Author: Emily Wenman

In this first period of formation, the young adults: 

• Come into the program as Christian disciples in search of the next, deeper step in their living out their relationship with Christ. These missionaries are already in pursuit of Jesus Christ, are passionate for changing the culture, are willing to grow by communal and personal pursuits, and are invested in docility to the Holy Spirit.  

• Go through formation within a small group of 8-12 who make up their “team:” the groups of missionaries who will be together for the in-person National Ride. This builds a micro-community rooted in trust, faith, pursuit of virtue, and accountability. It is in this community that these young adults are encouraged, challenged and prompted to transform their own lives, turning completely toward Christ and living out the Gospel of Life. 

• Learn about the Gospel of life through educational and spiritual curriculum primarily communicated through the “Life Guide.” This week-by-week resource focuses on the spiritual development of the missionaries while also helping them go deeper in areas they’re interested, track milestones throughout the program, and have prayerful reflection during their year. Missionaries also engage in spiritual formation, study pro-life apologetics, and grow in Christian community. 

• Develop 1-to-1 relationships with life-affirming pregnancy centers and maternity homes who share stories from their centers—stories of lives saved, stories of broken hearts healed, stories of untapped opportunity. These centers pour into the missionaries a real world understanding of the culture of death and life from the front lines of the movement. Though this relationship, missionaries become authentic advocates for the work of pregnancy centers in their own communities. 

• Deepen their understanding of the needs of mothers and families in unplanned pregnancies, connecting the highs and lows these families experience with the highs and lows also found in the spiritual life. For example, understanding that parents who want to choose life for an unexpected child will do so most regularly when they have a network of support can connect to times when missionaries struggle to stay on the bike without their network of teammates and faith in Christ. Missionaries contemplate these spiritual connections as they go throughout formation, offering their efforts in solidarity with pregnant women and families in crisis. 

With eyes now opened to the need and Christ-centered solutions of problems, these young adults are sent forth as “missionaries” into the rest of the formation program and into the rest of their lives, committing to live with the truth of the Gospel of life as the lens through which they see every relationship, every decision, and the world at large. 

In this second period of formation, the missionaries 

• Join prayer with physical sacrifice over thousands of miles and hours of training, pursuing a life of virtue, discipline, and greatness rooted in Christ, starting with faithfulness to a training program.  

• • Riders primarily train physically to be prepared to ride about 100 miles/day for six days in the summer heat. Their training is intentionally coupled with prayer, so that all that they do is fruitful, not just for them but for others. Unification with Christ’s Cross is at the heart of the riders’ missionary role, as, on the Cross, Jesus showed us that life is given meaning when it is sacrificed for others (John 15:13).  

• • Support crew train by ascetism at the forefront so they are prepared physically, mentally, and spiritually to serve their team selflessly throughout the National Ride week. Support crew take on a “ministry of presence” as they walk with their teams in humble service to their needs. Support crew stand as witnesses to God’s design for our communities: that we belong to one another and that we are to act as our brother’s keepers (John Paul II, 1995, Evangelium Vitae, #7)  

• • Both roles are imperative to our mission, and people with differing qualities and gifts are often drawn to each role for different reasons. The lessons learned in both rider and support crew training are applicable to all areas of life, first with preparedness for the National Ride, then with their communities, vocations, and relationship with Christ and His people. 

• Fundraise for the mission by writing letters, making social media posts, giving parish/church talks, etc. Since missionaries understand the truth of the Gospel of life, are invested in and receiving opportunities for transformation from their formation, and see the need to support families served through pregnancy resource centers, they go out to find support to accomplish our two-part mission to both form young adult missionaries and to raise awareness and funds for pregnancy resource centers and the communities they serve. 

• Share the Gospel of life and grow in virtue on a 600-mile biking mission trip called the National Ride, experiencing further opportunities to practice humility, love, courage, faithfulness, generosity, joy, and discipline.  

• • Riders, in their bright yellow jerseys, catch the attention of passersby to share that doing something hard, something sacrificial, for others gives meaning and purpose to our lives and works toward our directive to make disciples of all nations while protecting the least of us (Mt 28:19, 25:31).  

• • Support crew serve their riding teammates by driving support vans full of equipment and nutrition, navigating, and ensuring safe travelling, while remaining the connector for Biking for Babies’ mission to each of the communities we stay with throughout the week. 

• • As they go, they are stopping in cities across the nation to share and witness to the beauty and joy of the Gospel of life, their personal testimonies, and the joy of pregnancy centers and families served therein. 

• Having lived through opportunities to connect physical and redemptive suffering, missionaries are equipped, habitually and virtuously, to invite Christ into suffering to sanctify it for the rest of their lives. Their “staying on the bike” supports families in “sticking with their unplanned pregnancy.” This is our effort to renew the culture of life through redemptive suffering and intercessory prayer; transforming ourselves first, and then the world.  

In this last period of formation, after the National Ride, missionaries 

• Commit to missionary discipleship challenges, through which they go deeper with Christ and, fueled by this renewal, go out and share the Good News with great joy. No longer needing to train for a specific adventure, missionaries find opportunities to live out the true knowledge and conviction of dignity in ways beyond our formation program. 

• Use their experiences to discern active missionary discipleship of the Gospel of life within their own vocations, workplaces, schools, and families. Missionary discipleship is a life-long journey which missionaries are challenged and equipped to stick with even after their time within this program.  

• Share their experiences with others, inviting their communities to consider the beautiful truth of the Gospel of Life through newsletters, coffee meetings, and phone calls. St. Paul encourages us to always have a reason for our hope, and the missionaries share their “whys” as a public invitation for deeper conversion for others. 

• Continue building life-affirming community with each other, regularly praying with and for each other and their intentions, sharing opportunities for personal growth and networking.