Discipleship Pathway
Our vision at St. Ann is to bring people to Jesus, form disciples, and send them to transform the world. This guides all of our actions, the decisions we make, and where we concentrate our efforts. We are a parish dedicated to helping people become missionary disciples, and the Discipleship Pathway is how we try to do that.
FAQ
Where do I fit as a parishioner?
We are excited for each member of St. Ann to take some time to ask the Lord to show them where they are on this pathway. Seeing the next step you can take will help bring clarity to how your friendship with Jesus can grow.
The pathway, as with the spiritual life, is not an exact science, and each person’s journey is different. The Pathway invites you to mature as a missionary disciple through regular formation and spiritual growth with other committed disciples. This will look different for every person.
Do you have to go through the pathway in a certain order?
The Holy Spirit moves in our lives when and how He wills according to His specific plan for us. Someone may first become involved through serving at the Carnival but then respond to an invitation to Alpha through a fellow volunteer. Or someone may start in a Connect Group in search of community. People may participate in the pathway the way they feel led. But as a parish, when we look at our hopes for someone first beginning at St. Ann, we believe going through the pathway outlined can bear tremendous fruit as it follows the general journey of a maturing disciple.
If I am already a member of the parish do I have to start with Alpha?
A parishioner or even a new member does not have to start with Alpha. For some people a first step might be to join a Connect Group or other steps along the Discipleship Pathway.
We do hope that every parishioner will experience Alpha at some point. Even for the most spiritually mature Catholic, part of growing in mission and holiness is learning to walk with others who don’t have faith and leading them to Jesus. Alpha provides a method that equips committed Catholics to better evangelize and disciple others.
Especially as a ministry leader at St. Ann, we believe entering into this pathway will deepen your personal witness in the ministry you are already serving and will help to provide context to your ministry.
The Steps
Alpha
Alpha is a chance to explore life’s biggest questions through a series of videos and group discussion. It’s an open space for anyone to bring their questions about life, faith, or religion.
Alpha is a low pressure environment. You’re free to talk as much or as little as you want. And while Alpha is designed for those taking first steps in faith, everyone can benefit from having a chance again to look at the beauty of the gospel.
Foundations
Foundations is a 10 week course designed to look at basic disciplines of being in a relationship with Jesus. It involves regular group discussions in a small group and daily personal reflections that provide the opportunity to go deeper into Scripture and Church teaching.
Foundations helps us to grow more deeply in our walk with Jesus. Through exploring topics like prayer, the Bible, the Sacraments, and some of the disciplines of the Christian life we are invited to grow in our understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus as well as grow in some of the habits - or disciplines - of living in friendship with Him.
Foundations is being offered in different group settings at St. Ann including through some Connect Groups and existing ministries.
Grow
Discipleship is a lifelong journey. We can never exhaust all of the richness and beauty of life with Jesus through the Catholic Church. So as a parish, we deeply explore our faith and continue to make space to Grow in a variety of ways.
Grow provides a platform for us to continue to mature as a disciple through things like bible studies, Spirituality programs, CRHP, or our new Multiply Leadership Course. We are constantly adding new ways for you to grow in your Faith.
Serve
Serve helps you find where your gifts and passions intersect with the needs of the church and the world and encourages service in that space.
You can help our parish family through our Hospitality Team by being an Usher or Greeter, or help with our Mass as a Lector, Eucharistic Minister, or Altar Server. Or even support our youth through our Youth Ministry Core Team or Children’s Ministry Team. You can reach out to our larger community through one of our Outreach Initiatives to provide Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas gifts to families in need. Or you can serve the world with St. Ann through our Peru Mission Trip for adults and families or our Laredo Mission Trip for Teens.
Worship
For Catholics, God present in the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith; He is our beginning and our end. And so throughout the Pathway, we worship and adore God for who He is and for His faithfulness, mercy, and kindness to us. As a disciple, we are called to worship the Lord in all we do — in our personal prayer and in how we live. Simply by living, participating, growing, and serving, we worship. But we’re also called to more; our God explicitly invites us to meet Him in the Mass and the sacraments.