The Rescue Project
On August 20 we are going to make available to anyone and everyone — free of charge — what we call The Rescue Project (TRP).
TRP is an eight week video experience intended primarily to be watched in small groups. Those groups might meet in parishes, or homes, work, or school, prisons — anywhere, for that matter. The Rescue Project is for people who have been going to Church all their lives, as well as for people who have never even heard the name of Jesus. It’s our response in ACTS XXIX to what we consider to be the single most urgent evangelistic task: a compelling proclamation of the gospel, firmly believing that most people — both in and out of the pews — have never heard it.
Deeply convinced that “the gospel is the power of God for salvation,” TRP has a threefold goal: to overwhelm, move to surrender, and mobilize for mission. More specifically, we pray that as a person makes their way through the experience they will be provoked in a new way to consider who God is, why He made the world, why everything is so messed up, and what He’s done about the mess. We pray that as a person is provoked by Jesus’ defeat of the powers of Sin, Death and satan, he will invite the Holy Spirit into his life to enable him to surrender — either anew or for the first time — to God. Finally, we pray that a person, after having been overwhelmed and moved to surrender, will understand more clearly the mission Jesus has entrusted to His disciples and be eager to use her gifts and talents to continue the work that Jesus began on Easter Sunday and which He will one day bring to a thunderous conclusion when all of creation is released from her groaning and He returns in glory.
The Rescue Project proposes a biblical vision of reality, including a sober and hard look at what we might call “the bad news.” In doing so, it looks at the one and only enemy of the entire human race, the one Jesus calls “the ruler of this world.” In doing this, TRP helps us better understand that we need to resist the increasing temptation to demonize “the other.” It also helps us better understand that Jesus is more than just kind, gentle and merciful, though He is all of these to be sure. Jesus is the one who is stronger than the devil, the one who has come to bind this opponent of the human race, so that we, the creature God loves the most, might be set free from his tyranny (cf. Mt 12:25-29). The Rescue Project also looks at how the Mass and, specifically, the Eucharist, are integral to the response God is looking for from us. Finally, TRP ends with a look at what exactly Jesus sends us out into the world to do, by considering various ways we are called to continue the work He began on the day He triumphed over Death. In other words, the goal isn’t to escape this “valley of tears” and get out of here as quickly as possible. The goal is to get to work, mindful that nothing we do for the glory of God is in vain (cf. 1 Cor 15:58).
The Rescue Project has resources for participants, facilitators and administrators, which will include everything from how to navigate small groups, the importance of food, the role of prayer, and how to conduct the retreat that is the capstone of TRP. These will also be available for free on our website (rescueproject.us) on August 20. We are hosting a day of equipping in late August, with representatives from more than 40 dioceses coming, as we know from our experience in parish ministry that what is sometimes called “a Netflix mentality” in the Church can’t solve the problems we face. In other words, transformation in our lives, families and parishes, requires more than hitting “play” on our devices. TRP came out of our culture in ACTS XXIX, and we want to help make sure it can be run in a similar culture, no matter the context, keeping in mind that it’s as much about how we do what we do as it is what we do. At some point in early 2023, we will make equipping videos available. In the meantime, however, Fr. John and Mary, who are overseeing this initiative, will host weekly live webinars for those facilitators who wish to join with others from around the country to answer questions about various topics and issues that emerge, and to assist them with whatever issues may arise. These webinars will start the week of September 11, and more information on these will be published on the website.
Please hold The Rescue Project in your prayers, and let us pray for a true spirit of revival in the Church and our country!
