FAITH IN “SOMEBODY”, THE BASIS OF DISCIPLESHIP AND ACTION IN THE LIGHT OF THE APARECIDA DOCUMENT

Abstract

This article examines the theme of discipleship in the Aparecida document and the innovation that it brings to Latin American pastoral theology. We approach the the-me from the reality of faith, as a vital principle of Christian experience. The research dynamic seeks to show that the follower of Christ is above all a believer, and that this presupposition, obvious in former times, is no longer obvious today. For this reason, the self-realization of the Church in this historical moment finds a real rectification in the Aparecida Conference, inviting us to re-focus theologically our pastoral future, not through innumerable pastoral initiatives, but on the people that carry them out and their essential Christian formation. In a few words, the focus on the person of the disciple forces us to base each evangelizing process on something that precedes it.