Sponsorship

Sponsorship is taken for granted in many communities. The assumption is that everyone knows the how and why of sponsorship. Sometimes sponsorship only sounds like a reference to the number of participants who are signed up for an Emmaus weekend; and make no mistake:

Sponsorship is the most important service in the Emmaus movement – but what's important – is we do it with excellence.

What is sponsorship?

‍Every person who attends Emmaus has a "sponsor" who supports and encourages him or her before, during, and after their Emmaus experience. Sponsorship is a job that is shared between all the youth who have been through Chrysalis and all the adults who have been through the Walk to Emmaus before you. It is more than just “signing people up” for an Emmaus Walk.

Sponsorship is the way in which the Emmaus experience is passed on from person to person, reflecting the manner in which God purposefully reaches out to people through other people. After an Emmaus weekend, you may also want to share the gift of these three days with others. Sponsorship provides you with a caring and disciplined way to do that. And by becoming a sponsor, you can participate in and demonstrate God's outreaching love for others - as He has called us to do.

The aim of Emmaus through sponsorship

The importance of sponsorship training cannot be overemphasized. The quality of sponsorship will impact new participants, the health and effectiveness of the Emmaus movement, and all of our sponsoring churches.

The aim of sponsorship is the same as the aim of Emmaus which is: The spiritual growth of maturing Christians as disciples of Jesus Christ through churches and their adult ministries. Every sponsor should reflect upon his or her motivation to sponsor an adult and make sure it is consistent with this aim.

Reasons NOT to sponsor someone

• to get all of my friends to go
• to fix an adult person's problems or crisis
• to have a full weekend
• to reproduce one's own religious experience in others
• this person is a church hopper
  
• this person is not a member of a church
• this person tends to challenge the basic tenets of the Christian faith
• this person is going through emotional distress (these persons may benefit from going after their problems are resolved)
• this person tends to dominate conversations with their agenda and doesn't listen to others

Who is the Walk to Emmaus really for?

Emmaus is primarily designed for adult Christians who have a desire to strengthen their spiritual lives, may have unanswered questions about their faith, understand that being a Christian involves responsibility and are willing to dedicate their everyday lives to God.

Reasons TO sponsor someone

A sponsorship opportunity can and should be motivated by a number of hopes and prayers for candidates which ARE consistent with the aims of Emmaus – as listed above. These include giving others the gift of three days apart in order to:

• experience the accepting and healing grace of God through Christian community
  
• realize they are precious in God's eyes, that they are here on this earth for a holy purpose
  
• discuss without judgment their questions and struggles as maturing adults with peers and other Christian adults
  
• hear anew the gospel of God's love in Jesus Christ and the basics of Christian faith and life
  
• make friends with others who share the faith and will support each other in living as Christians
  
• develop relationships with other Christians, relationships which might extend beyond the three days
  
• be strengthened in their decisions to follow Jesus
  
• be better prepared to live as Christian witnesses at home, work, church, and in their community
• learn what goes into building their lives and relationships on a solid foundation
• bring new vitality to the church upon returning, to inspire the sponsorship of others, and to energize the body of Christ through people whose hearts are on fire with the love of Christ.

Next steps

Now that we have an understanding what sponsorship is, what should motivate us and a little about who we should sponsor, the next step is to review what this commitment looks like when it comes to Sponsoring an Adult.