The plane has landed. We are unpacked. Our brains are finally in gear. And best of all, what we learned about sharing faith from the 78th NCCL (National Conference for Catechetical Leadership’s) four-day gathering is still unfolding. There is much wisdom to share from the nine learning sessions and one keynote about evangelizing and discipleship.
Let’s start with Sherry Weddell’s helpful guidelines for entering into an open-ended dialogue about life’s BIG questions, or what she calls a “threshold conversation” that can build a “bridge of trust” between two people. Here are some openers for these kinds of conversations that we collected from Sherry and throughout the conference: What gives you the strength to do such a good thing?… How have you died and risen today?… What strikes you about Pope Francis?… Help me understand what you are thinking!… Tell me about the God you don’t believe in… Tell me about your worship experience… Do you suppose God had anything to do with your situation?… And in response to “So what!” it may be appropriate to share a ‘so what’ moment of your own.
PS. Got to use one of these during a telephone call that happened mid-blog!! Alleluia!