Brothers & Sisters of St. Fronds Region ( 9KJ99} Alabama • Georgia • North Carolina • South Carolina • Tennessee

MINISTER: Introduction to Ceremony We celebrated the Ceremony of Introduction and Welcoming for ______________.
Name At this time, a professed member will be commissioned as Sponsor of an Inquirer. FORMATION DIRECTOR: Calling of Inguirer(s) and Sponsor(s) Would the Inquirer(s) please come forward? Would the Sponsor(s) please come forward? Place your hand on the shoulder of your Inquirer. Let us continue with a reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, 4:i-i6NAB’, that gives guidance for your journey. God’s word is urging us to live to attain “Unity in the Body” by the grace given to each of us in our “Diversity of Gifts.”
Unity in the Body
I, then, a prisoner for the Lord,
Urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,
Striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:
One body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism;
One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Diversity of Gifts But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says:
“He ascended on high and took prisoners captive; He gave gifts to men.”
What does “he ascended” mean
Except that he also descended* into the lower [regions] of the earth?
The one who descended* is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens,
That he might fill all things.
And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists,
Others as pastors and teachers,*
To equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God,
To mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
So that we may no longer be infants,
Tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery,
From their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
Rather, living the truth in love,
We should grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ,
From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
With the proper functioning of each part,
Brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
58 last revised date: June 30, 2010