Evangelization

JESUS DREAM
Jesus had a dream for this world; he called it the Kingdom of God. This is not an
idea — this is real. He dreamt of life on earth being a mirror of Heaven. Towards
a realization of this dream, he begun to tell people that there is another way:
Instead of violence and war — peace and security as one family of God
Instead of bitterness and retaliation — love
Instead of darkness — Jesus wanted light, a clear reflection of Heaven
Jesus wanted His message to reach the ends of the earth. To this effect He chose His
disciples and sent them out to evangelize.

EVANGELIZATION
How do Catholics bring Christ to the world? The Catechism teaches us that the priority
approach is Evangelization, this is the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ in
order to lead others to conversion and faith in him, so that they may be saved and enjoy
eternal life with God.

There is one New Testament book that is expressly concerned with Evangelization — the Acts of the Apostles. It tells of how the very early Church succeeded in a few years’ to
enthusiastically and courageously evangelize all the countries between Syria and Greece.
Acts provides valuable information on what the very early Church understood by
“Evangelization.”

To “Evangelize” means, concretely, “to proclaim Jesus ... saying, ‘He is the Son of God’
(Acts 9:20); it means: to “testify to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God
and faith towards our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21 )

The early Church had, however, a great variety of formulas for use. Acts 17:1-3 sums up
Paul’s preaching by saying that he went about “explaining and proving that it was necessary
for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead,” he asserted, “This is the Messiah,
Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you.” A like summary is given in Acts 26:22-23: Paul
says, “nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah
must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light
both to our people and to the Gentiles.” The content of the Evangelization carried out by
the very early Church can therefore be described as the proclamation of what God has done
in the life, death and glorification of Jesus Christ, who offers the forgiveness of sins
and the gift of the Spirit to anyone who heeds the proclamation and is converted.

A NEW TESTAMENT METHOD
By what method did the very early Church use in Evangelizing? Let me try to answer this
question on the basis of the information given in the Acts of the Apostles From this we
learn that preachers always took the hearers into account when deciding the manner of
proclaiming the Good News. The message to be proclaimed was indeed the message of Christ, and even Christ himself But the proclamation always took place in a particular context, namely, the relation between message and hearer. If we examine the discourses in Acts, we see that they fall into four important categories: Sign, Spirit, Scripture, and religious experience.

1. SIGN: The relation to the hearer is often established by means of a sign, that
is - a miracle. Something extraordinary happens (for example, the cure of the cripple
in the temple) and then this serves as the starting point for the proclamation of the
risen Christ and for the sermons to repentance After the miraculous cure of the cripple
(Acts 3), Peter says to the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why
do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified
his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he
had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and the righteous one and asked to
have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the
dead . .Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out”
(Acts 3:12-15, 19).

2. SPIRIT: The presence of the Spirit is the sign that Christ is risen and has sent his
Spirit as a gift to believers.

3. SCRIPTURE: In some other instances, it is the appeal to Scripture. When
hearers accept the Old Testament as manifestation of a divine plan, the preacher starts with Old Testament passages and shows that the plan has been fulfilled in Jesus. Thus in Acts 17 we are told that Paul went to the synagogue in Thessalonica, “as was his custom,” and “on three Sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead; and saying, ‘This (Jesus) is the Messiah” (Acts 17:2-3)

4. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE: The dealing with those who did not believe in
the scriptures, the preacher appealed to the general religious experience of the hearers. For example, Paul tells the pagans of Athens, You have achieved a religious understanding
of the history of the world. I announce to you that the fullness of this understanding is given to you in the risen Jesus: “What you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in the shrines made by human hands ... While God has overlooked the times of
human ignorance, now he commands all peoples everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day” (Acts 17:23-24, 30-31).

In his letters St. Paul speaks of “preaching with power,” I think that this “power” is to be understood not only as the display of extraordinary signs but also as the renewal of the community that accepts the message. The method of Evangelization, then, ordinarily consists in an appeal to present reality and to a lived experience of the hearers.

Evangelization is not an easy task, which promises immediate satisfactions. It requires perseverance and fidelity. To sustain us we need prayer. The Church tells us that each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his ability. Document on Laity says “From the pact of their union with Christ the head, flows the layman’s right and duty to be an apostle”. We are called “to follow him, imitate him
and be his disciples, aspire to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect’.

JESUS’ METHOD
Jesus gave us a very practical method of how to evangelize. I have used this method in my missionary work and it has always worked. Jesus shows us His method in the beautiful story of the “Woman at the Well” John4:5-30 Jesus taught us three principles when bringing the Word of God to people, or evangelization.

1. To meet the person where they are at, working, resting, playing; because
people are often defensive in the presence of strangers.
2. To talk about their family
3. To talk about God as the one who will take away their thirst and meet
their needs.
As a result of these three steps the person will make step number 4 by
themselves, that is they will want to share their joy with others, and so they will
become involved in evangelization.

SERVANTS
To be involved in evangelization which is Gods work, you must be a servant. Many scripture passages describe Jesus as God’s Servant. Philippians2:5-8 also Matthew 20:27-28 Ordinary definition of the word servant is” one who finds out what his master wants him to do and then he does it. The human concept of a servant is that a servant goes to the master and says” master, what do you want me to do?” The master tells him and he goes off by himself and does it.

This is not the biblical concept of a servant of God. Being a servant of God is different from being a servant of a human master. A servant of a human master works for his master. God, however, works through His servants. My understanding of a servant of God is more like the potter and the clay. Jeremiahl8:1-6. To be useful the clay has to be moldable; and once made into a vessel, it has to remain in the hand of the potter to be used, it has to be responsive to the potter so that the potter can make any vessel of his choosing. God is molding your life for a life of service and ministry. God continues this molding through the following:

SPIRITUAL GIFTS: — can’t earn spiritual gifts or desire them — A gift is God’s grace to you; gifts — not for you only — but for others. There are two problems that can arise if we are not careful the first is “Gift envy’ and the second is “Gift projection” — when we expect everyone else to have the same gift as us.

HEART: Reveal the passion you show — reveals the real you. God asks for your heart, your soul, and your mind. There are two signs that can arise the first is “Enthusiasm” and the second is “Effectiveness”

ABILITIES: The gifts you are born with — you are the only person in the world who can use your abilities

PERSONALITY: — unique —

EXPERIENCE: — not what happens to you — it is what you do with what happens to
you. (Experience 1 year —25 times over) This involves Family — education — spiritual, painful- etc. Once God has molded you then God works through you to accomplish His purpose. As Jesus said” The Son can do nothing of Himself John5:19 and “without Me you can do nothing”Johnl5:5 With God working through His servant, that servant can do anything God can do. A servant of God must do what he is instructed, and he must remember who is accomplishing the work, God is. Do you want to be a servant of God? Do you want to see God accomplishing things through you that only God can do? Do you want to experience the rest and the success Jesus described in Matthew ll:28-31?

Elijah was one of the great Old Testament prophets of Israel and a servant of God [1 Kingsl 7:11 Elijah had to stay with God and do everything God commanded him to do. In his prayer, Elijah said “let it be known that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word” 1 Kings l 8:36 Elijah was acting in obedience to God’s command and not based on his own initiative. He went where God told him to go when God told him and did what God told him. Don’t come to God with fixed ideas. Make God laugh.

MISSIONARY CHURCH
The first essential requirement for building a Missionary Church is to focus on educational values, values of the Kingdom of God, which bestows dignity, self-respect, responsibility and hope on human beings.
Revelation 4:11; 5ff
Mission is to reveal the Word of God -
Mission is allowing God to act
Mission is learning to be like Jesus — ‘doing the will of the Father.’
Mission is universal — to every man and woman, every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

Mission is to bring (2Cor. 7:6-7)

LIFE: - to those who are spiritually emotionally and physically dead — or dying

LIGHT: — in time of darkness. A time for purification — Before resurrection.

LOVE: — to teach others how to give love, receive love and accept love.

LONGING: - people are hungry for God and we are not satisfying that hunger, so our people go to other churches were they will be fed. The hearts of our people, from the youngest to the oldest, should find in our Church structure, a reason to change their lives, and a reason to struggle for a better world.

In the Gospel Jesus sent his disciples on Mission two by two, and he expected the following from them and from you: to Pray for each other, to Encourage each other, to Greet each other, to Serve each other, to Teach each other, to Accept each other, to Honor each other and to Forgive each other.


MISSIONARY PARISH
The first step in developing a Missionary Parish is to start afresh, to give everyone a chance. Many of us have already made up our minds about a group or Parish or Diocese before we have even begun the work of Mission or Evangelization. Story of Old Man - at the entrance to the village: ‘What will I find in this place — what did you find in the last place? All bad all good — Problem is you, what do you see?

For a Parish to grow and develop, it needs to have a missionary dimension. The secret of this missionary dimension is renewal. It is in sending out of lay missionaries, lay evangelizers, that the Parish will be renewed. The experiences and generosity of the evangelizers will bring a renewal of faith, peace and excitement to the parish. — [Sending them out two by two a tremendous joy. Training of missionaries is deeper than simple pious prayers and societies — it is a real lived faith, which is being challenged, tested, in ordinary things of everyday living. Training of leaders involves training in Charismatic Renewal, and then on basic counseling skills, charisms of the Holy Spirit, 8 day directed retreat, deliverance course. Another aspect of this training is to build up the self-esteem of the person, so that they can identify the talents and gifts given to them by God.

The Parish is a community, a family; our aim should be to develop a Parish into a ‘Parish in Prayer’. How, is it possible to ensure that a parish will have this great missionary spirit? The parish should be the base, to empower the evangelizer or missionary, a base which offers strength, stimulus, incentive, support and hope, and encouragement. It can only be done, when the laity have belief and trust in their priest. He is the one central axis, which everyone else revolves around. Medjugorje is the best example of a parish in prayer, and they have been taught by the Mother of God.

Renewal leads people to respect and have a sense of pride in their parish and work. You can build up an atmosphere that people feel that they have missed something, if they haven’t visited the parish during the day. Even in their place of work, they are being missionary, simply by just witnessing to the truth of Christ and the strength of their faith.

A COMMITTED COMMUNITY
Another aspect of Evangelization is revising the local Church community. We need
to look at ourselves form a new perspective. Is everyone in our community committed to Christ? What is the level of spiritual maturity among our members? In any Parish or community we have five levels of commitment.
1. The Community: These are the people living in the area who do not come to Church or who do not know anything about Jesus Christ.
2. The Crowd: These are the regular attenders. They come on Sundays and maybe special feast days. There isn’t much commitment from them, they want to remain anonymous.
3. The Congregation: These are the group who are registered member. We need to be committed, to become attached to our Church to become attached to this work of mission. There is a difference between a Church attender and a Church member — a member is one who is committed. Attenders are spectators from the sidelines, Members get involved in ministry.
Attenders are consumers — members are contributors. Attenders want the benefits of a Church, without sharing responsibility.
4. The committed: Those who take part actively in a prayer life and in the organizing the Parish.
5. The Core: These are people really committed to their faith and are dedicated workers and leaders.

Jesus realized that every person was at a different level of spiritual commitment. Jesus’ ministry included ministering to the community, feeding the crowd, gathering a congregation, challenging the committed and discipling the core. At the first encounter Jesus said to John and Andrew “Come and see” John 1:39 Jesus challenged the crowd “you must deny yourself and take up you cross and follow me” Mark8:34 Jesus didn’t use the same approach with all the people, He knew that people were at different levels of commitment. All people are not alike. They have their different needs, interests and spiritual problems.

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED
Jesus warns us we will encounter joys and difficulties in this work, and in Matthew 4:12-23 we are warned about what can happen. There are five stages we will encounter

1. Kingdom of heaven is close at hand — show us the Good News and deeds of mercy- he lit a light for all to see —

2. He selected people from within to take this message and share it with others.

3. He spoke about the pains and struggles of slow growth — disappointments and oppositions.

4. Jesus reorganized his disciples and made them give a greater commitment to his work in their lives — by instructing them in a deeper way.

5. He spoke of a glorious future — the Kingdom.

QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK
1. Can I see beyond the immediate — doom and gloom — to a new birth of the church — Parish — Diocese.
2. Do I feel the joy of cooperating with the laity in spreading the Gospel
3. Do I share St Paul’s conviction that He who began the good work in us will bring it to a conclusion
4. What can I do to instill confidence in God, in the Church, in the Parish, and in the laity in these difficult times.
5 Lord you have done so much for me, what are you asking me to do for you now?


READINGS: Matthew 28:16-20 Revelation 4:11, 5,10,12,13.

Webmaster--Gary Weirich