What was the driving force behind this apostolic zeal of those early Christians for the proclamation of the Gospel? Their mission, as is ours, was to “to courageously proclaim the transforming power of the Gospel so that Christ Jesus may lead people to salvation through his healing, love and mercy.”  No small task! However, it was what led them to lay down their lives for the Lord Jesus. They wholeheartedly embraced the mission by seeing and living through a specific set of lenses that shaped their proclamation of the Gospel.

These would be the guiding principles that shaped the culture and behavior of this early Christian community. These principles help define how they operated, interacted with others and made decisions. This set of lenses could be defined as the “mission values” which guided and shaped their behavior.

Mission values are important because they shape the culture for missionary discipleship in the Diocese of Saginaw. These mission values help answer the question, “What do we stand for?” Mission values help drive our actions. In our case, they inspire us as a team to do our best in order to achieve our mission and vision.  In other words, they provide the moral and spiritual direction in our decision-making process and are the guiding behaviors for our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.

As a Diocese on mission, we too have a set of lenses that help determine how we are to behave in our own proclamation of the Gospel. Our mission values are:

• Ambitious for God and his kingdom
• Authentically human
• Docile to the Holy Spirit

What launched the early disciples on mission was that they were “ambitious for God and his kingdom.” They had a great conviction that God had set each of them apart for this work and that he wanted to do something far greater than they could have imagined. Look at what has happened in the last 2,000 years!  They understood the command, 

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19-20)

They remembered the help promised them. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (Jn. 14:27-28)

This promised Holy Spirit gave these early disciples an unshakeable confidence in the Lordship of Jesus, if only they remained in a posture of allowing the Spirit to guide and direct their evangelization efforts. Like Jesus, the apostles prayed in order to know what to do, and not merely before doing something.

If we are to succeed, these mission values of the Diocese of Saginaw must be the lenses with which each of us embrace our call to missionary discipleship. To be “ambitious for God and his Kingdom,” acknowledges that God wants his world back and that each of us has been set apart for this work. We were born for this. God is calling each of us into mission discipleship with unshakeable hope and confidence in him. Because we do not always live from this mindset, we must all pray daily for this “unshakeable confidence in the Lordship of Jesus.”

“In the beginning, God spoke…” and creation came into being. I believe that the Lord has a very clear plan for the Church in the Diocese of Saginaw. God remains the architect, and he has revealed the plan shared in the last edition of Great Lakes Bay Catholic magazine. It will continue to unfold in his own time, but we must be willing to go wherever he leads, leaving the all too familiar behind, and embracing the absolute primacy of prayer for all we do.  

As Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa said in a retreat to the U.S. bishops, 

“The Church is not a rowboat driven forward by the strength and skill of the arms of those who are in her, but a sailboat driven by the wind which blows it along ‘from above.’

To be “authentically human” means that we do not live in silos or isolation, but that there is a constant concern for our collective wellbeing. Through our baptism, we all have been sent on mission together. Therefore, unity is critical. We must become a Diocese on a journey towards one mind and one heart, all of us working together, as was the motivation of the early church. 

“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all.” (Acts 4:32-33)

Imagine if every Catholic entity in the Diocese of Saginaw deeply embraced these important mission values! We would have a Church growing by leaps and bounds. Recall first-century Christianity! Ambitious for God and his kingdom and filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, the apostles and a few disciples went forth with faith and trust. They had no Christian institutions as resources to assist them – only the Word of God. They could have been completely overwhelmed by discouragement, facing crisis in every direction, and even martyrdom. However, they were not discouraged. They were filled with joy and great hope. Most importantly, they had unshakeable confidence in the Lord Jesus, their message, and in the creativity and fruitfulness of the early Church. They knew that their task was to avail themselves to be used by the Holy Spirit to grow the Church, and they knew the power of the Lord’s grace to make it grow. What better blueprint could one ask for?