The Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs - a new way of "being church." )
BEC brings Christ to the family within the neighbourhood. It is a church at the grass root.

BECs are formed, based on the geographical location of the neighbourhood. Families gather to listen and share the Word, proclaiming it and giving witness to it as members of a big family.
 

by Margaret Pereira RGS

The family, as the basic cell of community, is also a pivotal symbol in practical theology. The condition of families determines the condition of society. The Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, calls the family, a ‘domestic Church’ [LG, 11]. While the mission of the Church is at the service of the mission of God, the family as the primary agent of proclamation and witness, occupies the central place in the task of mission.

Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) have emerged as a ‘new way of BEING Church’ in mission. These BECs as small communities support each other in their faith development towards the proclamation and in witnessing to the values of the Reign of God. Therefore, BECs develop as an extension of the domestic Church by virtue of their faith that establishes communion with God and communion with others. Families as a community of disciples within a renewed Church, endeavor to share Jesus’ vision and communion with all who are searching for the Good News. Thus, the contemporary Church as the community of disciples is called to a transformed relationship with God and neighbors.
The Church that is structured by love makes God’s love present as its sacrament. As such, the personal, family and community experience of God’s love and reconciliation through Jesus, has to be the origin of mission. In present times, mission is seen in a more integral way that establishes God’s Reign, and the Church as the sacrament of the Reign of God. Perspectives need to change and personal conversion has to begin as all are called to collaborate in the mission of establishing the Reign of God. Life witness would be a path of mission.

Families in BECs who are challenged to witness to the experience of God in Christ and in living out Gospel values, need to keep in view family concerns that arise not only from the different cultural, ethnic or religious backgrounds, but also consumerism and post-modernity, even as they involve themselves in the struggle for justice, peace and development, liberation, and in works of mercy. While the Holy Spirit is the real agent of God’s mission, families in BECs who strive to respond to the Gospel message of reconciliation, are also called to engage in the task of bringing peace and understanding as Church that is the ‘little flock’ in Asia.

Interfaith marriages are on the rise. Hence, BECs while focusing on aspects such as faith-deepening and building relationships in community, also need to facilitate the process of experiencing love, harmony and peace among family members of other faith traditions. Connections with the extended family and respect towards elders are among some of the strong cultural values in Asia. Generally, Asians of various faith traditions are religious in their observances and are very open-minded too. Therefore, our faith as disciples of Jesus is not compromised when we allow that faith to transform our life profoundly according to Gospel values and thus enrich the lives of others. Scope is needed for creating a climate of mutual respect in interfaith families where people can live with love and not fear, trust and not suspicion, acceptance and not rejection. Hence, harmony will acknowledge the individuality of the other person(s)with whom one lives in concord.

The specific vocation of the laity is to share the Good News by living the Gospel in the family, workplaces, and society where opportunity offers itself. Their effective presence and action as ‘salt,’ ‘light,’ or ‘leaven’, are more especially called for in situations where consumerism, modernization and globalization have reared their heads within the family and community. Fragmentation of family life occurs with the gradual erosion of either ‘couple-relationship’ or with the damage of ‘parent-child relationship’, which consequently affects the emotional and formative development of the child. Moreover, as lay persons-in-ministry through BECs cope with family commitments and the daily struggles of working for a living, opportunities for formal faith formation that includes a better understanding of the various faith traditions, and practical skills in ministry, also needs to be in place. While an effective way of evangelization in family is an authentic witness of Christian living, there is room for awareness and discernment in situations where commitment to Christ and loyalty to Church laws and traditions are in tension. As such, the mission and pastoral approach today, calls for an integrated spirituality. A fostering of new relationships is needed, so that humanizing values can be given prominence in the life of individuals as family, and as faith-community. Parish-based ministries and services need to be de-centralized in order to discover the tensions within family life. Thus parish-based ministries can be expanded to include family concerns and also to network and facilitate the building of support-groups with family-oriented outreach and support-services that are community-based.