GoodNews! Via de Cristo

Mission Statement of Good News! Via de Cristo

By Grace, with the Holy Spirit, we challenge leaders to discover and achieve their personal calling, assisting them with a method for influencing their environment.

The Purpose of Via de Cristo

Above all, to see the world reconciled to Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:20).

The Via de Cristo method assists individual Christians to actively be the Church.
Via de Cristo is a movement within the Church of Jesus Christ. The focus is not on Via de Cristo, but on the local church.

The objective of the movement is to inspire, challenge, and equip local church members for Christian action in their homes, churches, and communities.

Through the Via de Cristo method, we are encouraged to persevere and grow in our faith, to become an effective channel of God’s love to others, and to strengthen a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

History of Via de Cristo

Our History
The movement originated as Cursillo® in the late 1940s in the Spanish Catholic church and moved to the United States in the late 1950s.

The Ministry began in the Lutheran church following laypeople and clergy attending a Catholic Cursillo in 1971, both in Iowa and Florida.

The first Lutheran sponsored weekends were held in 1972 in Iowa and Florida and have now been held in over 30 states and some foreign countries.

Via de Cristo is the Lutheran expression of this method which is currently being used in many denominations including Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.

History of Good News! Via de Cristo

 The first men and women’s weekend was held in the fall of 1987 and sponsored by Central Michigan Cursillo. They called and trained the first team, making use of as many people from Southeastern Michigan churches as possible, and supported the new movement financially.

Only a few people were required from Central Michigan to support the second weekend and by the third weekend, the Good News! community was entirely self-supporting.

What’s Up With The Roosters?

The first Cursillo was done with a group of people on an open hillside in Spain in 1947. As the story goes, it was a wonderful three days of getting closer to God.

On the return trip, their bus broke down and as they waited in a farm yard they noticed all of the bright and beautiful colors of the Rooster’s tail. Singing and shouting ‘De Colores!’ The Cursillistas began to rejoice again, praising God and rejoicing in the shining colors of a little Rooster. So, they wrote a song about it, and gained a theme song and mascot for what was to become the Cursillo movement.

The rainbow colors of the tail feathers also have a special and significant meaning to all Christians:

• • Green denotes new life, growth, and God’s beauty of nature that surrounds us. year.
  • Blue denotes loyalty, our commitment to God and His people. It also denotes truth, justice, and the waters of our Baptism.
  • Purple denotes our dying and rising again along with the suffering of Jesus Christ.
  • Yellow and Orange hues denote warmth, light, promise. They remind us of the love of God’s Son in our lives, the light of a candle, the rays of the sun, and the changing seasons.
  • Red denotes celebration, joy, and confirmation. It is symbolic of our feast days within, the Church, Christmas Day, and Pentecost.

Our Weekend Host Churches