II. OUR PASTORAL MINISTRY

The Mission of proclamation of the kingdom with the option for the poor as stand for justice and liberation must then be the orientation and direction of our pastoral ministry. Its must be the focus of our pastoral thrust, pastoral program, pastoral structures, lifestyle and way of life.

Building Basic Ecclesial Communities as pastoral thrust must then be proclamation of liberating kingdom-mission. BEC is concretization of the Kingdom-mission. BEC is enhancing natural clusters of families who relate with one another in a personal way of communicating, with a sense of belongingness, sharing common environment, experience of community, into kingdom lifestyle. It is a structure to promoting greater participation and co-responsibility in kingdom mission. It is empowering local communities into critical mass for transformation.

Pastoral Program is the implementing process of the pastoral ministry. It is organized, coordinated, processual sustaining community activities of formation, organization, and mobilization facilitating transformation of total life into the way of the Kingdom. Therefore, the pastoral program with Kingdom-orientation must be liberating with option for the poor. Pastoral program to be kingdom-oriented must be:
• contextualized reality based not imposed,
• stand for justice and liberation not dole out,
• centered in the local communities (BEC) not in the religious organizations and parish commissions,
• processual not instant organizing,
• transforming consciousness not instant solutions,
• emerging facilitating and animating leadership not enslaving and grandstanding leadership,
• promoting self-reliant activities and projects not dependency
• active non violence not armed struggle
• accepting conflict as essential in mission, not compromising

Pastoral Leadership: Leadership serves to facilitate participation of the community for the Kingdom-mission. Three areas of leadership are needed in a parish, namely, BEC leadership, Parish Leadership and Ministry Leadership. As way of leadership in the family, couple leadership is best in the building of communities.
• BEC leadership serves as facilitating and animating the community in the participatory research, decision making, planning, monitoring and evaluating processes.
• The Pastoral Council of the parish or KON-PAS as assembly of BEC Leaders linking the parish into communion of communities for kingdom-mission.
• Program Coordinators Team facilitates program planning, implementation and evaluation.

With BEC as pastoral thrust in the renewal of the Church, the religious organizations and movements are enjoined to make a paradigm shift. BEC as pastoral thrust takes priority and center stage in church life and mission.