The Church: Foundations and Mission by Carrie J. Schroeder, MDiv, EdD

The Church Foundations and Mission is the fourth semester course (second semester in year 2) in the new high school series Live Jesus in Our Hearts. This series takes a fresh approach to the Framework outline, bringing in new themes such as in-depth use of scripture, extensive online resources, and an invitational, evangelizing approach. The Church Foundations and Mission continues the series commitment to combine the Framework content points with Scripture reading and exegesis. The course studies the Church’s mission by exploring its foundations, images, and structure. At the same time, the course takes a deep dive into the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of the Church. The words and actions of Jesus in Matthew help lead to a deeper understanding of what it really means to be “church.” To help flesh this out, every unit also has one or more articles that explore Pope Francis’ writings on what it means to be the Church in today’s world.