Building resources for the weekend and fourth day activities

How does a budding community assemble enough pescadores to form a weekend team—and for supporting pescadores in their fourth day? The emerging community needs critical skills for the weekend, including music, as well as resources for the fourth day, such as administrators to arrange for Secuelas. Some team members for the first weekend (and even the rector) may come from the sponsoring community. Again, however, local leadership is important, and the most common team-building technique involves members of the leadership group encouraging fellow Christians to attend weekends in neighboring communities, and joining the local team. Even with this effort, it often happens that up to half of the team for a first weekend comes from the sponsoring community.

The emerging community can consider scheduling one or more retreats (or other extended meeting opportunities) with pescadores from the sponsoring secretariat. They can spend time together in prayer, study, and song, and celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. This is an opportunity to exchange information, discuss experiences, identify potential pitfalls, and preview the weekend. Yes, travel is involved. But members of the sponsoring community do so willingly and joyfully, knowing that they are doing the Lord’s work.

Establishing support from local clergy and church leaders

Although Tres Dias is a lay-led movement, clergy play essential roles—as spiritual directors, as counselors and teachers, and as ambassadors for the movement. Remember that one of the basic purposes of Tres Dias is to develop leaders for local churches. When members of the clergy see how Tres Dias can develop leadership in their congregations through personal spiritual renewal, they will become the movement’s most vocal champions.

Establishing some kind of “outreach program” to inform clergy and church leaders, and to enlist their support, is truly critical.

The outreach team must remember to be completely open, honest, and loving when communicating the Tres Dias story, placing Christ central and the purposes of Tres Dias first and foremost in their presentations. Nothing should give the impression of an “exclusive club” or “closed door society” or that anything is secretive.

I have always been someone who struggled with the idea of Grace. That it is just hard to receive, it’s hard to understand, it’s hard to comprehend. I don’t get it. I realized I was trying to comprehend grace…There was a comment at [Tres Dias] where someone just said, you don’t have to believe that you deserve grace to receive it. You don’t have to understand it to receive it. I felt like I [was there] to hear exactly that.

Mark French
North Texas Tres Dias