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Part Five: Team Life
Team life is the last of the five elements of life in Regnum Christi.
Regnum Christi seeks to offer a true community of Christians, an environment where we each experience Christ’s love for us. This happens not only directly, but also through being known and valued by our companions in the journey and mission we share. For Regnum Christi lay members, the most basic gathering of that community is the team.
Modeled on the first Christian communities, Regnum Christi members gather as communities of apostles to pray, to evangelize, and to support and encourage each other in the living of their Christian vocation. Team life provides a nucleus of spiritual friendship, a community that is there to share the gifts and challenges of daily life with each other, and a group of like-minded apostles who work together to bring the light of the Gospel to those around them.
Why do we have teams?
A team is a group of members united in Christian fraternity to help each other on their journey of sanctification, in their formation, and in their apostolic work, following the example of the first Christian communities (Rule of Life 14.2).
Regnum Christi’s shared communion, spirit, purpose, and character—especially as expressed in the Statutes and Rule of Life—provide a solid foundation for every member and team, but different teams will adapt the specific activities they engage in according to their “circumstances of time and place.” Whatever will help them achieve their purpose as the “natural setting where their life in Regnum Christi grows and develops” is fair game.
Throughout its history, one particular team activity has fit closely with our charism: the Encounter with Christ. Very early on, the Encounter with Christ took shape and provided members with a structured but dynamic and flexible way to encourage each other in their Regnum Christi vocation.
The Encounter with Christ is a gathering in which team members reflect on the Gospels, review their Regnum Christi commitments, analyze the events and happenings of their lives in light of Christ’s truth, and spawn and develop apostolic ideas.
This particular form of fellowship remains a core activity in Regnum Christi. In addition, teams traditionally gather for study circles, monthly mini-retreats (these are often offered to entire Regnum Christi sections, with many teams attending simultaneously), apostolic activities, holy hours, and casual meet-ups just for the enjoyment of it. Our hope is that each Regnum Christi team grows to be a “joyful band of missionary disciples,” as the Archbishop of Detroit recently put it, modeled on and giving continuity to the very first Christian communities.
What does it mean for teams to be modeled on the first Christian communities?
In this video, Fr. Devin Roza, LC, talks about the lives of the first Christian communities, and what we can learn from them as we live team life in Regnum Christi.
The Encounter with Christ
The Encounter with Christ is the center of team life. In it, the lay members, as a community of faith, by the light of God’s Word, examine their Christian life, discern what the Lord expects of them in evangelizing the reality of the world they live in, encourage each other in their following of Christ, and enkindle their apostolic zeal. (Rule of Life 15)
The team activity called the Encounter with Christ holds a central place for the members of Regnum Christi. In it we experience and live the characteristic traits of our spirituality and mission in first person.
We encounter ourselves as apostles who are called, gathered together, and sent by Christ himself to the world and to the people of today in their concrete reality. The Encounter with Christ is an activity that characterizes the life of Regnum Christi and develops in a climate of prayer. It consists of two fundamental parts: the prayerful reading of a passage of theGospel, and the apostolic discernment of situations or current events from real life.
The members of a team seek to nourish their spiritual and apostolic life with it by helping one another along on the path to holiness, formation, and apostolic action.Through contact with the Word and a faith-filled reading of the events in our daily lives, the Encounter gradually shapes our way of relating to Christ and facing life situations, not only personally but also asa community. Looking at the world this way does not leave us indifferent. In a climate of prayer as a team, we listen to the call of the Spirit, see the needs of the world around us, and respond.
What Happens at an Encounter with Christ?
More Resources to Check Out
From the RC Lay Members’ Rule of Life
The team
- §1. Lay members of Regnum Christi ordinarily form part of a team. The team is the natural setting where their life in Regnum Christi grows and develops.
- 2. A team is a group of members united in Christian fraternity to help each other on their journey of sanctification, in their formation and in their apostolic work, following the example of the first Christian communities.
- 3. Teams, as communities of apostles, can be organized in various ways according to the concrete circumstances of each locality of the Federation.
The Encounter with Christ
- The Encounter with Christ is the center of team life. In it, the lay members, asa community of faith, by the light of God’s Word, examine their Christian life, discern what the Lord expects of them in evangelizing the reality of the world they live in, encourage each other in their following of Christ, and enkindle their apostolic zeal.
Teams
30.§1. A team is ordinarily composed of members of the same sex and stage of life, bound together by friendship, like-mindedness or common interests. There can also be teams of married couples, directed by one of the couples.
- 2. A team is directed by a team leader. The section director appoints the team leader for a term of one to three years with the possibility of renewal, after hearing the opinions of their council and of the team members.
- 3. The team leader has the mission of directing and encouraging the life of the team and accompanying each member on their journey of sanctification, their process of formation, and their growth as an apostle.
- 4. The number of members on a team should favor adequate accompaniment, friendship among the members, and the active participation of all the team members.
