Drawing up the Community Annual Program
of a Lasallian Christian Community
SIGNUM FIDEI
“Each community drafts or revises annually its Community
Annual Program where the personal programs of all its members
are gathered together and shared with the community (Style of
Life -SL- # 38).
The Community Annual Program is an action plan drawn up by a community in view of
exercising a common ministry in the spirit of Association and to help all members grow as
Lasallian Christians. The program spells out how to live the Gospel in our concrete reality and it
includes those aspects from the Personal Program that have to do with the community's common
mission.
Points of Departure:
 Our first "Style of Life" is the GOSPEL, read and lived in light of Lasallian spirituality (EV # 59).
 We place ourselves on the "road," without perfect definitions, nor finished theories...only with
the will to journey and to know that we have been called by God, "together and by association,"
to live the adventure of reflecting, growing, and being committed in FAITH to a Christian
COMMUNITY in SERVICE of the Lasallian Mission.
 Characteristics that define an intentional FSC Lasallian community: The spirit of Faith, Service
(Commitment), Community (SL # 16).
a) A stable view of solidarity with other Lasallians and commitment to the Lasallian mission.
b) A search for nourishment and meaning in Lasallian spirituality; the awareness of
cooperating in God's work.
c) A clear sense of belonging to the common Lasallian story and to the District; regular
participation in District meetings, formation meetings...
d) Participation in some community experience with other Lasallians.
e) Interest in and openness to the universality of the Lasallian mission.
FIRST PART: A Community of Life (SL # 35 - 41)
A) We define ourselves as a human group:
 Our history/story: Some points about when we began our journey as a
group. After x (number) of years we want....... We give thanks to God
for.....
 Who are the members of the group/community?
- The community is made up of....... (our names and some data of the personal reality that defines
us...)
- We come to the community from different paths, each with his or her own gifts and
limitations...
- We need to accept that fact that there may be differences and different levels of commitment
while respecting some common minimums but without the rhythm of those who want to move
more quickly.
B) Who we want to be as a community:
 Some common traits that define all of us.
 As persons we are united by historical ties of friendship, fellow citizens, common
understandings or interests, some identical cultural traits, Christian values...but these are only
starting points, we do not stay there...
 We express the desire of mutual acceptance that goes beyond differences.
 We define the style of interpersonal relationships that we want to have.
 We express how we are going to combine the personal option for this community with the
family dimension.
 Celebrating life: Highlight birthdays, feasts, and anniversaries of the group. Anniversaries of
members of the community and Lasallian anniversaries.
 I wish to be united in the joys and suffering of each member.
 Dynamics that we want to live to strengthen the community: mutual help, fraternal correction,
pardon, mutual accompaniment...
C) The community is built upon sharing:
 A Community of gifts: To express the desire of each one to place at the disposal of others and of
the mission each one's personal qualities and talents.
 The goods of the community: To decide if there is a "Common purse: for the needs of the group,
to help the poor; to finance the activities of those who travel or attend formation courses for the
good of the community...; to pay for the trips that are made to represent the community at
District events.
 To be members of an association with a monthly quota as a community.
 To acquire a small library containing common, interesting books: Bibles, prayer books, spiritual
reading books, Lasallian literature, magazine subscriptions, other expenditures...
D) As members of a "community of communities" (SL # 65 - 72)
 To learn how to be and to feel as part of the Church and the Lasallian Family. How do we relate
to other Lasallian groups and communities?
 To encourage relationships with others, to be seen as and to learn how to be part of something
bigger: District, Region...
 Contact with those in charge of the District and the nearest Brothers' Community.
 To participate in District and Regional events: meetings, annual retreats...
 Times for prayer and meetings with the community of Brothers and other Christian
communities of the school, District, Region...
E) Internal organization of the community and distribution of Responsibilities (Some of these
responsibilities may be annual ones or of longer duration) (See also SL # 79 - 80).
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Animator - reference person - group coordinator.
Treasurer (SL # 85).
Prayer and music leaders...
Chronicler (to record the important events of the community, to have a photo album of
significant happenings, to publish a report of activities).
Planning community meeting times:
 Weekly and annual meetings: Day, time... Planning the content of these meetings...formation
topics, dialogue, other persons may join the group to tell their story..Don't improvise too
much...plan for at least quarterly.
 Make a community calendar: set dates for socializing, outings, retreats, leisure time together.
SECOND PART: Life of Faith - Community of Faith (SL # 42 - 51)
 Faith is the very source of the Community. It leads us to see events,
persons and things "with the eyes of faith" (as Jesus saw them) and to
commit ourselves to serve others (SL # 17).
 Who calls us together?: Jesus through De La Salle/De La Salle in the
name of Jesus, but this deals with a personal and global option. It is not
an option to be different from anyone else, but to choose something that
seems good and useful for me and for others. It is about opting for Christian living in faith
within a community because this is what Jesus showed us and it is the most genuine way of
following him.
 To attend to times for living together and celebrating faith.
To prepare the opening prayer when we gather.
To share prayer, celebrate the Eucharist...
To live the Gospel: Celebration of faith and of life. To pray for the life of humankind
today and for the members of the community.
 Consecration: Consecrated in service of God, for the building up of the Church according to
De La Salle's charism (SL # 59 - 64) (Fixed date for renewal on Trinity Sunday...)
 Annual retreat and other special times for prayer. Fix the date, place, theme, speaker...
 Focus on Christian living in the Word of God. (Provide some materials for the group with
comments about the Word of God for each day or for Sundays).
 To live and celebrate special liturgical times intensely.
 Lasallian spirituality: To know how to value and to love; To know the story of De La Salle
and his spiritual journey. Institute Blessed and Saints.
THIRD PART: A Community with a Mission (SL # 28 - 34)
"What each one in the group has received is placed at the service of
others"
What is God calling us to? Why are we called "together and by
association?"
A) God calls us:
to live our faith as we follow Jesus.
to communion: Building a united and open community. Living the Lasallian dynamic of
"together and by association."
to a mission: what we do and what is always to be discovered.
B) We feel called to live the mission:
As Christians: Go and proclaim the Good News with the witness of our lives and the Word at
home, at work...
As Lasallians: In everything that has to do with evangelization and education...
To know how to combine the personal and the communal with the family, one's specific
work...
Fathers/mothers, husbands/wives: Recognize in your own family the scope of your mission
(SL# 22 - 27).
Study the possibility of supporting or directing some "Common Mission Project for the
poor."
C) Basic stances for the Mission:
An evangelical availability to live one's work and profession as a vocation.
Gratuity. (Jesus says: "Freely give what you have freely received")
D) Brief description of the joint mission and of the commitments that each one expressed in
his/her formula of consecration.
E) Ongoing Formation (SL # 56 - 58)
Attend to human, Christian, religious formation.
Content: Jesus, his message, the Christian Community (Church)
Have a formation and self-formation program.
Attend prayer workshops, conferences on important topics on solidarity, justice...
Attend to ongoing formation: Biblical, theological, moral, spiritual...
Subscribe as a community to some interesting magazines.
OTHER ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER:
A plan for the welcome and formation of new members: Vocation ministry.
Presentation of the Program to Brother Visitor.
The signing of the Community Annual Program by all members.
The Community Annual Program could conclude with a manifesto or text similar to this one:
We members of the Signum Fidei community of........wish to respond to the love of God the Father and
to follow Jesus of Nazareth, guided by the strength of his Spirit.
In accordance with the journey of our community, we state our commitment to share together, brothers
and sisters, our Faith in God and to live it in community, in order to fulfill the mission of the Church
and of the Institute in the world.
To fulfill this commitment we trust in the intercession of Our Lady of the Star and of Saint John Baptist
de La Salle.
Done at........................on...............................200......