[This is a part of the Evangelization Basics Series. Have you read the other parts?]
We all know how difficult it is to communicate Church teaching to people who are indifferent or hardened to the Catholic Faith. This is why evangelization must be a key first component in your strategy. If you can convert them, they’ll listen to what you have to teach.
Easier said than done right?
How do you begin to shift their thinking and get them to believe what you say?
Here are the two essential evangelization starting points that will capture your listeners imagination and get them interested in learning more.
1. Establish Trust
This is the crucial first step in the evangelization process that no one thinks about…including me at first. I thought people would be bowled over by the beauty of my reasoned arguments and just want to change. I found out it was much more complicated.
You need to establish a relationship of trust with your students before they will really listen to you. This human relationship draws them into the divine. It’s almost like the human connection acts as a bridge on which the divine connection travels.
This is just how we’re made. The best advertisement is by word of mouth. You can watch tons of commercials and not be convinced to buy. But if your friend tells you the product really works, you’ll try it because you trust them. You know they just want the best for you. It’s the same with the gospel.
They need to know you’re sincere and that you care about them as persons. You’re not trying to win an argument. You’re just showing them the beauty you’ve found in Jesus Christ through the Catholic Church.
You are simply one beggar leading another beggar to bread. That is the powerful attitude that gets you heard.
2. Give Them the Catholic Gospel Message
The Catholic gospel message is a short presentation of what we believe as Catholics, how that leads to salvation and why they should believe it.
Told in a powerful, compelling way, this can be a powerful motivator. It serves as a foundation for everything else you present and every question you answer.
Your students need to hear why following Jesus will make a difference in their lives and why the difference will be greater in the Catholic Church.
There are distinctive elements in the Catholic Faith that set it apart from the rest of Christianity, and these make a difference for salvation. There isn’t enough space here to talk about what makes up the distinctively Catholic gospel. That’s a whole blog series in itself that I’m planning to do in the future. But at the end, I’ll also highlight the essential elements of a Catholic Gospel presentation.
Now It’s Your Turn
These are the two essential elements of an evangelization strategy. They form a solid foundation for further efforts. Try doing this and see how your students open up to you in return.
Have you ever seen this work? Do you try to establish a relationship with your students? Let me know what you think in the comments.
[This is a part of the Evangelization Basics Series. Have you read the other parts?]
Great insights here brother. I couldn’t agree more with the connecting piece. Unless we connect, we just as soon speak to the wall, otherwise no one will be listening!
You are so right! We’ve got that eye-to-eye thing going! 😉
Thanks for the comment and the link!
Marc,
This is so amazing. You are right on. “The best advertisement is by word of mouth. You can watch tons of commercials and not be convinced to buy. But if your friend tells you the product really works, you’ll try it because you trust them. You know they just want the best for you. It’s the same with the gospel.” This building of relationships is what builds the body of Christ and equips us to do His work. I see this daily in how we interact to enable people once more to have an encounter with God by introducing them to a love of Scripture through Bible study. Thanks for sharing your insight!
Thanks Kelly! I know you’ve done a lot of good work in this area as well. Especially in how you get Bible study leaders together when you do your training days. I felt very special and appreciated when we all got together the night before in Bloomington. That’s exactly the kind of human connections that build bridges for the divine connections to take place! Thanks for the comment!
You have said it so well. Building the relationship and trust is so important. As I look back over the years of working in the parish, I remember the importance of getting to know each person and building that relationship. To me, this is the way Jesus taught his followers and we, in turn, if we are to share the Gospel with others, must do the same. Thank you very much for sharing your insights and wisdom with us.
Thanks Sharon! Coming from you that’s a huge compliment.
The kicker is you have to care. To care means to put yourself out there. People don’t always respond as we might like. Sometimes they reject us and our message. That hurts. But that’s the gig. To truly evangelize we must be willing to allow others to break our hearts at times. We can only do that when One much greater than us keeps patching us up and sending us back out there. We can only do this when we allow God to work through us. To “see” this play out powerfully, read “Unplanned.” Go back even further and read Norma McCorvey’s “Won By Love.” God bless those people who loved Norma and who loved Abby when all they received for years in return was contempt. I am in awe of them.
Those two books are fabulous examples of this principle at work. In both cases, the dogmatic, militant pro-life efforts completely turned them off and had the opposite effect. They set up walls as self-defense mechanisms against attacks. Nothing got through. However, when people took the time to understand them and where they were coming from, that allowed grace to soften their hearts so that the truth could sink in.