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» 04/23/2012 15:21
SRI LANKA
Small Christian communities to evangelise Sri Lanka
by Melani Manel Perera
Every diocese in the country celebrates the national day for Basic Ecclesial Communities (aka Small Christian Communities). The local Bishops’ Conference recognised them in 1996 as a new way of being Church. This year’s theme is ‘Go You are sent forth following Jesus in Mission – Small Christian Communities Serving and Ministering’.

Colombo
(AsiaNews) – Across Sri Lanka, lay people, priests and religious celebrated the
national day for Small Christian Communities, the true agents of evangelisation
in the country’s dioceses, this according to Mgr Kingsley Swampillai, who is in
charge of the Asian Integral Pastoral Approach (AsIPA). For him, such basic groups
enable the “community to take responsibility for sharing the mission of
Christian hope with their neighbours.” This year’s theme was ‘Go You are sent
forth following Jesus in Mission – Small Christian Communities Serving and
Ministering’.

In his
encyclical Redemptoris Missio (1990),
John Paul II said, “These communities are a sign of vitality within the Church,
an instrument of formation and evangelization, and a solid starting point for a
new society based on a ‘civilization of love’.”

In Sri Lanka, the
local Bishops’ Conference recognised these communities in 1996, a choice backed
by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) and the Commission for
the Laity.

In 16 years, the
Church has become “outward looking and participatory”, a “sharing Church, a
serving Church and a vibrant Church,” a “new way of being Church,” Bishop Swampillai
said.

“Here is Sri
Lanka, small Christian communities are neighbourhood groups of 12-15 people who
meet once a week to read and discuss the Bible, sharing their experiences,
discussing how God is present in their lives and organising and participating
in parish activities,” AsIPA’s national secretary Nimal I. Perera explained. “By
learning to know one another, they become a true community in which people help
each other and together they help other communities, becoming the leaven for the
transformation of society.”

“Everything that
is done in the name of Jesus, whether big or small, has no value if we do not
recognise and service Christ among our neighbours,” said Fr Eric C. Fernando, small
Christian communities national director.

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