In Mamfe Diocese, Cameroon the Small Catholic Communities (SCCs) are instruments of genuine conversion. SCCs are places where Christians come to a more intimate personal relationship with Christ and with their neighbor and daily life is celebrated. The SCC functions as an instrument of genuine conversion because the members of SCCs make Gospel Sharing the center of their lives. Through faith sharing and prayer, members of SCCs deepen their faith in Christ and what they are called to do in the church and in the society at large. They discern what God is asking of them in the light of the Gospel under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Church. Faith Sharing and prayer strengthen their faith, hope, trust, love, and above all, call them to conversion.

During Gospel Sharing, the Word is not read in the abstract; it is read in situations that confront members constantly such that they begin to witness the Gospel by their lives thus transforming them into evangelized communities. For this reason as Blessed Pope Paul VI notes, “their neighbor’s may be led to ask questions like: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them…? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one.

Our local parishes divided into SCCs create a sense of community, and are more adapted to our people’s life situation of hospitality, fraternity and community. Members of SCCs are caring and loving. They are also welcoming and supportive, especially to those with special problems: the divorced, the poor and the marginalized. In this little family of the parish, members have this experience of intimacy with the Lord through the Word of God, which forms the core of their existence where each person knows the other by name, a metaphor used by the sects. In such ways, they make the experience of Jesus’ first disciples their own: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Word of eternal life.” “We have believed, and we have come to know, that you are the Holy one of God”.

Mamfe Diocese, Cameroon was created in 1999 serving Manyu, Lablalem, and parts of Kupe-Muanenguba Divisions – Southwest Region, Cameroon. The Diocese of Mamfe has 4 Deaneries, 21 Parishes, and 10 Quasi Parishes. The parish is not principally a structure, a territory or a building, but rather, “the family of God, a fellowship alive with a unifying spirit, a familial and welcoming home, and the community of the faithful.” The parish, in fact, is the place where people encounter the church. The parish, therefore, is at the center of the evangelizing mission in the Diocese of Mamfe.

Taken from the Mamfe Diocese Website on 29 August, 2015: http://www.dioceseofmamfe.net/cgi/page/small-christian-communities