Evangelization is a Person and Not a Program!

In our culture today, everyone needs skills and vocabulary to share their faith in Christ. But the goal cannot be just setting up a bunch of Evangelization programs. While Evangelizers need resources, parishes can become stuck in thinking that a program is the “magic bullet.” I often say that programs are to Evangelization what sugar is to nutrition. Programs may make you feel like you’ve done Evangelization when you haven’t, just like eating sugar may make you feel like you’ve eaten when you haven’t.

Having said that, coordinators and other leaders can get in the game with some practical helps. One Church had everyone write out three names of non-practicing family members or friends on a card and had people pray about sharing their faith with the folks on that list. How simple and practical.
 
The lists were put into purses, wallets, prayer books and Bibles and were referred to regularly. All had to create practical plans to meet individuals on their list: an invitation for coffee, an email with an invite to Mass, a good spiritual presentation or choir concert, etc. All in our pews need to understand that sharing one’s faith story, witnessing, will be much more effective than any church-wide Evangelization program, no matter how large that program may be. Pope St. Paul VI said it this way, “Modern man [woman] listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he [she] does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” ( Evangelii Nuntiandi)
 
The point here:  Give yourself permission to share your faith with someone today!