The Fastest Way to Grow is to Share - New Evangelizers

I’ve been listening to a new series called “Next Steps” from Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD. (You can listen to “Next Steps 01” here). Within this first homily in the series, Fr. Michael White asserted, “the fastest way to grow in your faith, is to share your faith” [my paraphrase].

Challenging, but true! I’ve personally experienced this. At one point as a teenager, I didn’t yet have full confidence that Jesus had accepted me as a disciple–that Jesus was truly my Lord and Savior (and not just in the abstract). During this time, somehow the Holy Spirit let me to sacrifice some of my time to do person-to-person evangelization with a missionary-minded group of Christians. I shared the Good News of God’s grace in train stations and door-to-door on a monthly basis. Thinking back to that time, that experience probably contributed more to my growth in faith than almost any sermon I heard or any spiritual book I read. 

Why was this the case? It wasn’t because I became “good” at apologetics (I didn’t!) or was spiritually gifted in praying for the needs of those I met (I wasn’t!). I think it was because it forced me to rely on God. I knew I was inadequate. Very inadequate. Any time I walked away knowing that my conversation wasn’t a disaster was an experience of knowing that Jesus was working in me, was using me as his disciple.

The [Too] Long Road to Sharing

For whatever reasons, much of Catholic culture in our country seems to somehow communicate the message that it takes a long time before someone is ready to share the Gospel. Look at the proportion of organized adult faith formation opportunities in comparison to the proportion of organized opportunities to share the faith in the typical parish. The unspoken consensus is that we perceive the need for a lot of organized faith formation in comparison tt organized opportunities for sharing the faith. But, the truth is we need both.

I encourage you and your faith community to test Fr. Michael White’s premise. Organize a time to actively share the faith. Maybe this means going door-to-door with registered (but inactive) parish members. Maybe it means speaking to people in public places, like St. Paul Street Evangelization does. Maybe it means having space set aside at a public event (like a Fall Festival) to talk to people about discipleship and following Jesus. See if Fr. White is correct–that sharing the faith leads to growth in faith.

Copyright 2015, Colleen Veremeulen

Colleen Vermeulen

Colleen Reiss Vermeulen, M.Div., M.N.A., blogs, ministers in parish life and lay/deacon formation, and serves as a U.S. Army Reserve officer. She and her husband, Luke, have been married since 2011 and live in Ypsilanti, MI with their two young sons.