The movement originated as “Cursillo^®” in the late 1940’s in the Spanish Catholic church and moved to the United States in the late 1950’s. It began in the Lutheran church when lay people and clergy attended a Catholic Cursillo in 1971, both in Iowa and Florida. The first Lutheran sponsored weekends were held in 1972 in Iowa and Florida and have now been held in over 25 states and some foreign countries. Via de Cristo is the Lutheran expression of this method which is currently being used in many denominations including: Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches.

In January of 1980, the first set of Lutheran-sponsored Cursillo weekends were held in Minnesota at Normandale Lutheran Church in Edina. The Minnesota Episcopal Cursillo Community supported and helped establish Cursillo in the Lutheran Community in Minnesota.

In July of 1985, the Lutheran Cursillo Community of Minnesota accepted the challenge of presenting the first two Lutheran-sponsored Cursillo weekends in Papua New Guinea.

In 1986, the National Lutheran Secretariat, representing all existing Lutheran Cursillo communities, voted to become ecumenical and changed our name to Via de Cristo, meaning “Way of Christ.”

Via de Cristo was started in Salt Lake City, Utah in October, 1995 with the assistance of Minnesota Via de Cristo. The first two weekends were held and staffed by a team from Minnesota and a few members from Utah who had attended Via de Cristo in Minnesota.

A Via de Cristo weekend is three days in length, beginning on Thursday evening and ending the following Sunday evening. The participants live, study, worship and commune together daily.

Fourteen talks are given, nine by lay people and five by clergy. Following each talk, small round table discussions focus on the main points of the talk and a poster is drawn. The talks, in an overlapping fashion, present the Christian life, based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. The titles of these talks indicate their content:

• Ideal
• Habitual Grace
• Laity
• Actual Grace
• Piety
• Study
• Sacraments
• Action
• Obstacles to Grace
• Leaders
• Environment
• Life in Grace
• Christian Community
• Total Security

Via de Cristo gives those attending a living understanding of basic Christian truths. There is music and singing, food and fellowship, a time for laughter and for prayer.

You may attend Via de Cristo only ONCE in your life, but you are asked to build on it for the rest of your life. After you have attended a Via de Cristo weekend you are considered a Fourth Dayer (meaning the rest of your life), and you are encouraged to:

1. Expand your inner spiritual life through study and church participation,
2. Become more active witnesses for Christ in your daily life.

Via de Cristo also offers two ongoing means of perseverance:

1. RENEWAL GROUPS, small groups of men or women who meet regularly to study, pray, share and help one another in their quest for spiritual development,
2. ULTREYA, gatherings of the local church Via de Cristo community for encouragement and fellowship.