BROTHERHOOD OF CHRISTIAN

BUSINESSMEN AND PROFESSIONALS

ACTION GROUP LEADERS

MANUAL

"Go, therefore, and make disciples from all nations.

Baptize them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to fulfill
all that I have commanded you.
I am with you always until the end of this world."
Matt. 28: 16-20

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 Table of Contents
Page

Introduction 3

The BCBP Action Group 4

Why Action Group? 4
Who can be an Action Group Member 4

The Action Group Leader 4

I. The Responsibilities of the Action Group Leader 4
II. The Care Provided by the Action Group Leader 5
A. The Authority of the Action Group Leader 5
How to Handle Problems 6
B. The Action Group Leader as Evangelist 6
Important Aspects of Your Service 6
Remember 7
Your Most Important Task 7

The Action Group Meeting: Content and Format 8

I. Bible Sharing Format

A. The 7-Step Method of Bible Sharing 8
Evaluation of 7-Step Gospel Sharing 8
Aims of the 7-Step Method 9

B. The Look-Listen-Love Method 9

The Aims of the Method 9
How to Use it 9
When to Use It 10
The Look-Listen-Love 10
II. Life Sharing Format
Sharing our Life in the Lord with one Another 11
Topics for Sharing 11
A Sample Schedule 12

Training and Ongoing Support for Action Group Leaders 12

Content of this Session 12
Initial Training 12
Regular Meetings with Unit Leader 12
Periodic Visits By Unit Leader 13
Ongoing Spiritual Formation 13

Conclusion 14
Necessity of Good Communication 14
Final Remark 14

Action Group Leaders Manual Supplement

The Role of the Action Group Leader 14
The Role of the Action Group Leader's Wife 15
Areas of Concern 15
Issues that Need to be Referred to the Unit Leader 15

PROPERTY RIGHTS
For the exclusive use of the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and
Professionals (BCBP). No part of this material may be reproduced without
the expressed permission of the BCBP.

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 INTRODUCTION
Helping men and women to love and serve the Lord and to grow in holiness of life is not only a very
important service, it is at the very heart of a healthy and effective BCBP or for that matter of fact of any
Christian community. It is also a great and perhaps even frightening responsibility. This manual wants to
help you fulfill the service in a good way.

Some things are presupposed as far as you are concerned. First of all, you must know the BCBP and
be committed to it. The reason for this is that you will try to help those in your group to become committed
members. They will unconsciously model their response to the BCBP on your own. You need to know
what the BCBP is, what its objectives are and how it tries to serve the Lord.

Secondly, you must be a person, who has made a genuine decision for Jesus. You need to be growing
in turning your life over more and more to the Lord. You need to be a person who prays, who loves God’s
Word, the Scriptures, and participates faithfully in the life of the Church.

Thirdly, you need to be righteous in all aspects of your life, but especially in your business practices.
Men and women need to be able to see that Jesus is really Lord of your life.

Fourthly, you must be able to work under authority. No one in the BCBP is his own boss. In our
service, we are submitted to others: the Action Group Leaders serve under Unit Heads and ultimately
under the Chapter Head, who in turn is responsible to the Executive Committee. We can only have author-
ity to the extent that we are willing to be under authority. Therefore, you must be willing to take some
directions for your service from unit leader and chapter head.

There is an old proverb that says: “No one can give what he does not have.” This is especially true in
serving as an Action Group Leader. If we ourselves are not converted to Jesus, not committed to the
BCBP, unwilling to serve as part of a team, how can we lead our members in precisely these things? It is
impossible, because much of our service will be done by modelling right behavior for our members.

It is a great privilege to be called by the Lord and associated by him in caring for his people. It is my
prayer that through your service as an Action Group Leader you will grow in discipleship and loyalty to
Jesus. I pray that the people you lead will grow in holiness of life and commitment to the Lord, in commit-
ment to the BCBP and in their ability to bring many others to the Lord in turn, If there is anything that you
need to serve better, don’t hesitate to come to your unit leader or chapter head. They are committed to you
and together with you form the pastoral team for the chapter.

An Action Group is composed of a relatively small number of members that meet regularly for Bible
study and sharing, mutual support and encouragement in their Christian life and service.

Fr. Herbert Schneider, S.J.

BCBP - Spiritual Director

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 The BCBP Action Group
Why Have Action Groups?
Through the Action Group an environment is established where the members are supported in a
mature Christian life oriented toward witnessing and evangelization in the business milieu.

1. Through regular Bible study and Bible sharing the members are helped to place their life and
service on the foundation of God’s word.

2. The members grow in friendship and brotherhood. They learn to encourage and support one
another and begin to help one another in need.

3. In general, they help one another to turn more and more to the Lord, to grow in discipleship and in
maturity of Christian service in the Church precisely by being witnesses in the world (Please read
Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World, Nr. 43 and 72; Pope Paul VI, On Evangelization In the
Modern World, Nr. 70; Vatican II, The Dogmatic Constitution On the Church, Nr. 41 )

Who Can Be An Action Group Member?

Everyone who has finished the Christian Life Program and the Culture Course and has decided to be
a member of the BCBP will be assigned to an Action Group. It is the Chapter Head in consultations with
his Unit Leaders who assigns people to their Action Group.

The Action Group Leader

In this section, the following will be discussed:

1. The responsibilities of the Action Group Leader.

2. The care provided by the Action Group Leader.
3. The content and format of the Action Group.

I. The Responsibilities Of the Action Group Leader

Since most groups in the BCBP are made up of couples, and since these men and women meet at the
same time and in the same place most often, the team over the action group consists of a married man and
his wife. The Action Group leader is the husband. He is assisted by his wife, who together with him forms
the team that cares for this Action Group made up of married men and their wives.

The Action Group Leaders, that is you, are responsible for the following:

1. You need to communicate clearly to all your members where and when the meeting takes place.
If there is any change at all in place or time, you have the responsibility to inform all the members
of the group.

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 2. One of the basic goals that you need to set for yourself is to get all to attend regularly and not only
that, but to come to the meetings on time. You also need to see to it that the meetings end at the
time agreed on.

3. You determine and set the format of the group meeting: The time spent in prayer, whether you
will follow the 7- Step or the Look-Listen-Love method of Bible sharing, or whether you will
share about what the Lord has done in your lives.

4. You have the responsibility to see to it that everyone has a chance to share and that no one
dominates the discussion. You need to make sure that Christian charity is observed in all sharing.
Obviously, since this is also your group from which you, too, draw strength, it is fine for you to
participate fully as long as you do not lionize the sharing time.

5. It is your responsibility to get your members to attend all BCBP meetings faithfully. You have
the responsibility to inform them of changes of place or time.

II. The Care Provided by the Action Group Leader

A. The Authority of the Action Group Leader

Let me spell out the extent of your authority as an Action Group Leader.

1. You can hold your members to all those things that they need to do or to observe, if they wish to
be part of the BCBP. This includes the following:

a) Regular and punctual attendance of Action Group Meetings

b) Regular and punctual attendance of Chapter events, and BCBP events, for example, First
Friday Mass and Teaching, the Chapter Prayer Meeting, etc.
c) Regular and faithful participation in service as far as the members are able.

You can ask them to do the above, because without that they cannot be members of the BCBP,
although they can still be Breakfast members. Obviously all members need to be committed to keep the ten
commandments of God.

2. You have no pastoral authority over your members. You cannot direct them authorita-
tively in their Christian life. You can encourage. You can give advice. You can say things
like: “This has helped me or others in the BCBP, maybe it will help you”. You cannot say,
“Do this!” or “Don’t do that”. You can make agreements with one another and then hold one
another to keep the agreements freely made. For example, you can agree that you would all
pray or study the Bible daily for fifteen minutes. Then if someone does not do it, the entire
group can say to that individual, “We made an agreement you included, how come you do not
keep it. We want you to keep our agreements”.
The group members make their own decisions in all cases. The Action Group Leaders do not
direct their lives.

There are two reasons for the above. First and most important, the BCBP members have not put their
lives under pastoral direction and have no commitments to do so. Second, most Action Group Leaders are

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very new and inexperienced in this type of service and in the Christian life in general and thus they should
not act beyond either their gift level or the level of training received.

How to Handle Problems brought up?

You do not try to handle the problems, but rather try to connect the member with someone who can
help him. Let us say for example, a member opens up to you and shares a serious marriage problem with
you. Talk it over with your unit leader or chapter head and then decide who could help the member best.
Maybe you need to advise him to go and see Fr. Ruben Tanseco,S.J. or Fr.Nilo Tanalega, S.J., or others
who are trained marriage counselors.

When problems are opened up to you, you should consider it your job to put the person in touch with
someone trained and able to help whether that someone be in the BCBP or not. In every case, you should
seek the input of your unit or chapter head.

B. The Action Group Leader as Evangelist

As an Action Group Leader you act in an ongoing way as the evangelizer of your people, that is by all
you do you want to bring them closer to the Lord, help them to grow to Christian maturity and to become
faithful servants together with you in the BCBP. You also want to help them become more and more
committed members of the BCBP. In other words, you provide evangelistic care.

“For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus
sake.” ( 2 Corinthians 4, 5 )

Important Aspects of your Service

New people who have just finished their CLP and the culture course in the BCBP are at times not all
that eager to attend or not at all punctual in attending. First of all, as new people, they do not yet understand
too clearly the goals of the BCBP. They do not yet identify fully with its vision. They are not too convinced
about the value of the Action group.

Some people join with reservations, with questions and doubts about the value of it all. This does not
mean that they are bad people or that they are not well disposed. Some may have come to the BCBP with
some bad experiences with other groups in their past.

At times even people who have been around are not all that eager for everything that the BCBP offers
and not at all eager to attend their Action Groups regularly. Maybe they have never experienced how life-
giving such a group can be. Maybe they come from groups that hardly ever met, or were boring, etc.

Remember !

Your members really want to be part of the BCBP and because of that you can expect a basic good
disposition, a willingness to live out the life of the BCBP. This does not mean that you don’t have to
evangelize them in an ongoing way to be faithful to the BCBP. They need reminders and encouragement.
They need a model of what it means to be a member of the BCBP and its service more or less the way you
do. With God’s help you can be instrumental in helping them to live a mature Christian life of committed
service in the world and in the Church.

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Your Most Important Task
The first thing you need to develop with the members of your group is good personal relationships.
You need to relate to them as a brother or as a sister. In the beginning focus only on what is really necessary
for a regular and lively brotherly or sisterly group meeting. You need to help the members, too, develop
good personal relationships with one another. They need to grow in friendship and in a desire to come
together regularly.

Prove yourself to be a good listener. Give them the experience that you really want to understand
what they are saying. Offer your input always in the form of brotherly or sisterly advice rather than direc-
tion or correction. Don’t be anxious or defensive, even when members bring up many questions. Just try to
answer the best you can and if you don’t know the answer, tell him or her that you will find out for them.

If people do open up problems to you. Just help them to get connected with those who can really help
them.

Continue being the evangelizer of your members even outside the Action Group Meetings. When
you see them at other Brotherhood functions like the Breakfast, or First Friday Teaching Nights, go to
them, greet them, chat with them and spend some informal time together. Communicate to the members
that you are really glad to see them.

When you meet them accidentally in a restaurant, a public building in the course of your day, again
greet them, if possible, spend a few informal minutes with them. Show that you are glad you met them.

III. The Action Group Meeting:

Content And Format
In this section you will find three different formats described: Two formats are ways of sharing
Scripture with one another, one centers on sharing of life.

Bible-Sharing Format
The 7-Step Method of Bible Sharing

Below I have reproduced the yellow card that was given to all Action Group Leaders. On the left side
you see the actual seven steps and on the right side steps to evaluate the quality of the Bible sharing. If you
do not have a yellow card outlining the steps, get one from your unit leader.

The Aims of the 7-Step Method:

1. To experience the presence of the Risen Lord.

2. To help each member of the group to be touched personally by the Word of God.
3. To encourage mutual deepening in the faith by personal sharing.
4. To deepen personal bonds among the members of the group.
5. To create trust within the group.
6. To create a “spiritual climate” for planning the action or service done by the group or group
members.

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 Both this method and the one that follows should lead to concrete action for Jesus Christ. That is why
these methods are great for men and women who are committed not only to grow in personal holiness, but
to serve the Lord in the world and in the Church.

The Look-Listen-Love Method

The Aims of the Method:

1. To start from a life issue.

2. To share life experience in which members of the group are emotionally involved, feeling happy
or unhappy about them.
3. To Listen to God’s call regarding this experience or event even if no biblical text can be quoted.
4. To arrive at a common action.

How To Use It

It is important that all be done in a spirit of prayer.

Any member of the group can lead the group by calling out each point and each question for the
others.

The step “Listen to God” can be done in different ways, but for the average group we suggest to
follow the way printed below.

We do not immediately ask the group to take their bibles and to search for relevant passages. This
could destroy the attitude of listening to God. Instead we first keep a period of humble, silent listening, in
which we want to see God’s view on this particular event.

This can be done by remembering silently words or events which we know already from the Bible.
We want to find out what God thinks and feels about this event. He may feel and think differently from us.
We need to really listen to him.

There are many ways God can speak to us. The Bible is one way. He may also speak to us through
Church leaders and through members of our group. Therefore we share among the group what we have
discovered. This sharing is different from the sharing in the 7-Step method where we share about our own
lives. Here we share about our discovery how God thinks and feels about our event or problem.

Different members of the group may make different discoveries. In this case the leader invites a
discussion in order to reconcile different views and clarify God’s will. It is the aim of such a discussion that
the whole group searches together and finds out in unity what God thinks about the event. This will help
the group to become real co-workers with God’s plan when they discuss a concrete action in the next step
which is “Love in Action”.

When to use it

The method should be used from time to time, not at every meeting of the Action Group. Action
Groups should use different methods of Bible Sharing and Life Sharing alternatively.

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THE SEVEN STEPS
1. We invite the Lord
Will someone, please, invite Jesus in a
prayer
2. We read the text
Let us open... chapter...
Will someone, please, read verses...
3. We pick out words and meditate on
them. We pick out words or short
phrases, read them aloud prayerfully,
and keep silence in between.
4. We let God speak to us in silence
We keep silence for... minutes and allow
God to speak to us
5. We share what we have heard in our
hearts
a). which word has touched you person-
ally?
b). how do we live our "Word of Life"?
6. We discuss any task which our group
is called to do
a). report on previous task
b). which new task has to be done?
7. We pray together spontaneously
(We end with a prayer/hymn which all
know by heart)
EVALUATION OF 7-STEP
PERSONAL GOSPEL SHARING
a). STEP 1: Was there a spirit of prayer?
Was there anything which disturbed or de-
stroyed the spirit of prayer?
b). STEP 2: Did everybody find the text be-
fore it was read?
c). STEP 3: Did we allow a time of silence
in between the words which we were pick-
ing out? Did we read them aloud in a
prayerful way?
d). STEP 4: Was the time of silence too short
or too long?
e). STEP 5: Was there a real personal shar-
ing or preaching down on others?
f). STEP 6: Did we allow the Spirit of God's
Word to guide our discussions on our
tasks?
g). STEP 7: Did we allow enough time for
everybody to pray spontaneously?
h). What did our facilitator do well?
What can he still improve?
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 Look-Listen-Love Method
Introduction

Leader: Today we do not begin our meeting by reading God’s Word, but we begin by looking at
the reality of daily life. We follow the steps of the Look-Listen-Love Method.”

Look at Life: Sharing of An Experience

Leader: Please tell us an experience which you found important, an event in which you were
involved yourself. Please tell us briefly in a few words.

It can be an event of your daily place of work, or an event of public life, or of your
neighborhood or of your home.

Let us now select one of these experiences for discussion asking the following questions:

What exactly happened? Do we know all the facts? Can we be told more about it?

Why did it happen? Let us look for the reason why it happened.

How do you feel about it?

Listen to God: What does God think and feel about this event?

Leader: Let us listen for about 3 minutes to him. In these few minutes put aside our own
feelings about this event, and listen carefully to the way God feels and thinks about it.

We do not open our bibles but remember silently words or events which we know
already from the bible.

We just imagine, if God would speak about this event now, what would he say?

(After the time of silence) Please share with us now what you think God feels about
this event.
(Relevant words from the bible may be read or told from memory at this time. If no suitable passage
come to mind, continue with the next step.)

Sometimes members of the group may have discovered different ways in which God thinks and
feels about a certain event. In this case the leader continues: “Let us search further what God really
thinks about our event. We can built on what we have discovered already and discuss it further.
Searching together in unity we may find God’s will for us”!

Love in Action: What does God wants us to do.

Who will do what when?

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 Life -Sharing Format
Sharing Our Life In the Lord With One Another

The third format of holding an Action Group Meeting goes as follows:

After prayer the members of the group may share about an aspect of their life with the others. The
purpose is to share God’s action in the various aspects of our life, to get advise, to give one another
encouragement and help in order to respond more generously and faithfully to the Lord.

For this sharing to bear fruit it must not be too general. The leader should pick a specific area, for
example what God has done, revealed, said in our prayer time or Bible study during the past week or
weeks, or what God has done, revealed or taught in the work environment in the past week or weeks.

The purpose of this sharing is not to dump problems on the group, but to share from the view point of
God’s action. This does not mean that all that is shared has to be blessings. I can share also difficult
experiences, temptations and failures, but always from the viewpoint of faith, of giving glory to God, and
of helping to build up the brothers or sisters in the group in their faith response to the Lord.

The members do not preach to one another. But after his sharing, a member can ask: “What do you
think?” “How do you see it?” “What would you have done?” And then some or all can share personally
how they would have responded. They might share similar experiences and how they tried to be faithful to
the Lord in those circumstances.

Topics for Sharing

1. Our relationship with the Lord.

2. Our family.
3. Our work place.
4. The BCBP.

For example if the members are to share on topic one, the leader might introduce it by saying:
“Tonight lets share about how we are doing in our relationship with the Lord” or “Lets share how we are
doing in our prayer life and Bible study”. If topic is chosen, then the leader might say: “Lets share tonight
what the Lord is doing in our families”, or “lets update one another about what is happening in our families
since our last sharing on this topic".

A Sample Schedule:

8:00 - 8:15 Fellowship, waiting for all to arrive.

8:15 - 8:30 Prayer

8:30 - 9:30 Bible Sharing/Sharing of Life.

9:30 - 10:00 Fellowship(some simple merienda)

10:00- 10:15 Final Prayers and Good-byes.

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 Training And Ongoing
Support For Action Group Leaders
Content of this Section

1. Initial Training Of the Action Group Leader

2. Meeting Regularly With Your Unit Leader
3. Being Visited Periodically By Your Unit Leader
4. Monthly Spiritual Formation For Action Group Leaders

Initial Training As An Action Group Leader

Before Action Group Leaders begin their service there is a training session. In this session the potential
leader is introduced to and trained in leading Bible sharing and life sharing sessions. In addition, the
essential elements covered in this manual are discussed. This training session is only a first introduction to
the service. Its purpose is to get the new Action Group Leader oriented to his service and to get him started.

Most of those going through the training session will begin their service immediately afterwards.
Chapter Heads, however, can also train men and women not for immediate service, but to have some
reserves to be assigned as they are needed.

Regular Meetings With the Unit Leader

The Unit Leader oversees the service of the Action Group Leader. Usually a Unit Leader helps and
assists from four to six Action Group Leaders. Most often the Unit Leader and his wife form the team that
serves Action Group Leaders.

Action Group Leaders will meet once a month with their Unit Leader for the following purposes:

1. To share how the Action Group Leader is affected by his service personally. Does he experience
it as a joy, or as a cross? Is it too heavy a burden? What are the reasons for it? The Unit Leader
wants to make sure that no one is over burdened by service or is in a service that he really cannot do
in a good way.

2. To share how the group members are doing in their life in the BCBP. Are they growing in their
BCBP commitments, that is are they living out the White Card? What are their areas of strength and
weakness? Are they growing in their commitments of supporting the BCBP with their time by
being involved in service, and by their financial contribution through the pledges. This is a great
opportunity to get input, advice, and help for the service of Action Group Leader from someone
with more experience in caring for people.

3. The meeting with the Unit Leader is also a time for prayer of intercession for the BCBP, its
members, and mission. It is a time to grow in the consciousness of being not an isolated servant,
but part of a team of servants of the Lord, who care together for the well-being of the BCBP and that
of its members.

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Periodic Visits of Action Group Meetings by Unit Leader

From time to time the Unit Leader will visit your Action Group Meeting. The purpose of the visit is
to see first hand how the group is doing. He does that not to spy on you, but to be able to understand the
strength and the weaknesses of your group more concretely, because he wants to assist you in serving
God’s men or women in the best possible way. The Unit Leader can do that ultimately only, if he has some
experience of the group not only through your reports, but by direct observation.

Ongoing Spiritual Formation

Action Group Leaders need to continue to grow in their relationship with the Lord in order to be able
to bring their members closer to the Lord. For this reason, there is a monthly Action Group Leaders Meeting
for this purpose. During this training session, the Action Group Leaders study the Word of God together to
learn from it, what it means to be the Lord’s faithful servant.

Under direction, they help each another to grow in prayer, in a knowledge of God’s Word, in maturity
of Christian character, and in all those things that help them to serve their members better.

Conclusion:
The Necessity of Good Communication

Good communications are essential for the groups to work well. You need to make sure that the
ideals, purposes of the BCBP are communicated and accepted by your members. You need also to commu-
nicate to them the directional decisions of the BCBP as a whole and those of your chapter. It is most
important, in addition, that you communicate where your members are at to the Unit Leader and Chapter
head. Communication must always be a two-way street. From the BCBP to the members through you and
from the members to the BCBP through you also.

Final Remarks:

No Manual is able to answer all questions or to spell out a service so completely that all is clear
forever. This Manual wants to give you basic information about your service as Action Group Leaders and
help you to do your service with greater understanding and with God’s grace also with greater commit-
ment. It simply wants to start you on your way as Action Group Leaders. It is important that you attend the
Spiritual Formation Sessions and the meetings with your Unit Leader. These meetings will assist you in
your service in an ongoing way. Finally, I want to repeat something that I said at the very beginning. If you
have any questions or if you have any needs, please bring these to your Unit Leader or Chapter Head. If
they can’t help you themselves, they know where they can get the help you may need. No one in the
Brotherhood is a mind reader. Unless we open up and say what is in our heart, we cannot really serve one
another. This holds for your members it also holds for you.

May God bless you and make you fruitful in your service!

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 ACTION GROUP LEADERS MANUAL
SUPPLEMENT

A. The Role of the Action Group Leader

1. He is the designated leader over a group of couples and is responsible for all the activities of the
action group and for the good order of the action group meeting.

2. He acts as an older brother to the group.

- establishes strong personal relationships with each member.
- gets help for them whenever it is available.

3. He helps each member to be fully integrated into the action group and in the BCBP. He has no
authority over member's lives but exercises concern for their lives, especially in the areas of righ-
teousness and good order.

4. He supports the life in BCBP and the decisions of its governance.

- does not use the action group meeting to express his disagreements with BCBP or its
gover nance. In case of such disagreement, he takes this up with his unit head.

- support fully any decision on movements of members from action group to another, and
help such members makes such movements with ease and minimum of difficulty.

B. The Role of the Action Group Leader’s Wife

1. She is responsible for developing and enriching sisterly relationships among the wives.

2. She provides good order in the discussion and sharing of the wives during the action group
meeting.

3. She sees to it that all the wives are fully integrated into the action group and in the BCBP.

4. She does not exercise headship over the wives, whose heads are their husbands.

C. Areas of Concern

The action group leader is not expected to exercise pastoral headship/authority over his members,
but he would, at times, encounter certain pastoral challenges/concerns which he cannot avoid.

The action group leader should refer all serious pastoral concerns to his unit head, who is the pastor
of the members of the unit, which includes the action group. Of course, the unit head can direct the action
group leader to handle the situation himself, with some input from him. Ultimately, it is the responsibility
and concern of the unit head.

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Issues that need to be referred to the Unit Head are:

- Severe or advanced relationship problems between husband and wife.

- Issues which pastorally affect the action group, unit, cross-action group, cross-units e.g. financial
borrowing or business transactions without proper consultation and clearance.

- Unfaithfulness of members to meetings which may require a decision to retain or deactivate a

member couple from the BCBP.

- Slander or gossip which erodes relationships within the action group, unit, cross-action group,
cross-units.

- Serious wrongdoing.

- Moral and theological questions, such as taxes, bribery versus extortion, penance, the sacraments,
the Rosary, etc..

- Proselytizing and ecumenical relationships.

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 THE SEVEN STEPS EVALUATION OF 7-STEP
PERSONAL GOSPEL SHARING
1. We invite the Lord
Will someone, please, invite Jesus in a prayer a). STEP 1: Was there a spirit of prayer?
Was there anything which disturbed or destroyed the spirit
2. We read the text of prayer?
Let us open... chapter...Will someone, please, read verses...
b). STEP 2: Did everybody find the text before it was read?
3. We pick out words and meditate on them.
We pick out words or short phrases, read them aloud c). STEP 3: Did we allow a time of silence in between the
prayerfully, and keep silence in between. words which we were picking out? Did we read them
aloud in a prayerful way?
4. We let God speak to us in silence
We keep silence for... minutes and allow God to speak to d). STEP 4: Was the time of silence too short or too long?
us
e). STEP 5: Was there a real personal sharing or preaching
5. We share what we have heard in our hearts down on others?
a). which word has touched you personally?
b). how do we live our "Word of Life"? f). STEP 6: Did we allow the Spirit of God's Word to guide
our discussions on our tasks?
6. We discuss any task which our group is called to do
a). report on previous task g). STEP 7: Did we allow enough time for everybody to pray
b). which new task has to be done? spontaneously?

7. We pray together spontaneously h). What did our facilitator do well?

(We end with a prayer/hymn which all know by heart) What can he still improve?

THE SEVEN STEPS EVALUATION OF 7-STEP

PERSONAL GOSPEL SHARING
1. We invite the Lord
Will someone, please, invite Jesus in a prayer a). STEP 1: Was there a spirit of prayer?
Was there anything which disturbed or destroyed the spirit
2. We read the text of prayer?
Let us open... chapter...Will someone, please, read verses...
b). STEP 2: Did everybody find the text before it was read?
3. We pick out words and meditate on them.
We pick out words or short phrases, read them aloud c). STEP 3: Did we allow a time of silence in between the
prayerfully, and keep silence in between. words which we were picking out? Did we read them
aloud in a prayerful way?
4. We let God speak to us in silence
We keep silence for... minutes and allow God to speak to d). STEP 4: Was the time of silence too short or too long?
us
e). STEP 5: Was there a real personal sharing or preaching
5. We share what we have heard in our hearts down on others?
a). which word has touched you personally?
b). how do we live our "Word of Life"? f). STEP 6: Did we allow the Spirit of God's Word to guide
our discussions on our tasks?
6. We discuss any task which our group is called to do
a). report on previous task g). STEP 7: Did we allow enough time for everybody to pray
b). which new task has to be done? spontaneously?

7. We pray together spontaneously h). What did our facilitator do well?

(We end with a prayer/hymn which all know by heart) What can he still improve?

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