4 Ways Forward

An increasingly post-Christian world is forcing parishes to re-envision how they “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Pastors and lay leadership must pivot to building up mission-first parishes, equipped to proclaim the Gospel to those who have not heard it — all while the numbers of practicing Catholics fall with increasing speed.

Parish leaders are hungry for programs and resources to help them address these challenges. The problem is that no single model or program can suit every parish, and leaders are bogged down with options, many of which offer no clear goals or methods. In Four Ways Forward, Susan Windley-Daoust, theologian and director of missionary discipleship for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in southern Minnesota, provides a roadmap to pastors and parish staff to make sense of it all.

In order to become an apostolic parish, there are four effective models to choose from, each built on a distinct, necessary insight and method in the art of conversion:

1. Radical hospitality and proclamation
2. The practice of spiritual multiplication
3. Organizational mission (re)focus
4. Highlighting divine signs and wonders in our midst

Every fruitful, joyful, evangelizing parish should embrace the insights and methods of at least three of the four models. This book not only describes each model, giving examples of how it is being used in parishes today, but also offers a practical blueprint toward crafting a response to the post-Christian world, including notes on spiritual roadblocks that can get in the way.