By Claire, fcJ
In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, we are a small group of FCJ sisters with a growing number of Companions in Mission. We needed to think of creative ways to run the existing group while sometimes working simultaneously with the formation group. It became clear that that it was time to envision the animation of CiM in ways that empowered as many of us as possible to share our gifts of leadership.
Our members naturally possess a diversity of gifts and skills, like aptitudes for: pastoral care, social action, facilitation, organization and leading prayer. We have asked those of our members who stand out as leaders in specific areas to form small teams of like-minded CiM who will then lead us all to be more involved in pastoral care, social action, prayer etc. These small teams (made up of committed CiM and CiM in formation) will take responsibility for planning outreach and initiating action. Our CiM know already which teams they feel drawn to and many of them can hardly wait to get started.
There’s an energy flowing and a new level of confidence in the group and suddenly we find ourselves with a much wider pool of leaders and facilitators. We have invited the leaders of the small teams to play a full part in coordinators’ meetings and in the future planning of CiM. Some of us will act as mentors to those who want to lead in some way but who are still a little inexperienced. It is exciting to think that in this way we will keep our established group growing, nurture the CiM in formation and allow new and emerging leaders to find their place in our CiM community.
