School of Discipleship

Fr Robert Christo, assisting the efforts of the Evangelization Commission in bringing effective programmes to help parishes and individuals on their spiritual journey to discipleship, had a five-night mission with Aneel Aranha as the presenter. At the end of the mission, Aranha left us with the School of Discipleship.

Founded in January 2004 by Aneel Aranha, the school is dedicated to strengthening the faith of Christians and spreading the Word of God around the world through its various ministries and activities, which include publishing, retreats and seminars, radio, film and television, and an extremely popular and respected website that reaches several million people each year.

Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI) is a lay apostolate recognised as an Association of Faith and Outreach by Bishop Paul Hinder of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia. The Discipleship Programme is conducted by Aranha, who is also the founder and director of Holy Spirit Interactive (HSI).

The School of Discipleship is a year-long programme intended to help people on the journey of discipleship while teaching them about the faith and how to share it with others.

The programme covers four subjects that are fundamental to the faith before culminating in an invitation to become or grow as a disciple of Christ: Repentance, Forgiveness, Surrender, and Prayer & Discipleship.

There is a small fee attached, but most parishes take a love offering for the additional cost and graduation expenses. A good sound system is essential, as is pre-publicity to gather as many of the flock as possible for a life-changing event.

Although simple, by the end of the programme there is rarely a single person who is not on fire for Christ. There are numerous other blessings that people have testified receiving, including healing of soul, mind, spirit and body.

There are eight modules within the year, each module comprising five subjects that help students grow spiritually. Workshops and projects often accompany. The modules are From Death to Life; Spiritual Growth; The Word of God; The Holy Spirit; The Fruit and Gift of the Holy Spirit; Understanding the Faith; Leadership; and Making Disciples of All Nations.

In Trinidad we have had two School of Discipleship. One was held by the Evangelization Commission Office in 2014 – 2015 with about 50 participants. The other was a requested by the then Carapichaima parish priest, Fr Matthew d’Hereaux for the parish. There were 40 participants comprising representatives from Carapichaima, Chaguanas, Couva and Princes Town and was held from October 2016 – November 2017, with three workshops and one group project.

Many testimonies came out of the programme. Fr Matthew was very pleased with the outcome and had planned to have an Evangelisation outreach in Orange Valley.

Coming out of the programme, the Princes Town group will be taking it to their parish and is on fire to spread the gospel to their community.

The Evangelization Commission is very willing to assist any parish with their evangelisation team. For further information contact the Commission’s office at 671-0133 or 671-4177.