History of Via de Cristo

The lay movement originated as "Cursillo®" in the late 1940's in the Spanish Roman 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 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. The governing board of Via de Cristo is known as the National Lutheran Secretariat.