by Fr. Robert Barron

For the past several weeks, I've been talking about the essentials of evangelization. I've argued that preaching the Good News involves the proclamation of

1) Jesus' bodily resurrection from the dead,
2) the divinity of the Lord, and
3) radical humanism.

Now, a passionate and committed evangelical Protestant might agree quite readily with these three principles; so what is it that makes Catholic evangelization distinctively Catholic? I believe it is a fourth element, namely, the indispensability of the church.

It is a deep Catholic conviction that one cannot be truly converted to Jesus Christ without being, at the same time, incorporated into the church. In making this claim, I confront, of course, the enormous cultural prejudice against institutions of all stripes. A favorite American archetype - on display in both the popular and high culture - is that of the heroic individual facing down the corrupt government, business, police force, or church. So to say that true conversion must involve participation in an institution just seems counter-intuitive, even dangerous.

On a Catholic reading, the church is not primarily an institution, though it has an institutional dimension. It is, first and foremost, a body, that is to say, a living organism made up of interdependent cells, molecules, and organs. The head of this living body is Jesus Christ and its life-blood is the grace flowing from Jesus' death and resurrection. All of the baptized are incorporated (how appropriate that word is) into this organism and are drawn into its dynamics and interrelationships. So intimate is the bond between members of the body of Christ that the joys of any one are the joys of every other, and the sufferings of any one are the sufferings of every other. St. Paul, who developed this image of the church as body in a number of his letters, wondered: "Can the eye say to the hand, I have no need of you?" In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself says, "I am the vine, and you are the branches," implying that the members of his church are organically and not simply institutionally related to him.

One of the most powerful Biblical testimonies to this idea of the mystical body of Christ is the account of the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul falls to the ground, blinded by a great light, and he hears a voice, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When he inquires as to the identity of this mysterious speaker, he hears, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." Well, Saul had been aggressively persecuting the newly-born Christian churches. This was tantamount, he learned, to harming Christ himself.

Therefore, it is not the case that the individual negotiates his or her relationship with Jesus Christ and then decides to join a group of like-minded people. It is not the case that a person first accesses salvation and subsequently enters into a voluntary society. Rather, the church is the life-force of Jesus Christ, the indispensable place where full encounter with him is alone possible.

One way to specify this idea is to speak of the sacraments. Jesus has willed that the Incarnation - the enfleshment of God - should continue precisely through those physical signs that become bearers of divine power. In baptism, confirmation, reconciliation, marriage, the anointing of the sick, holy orders - and especially the Eucharist, members of the church receive the Christ-life and are hence inserted more fully into the dynamism of the mystical body.

Another way is to speak of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Giving food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, comforting the sorrowing, counseling the doubtful, praying for the living and the dead, visiting the imprisoned, etc. are the ways that the truth of the mystical body is put concretely into action. Dorothy Day commented that everything a baptized Christian does every day should be directly or indirectly related to these defining works of the Church.

Still another way is to speak of the practice of the faith. We have fallen into the unfortunate habit of bifurcating interior and exterior when it comes to questions of religion. Many people today consider themselves "spiritual" even when they do little to instantiate and embody that spirituality. But we would never accept such a scenario in regard to anything else that we took seriously.

Would a piano student be satisfied in knowing that she is "musical," even if she never sat down to play the instrument? Would a baseball player settle for being "athletic," while rarely actually playing the game of baseball? No, in either of those cases, we would consider practice of paramount importance. The church is that body, that organism, that field of force, in which the faith is concretely practiced. And that is why we cannot truly enter into Christ without entering, simultaneously, into the embodied activities that characterize the church.

And so, when we evangelize, we preach, not Christ alone, but Christ in his mystical body, Christ in his church.

About The Author:

Fr. Barron is a professor at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago. He also contributes directly to the mission of evangelization through his program of evangelical Catholic preaching on a radio/podcast program, called Word on Fire.

by Prof. James Emery White

The caricature is so tired it's wearisome to even bring it up, but it's so prevalent, we must:

"If you emphasize evangelism, you must not be doing discipleship."

This is such a patently ridiculous idea it's almost not worth spending energy to dismiss. If it were true, then Jesus lied, for He is the one who said that not only were we to do both, but that both must co-exist in the church. The Great Commission makes it clear that we are to do both evangelism and discipleship. Doing one does not automatically negate the other.

Even more, if you aren't doing evangelism, you won't have anyone to disciple! And the goal of discipleship, if I understand the New Testament, is to be able to turn around and invest in the evangelistic mission! So without discipleship, there won't be any evangelism.

All to say, it's not an "either-or," but a "both-and." And a very important "both-and."

So why the tension?

Why the snide dismissals of evangelistically-oriented churches as if it's inherent that if they are reaching high percentages of unchurched people they must be either a) abandoning orthodoxy, or b) sacrificing discipleship?

It's simple.

We don't know what it means to do discipleship.

Most approaches to evangelism involve the "front door" of the church, meaning the weekend services and other large-scale events that members use to invite their friends to attend. As a result, the "front door" is opened widely for those guests, with attention to their needs. The message is not watered down, but the red carpet is rolled out in ways that help them understand and appropriate the message for their lives.

Sometimes that means a different style of music, a different dress code, an attention to forms of communication that resonate, and more. Essentially, missiology 101.

So what's the problem?

The countless numbers of churches who have equated the "front door" with discipleship. Rather than seeing an event such as the weekend service as the time when you throw open the doors for guests and outreach, it is seen as the time when the already convinced are targeted and developed. As a result, if "front door" events are used for anything else, discipleship is assumed to have been abandoned.

This thinking is flawed on two essential fronts:

First, large gatherings – even for worship – were seen as "front door" events for the unchurched by the apostles in the New Testament. For example, the apostle Paul admonished the Corinthians for holding worship services that would make the unchurched think them crazy (I Cor. 14). Going back even further, the large group gatherings of Jesus were almost always evangelistic in orientation.

Second, discipleship in the Bible was almost always enacted in smaller groups and settings, if not one-on-one. The most obvious is Jesus pouring into the 120, and from the 120, the 12. Paul went off for three years for preparation and discipleship before launching into his many missions, and then personally mentored various pastors for their ministry, such as Timothy.

This does not mean there is no place for "personal" evangelism (there is), and no place for mass discipleship (there is). It just means that we shouldn't confuse a particular approach toward one with the absence of the other.

At Mecklenburg Community Church (Meck), which I have had the honor and privilege of leading for over twenty years, the approach is simple: evangelism and discipleship.

Evangelism, at this stage in our church's life in light of contemporary culture, has its locus on "front door, " weekend events. Not solely, but primarily. People are trained in personal evangelism, but it is the invitation to a weekend event that is primary in our outreach strategy. This has resulted in an overall growth rate of over 70 percent from the unchurched.

Discipleship is rooted in the Meck Institute, a community-college type of approach to classes and seminars that offers everything from "Bible Basics" all the way to graduate level courses in systematic theology. Small groups, while focused on spans of care, supplement the Institute mightily. This has led to a community of over 10,000 active attenders.

And while long-time believers in attendance on the weekends would say it grows their faith exponentially (largely because the questions of today's believers increasingly parallel the questions of today's non-believers), that is not its primary focus. The primary focus is presenting Christ to the world at large, standing on Mars Hill and contending for the faith. It is Christianity 101 or 201. Essentially, the evangelism needed for discipleship; or, one could argue, the discipleship needed for evangelism to take root.

So rather than take shots at outreach-oriented churches for their lack of discipleship, delve deeper and see if what is really at hand is a different approach to discipleship. One that might just be more biblical,

…and more effective.

Sources

For more on how outreach can weave with discipleship, see James Emery White, The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated (Baker, 2014) as well as Rethinking the Church (Baker, 2007).

Editor's Note

by Msgr. Charles Pope

In the Church throughout the world today, we are more focused on evangelization - and rightly so. Yes, it is "job one," and Jesus could not have been clearer: Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matt 28:18-20).

However, even as we become more serious and practical about effective evangelization, we must also remember the paradox and the mysteries that underlie the growth of the Kingdom. We can and should strive to learn "best practices," what makes for dynamic parishes and effective outreach, but even when many of these things are in place (e.g., good liturgy, dynamic preaching, Eucharistic adoration, welcoming parish), growth does not always come; sometimes numbers may even continue to decrease. Conversely, even in parishes where the liturgy is perfunctory, preaching is weak, and devotions are hurried, there may be significant growth. I know parishes that should be growing, but are not; I also know parishes that are growing almost in spite of themselves.

There are mysterious aspects to the growth or decline of the Church. Jesus said,

This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how (Mark 4:26-29).

Thus the Lord teaches that much of the growth in the Kingdom of God is mysterious and works "we know not how."

Only one thing is clear: we must sow the seed. That's "job one." Indeed, we must work ardently to "scatter seed." By extension, we should do our best to prepare the soil well, and after sowing the seed, cultivate. But much that is mysterious lies beyond our knowledge or control.

Perhaps with this and other things in mind, St. Paul further developed the paradox of God's ways of reaching the world. What we tend to think is good or bad marketing does not seem to impress God. He delivers to the world a message that is not popular, but because it is of God, wins the day. Consider this passage:

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord" (1 Cor 1:20ff).

Yes, this passage is certainly a paradox! Consider some of the paradoxical and countercultural ways in which St. Paul says we engage the world:

1. The cross, not comfort – Many today say that we should speak more tenderly in this tender age. We should be more positive, less demanding, more merciful, more known for what we are for than what we are against. Sugar and honey attract more than do vinegar and gall. But St. Paul and the Holy Spirit didn't get this memo, for we are exhorted to preach "Christ crucified," even though this is an absurdity to the world. Let us not forget to manifest our joy, but even in doing so, let us not neglect to embrace the paradox of the cross.

2. Fools more so than formally educated – Studying and learning have their place. Learn your faith well and be prepared to defend it with patience and love. Parishes need to do a better job of teaching the faith to those who would spread it. But in this, we must not simply equate learning with Godly Wisdom. As St. Paul notes, the early Church did not draw foremost from the educated classes, but rather from the humble, the poor, the ignoble, and the uneducated. They won the ancient world not merely by learning, but also by joy, faith, courageous martyrdom, and simple virtue.

3. Apologetics but not apologies – Notice that St. Paul accepts that many in the world call us foolish. Apologetics has its place (so that we can reach the reasonable of this world by explaining and setting forth the reasonableness of faith), but as any good apologist knows, apologetics is explaining and defending the faith, not making apologies for it. We run the risk of trying to make the faith too agreeable to others. We can end up subtly watering down truths that challenge or forever delaying the "hard" truths. Jesus started with the hard things. "Repent!" was his opening word. Whatever prudential methods we choose, we cannot through endless prudence forever postpone proclaiming the whole counsel of God, in season and out of season. Some will scoff and say, "This is a hard saying who can endure it?" (John 6:60) A true apologist has not necessarily lost when someone scoffs; he has only lost when he fails to proclaim the whole faith. Scoffers may reconsider; those who reject the truth may repent; but truth unspoken, distorted, or watered down is a total victory for Satan.

4. Pure more than palatable – Faith that is made too "palatable" is almost certainly not the faith at all. Now this may be in violation of "Marketing 101," but God is not in receipt of the world's memos. True evangelization is often paradoxical because it does not fit easily into the tidy categories of marketers and sociologists, who are often horrified at how "off-message" the faith can seem to the modern world. Even in the Church, many demand that the faith be conformed to what the majority of people think. Remember, God has been at this work just a little longer than marketers and publicity folks. His paradoxes have a way of winning the day when the ephemeral and fickle views of the world fade away.

Should we continue to do everything we can to spread the faith in the usual manner using various media, training, and the widest possible exposure? Sure! Today at least, this is how we prepare the soil, sow the seed, and help to cultivate.

However, in humility and serenity, we must also accept that there are mysteries as to what works and what does not. Growth sometimes comes out of nowhere for no discernible reason. God often surprises us with sudden growth spurts that are hard to explain. Meanwhile, we work as best as we can and do what seems wisest.

How about a little humility that allows paradoxical things to work (paradoxical because they do not conform to the rules of the world)? How about a little humility that is willing to listen to God? We are always asking God to bless what we do. Why not (at least occasionally) find out what God is already blessing and do that?

Paradox and mystery may well have a lot more to do with effective evangelization than all our grand plans and glossy marketing.

Lord, we seek a miraculous catch of fish in our day and we are open to surprises. Keep us faithful to your teachings, which are "out of season" today. Help us to cast your nets faithfully and be willing, like Peter, to cast them where you say, often in tension with our own instincts. And, like Peter, may we experience the astonishing miracle of a great catch that will make us fall to our knees in wonderment and humility at the mystery and paradox of your work. Have mercy on us, Lord, and work, often in spite of us, to enrich your kingdom in ways "we know not how." In Jesus' name, Amen.

Is Jesus exhibiting good evangelization here? You decide.

video https://youtu.be/xuyDc0Y8QrA

by Fr. Tom Forrest, C.Ss.R

This is one light that will never go out.

I want to tell you a story about something that happened to me a long time ago. I had to take a plane trip from Boston to New York City. I got on the plane, and everything began to progress in the usual way. We got clearance from the tower, moved away from the gate, rolled out onto the tarmac, and then stopped moving. And we sat there, and we sat there, and we sat there. Finally, I looked out the window and what I saw was absolute darkness. There wasn't a single light on in the airport. All the lights had gone out. Then the pilot came on the speaker system and told us that not only were there no lights in the airport, there were no lights anywhere in the city of Boston, anywhere in the state of Massachusetts, or anywhere in the New England region of the United States.

It was the "Great Blackout of New England." That whole corner of the United States, where sixty or seventy million people lived, was suddenly without light. So, I had to get off the airplane and with great care find my way back to the house where I had been staying. There were no street lights. Traffic was jammed up at every corner. No electric trains were working. There was very little security protection for the people on the streets. Elevators in skyscrapers stopped wherever they were, most of them between floors. People had to walk down from the top of the highest buildings in the world, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, even one hundred floors, to get out on the street and try to get home.

Restaurants couldn't serve meals. Shopping malls and movie theaters went totally dark. People couldn't get to the hospitals. Mothers about to give birth had great difficulties. Doesn't that sound sad? But that's not the worst. Wait till you hear how sad it gets. For thirteen or fourteen hours, that whole area of the world was without television. How sad! What were they going to do with their lives? How could life be worth living without television?

Best-selling books were written about this great blackout. They even made a comical movie telling the story. And for years and years afterward, the people of that area shared with each other their personal experiences of where they were when the lights went out. That's how powerful an impression the darkness made on them.

People Trapped in Darkness. Now, dear people of God, there are many people in this world, perhaps countless millions, who live their whole lives in darkness. Why? Because they are living without the light that has come into the world. They are living without the light whose name is Jesus Christ.

I'm not just talking about places like Africa or China where there isn't a strong Christian tradition. I'm also talking about the West. In Europe and the Americas, the light of Jesus Christ is fading. In Ireland, for instance, for the first time in its history, people are saying that young people aren't coming to church. And in the United States, statistics show how relatively few come to give God Almighty even one hour of the 168 hours he gives us every week.

We had better take notice of this fact because we--let me rephrase that--because you have the job of getting the light back on. It isn't enough to say, "Well, we have Jesus Christ in our history. We have Jesus Christ in our art, in our music, in our literature." No, we have to get the light of Jesus Christ shining brightly again in human hearts. And we have to start with our own hearts.

Living without the Light. Being without spiritual light is far worse than being without physical light. Without the light of Christ, we have no protection. The devil loves the darkness. He's called the "Prince of Darkness." Without the light of Christ he is free to kill our hope and fill us with fear. Without the light of Christ, we are unable to move forward, unable to grow in holiness as God calls us to. Without the light of Christ, we are spiritually paralyzed, just as those planes on the tarmac, those cars on the streets, those trains in the city, and those elevators in the buildings were paralyzed without the light.

Without the light of Christ, our human actions have no traffic lights. We have no red light saying, "stop," to our selfish passions, emotions, and self-interest. Even more importantly, we have no green light telling us, "go, get moving," in accomplishing the good works that God created and destined for us. We have no red light saying, "don't do evil," and no green light saying, "go, produce fruit in abundance."

Without the light of Christ, human beings are engulfed in the utter darkness of egotism and selfishness. Do you know what the selfish person wants? He wants the right to be the only selfish person on earth. He doesn't want anybody around him to be selfish, but he thinks that being selfish is his right. What a sadness!

Another darkness is resentment. If you have any resentment in your heart, please be healed of it. It does you more harm than the person you're resenting. It's poison in your life. Bad memories, bad relationships--this is the darkness for so many people. Greed is another one: wanting more than you could ever use. Imelda Marcos was said to have had three thousand pairs of shoes. I calculated that if she were a centipede, she could put on a new pair of shoes every day for two months. There's also the darkness of addictions. What a horror in our world! People are addicted to alcohol, drugs, food. What are they hiding from? They're trying to hide from the darkness, but they only enter into it more and more deeply.

Longing for Peace. For so many people, the darkness in their hearts makes it impossible to say, "I have peace. I have enough." What a blessing peace is! This is what evangelization is all about. St. John called Jesus the light that shines in the darkness, then he went on to say that Jesus is the light that darkness cannot overcome (John 1:5). Jesus, and only Jesus, can fill our lives with light.

Have you ever lived through a hurricane? I have several times while I was in the Caribbean. During a hurricane, it's as if your whole world is filled with darkness and wind and rain. But when the hurricane passes, it blows away with it every cloud in the sky, and the sun comes out again. After so much fear and worry, the world is filled with light. That's the way Christ should come into our lives, bringing us beauty, bringing us color, bringing us goodness. Well, like John the Baptist, each of us must be a witness to the true light that gives light to every man. Our job is to turn the light on in this world so that people can walk in light and never return to darkness.

Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied what would happen when the Messiah came. He said that the Messiah would shine on those who sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:79). This isn't the death that ends our time on earth. It's the death called sin, the death called fear. This is what you must be doing as an evangelizer. And it's your mistake and your sin if you don't get at it. Zechariah's next words tell us what we have to do: We must guide people's feet into the way of peace. That's what we do when we bring light into someone's life. Now, if you're in utter darkness, you won't see where to put your feet. You won't know where to walk. But the light shows you the pathway, and Scripture says the path takes you to peace.

How many people in the world are hunting for, yearning for peace? All the alcoholics, all the drug addicts, all those mad, mad, shoppers who think material things will give them peace. No, the Prince of Peace gives us peace. Jesus calls himself the Light of the World, the Light of Life (John 8:12). He doesn't give light to your streets, he puts light, color, joy, happiness, and direction into your very life.

Live as Children of the Light. How good Jesus is to us! This is how he expresses his mission: "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim recovery of sight to the blind" (Luke 4:18). Who are the blind? They're the poor people we're talking about, the people who are spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically blind. They have no understanding of where they came from, where they are right now, or where they should be going. They are emotionally paralyzed. But Jesus said, "I have come to the world as its light to keep anyone who believes in me from remaining in the darkness" (John 12:46).

Oh, it's so beautiful, it's such a wonderful, kind thing to do. We give it a fancy name--evangelization--but it really means bringing sight to the blind. What an incomparable act of love and kindness to light the pathway of someone who is lost in darkness! What an act of love it is for us to proclaim with Paul, "There was a time when you were darkness, but now you are the light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8).

It's not that you have to go from darkness to light. It's more than that. You have to go from being darkness to being light in this world. Paul goes on: "Well then, live as children of the light. Awake, O sleeper! Arise from the dead"--from the darkness of the tomb--"and the light of Christ will shine upon you" (Ephesians 5:8-14).

This is why we call the gospel good news. We can walk in the light. Without any doubt, evangelization is the supreme Christian service of teaching the spiritually blind to cry out like that man in the gospel, "Lord! That I might see!" (Mark 10:51). And so many blind will see if they just cry out those words.

by Randy Newman

In a paper I wrote on Weaving Evangelism into Discipleship, I suggested, for some churches and ministries, evangelism is an awkward appendage, disconnected from daily life. It feels similar to a house with only one room with electricity. On isolated occasions you go to that room, "the electricity room," whenever you need to access electric current. Far better to wire the entire house for electricity.

Likewise, far better to "wire" our Christian experience so that evangelism is woven into daily life.

Here are three ways to weave evangelism into your daily life:

1) Through your daily prayers: Assuming you have a regular time for connecting to God through prayer (no easy discipline!), it is worth the effort to build in prompts to pray for non-believers. If you use a prayer journal, have a section where you list the "outsiders" God has brought your way. Perhaps you'll want to have a bookmark-sized card in your Bible with a list of names of your "10 Most Wanted."

2) Through specific prayers for specific people on specific days: Why not include in your daily prayers (along with, "Lord, may I bring glory to you today…help me to resist temptation today…please open that door for the promotion at work today…etc.") something like this, "Lord, please bring non-believers my way today and may I recognize such divine appointments as opportunities to point them to you. Give me boldness, wisdom, and grace." Or, "Lord, what appointments do I already have set up with non-believers? Help me to see you as Lord of my daily schedule."

(I began that section with "Why not…" Well, I'll tell you why I don't pray that kind of prayer more often. Because I don't want God to answer it! If he does (and he's rather good at answering prayers), I'll probably be placed into the awkward position of witnessing. So…I do want to pray that prayer, despite the difficulties, but I often add an extra plea: "God, please help me to trust you in those situations that you design. May it be that your glory and the other person's salvation will be more important to me than my comfort.")

3) As part of your social networking: You probably update your Facebook page or send out emails or tweet or engage in some other social networking activity on a pretty regular basis. Why not (see above) give some thought to how you might select a few non-believers and push the gospel-dialogue a little further. If evangelism can be a process and not only an event (I should probably blog about that sometime soon…check back…), then ask God for creativity to take the next step. It can begin with a prayer, "God, who's the next person you want me to check in with? What would be the next step? Is there a link to a website that I can send to them? Is there something in the news that points to the theme of redemption or forgiveness or grace or judgment or eternity?"

All of these steps require boldness. Ask God to help you reflect on all that he has done to reach you. Let that fuel your efforts to reach out to those God brings your way and weave evangelism into your daily life.