Simply put, this is the ministry that makes Thrive successful.  We have a unique opportunity to evangelize young adults at a crucial point in their lives: when they are preparing to begin life as a family.  As we ask them to invite Jesus to be front and center in their marriages, we seek to surround them with peers who can support them in this decision.  That’s where you come in!  Team members will serve in three main ways: prayer, hospitality, and mentorship.

Our numbers continue to grow in this program as we receive much positive feedback from engaged couples and their pastors after attending a weekend.  So many young adults need to know, especially now when they are making big decisions about their vocation in life, that there is a Catholic community here in KC that wants to support them in their choice to pursue a Catholic marriage and a deeper relationship with Christ.  We want our Thrive Core Team to help us share this mission, to reach out and offer friendship through service to these couples during the Thrive weekend.  We are calling many of our participants to a radical conversion in their relationships, and we want them to know that they can find support for that choice in the faces around them.  We also invite them to continued friendship and community through City on a Hill, Heart of the Redeemer, St. Paul’s Outreach, and other family apostolates as well. Hopefully you can see the need and the vision for what we want our core team to be and also how you might fit within it. 

Prayer

What better way to prepare these couples for a Thrive weekend than to pray for them by name?!  Our team members will offer rosaries, chaplets, Mass, novenas, and adoration for our couples both before and during the Thrive weekend.  The chapel will be open for this purpose.  We would also invite you to continue praying after the Thrive weekend, as couples return to their daily lives and contemplate conversion.  You may find that you connect with a certain couple in a special way during your weekend service- pray for them specifically in the weeks and months ahead! 

Hospitality

This is a big one!  Thrive is designed to be a program that ministers through over-the-top hospitality.  You may never know how deeply you can impact someone’s life by offering them a warm greeting along with a cold beverage and some delicious food! It provides us with a comfortable way to engage in conversation with our couples and to show them that they are loved.  Special note: one of the great perks of serving is that you are able to enjoy all of the same delicious food and drink that we offer to our guests, and you may sit in on many of the talks offered throughout the weekend.  This is a great ministry for married and engaged couples, as well as anyone discerning a vocation to marriage.

Mentorship

This is a new feature that is currently in development.  Pope Francis has repeatedly called for more thorough marriage preparation, even extending beyond the couples’ engagements and into their first years of marriage.  We would like to offer couples the opportunity to select a mentor or mentor couple to accompany them as they prepare to live a new life together.  Some of our Core Team members may find they are being called to this type of service and would like to make themselves available to be a mentor.  As you interact with couples during a weekend, you may find that you form some meaningful connections.  Mentorship is a way to offer a continued source of support and encouragement for those couples, and a clear opportunity for discipleship.

Level of Commitment
We ask the following of our Thrive Core Team members:

• be ready to commit to praying, in some form, each day, for our participants
• plan to attend at least 3 of the 6 scheduled weekends for the year
• for the weekends you plan to attend, commit to attending at least two of the three weekend days or for a minimum of 14 of the 28 weekend hours
• invite others to join us in serving during a weekend, especially if they have never attended before!