Category

The Believing Community

The Believing Community is year four of a five-year intergenerational program. Sessions within the program can be used independently from the whole. This year's sessions focus on what we believe by examining the Creed.

Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Year-long Program

The entire collection of sessions for year four of FIRE: The Believing Community. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Covenanting

In this session participants will look at the factors necessary for it to become a community and to commit themselves to these conditions. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

I Believe

In this session participants will have the opportunity to explore the meaning of "belief" and to develop a "family creed." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

In God, the Father Almighty

In this session participants will explore a picture of God broader than the traditional one most of us have been given.

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Creator of Heaven & Earth

In this session participants will increase their awareness of creation as a gift from God and sensitize themselves to their responsibilities in preserving it. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

In Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord

In this session participants will look at some of the values God proclaimed, not just by choosing to send the Son, but by the family God chose to bestow humanity on the Son. We will also consider the gifts bestowed upon Jesus by his family and upon each of us by our families. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary

Most scholars agree that Jesus did not come into this life knowing that he was the Son of God. This knowledge grew within him and must have been the cause of much questioning and concern. This lesson examines what that search must have meant for him and his family, and is designed to help participants realize that life in a “holy family,” in some ways, is like life in any family. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Call to Minister

In this session participants will understand the special place the baptism of Jesus appears to have had in his awareness of his own call. Participants will look at similar moments in their own lives where God calls them to a deeper understanding of who they are meant to be. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Call to Discipleship

In this session participants will explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The symbols of "fanship" are described on the Take Home sheet from "The Believing Community: Call to Minister." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Call to Be Eucharist

God promises us that each community will have within it the gifts it needs to proclaim the kingdom. In this session participants will look at themselves as people of the reign of God, at Eucharist as their proclamation of that reign, and at the gifts they have been given for the task. The explanation of the "gifts" each family is to bring can be found on the Take Home sheet from "The Believing Community: Call to Discipleship." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Suffered Under Pontius Pilate

In this session participants will examine the trial of Jesus and recognize he was condemned by good, religious people who thought they were acting in the best interest of their people as a whole. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Was Crucified, Died, & Was Buried

In this session participants will reflect on the ongoing passion of the Lord in the world today. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Descended into Hell & Rose Again

Particiapants will explore the connection between death and resurrection in the life of Jesus and in their own lives, and examine the place of mourning in the death process. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Ascended into Heaven

This lesson will examine judgment and the eventual establishment of the reign of God as the purpose of the death, Resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

I Believe in the Holy Spirit

In this session participants will recognize the action of the Spirit in their lives. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

The Holy Catholic Church

In this session participants will recognize that saints are people who live Spirit-filled lives. Many people who are never canonized are saints, and all of us are called to live as saints. All the saints, living and dead, make up the community we call the Church or the communion of saints. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Forgiveness, Resurrection, & Life Everlasting

In this session participants will experience forgiveness as it was taught by Jesus. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Inter generational Session

The Believing Community • FIRE

Review of the Year

This session is a review of The Believing Community, based on the Apostles' Creed. It could also be used as review for any lesson on the Creed. Questions can be prepared ahead of time by the leader or by the participants, or questions can be prepared as part of the session by the participants. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

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Author

Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

Dr. Kathleen O'Connell Chesto is a well-known author and speaker on family spirituality who draws on her many experiences as a wife and mother. She holds a doctor of ministry degree from Hartford Seminary and a master of arts in religious studies from St. Joseph College in West Hartford.