Small Groups

About Small Groups

Since the Church began, small groups have unleashed the power of the Holy Spirit in believers. Through Christians alive in the Spirit, God has transformed the world.

God didn’t take the Church from a small band of followers to the largest religion in the history of the world by means of organizational or management principles. He founded the Church on Jesus, a person.

The Church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning.
Pope Benedict Emeritus

We are created to be known and to be in community and that’s why we host Small Groups at St. Pius X! We are looking for men and women, with willing hearts, to help continue to move our parish into an exciting new chapter of creating spaces of intentional, Christ-centered communities.

A small group can be hosted at your house, at St. Pius X, or at a coffee shop downtown. They can happen anywhere!

Qualities of a Small Group Leader

God is not looking for your ability, but for your availability. *While all Christians are called to become missionary disciples, those who are already faithful to Christ and the Church, available with their time, contagious in their Faith and teachable in their heart are ready to answer the call to mission most wholeheartedly and effectively. These four qualities can be summed up with the acronym FACT. Let’s look at each one:

Faithful

A missionary disciple must be a faithful disciple first, someone who is fervently living friendship with Jesus Christ, living the four practices of a disciple in Acts 2:42 (prayer, fellowship, the sacraments, and the teaching of the Apostles) and seeking to deepen their intimacy with Christ. They are also faithful to Jesus in moral authority, living beyond reproach, which flows from a willingness to ask more of themselves than they do of others. And they are faithful to the Catholic Church and believe all her teachings.

Available

They must be willing to make time to meet with leaders and make time to give themselves to the people they are leading. They are willing to make time in their schedule for Christ and the mission to share him with others. Being available doesn’t mean they aren’t busy. It simply means they are so strongly committed to Christ that they make him and his mission a priority in their lives.

Contagious

They radiate the joy of the Gospel — including the fruits of the spirit (peace, joy, patience, gentleness, etc.) that draw others to Christ (Gal 5:22–23). They also possess the basic human formation necessary to lead and inspire others. This doesn’t mean they have to be extroverted, popular or “cool.” Simply, the way they live their life renders the Christian life attractive. They are willing to step out of themselves and draw others in.

Teachable

A missionary disciple is willing to learn from others, and other leaders in the ministry, the pastor and parish staff. They humbly acknowledge they don’t have it all figured out and are willing to grow and receive training or correction.

*Taken from “A Vision for Missionary Discipleship: Win-Build-Send” by FOCUS
(Fellowship of Catholic University Students) www.focus.org

Small Group Leadership: Next Steps

Congratulations on your next step to considering leadership. Thank you for your desire to lead a Small Group and impact our mission to be growing disciples, growing disciples!

Step One: Fill out Small Group Leader Application Form

If you are interested in being a potential small group leader, please click the button below. Once completed, we will consider your application for approval and we will let you know within one week of our decision. God bless! For questions, please contact Paola Peña at ppena@st-pius.org.