’s Guide, a Mission Trip Journal, and support materials to assist the leaders and facilitators in implementing the process successfully according to the needs of the parish.

Making the Gospel Come to Life

The mission component of Work the Word is a voluntary invitation to venture beyond our boundaries either in the local or world community. It allows the participant to come to “know” the vulnerable and not just “do something for those people.”

Based on the spiritual foundations of the first and/or second seasons, this practical opportunity enables the participants to meet Christ in others and know Christ in themselves. It allows for a real and deep conversion to take place, which will hopefully lead to continued service within their families, the parish, and the community.

“In Matthew 25:40, the Lord is not saying, ‘I was hungry, and I wanted you to send your neighbor to feed me.’ Rather, he said, ‘You are to feed me.’”
—Fr. Gregory Ramkissoon, founder and executive director of Mustard Seed Communities

For more information or to order the materials for this program please contact:

Paulist Press
997 Macarthur Blvd.
Mahwah, NJ 07430

Phone Orders: 201-825-7300
Fax Orders: 201-825-8345
info@paulistpress.com

Work the Word
Beyond Our Boundaries
A MINISTRY OF MUSTARD SEED COMMUNITIES
For more information log onto www.mustardseed.com
or
E-mail: worktheword@mustardseed.com


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