I have to be honest: I’m a reluctant evangelist at best.
I don’t want to go face-to-face with anyone about religion or, really, anything. I don’t want to pretend to discuss something that’s going to turn into a defense or an argument.
I’m not alone in this disinclination, not really. Just the other day, at a parish function, a man was telling me how he has a woman in his Silver Sneakers group who knows he’s Catholic and keeps asking him questions. It turns out her daughter and grandkids are all Catholic and she’s not, but she’s curious.
He shrugged as he shared this with me. He had obviously accepted his role, but I could tell he hadn’t asked for it.
That’s how evangelization happens: person to person. As we’re out living our lives, doing our everyday activities, the people around us engage us, ask us questions, wonder about this or that.
Feed Your Faith
The best way you can prepare for this ongoing evangelization is to feed your faith. Are you at Mass every week? Great!
But that’s not all. You need to feed your faith.
Need some help? Pick up Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly for some practical and easy-to-implement ways to do this. Poke around here on New Evangelizers or on any number of other Catholic websites.
Read a good book. Pray over the Bible. Attend a study. Go on retreat.
Spend a few minutes every day. It’s no less important than breakfast. Seriously.
Engage God
Do you need to stop what you’re doing and pray? I can’t speak for you. I do. Every day.
But you do need to engage God somehow every day. If it’s on your morning walk or during your shower, while you drive to work or as you sit in your recliner, engage God every single day.
Converse. Rant. Pause.
Grab hold of God and don’t let go. Familiarize yourself with him through his Word. Involve him in the nitty-gritty and the painful moments.
It’s much harder to be open to God and the Holy Spirit at work within you during those odd evangelizing moments when he’s an unfamiliar entity from faraway. Make him the best friend he longs to be.
Push the Limit
Feeling pretty good about yourself? Got things mostly figured out?
For me, that’s a sure sign that it’s time to step things up a notch. Not that I ever realize that until I’m in the middle of it, mind you.
What’s God asking of you? Is it hard to say Yes or even figure out what it is?
That’s okay. Pushing the limit is part of being Christian. My grandma says it’s part of growing up.
And rumor has it that growing up never ends…
What tips would you share for evangelizing?
Copyright © 2012, Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard continues to be shocked and delighted that her life as a grown-up involve horses, writing, and sparkly dress shoes. In her work in the New Evangelization as a Catholic wife, mom, writer, parish employee, and catechist, she’s learned a lot of lessons, had a lot of laughs, and consumed mass amounts of coffee. She’s online at SnoringScholar.com and CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.
One response to “So, You Wanna Evangelize?”
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Be yourself, keep it simple, it’s about Jesus, not you so you don’t have to have all the answers. I also think it helps to remember that there is not one way to faith, but many ways that lead to the same place.