First of all, it is better to know the background.
What is the Christian community?
It is the connection and solidarity that families share in order to help each other in any way of life such as their problems, joy, love, peace, and humility in their Christian life in the church (Act 2:42-47)
The church in Africa, especially the countries of AMECEA (Southern and Eastern countries), have a system to simplify evangelization. Namely, to invite the Christian near by the apostolic activities and to share the ministries of the church. This begins with small communities and even individual families.
When we speak about the needs of small, Roman Catholic communities, we include the sacraments and other needs as Roman Catholics. There are some orders to follow: first, they should contact the leaders of the small community of his or her local zone to see if there are any needs; second, they offer a letter of introduction to the parish priest and other local, church leaders. That is the standard way of getting to know the community, leaders, and its needs.
So, the catechist and the priest are those who confirm if the correct order has been followed, if the faith and regulations of the church has been followed, and simply, if the relationship is beneficial to the local community. If this is indeed the case, the distribution and reception of sacraments and other important services, should begin. This is a good evangelizing model for the People of God.
According to my experience of evangelization, this small community model is a good way to help the all the People of God, the local parish and also trains students trained teach the sacraments. Happily, a good example of this occurred in 2020-21. We had 110 students receive their first Holy communion.
Prepared by Sr Teresia Mgwilanga