Message to all members of the Yarumal Foreign Missions Society

July 19, 2021

Message to all members of the Yarumal Foreign Missions Society

Dear brothers, receive a fraternal greeting in the Lord Jesus.

The members of the Preparatory Commission for the Consultative Assembly consider that it is essential to listen to all the voices of the community. Many missionaries have stated that they do not feel heard. We want the preparation for the next Consultative Assembly, which will be held virtually, to be an opportunity for all of us to listen to each other, without exception. With this objective, we want to invite all the IMEY members, in their different groups and regions, to have virtual meetings with the preparatory commission, according to the following proposed calendar:

Dias propuestos Date	Región 1	Región 2	Región 3	Jurisdicción Especial	Idiomas Languages
26-Jul-21	Bolivia	Angola		Emaus-Economia	ESP-POR
09-Aug-21	Europa	Panamá	Inirida	Ima	ENG-ESP
23-Aug-21	Kenya	Asia		Formacion	ENG-ESP
06-Sep-21	Cote D’Ivoire	Vaupes	Ecuador	Animación Misionera y Parroquias Adscritas.	ENG-ESP

The meetings would be on Mondays (according to the dates indicated), from 8:00 to 9:30 am (Colombian time). The platform to be used will be Zoom. The ideal is that our meetings last no more than one hour and thirty minutes.

Note: The professed brothers MXY (students of Theology) can join these groups according to their time availability (it would be considered the possibility of an exclusive space with them in case they cannot join any of these groups).

Questions for personal and community reflection

We want to review our past General Assembly from these questions that will help us to locate ourselves personally and as a community (See prospective plan for the six-year period 2018-2014)

1.- What would help to revive my original joy as a Yarumal missionary? From the reality of the mission and the fraternity where I live, am I fulfilling myself as a person, as a disciple and missionary? (My relationships: living the mission in missionary fraternities)

2.- How do we live the mission as a presence, accompaniment and missionary outing? Missionary identity Ad Gentes (guidelines: among those who do not know Christ, and among them the poorest); living the 11 principles of missionary action in the IMEY; the formative processes in preparation for the specific Mission of the IMEY.

3.- What are the challenges posed by the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic at the level of our personal reality, our missionary identity, our economy, our fraternal and pastoral life?

Methodology

We will have a short prayer, a general greeting for all the fraternities that join the platform on that day and the explanation of the activity and the methodology (approximately 10 minutes).

After this, we will have the work for the groups (regions or jurisdictions) to which we belong: the first thing is to choose a spokesperson for the missionary fraternity, who will take note of the participations and share the synthesis of his group in the plenary at the end.

We will work in these groups about 35-40 minutes: approximately 10 minutes for each of the 3 questions proposed, and about five minutes to express suggestions and questions about the methodology and technology of this virtual consultative assembly. One the members of your group will be the spokesperson in the general plenary that will be during the last 35 minutes of the meeting. We recommend that each missionary have previously reflected on these three questions in order to prepare his participation for the meeting.

About the organization of the groups in the Zoom platform, we will see on the screen, the list of the names of the fraternities invited to the meeting of the day: each of the members chooses the name of their own fraternity, click yes (accept), and there the separate rooms will show up. After 35 minutes, the meeting administrator will bring all the members back to the general plenary, so there will be no way to expand on the topic: the screen will warn a few minutes before closing the groups.

In the general plenary session, the spokesperson for each group will share the main points made in his work team. The idea is to be able to create a space for meeting and interacting with brothers of missionary fraternities with whom we would not normally have this space for dialogue.

We want to express our gratitude for your availability and participation. In the same way, we want to invite those who for one reason or another cannot connect in these virtual meetings to participate in this preparation time for the Consultative Assembly with their personal and / or community contributions. Any comment, doubt or suggestion will always be valuable and taken into account by our work team.

May the Lord continue to help us to strengthen our bonds of fraternity and to unite as IMEY in this challenging time for our humanity and our missionary family.

Soli Deo Honor et Gloria

Members of the Preparatory Commission for the Consultative Assembly.