Who to Evangelize and Ways to Do It

In the last article of this series we talked about evangelizing Catholics, both active and lapsed. In this article we’ll talk about another group of people, then we’ll begin talking about how to actually do the work.

The other group of people to reach out to are those who make up non-Catholics. Most of the non-Catholics I reach out to are cultivated one-on-one. They’re the result of general conversations with people I meet (no one talks to me long before the subject turns to religion), and these are folks God just places in my path. 

When I’m actively looking for people to evangelize, I use what I call the curiosity approach. The people I use this method on get the totality of Catholic truth just like everybody else. The difference is in the manner of presentation.

I learned years ago that the minute you mention the Catholic Church to most people, you can almost hear their minds slam shut. They hate what they believe the Catholic Church to be. If the Church were like most people think it is, I’d hate it, too, but that’s because the idea most folks have of the Church is nothing even akin to reality. So I use the curiosity approach, meaning that it’s not until about the fifth lesson that they know or realize I’m teaching them Catholicism. By the time they realize what I’m doing, they’re hooked! I’ve made more than a few converts this way. The inspiration for the curiosity approach came right out of the book of Acts, when Paul told the Greeks his notion of who the “unknown god” was (Acts 17:22-31). I could write more details about the curiosity approach, but I believe just having it mentioned to you without elaboration will get your creative juices flowing.

Now let’s begin talking about the various means of evangelization. For the faint of heart—those who are terrified of face-to-face evangelization, you really can evangelize and receive all the kudos, admiration and adulation of any professional full-time lay evangelist. Well, actually you won’t get that from any human person, but you will get that from the only Person who really matters—God. How?

Look, we work for the best Boss in the universe. Can’t see yourself doing what I do? Then give temporal and financial support to those who do the sort of evangelization I do! 

Here’s a little story to demonstrate what I’m talking about: One day, two men stood outside the parish church after Holy Mass and carried on a conversation. One said to the other, “Why, Bill, you’ve put on some weight! Don’t you work anymore?”

“I work about twenty-four hours a day,” replied Bill with all seriousness.

“Impossible!” exclaimed his friend.

“Not with a system,” Bill began to explain. “I work twelve hours down at the shop and around the house. Then I support our parish, the diocese, and mission work—that money works even while I’m sleeping.”

As is demonstrated in this story, God will give you all of the very same credit (graces) for your financial participation as He does the lay evangelist or apostolate doing the actual grunt work. After all, since the foundation of Christianity, one factor has been a constant: souls cost money. In other words, it costs money to pay for the activities that allow us to reach people. Even Jesus and His merry band of apostles had a purse for expenses.

What if you can’t make a financial gift? Well, there are two ways you can still contribute and share in the graces. One example is from the webinars I host. It actually takes at least two people to operate the webinar platform efficiently. For about the first six months I did them, I had to try to manage all of it on my own. That was tough too, because I’m a real techno-moron. But then a man volunteered to help me. He manages the chat moderation when people ask questions while I do the presentations. When the presentation is over, I open the chat moderation to see if there are any questions he couldn’t answer. It works out great! So helping someone well versed in evangelization is a way to evangelize.

Another example is from one of my godsons. He’s a man who’s intellectually challenged in the medical sense, what we used to refer to as mildly retarded. In fact, he was so challenged that the bishop where I lived told me he’d baptize and confirm the man as long as he could articulate what Baptism is and what it does, what Confirmation is and what it does, and understand the difference between actual bread and the Holy Eucharist. 

As you’d expect, then, most of his friends are like him. He wanted to share the faith in the worst way. At the time, I was teaching a small group and served them coffee and cookies. Since my godson couldn’t competently tell his friends what the Catholic Church teaches, he just invited his friends to come have a cup of coffee and a snack. Then he left the rest up to the Holy Spirit. Several of his friends became Catholics. Now, if my intellectually challenged godson could do it, I know you can!

The second way to evangelize is very closely akin to what my godson did. Find a group where evangelization is done (maybe a St. Paul Street Evangelization chapter), or even a good RCIA class (which are far and few between). Work-up a little pitch to present to people you know or meet; a little thing designed to get them committed to listening to someone share the faith in all its purity and splendor—but make sure it’s unadulterated Catholicism absent of milquetoast, as watered-down catechesis never attracts anyone. Once they commit to listen, make sure you go with them. You be their contact and friend while the lay evangelist does the work.

There’s a third way to evangelize, and we’ll pick up with that in the next article of this series. The next article will also give you an easier, more organized way to learn the faith as well as you need to know it in order to evangelize.