Pointing People To God

Tools For Evangelization

March 21, 2015

Why should we do it?◦ God told us to do it. Popes say “do it”. Bishops say “do it”.

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28: 19-20)

What exactly is it that Christ wants us to share? ◦ Our doctrines? Our liturgy?◦ The living Christ, through the cross, enabled us to have a personal relationship

with Him, to participate with and have Him be part of our everyday, ordinary, life.

"...so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Why Point People To God?

Why does Christ want us to share this reality with His creation, His people?◦ No one can be free and experience a rich, fulfilling life without God's presence in it. ◦ Unless we share it, people won’t know they can live this way, grow and become the

people that God created and intended them to become.

Why inconvenience ourselves…and go out of our comfort zone?◦ The God we know is really worth knowing!◦ The God we know will transform everyone’s life for the better.◦ We believe everyone would want to have this type of wonderful relationship with

God if only they knew Him personally!

Why Point People To God?

There are many ways to evangelize. God works in so many mysterious ways.

◦ Robert, a Wall Street lawyer, came to faith because of a subway evangelist!

Today, we are going to focus on forms of personal evangelization and outreach.

◦ Various ways where EVERYONE in a parish can be involved in evangelization, no matter what their gifts are.

Is There One Way To Evangelize?

Things we’ve all heard or experienced .

Fear-Full“I know that Christ has commanded us to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ BUT....”

▶ “I’m afraid of offending…pushing my views onto someone.”

▶ “I don’t want to come off like a holy roller!”

▶ “What if they reject me?”

▶ “I’m a shy, introverted person.”

▶ “Awkward!….why should I put myself through this stress!”

▶ “I don’t know the Bible.”

▶ “This is putting me way out of my comfort zone…I’m just not good at navigating unknown territory.”

▶ “What if they ask me a question I can’t answer and I look like an idiot?”

Perspective of The Christ Follower

Faith- Full “Lord..are You prompting me to go over and extend the hand of friendship to that

person standing over there?”

“What is this all about God? Seems like that gal needs some encouragement and a little conversation…who knows what might happen?”

“Okay Holy Spirit…I feel compassion for this guy… I’m going to walk over there and talk to him.”

“Lord, I have no clue where this is going…but let’s see what You have in mind!”

“So…what is it about this one that You want me to see?”

“Okay Lord…I’m walking by faith into unknown territory…just to see what You might do!”

“Lord…You know how awkward this is…but I feel in my heart that You might be sending me on a mission…and that’s sufficiently worthy for me to act on!”

Perspective of The Christ Follower

Not So Positive Experience “We got into this huge argument…shut me right down!” “I felt judged.” “She wasn’t really interested in what I thought…she just wanted me to know what

she thought!” “He was trying to make me feel guilty…I wasn’t having any of it!” “She kept correcting me and made me feel stupid.” “The stuff he was saying just wasn’t relevant to my life.” “Who the heck does he think he is to attack me with that kind of question?” “She really turned me off…I didn’t find anything appealing about what she was

saying.”

Perspective Of Someone Being Evangelized

Positive Experience “He really sought to understand my life and what I thought.” “She was such an engaged and compassionate listener.” “We got talking about things we had in common…family, work, sports.” “I felt comfortable…talking with him seemed so natural and easy.” “I became curious about what he believed.” “The way she communicated was so respectful and sensitive.” “I became interested in learning more.” “Despite our differences, we’d meet and talk about my questions…we became

friends.” “Eventually our conversation found its way to issues of faith.”

Perspective Of Someone Being Evangelized

1. It’s not about us.

◦ It’s not about how confident we feel…whether we can quote scripture or convey theology or doctrine.

◦ It’s seeing ourselves being sent on the highest, most meaningful mission into the unknown…to point people to God.

2. We need to meet people where they are…not expect them to come to us.

◦ It’s about being in love with Christ, loving people as He does and being certain that everyone who meets Him will fall in love too!

◦ Getting to know peoples’ stories and concerns lets us engage them in a meaningful way. It builds trust which lowers defenses and enables them to hear and see God’s presence in their lives.

Observations

Observations

3. We don’t have to “cold call”. We just need to be able to recognize God’s appointments and co-operate with Him.

• Our job is to stay very close to God so we can see His movements and hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

4. We don’t have to hit the puck and score a goal. We just have to set up the shot and let God to guide it into the goal.

• Faith is a mystery…a gift from God. It is not ours to give…we can only point out the way.

We can relax! The Holy Spirit has our back. We are not doing this alone.

WHEW!

◦ Just Walk Across The Room◦ Forming Intentional Disciples

◦ Alpha International Resources◦ Amazing Parish Resources

◦ Rebuilt & Tools For Rebuilding – Church of the Nativity, MD

◦ Amazing Parish Resources

Tools For Evangelization

Initiating Relationships

Communicating The Story

Becoming A Welcoming, Vibrant

Church

What Is It Designed To Do?Inspires Christ followers to allow the Holy Spirit to embolden and empower us to leave our comfort zone and see ourselves on the highest, most meaningful mission ….pointing people towards God.

How Does It Work?A 6 Session DVD, book and study guide. Shows real life vignettes of evangelization in action. Rev. Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek, models how to recognize God’s appointments, initiate relationships, and look for opportunities to point people to God.

Key Benefits◦ Helps us overcome our inhibitions…empowered by the Holy Spirit. ◦ Shows us how to look for God’s appointments and engage people in dialogue. ◦ Helps us prepare our personal faith testimony to be ready to share.

Just Walk Across The Room

What Is It Designed To Do?Gives a framework to help understand where people are on their faith journey.Shows 5 different thresholds of pre-discipleship one goes through prior to establishing a personal relationship with God. Shifts our focus onto the other person.

How Does It Work?Book and study guide. Author Sherry Weddell teaches how to recognize which threshold someone is in, how to engage and support them as they move towards conversion.

◦ Threshold 1: Trust◦ Threshold 2: Curiosity◦ Threshold 3: Spiritual openness◦ Threshold 4: Spiritual seeking◦ Threshold 5: Intentional discipleship

Forming Intentional Disciples

Key Benefits◦ Able to recognize what threshold of pre-discipleship someone is in.◦ Equips one to connect with people where they are and support them as they

move towards conversion.

Forming Intentional Disciples

Who Is It For?◦ Anyone!

◦ Life long active Catholics who want a fresh, personal encounter with Christ.

◦ Lapsed Catholics who think faith has no relevance for them.

◦ People of other faiths who want to understand the Christian faith.

◦ “Nones” and non-believers, who want to explore their spirituality.

What Is It Designed To Do?◦ Engaging both the heart and the mind, Rev. Nicky Gumbel shares who is this

person…our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

◦ Shares what a personal relationship with Jesus looks like. Gets people to fall in love with Him!

◦ Teaches the basic fundamentals of the Christian faith that lays the foundation for their understanding and appreciation of Catholic liturgy and doctrine.

Alpha Course

How Does It Work?◦ Over 10 weeks, and a weekend retreat, guests share a delicious meal and watch a

DVD which teaches a key aspect of the Christian faith. ◦ Afterwards, guests break out into small groups where they discuss what they

heard. Guests are encouraged to discuss anything in a laid back, non-judgmental atmosphere.

What Are The Topics Covered?

Alpha Course

•Who Is Jesus?•Why did Jesus die?•How can I be sure of my faith?•Why and how should I read the

Bible?•Why and how do I pray?•How does God guide us?

•Who is the Holy Spirit?•What does the Holy Spirit do?•How can I be filled with the Holy Spirit?•How can I resist evil?•Does God heal today?•What about the church?•How can I make the most of the rest

of my life?

Key Benefits◦ People’s faith comes alive as they experience a personal encounter with Jesus

Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit.◦ Parishes are renewed as people are excited to engage with their faith.◦ Everyone gets to play a part in evangelizing in some way…preparing food,

administration, greeting, leading small groups, promotion etc.

Other Alpha International Resources For Pre - EvangelizationEnables parishes to offer people far from God something that is relevant to their needs. Gets people curious to explore faith.

◦ The Marriage Course◦ The Parenting Course

Alpha Course

What Is It?A newly founded parish revitalization movement bringing together people with best practices to help parishes become “places of profound encounter with Jesus Christ.”

◦ Website – with free resources that are continually updated.◦ Conferences – gathers leaders to share best practices within the spirit of prayer

and fellowship. First one, in August 2014, had 500 in attendance and a waiting list. April 2015 conference is sold out. Another conference is planned for August 2015.

◦ Hands on Guidance – parishes can contract experts to help them build a community of amazing faith.

Amazing Parish

Conference speakers, workshops and resourcesInspirational talks and practical ideas in the form of resources are organized around 7 desired parish traits:

Reliance on Prayer Real Leadership Team A Clear Vision The Sunday Experience Compelling Formation Small Group Discipleship Missionary Zeal

Speakers emphasize the importance of parishioners going beyond looking for the next formation program and becoming active, creative evangelizers.

Amazing Parish

Key Benefits◦ Lots of specific ideas for discipleship resources to use in the parish for

formation…to teach people about Scripture, catechism, and liturgy ◦ Superb talks on video about small group leadership…especially for

evangelization.◦ Much more on leadership, creating a welcoming parish, prayer, vision casting!

Amazing Parish

What Is It?The amazing story of The Church of The Nativity in Timonium, MD. Father Michael White and lay leader Tom Corcoran took a small struggling parish and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, transformed it into a thriving, vibrant, growing parish.

What Does It Do?◦ Describes the journey, the trials, errors and successes they have learned over

10+ years of experimenting with ways to transform their parish.

◦ Discusses specific strategies that have worked well for them and why.

◦ In the sequel book, Tools For Rebuilding, Father White and Tom Corcoran provide 75 practical ideas to make a parish better.

Rebuilt & Tools For Rebuilding

Key Benefits◦ Inspirational! Motivates parish leaders to try new things and encourages them

that this is a marathon….not a sprint.◦ Focuses parish leaders on the cultural change needed to transform their parish

into welcoming, vibrant communities of faith.◦ Provides a holistic view of what the Church of the Nativity found they needed to

address and offers specific practical ideas to evaluate and implement:

Rebuilt & Tools For Rebuilding

• Strategic • Building (physical plan)• Office (administration)• Communication• Weekend

• Preaching• Sacramental• Kids and Students• Money• Staff• Pastor

Amazing Parish Tip: Holy Week and Easter

From Fr. James Mallon, author of the book Divine Renovation:  Moving your Parish from Maintenance to Mission

1. Easter is a time when many non-active Catholics return to church. Make an intense effort to welcome them.

2. Acknowledge their presence – let them know you are glad they are in church.

3. Avoid all messages of judgment and guilt for those who have returned. They need to know that you are excited they are with you.

4. In the weeks ahead of Easter and Holy Week, encourage parishioners who attend Mass regularly to be gracious and welcoming hosts to those who will attend on Easter.

5. Make an announcement to provide helpful information for those who are not regularly at your church - turn off cell phones, location of the bathrooms – keep it light-hearted and warm.

6. Have an “ask” for those who show up on Easter. Invite them to fill out a short survey about what drew them back, invite them to a welcome reception, and let them know about upcoming events.