by Sean Dalton

An alarming number of Catholics are leaving the Church, despite having received some form of religious education and sacramental preparation. The Church is facing an ever-growing population of people who are “catechized but not evangelized,” demonstrating the desperate need for parishes to create a faith formation environment that produces disciples.

According to the principles of adult learning theory, adults are not impacted by a passive learning environment, like listening, watching, or observing. Rather, an active learning environment that includes thought-provoking material, discussion, problem solving, and shared life experience gives the teaching relevance.

Our mission at the Augustine Institute is to help Catholics understand, live, and share their faith. Taking into consideration the adult learning model, it would be a mistake to assume that understanding the intellectual truths of the faith necessarily leads to living the faith and sharing the faith. What is needed are study guides that help facilitate an environment for conversion.

To that end, the Augustine Institute creates study guides that foster conversion. These guides follow the format of Connect, Discuss, and Commit.

CONNECT – Questions and/or exercises to help a group get to know one another on a deeper level

DISCUSS – Not simply review questions or personal reflection questions, but rather, well-crafted discussion questions that engage critical thinking and make the faith relevant to daily life.

COMMIT – Accountability as a group to growing in spiritual habits

This format allows for participants to be known, cared for, and challenged to grow so they can “be doers of the word, and not hearers only. . .” (James 1:22).