Accompaniment

• Action Ideas for Missionary Discipleship
• Praying with the Family
• Cursillo
• Start with Jesus - Julianne Stanz
• Bible Studies
• Resources: Integrated Evangelization
• Catholic Apostolate Center: The Art of Accompaniment
• USCCB - CoWorkers in the Vineyard
• https://www.evangelicalcatholic.org/onepercent/

What is Accompaniment?

Pope Francis formally launched the new evangelization throughout the Church through The Joy of the Gospel. He proclaims that we have been sent on a mission by Jesus who calls us to spread the good news of the Gospel in our own corner of the world. Thus, we are to see our lives as living a mission and so see ourselves as “Missionary Disciples.” Pope Francis describes it this way: “In virtue of their baptism, all members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.”

What does it mean to be on this mission? Pope Francis says at the center of being a missionary disciple is being engaged in “Accompaniment.” This leads to the next question – What is accompaniment? It means we get involved in a relationship with someone so that we form a connection with them which allows us to reflect the love of Jesus to them. We do not have to preach or teach, but we witness love. This connection then moves into a spiritual friendship and so, along the way, we should be willing to share with them where the source of all love comes
from – Jesus.

If you are thinking, “I should get the people I accompany into Mass and connected to the Church so that they can form a closer relationship with Jesus” your Catholic understanding of a relationship with Jesus is correct. There is nothing more intimate on this earth than to be with Jesus through the Eucharist, but at the same time we also need to understand that it may take time for others to be ready for this step. In this day and age, when people are skeptical of all authority and think they can figure out God on their own, starting with “getting them to come to Mass” may not work. Accompaniment suggests that the process is often gradual. Pope St. John Paul II summed it up best when he said, “People today put more trust in witnesses than in teachers, in experienced than in teaching and in life and action than in theories. The witness of a Christian life is the first and irreplaceable form of mission...” 

Always keep one thing in mind, a key part of being ready to accompanying someone else into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ is your own relationship with Jesus deepened through the Mass and other forms of prayer. If you want to learn more about what Pope Francis calls “the art of accompaniment,” look through other links in this part of the Formation in Discipleship web page and keep an eye for more information that will be added later.