Thousands of Catholics around the country are preparing to ring in the New Year at the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) SLS Leadership conference “SLS20”, held Dec. 30, 2019 – Jan. 3, 2020 in Phoenix, Ariz.
The SLS20 is a national leadership conference that welcomes Catholics who want to live out the truth of Christs in daily life and learn how to form missionary disciples wherever they are.
This event is intended for church leaders of all types, including religious education teachers, bishops, chaplains, missionaries, students, bible study leaders, lay ministers, and seminarians.
Attendees will have the opportunity to listen to inspirational keynotes from world-renowned Catholic speakers, impact sessions on various topics relevant to the Catholic faith, training sessions about missionary discipleship and power sessions where they will apply what they have learned in smalls groups. Adoration, the sacraments, educational sessions, evening concerts, entertainment and other resources will also be available, including a New Year’s Eve party.
SLS will also offer three different tracks to specifically minister to each group of church leaders: a collegiate track, the making missionary disciples track and a campus ministry track.
While SLS was previously a private event meant solely for FOCUS missionaries, this year it will be open to any Catholic who wants to learn how to play their part in living as a true missionary and pursing leadership in evangelization.
Students on the Collegiate Track will learn how to go deeper in their relationship with Christ and form missionary disciples at their school and beyond. “I can’t even express how much my faith has grown,” said Ryan Dondalski, a senior at the University of Tulsa majoring in mechanical engineering attended the Collegiate Track at SLS18 as a sophomore. After his SLS18 experience, Dondalski led his first Bible study during his junior year and applied to join FOCUS as a missionary following graduation.
FOCUS is a Catholic apostolate whose mission is to share the hope and joy of the Gospel with college students. FOCUS sends missionaries, many who are recent college graduates themselves, to reach out to students on campus, share life with them and invite them into a relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church, in which they teach others to do the same.
Since FOCUS first held its inaugural National Conference in 1999, more than 78,000 people have attended FOCUS events over the years to pray, deepen their Catholic faith and learn how to share Christ with others.
For more information and to register, visit sls20.org.
Featured image by Joshua Paul Photography