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Each person who
attends The Walk to Emmaus® has a sponsor. A sponsor is
a person who has been through an Emmaus experience and
is willing to share that experience with another new
Emmaus participant. The sponsorship of a previous
participant frees the current participant from any
personal responsibilities that might distract him or her
while on the experience. Sponsorship also undergirds
each participant's 72-hour experience with prayer and
other expressions of God's love.
According to the
dictionary, a sponsor is one who takes responsibility
for another. The suffix "-ship" refers to the skill
involved in the activity. So sponsorship is the skill of
taking responsibility for another.
The aim of a sponsor should not be
"to get all my friends to go," to fill up the weekend,
to fix people's problems, or to reproduce one's own
religious experience in others. Rather, the aim of the
sponsor is to bring spiritual revitalization to
Christians who will, in turn, bring new life and vision
to the work of the church in the congregation, home,
workplace, and community. The aim of sponsorship is to
build up the body of Christ.
Sponsorship is an act of love for God, for the
participants in the Walk to Emmaus, for the Emmaus
Community, and for the church. It is a demonstration of
agape love. A sponsor will:
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Invite the participant to take part
in Emmaus for the sake of a more vital relationship
with Jesus Christ. The sponsor shares his or her
faith, explains the basic purpose, elements, and
follow-up dimensions of the Walk.
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The sponsor will also support the
participant's family by house-sitting, baby-sitting,
watering plants, picking up mail, feeding pets, or
just checking in with a spouse to see if any help or
support is needed.
Encourage the participant in his/her continued journey
and take the participant to Emmaus "gatherings" after
the Walk weekend is over.
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