More than 11,000 weekly subscribers have signed up for a year-long effort launched by a Michigan bishop to encourage deeper Christian discipleship among clergymen and lay people alike.
The Bishop, Earl Boyea, said, “I’m delighted, humbled and, yes, a little surprised by the degree of enthusiasm for the Disciples Together on the Way initiative”.
“I just pray that the initiative is helping more and more people across the Diocese of Lansing — and even beyond — to live more authentic, deeper, and happier Christian lives as disciples of Jesus Christ,” he added.
Every Friday, subscribers to Bishop Boyea’s Disciples Together on the Way initiative get a weekly discipleship challenge by text message. Each challenge aims to help subscribers develop a new Christian discipleship habit in one of four essential areas: prayer, catechesis, community, and apostolate.
Subscribers were urged to give thanks to God for their struggles at the end of May, for example. Boyea challenged people to attend a weekday Mass last week. He is inviting his followers to spend time in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament this week.
“Each weekly challenge is pitched at a level that, yes, may be a bit of stretch for some of us but is not beyond the capacity of any of us,” said Boyea.
“That is especially true when we remember we have God’s grace to help us plus the fraternal support of the thousands of others who are prayerfully accompanying us in this yearlong pilgrimage,” he added.
Boyea’s weekly SMS message also includes a link to a short video of him discussing the reason behind each task, as well as some tips on how to overcome it. There are currently 11,728 persons that have signed up. Each text has an average open rate of almost 90%.
When Boyea began guiding individuals on a daily Bible study called the Bishop’s Year of the Bible in 2020, the Diocese of Lansing adopted the pattern for a regular digital distribution of catechesis and inspiration. That message was also sent out on a daily basis via text or e-mail.
“As we read the Holy Bible, chapter by chapter, day by day, we more deeply encountered Jesus Christ himself in the Word of God and, as a result, many of us felt that He was calling us to continue our collective journey as disciples together on the way and, hence, the result was Disciples Together on the Way.”
Boyea coined the initiative’s name, drawing on Christ’s identification of himself as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), as well as the early Church’s practice of referring to their new existence as disciples of Jesus as “the Way” (e.g., Acts 9:2).
The 71-year-old bishop also revealed interest in including the Greek term “synod,” which means “journeying together.”
He explained that “This life is a journey, after all, it’s a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage from God and to God”.
He added that “It’s not an easy journey, that’s true. However, if we cooperate with God’s grace we can make it and, even better, we can make it together”.
Those assigned by Boyea with carrying out the discipleship effort, which started in January and will end in December, are equally thrilled with the reaction seen across the Diocese of Lansing’s parishes.
Craig Pohl who is the director of new evangelization for the Diocese of Lansing said, “Whether people are journeying this year with someone else — a spouse, friends, whoever — or on their own, there are over 10,000 other people in the diocese doing it with you in spirit — there’s something really powerful in knowing that.”
“Plus, the fact that it’s our bishop who is directly teaching, preaching, and sanctifying his people has really inspired many across our parishes — to know that our shepherd is himself leading his flock to Christ, it’s really great.”