SPONSORING SOMEONE TO ATTEND A
HEART OF ILLINOIS VIA DE CRISTO WEEKEND
The sponsor's purpose is to help develop and encourage spiritual growth for a candidate and to support the candidate in the ongoing dedication of his/her life to a life in Grace.
Before you become a sponsor, you should have a home church, and attend a reunion group and ultreyas. You should be prepared to stay in close contact with the candidate for up to one year. Be sensitive to the length of time a candidate wants support. In order to carry out the duties of being a sponsor, you may want to sponsor only on a weekend you are not working. Ask the Lord for guidance and help to enable you to carry out your responsibilities.
Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain to your candidate that complete weekend attendance is expected. Explain the start and end times of the weekend. Explain reunion groups and ultreya. Don't use terminology they are not familiar with.
The primary role of the sponsor is to support the new candidate in every way possible. Whether making sure the candidate gets to the sendoff, perhaps taking care of children or pets, etc., the most important thing we can do is lift up the candidate and their family in prayer. In addition to prayer, which is unseen by the candidate, are the actions of the sponsor which are seen: palanca, attending the sendoff and closing, getting the candidate into a reunion group, and attending ultreyas.
Sponsorship of a candidate to a Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo weekend can be both a serious and uplifting experience.
It is serious because as a sponsor you have certain obligations to fulfill. You need to sponsor only those who have a sincere desire to have a closer relationship with Christ. You need to avoid (at the time) sponsoring someone who has some personal, physical or mental issues that would detract from the weekend experience. It's best if they are sponsored later when some of these limitations have been eliminated.
It can be an uplifting experience in sponsoring someone to a Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo weekend. Many people feel they get more from sponsoring someone than when they made their own weekend. Everyone's experience will differ.
To understand sponsorship more in depth, you would benefit from attending an Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo workshop on sponsoring. Then, the sponsorship guidelines provided from the link below will make more sense.
If considering sponsoring someone to one of our weekends, please print the Sponsor Guidelines document. Study it and pray about the candidate you wish to sponsor. Then, after you have determined this person would be a good candidate, have them fill out the Weekend Registration Form.
Download Sponsor Guidelines Form here 
Sponsor
Guidelines
If you have any questions on the Weekend Registration or Sponsor Guidelines, you are encouraged to contact someone on the Heart of Illinois Via de Cristo secretariat for clarification.