KEKAKO SCHOOL

My name is Brenda Camacho. I am 26 years old, live in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México and I am lawyer. In June 26, 2006, I met and experienced for the first time Jesus’ love and His salvation; it has been four years and Jesus still lives within me.
In 2009, our Lord gave me a new calling to attend Koinonia John the Baptist’s “Kerygmatic School of Evangelization’. Needless to say my answer was “YES” in spite of needing to leave everything that was familiar to me: my commodities, friends, family, a home, everything and everyone during the 3 months it lasts. I finally decided to stop focusing on everything I was leaving behind and started focusing on everything I was about to discover. This being the project our Lord has called you and I to, which is our calling and plan within Koinonia John the Baptist’s concrete project. And so, in this way, this wonderful experience started.
When I arrived there, I had many questions that sought answers. Day one: What will we learn? What will they teach us? Haven’t I already taken and know about the majority of the courses they teach? What will happen during these three months?, etc. In spite of the many questions that troubled me, I was sure of something: “To be open to listen and to receive.”
During this period, the Lord was present every moment: whether it was by using Father Sandro, Miriam or Paola, as our professors who not only shared their instructions, but whom also shared their experiences, testimonies, tales, merits and the difficulties the Lord has given them and permitted through their walk within the community. In this manner, not only did we learn in a daily basis, but we also lived what we were given.
The school opened my eyes and mind to discover concretely the calling the Lord had made to me. It wasn’t until I had taken all the courses: Methodology, Paul, John, Philip, Houses of Prayer, Kerygma, etc., that I realized each of them have a methodology within themselves. They are a part of a bigger structure, of a vision where one walks towards a common objective. All are a part of one body. The work is already done! The proposal is made and ready; the only thing missing is people whom will carry and proclaim efficiently the Kerygmatic news, today! People whom will announce that Jesus died and has risen for you and for me, leading them to proclaim Jesus as their only Lord, Savior and Messiah!
The Lord said this to Ananias regarding Paul: “But the Lord said to him: “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, Kings, and Israelites. (-Acts 9:15)” Today, Jesus tells you: “I have lifted you and called you in our Koinonia, because you are a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before all Nations.”
Today I can to tell you with certainty that I know who I am, where I am and to where I am headed. It all started with a simple “YES”. Jesus is not inviting you to leave, but to go discover. You only need to tell him “YES”! I did and doing so has changed my life completely. I know this will also happen to you and this “yes”, could change your life forever!
“More than a school, it’s a whole experience...”
My name is Erika Camacho and I am very happy to share with you this whole new experience that has marked my life in the last three months.
In the month of October, I had the opportunity to attend the International School of Kerygmatic Evangelization in Italy (a bit far from my country, but it didn´t matter), I knew that I wanted a great and new experience; Jesus put the need and desire to go, so I went for it.
I felt really excited, knowing the methodology of every formation course that I lived, understanding the reason and purpose for each one. I thought I would finally know the secret to the success of everyone course that had shaped me. I also thought I would finally receive new eyes to see with clarity what the Lord had done in my life. And you know what? That´s what happened! I discovered not only a new vision, but also a new person being called to the project of salvation of God for each and every one of us.
To be completely honest I had the idea that this school would be something like going to the University. One course after another until it was done, having time to fool around and then heading back to Mexico to work in my community. But Jesus didn´t think the same. The formation he gave me began from the moment that I arrived; living, working, studying, everything and this is how Jesus shapes us in all the areas of our life.
Courses like Methodology, Paul, Philip, Kerygma, Predicators, John, House of Prayer, etc. All these names went through my head, next to two words: Kerygmatic and creativity.
The thematic content of each course was developed in a clear form, every theme had an objective: behave more and more like Jesus; life a new and daily experience with him. Give testimony of what he has done and keeps on doing in our life.
Every course was filled with the personal experience and knowledge of the professors (father Sandro, Paola and Miriam); new lives, different people, but with the same Jesus that has transformed and given us homogeneity in our lives. Everyone gave life to all the main characters of the courses through the word, taking us to live a new theme and particular dynamic way, profound and having always in the center the living person of Jesus.
What I take with me about this school is a new way of being, thinking, speaking, and that with every endeavor, I have a clear goal from the beginning. I could understand that the school shapes those who want to work in shaping others. Not only by simply working, but sharing our experience and people at the same time can live their own experience with Jesus. Experimenting his love and proclaiming his salvation; that´s how this Jesus who changed our lives works and will keep on changing the life of thousands through his project, the Koinonia.
Today this community, Koinonia, is being shaped to announce with power, a Jesus who died, risen and glorified. This Jesus that has been constituted as Lord, Savior and Messiah. Jesus wants to continue his project and invites you today. God wants all men to be saved, you and me are active instruments in his hands. All that is needed, is to decide to go this year and live this new experience in the International School of Kerygmatic Evangelization. This experience will change your life. Today the decision is on your hands for this great project to transcend and pass on from generation to generation.

Begin a new stage of kerygmatic training is always a new challenge. Visions to be transmitted, goals to be achieved, teaching methodology, were the daily bread of our kerygmatic training. Yes, the participants, 25 in three months from different countries (Italy, France, Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Mexico), they were hungry, hungry to learn. The effort was great, but the result has repaid the commitment and dedication of all participants and teachers. The bread has forwarded raise awareness of the urgency of transmitting the Kerygma with a program and putting himself goals. Now it is clear that without a methodology, the way forward is lost, the goals are impossible to achieve and the vision fades. The challenge now remains, for all this bread transmitted, eaten and digested, it must be transformed into practice, for this: good job to all participants because they are the real educators and transmitters of the good news is, there where the Lord is calling them.

The program carried out by our International School of Evangelization kerygmatic in the period of three months, was as follows:

5 October 2009 – Inauguration

6 October - General introduction

6-10 October - Methodology Elements

12- 30 October: Training to Paul course

2 – 6 November: Training to John course

9 - 13 November: Training to Community course

16 - 20 November: Preaching workshop

23 - 27 November: Training to Philip and Testimony courses

30. November – 4 December: Training to Kerygma and House of prayer courses

7 – 11 December: Training to Isaiah and Emmaus courses

14 – 19 December: Training to ministries: prophecy, healing, animation

19 December 2009: Conclusion

During December I travelled to Tepla in the Czech Republic to take part in the Formation of Evangelisers course conducted by the Koinonia of John the Baptist (KJB) community. This is the same community that con- ducted the courses in Rome attended by Bishop Joe Grech and Adrian Commadeur back in 1994. The Koi- nonia John the Baptist community are the main presenters, in Europe, of the School of Evangelisation courses that many readers would have experienced through the Australian School of Evangelisation. The part of the course I attended consisted of an overview of the courses presented by the Koinonia John the Baptist. Many of the courses were familiar, others were new ones developed by the KJB. It was great to get a fresh perspective on the old courses and even better to receive the new courses. There are a number of new courses: John the Baptist (Testimony), Isaiah (The Bible as a person), Good News (Kerygma), House of Prayer, Joshua (Victorious mentality), Personal Prayer, Community and Charisms. We hope to present these in the diocese in the months and years to come. To me the trip was very much a KeKaKo experience. Kekako represents the key elements present in every School of Evangelisation course. It is a combination of KERYGMA - KARISMA- KOINONIA. Kerygma is the basic Gospel proclamation; Karisma is the Charisms that accompany this proclamation and Koinonia is the Community which does the proclaiming. Kekako is straight from the scriptures as can be seen in Luke 9: 1-2. "He called the Twelve together (Koinonia) and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases (Karisma) and he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal." (Kerygma) Other scriptures include Mk 3:13-15, Mk 16:14- 20 & Acts 4: 29-32 Kerygma: the basic Gospel message: When we evangelise, people need to hear that Jesus became one of us; died for our sins on the cross; rose from the dead; returned to the Father and sends us his Spirit. They need to meet this Risen Lord Jesus and respond by turning away from their sins, accepting the gift of New Life in Christ and being filled with the Spirit. For me personally it was very beneficial to have the importance of the Kerygma re-emphasised because the tendancy is aways to drift from the emphasis on the personal encounter with Jesus to putting the emphasis on information about Jesus, or the Bible or the Church. Peope don't need more information about Jesus they need the transformation which flows from a personal relationship with Jesus. Karisma: the charisms of the Holy Spirit. Again it was great for me that the course reinforced the need to keep the Holy Spirit at centre stage. As evangelisers we need to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit using all the charisms, otherwise the danger is that we drift back to a reliance on purely human endeavour. This is most important for the School, we are only charismatic if the charisms are exercised! When people experien- ce the Holy Spirit through the different charisms then they truly know that they have encountered God. The truth of the Kerygma is confirmed by the experience of the Charisms. Koinonia: the fellowship of believers. Koinonia is the community bound together by their love of Jesus and each other and above all by the love Jesus has for each one of us. It is an environment of love, commit- ment and discipleship where believers are caught up in the love of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For me the highlight of the trip was the experience of this fellowship within the Koinonia of John the Baptist, both in the Czech Republic and in Ireland. (where I visited a KJB community in Belfast.) The emphasis of this covenant community is on koinonia fellowship, not inward looking but as an outward looking evangelising community. This experience of koinonia can not be restricted to any particular community but should be something we all experience in our own Christian community, be it family, parish, prayer group, cell group etc. The key to true koinonia seems to be that the relationships within the group are real, founded on deep commitment to one another and to Jesus balanced by an outward looking evangelistic focus. The koinonia (Church, parish, prayer group) exists to meet the needs of the members AND to reach out to tho- se who don't know Jesus. The kerygma (Good News) can only be effectively proclaimed by a commited Chri- stian community. The question is are we doing enough within the School and within our courses to build real, personal commited relationships? Are we emphasising kerygma so much that we are neglecting koinonia? To sum up this kekako experience, what I learned, or at least had reinforced was that Kerygma without Koinonia will not produce lasting fruit and Koinonia without Kerygma will stagnate and die. But when Keryg- ma and Koinonia exist together then Karisma will flourish. In other words we need to be commited to buil- ding really strong Christian community where the primary focus is on evangelisation so that the Holy Spirit may be free to pour out his love and grace on all men and women, on every person in the Diocese of Sale.

Our school of evangelization made this program of study from october to december 2008

08/10/2008: Inauguration

Course 1 08/10 to 10/10: General introduction

Course 2 13/10 to 17/10: Methodology elements

Course 3 20/10 to 15/11: Analysis and synthesis of the Paul course

Course 4 17/11 to 21/11: Analysis and synthesis for training preachers

Course 5 25/11 to 28/11: Preaching Seminar

Course 6 01/12 to 05/12: First level training courses (Philip, Testimony, Isaiah, Kerygma, House of Prayer)

Course 7 08/12 to 12/12: Second level training courses (Paul, John, Emmaus, Joshua, Community)

Course 8 15/12 to 19/12: Third level training courses (Preachers, Moses, Jesus in the 4 Gospels, The Secret of Paul and Evangelization with Power)

20/12/2008: Conclusion

Here is description of courses:

General Introduction

In the introduction, elements are expounded that characterize a new mentality open to the kerygmatic, charismatic, koinonial dimension of the Church according to biblical texts and the Magisterium of the Church.

Methodology Elements

The course consists of two parts: fundamental and applied methodology which allow the student to possess and use the methodological techniques applicable to evangelization.

Analysis and synthesis of the Paul course

An analytical and synthetic study of the Paul course so that the student can understand, guide and explain the formative process that transforms an evangelized person into an effective, practising evangelizer.

Analysis and synthesis for training preachers

Preaching is the primary means through which one carries out the missionary mandate. This course enables the student to become familiar with and use various preaching techniques so that the announced message reaches the heart of the listener.

Preaching Seminar

The seminar is dedicated entirely to the practice of preaching. It shows the student how to find, expand and give a biblical message by means of practice trials under the personal guidance of the teaching staff.

First level courses of the kerygmatic training program

Through the study and analysis the first level courses of kerygmatic training the student will be able to possess the essential elements needed to implement a training process that will render the participants capable of testifying their own experience of faith and explain their biblical belief.

Second level courses of the kerygmatic training program

Through the study and analysis the second level courses of kerygmatic training the student will be able to possess the essential elements needed to train evangelizers with a winning biblical mentality, equipped with a solid interior life and able to weave together mature community relationships.

Third level courses of the kerygmatic training program

Through the study and analysis the third level courses of kerygmatic training the student will be able to possess the essential elements needed to form trainers capable of training and guiding the people of God towards an ecclesial maturity and to implement the missionary commitment, open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This is the mandate to which, our community, wants to answer in a complete way. We do this by offering a structure that is at the service of the New Evangelization! We wish in fact that a diversity of people coming from countries all over the world, will be formed in a way that develops a kerygmatic way of thinking that shows how to guides others to an experience of the living Jesus and teach to duplicate it.

The dream of p. Ricardo of creating a ’’school’’ where many, especially young people, would be able to learn how to announce the Gospel in a new and dynamic way is becoming a reality. From October 11th to December 17th, 2007 there was in fact the international School of Kerygmatic Evangelization at the University of Plzen. This is the fifth year that we repeat this experience. This year the number of student has doubled since the previous years. What also has grown is the universality because the students came from different parts of the world. The 27 students were from Check Republic, India, Mexico, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Check Republic, Germany, Poland and Italy. They shared their studies and life together for a period of 3 months. It was truly a ’’full immersion’’ in the kerygma. Personally, after years of formation at the university of Rome this step was for me a returning to the essential and to what is fundamental. It was for me an experience of Jesus dead and then Risen! This is what really changes ones life at the end! Many information were given, and that is very useful and they help to grow, but what is always fundamental is the same: Jesus has died and He is Risen for you! This is the most beautiful news, the most extraordinarily effective announcement. Man has an extreme need of the Good News of Jesus in order to listen to it and accept it in his heart. That is the reason why the Kerygmatic formation is more than ever needed in order to learn what to announce and how to do it in a most efficacious way (so that it touches peoples hearts). The methodology used is different from the one that is found in a regular school. It is a methodology that is active and one is totally drawn in, one gets involved in it and therefore experiences it. It is a hands on experience, not just a theory that one learns. It looks at the needs of the person and gives a concrete answer.

One learns to evangelize by evangelizing, this the motto that accompanied us from the beginning and that is what we did. Every Wednesday morning, we went out for two hours to evangelize in the streets of Plzen, in groups of 3 or 4 people. What were the results? Great!! We went 5 times and about 100 people received Jesus as their only Savior and Lord. This is truly a miracle, considering the level of atheism in this particular area of Check. We were therefore able to practice the evangelization and experience that the Kerygma is ’’power of God for the salvation of those who believe’’ (Rm 1, 16). In these three months we also had a visit by Bishop Frantisek, with whom we have already shared our methodology. Also the Indian Bishop Chakko came and stayed with us for a few days. He invited us to India in order to start a school of evangelization there. I thank the Lord for opportunity to make this beautiful and important formative experience. I thank with all my heart the equipe of extraordinary teachers who were able to transmit the kerygma and a way of thinking that is keriygmatic in a very scientific, organized and efficacious way. Ricardo, Alvaro, Cinzia, Miriam and Adriano, gave not only the information but the lived experience of the Gospel. In order to be able to answer the call of Jesus and evangelize in the whole world, it is necessary to be formed in the Kerygma. This is the challenge that the Lord gives to each one of us so that the precious announcement of the Gospel may transform in a radical way the lives of people. I launch this challenge to you who are reading. Try this experience and transform your life.

Dearest friends
I am happy to share the marvelous things that the Lord has done in me through the Kerigmatic School during the three months of my stay at Prusiny. It is only now that I am realizing what a gift He has given to Koinonia John the Baptist through the school. To speak about the school looking at it from a didactic point of view would diminish it because it is much more. The school teaches one to live with a new way of thinking, a positive one. It guides the person to see that the glass is ’’half full, instead of half empty’’ which is contrary to the general way the world looks at things. The school with its methodology ’’active-partecipative’’, has taught me on a personal level to be able to face the various problems of daily life.

I understood the importance of being able to live with a vision, the value of being able to give myself goals, and I learned especially ’’how’’ to reach them. All of this has aided me to come out of my limited way of thinking, from my schemes, from my difficulties, from my limitations, from my problems. Usually, previously, I had the tendency to think more than to act, and therefore I would look at the problem over and over again, more than coming to a decision to solve it. I lived more concentrating on the thought process than acting upon it. At the beginning, I had many internal mechanisms against this new methodology, this view of life. My formation had been centered more on reflection and it was somewhat in disagreement with this new way of acting and working.

The Kerigmatic School helped me to be quicker, decisive and concrete. It thought me to be able to live and face problems with greater courage and determination. It gave me the capability of finding new solutions to new problems in a faster way. I experienced that the school works and it is worth to take it. I can say with certainty that the school has changed my stile of life, or better yet my way of viewing things.

Now I face my life with a greater enthusiasm, with a new zeal, with hope and certainty to know that Christ has died and is Risen for me, and that He is always with me and guides and accompanies me on His path. I did not only study the Kerigma and its message at the Kerigmatic School but most of all I experienced it. Thanks to this experience I lived again, on a personal level, a new experience full of life of the Love of God, and that ’’Jesus has died and rose for me’’. Living daily this strong experience, has given me strength, new courage and especially a new thrust also for evangelization. I remember with joy the Wednesdays lived in the streets of Plzen evangelizing together with my friends from the course.

I saw and experienced first hand that the Kerigma is efficacious and it works because it is direct and as up to date today as it was two thousand years ago. The presence of students from other countries of the world made me realize that the school is something that can be duplicated, and multiplied and that the school is able to form people who can than form others and so on. I thank the Lord for having given me this opportunity in my life, and I thank the whole teaching group that has taught and followed us during these beautiful months.