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It all began at the last 2005 World Youth Day in Germany. A group of thirty adults and young adult leaders from parishes of Vicariate III decided to join Jesus de Leon, the Youth Ministry Coordinator for the vicariate, on this pilgrimage with one major goal in mind: to reflect as a group and discern God's plan for youth ministry in Vicariate III.
With great faith, they launched themselves to Germany. Through group reflections, prayer, challenges, obstacles and group experiences, the participants came to realize one thing: they are all rooted in one body, the Body of Christ, where they begin and where they shall end. Jesus, when sending his Apostles to different destinations to evangelize, made sure the Apostles understood that their mission was not to end at their destination, but that they were to come back to Christ to form a bigger body. Eventually, the group of pilgrims came to the conclusion that God had called them to Germany in order to form a body. Each was then assigned to a different parish with the mission of growing the faith and returning back to form a bigger body in Christ.
With this in mind, what became a common vision, a common goal, grew into the Common Effort Campaign. It takes one Common Effort to build the Kingdom of God.
The Common Effort Campaign is now in the middle of its second year. For the first year of the campaign, our 2005 World Youth Day pilgrims focused on recruiting other youth ministry leaders from their parishes, having in mind what they learned in Germany: Their mission was not to end at their parish, but to come together to form a bigger body in Christ, which they did. They all came back together in July 2006, becoming the first annual Vicariate III Event called Commitment Day. All the leaders committed themselves on this day for one more year working together. They were sent forth having in mind that they shall meet together again in July 2007, forming an even bigger body of Christ. The second annual 2007 Commitment Day was a great success.
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