How to Evangelize (And Have Meaningful Conversations)

Do you wish that you were better at sharing your faith? No matter how good your knowledge of the truth, no matter how airtight your logical arguments, it’s important to learn both (a) the spiritual framework of evangelization, and (b) how to have conversations in an effective and meaningful way that doesn’t just alienate the other person.

That’s the theme of a talk that I gave last Wednesday at Christ the King in Topeka, as part of a four-part series that I’m doing on evangelization. I was thrilled with the turnout: I was anticipating a max of 80 people, and 132 showed up. Plus, people seemed interested and engaged, which was very rewarding! If you didn’t get a chance to go, here’s the video of the talk, and a description:

And if you live in the Topeka area, I’m speaking again tonight (January 16th) at Christ the King parish on 25th and Wanamaker. Whether or not you made it to last week’s talk, you should definitely come tonight at 6:30 p.m.

7 comments

  1. Nice talk with a lot of good points!

    I think people who are interested in evangelization should try to dedicate some specific times and specific places for this purpose. It might take a little thought, but it’s similar to fishing and so the evangelizer should choose his spot well, even if a 20 mile or longer drive is needed. Every year, I usually go with my wife, on pretty much a weekly basis… to either 2 farmers markets or one or 2 college campuses and at specific times and dates. We usually dedicate about 50 to 100 excursions each year, if not more, and spend about 2-3 hours each visit. I always carry about 5 lbs., or more, of excellent Catholic literature with me, from a well known author…such as archbishop Alban Goodier, St. Bonaventure or Scott Hanh. And, my wife also gives out these materials, but also gives out about 20 rosaries, or more, on every outing. My pastor has donated countless books to me ….entire boxes…of titles such as “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization”, “The Lamb’s Supper, Rome Sweet Home, and various Matthew Kelly books. I only give these to people who I think can read them, and after talking with them for at least 10 minutes or more .

    I actually think many Catholics might be more skeptical about evangelization then they should be, thinking that no one is going to be interested in talking to them if they go out to evangelize. But, If you go to public places and have your reading material in a small box with a Catholic picture on it, and greet people with a smile…I think you might find yourself spending a good deal of time talking to one or another person who passes by. So, even if 95% of the people who don’t want what you have to offer, you still have 5% who will stop and chat. and when you are talking a lot of others are passing by who might stop to talk to you on the next weekend, or outing.

    I think that the Lord might actually bring people to chat and talk, through means of Divine Providence….and only because the evangelizer has decided to generously donate his time for the very specific purpose of trying to spread the Kingdom of God to others? ( that is, God is more generous than we might think, to those who want to do His work? And, I think this… because by experience, I’ve gone out on days with rainy weather, or early on a Saturday morning, and I would tell my wife “.. this is going to be very slow, I doubt we’ll even talk to one person”. And, then, someone comes up unexpectedly, and says something like… he’s new to the area and is looking for a Catholic Church to attend in the area. Or, he just want’s to talk about religion, or even…why he has a problem with the Catholic faith. And so, what seemed like it was going to be a waste of time, almost always turned out productive in one way or the other. This has happened so many times…that I really think there are some miracles of Divine Providence that takes place. And my wife thinks the same. So, after many years doing this we have discovered that it is ALWAYS productive to go out to a public place and hand out religious sacramentals or holy literature.

    Also, very many times I have told people about Shameless Popery as a site where one can really study the Christian faith deeply. So many times… I just said, after taking for about 10 mins….” Hey, do you have a smart phone?” …and they take it out and I tell them to quickly google “Shameless popery blog” and then I tell them to bookmark it. Sometimes, I say with a twinkle in my eye…”It has kind of a wacky name…but really…you can probably learn more about Christianity on this site than anywhere else in the internet.” 🙂 I say this quite often…but it never bothers them, and they actually seem somewhat intrigued.

    So, spreading Shameless Popery to others is actually a very good resource for the Catholic evangelizer. If it’s a great resource for us here…it’s also great for countless others that you might meet when you go out on evangelization excursions.

    Currently I’m waiting for the spring school session to start on Jan. 21st at my local Community College nearby. I feel like a salmon fisherman waiting for opening day. 🙂 …. It’s SUPER FUN to go to college campuses. Even if many students walk by, my wife and I are still in almost continual conversation for pretty much the whole time we go to the campus, and we often meet students that we’ve talked to before, and then give them updated materials to read.

    So….regarding Catholic evangelization….as the Nike slogan says: Just do it. …..and see what happens!

    1. awlms – thanks for sharing such great thoughts and missionary zeal of both you and your wife as “fishers of men.” Have you heard of SPSE – St. Paul Street Evangelization? It’s a Catholic organization that helps and trains fishermen on Catholic evangelization street style and they also provide you with the “rod, reel and baits” to engage and encounter others. SPSE has become world wide and international. Continue blessings to you and your wife and may your nets be full always!

      1. Yes Sirach, I went to one of their meetings a while back. But as most of my work was performed under the auspices of the Legion of Mary, I didn’t go with them on any of their outings. But, I did give the group in Berkeley about 5000 Immaculate Heart Radio Cards for promoting Catholic Radio while doing their work. One other problem with St. Paul’s in my area is that they operate about 30 miles away from me, and so it is a little longer commute than my normal locations. But I am a TOTAL supporter of what they do! They are a great group! The Legion of Mary is also good, but the members are getting older and older and so a lot of the missionary works is starting to slow down.

        Anyway, I think that however anyone wants to evangelize, they should just make plans, get some good Catholic material and go out and do it. And door to door should not be ‘off the table’ either. Anyone can ring bells and just say, “Hi , we’re in the area encouraging all Christians to take advantage of the internet and to spend some time studying the History of Christianity on the WEB. It’s really a shame that we have so many great resources for study that earlier generations didn’t have …. and so many people just use the internet just to play games, chat or for other recreational purposes. So, we are here to encourage everyone to give some of their internet time to studying holy subjects and history on the WEB.” Almost everyone is disarmed by this argument….even pagan types. Many people are in agreement….because it’s kind of like promoting exercise/cardio etc… everyone knows instinctively that it is healthy to do so. It’s kind of a ‘no brainer’…so-to-say.

        Anyway, even door-to-door is very fun to do. I learned this in the Legion of Mary and have gone to thousands of houses over the years. It was almost all very positive!

        I also really believe that what Jesus said still applies: ” The harvest is great but the laborers are few”. If some people don’t want to talk…just move on to the next person. Not a big deal. Almost always, my voice is a little sore after a two hour session doing any variety of evangelization.

        Best to you, and I hope that you go out and have some REAL fun doing evangelization!! 🙂

  2. Thanks for this very insightful talk and many good points. We just begun our Winter Quarter ABFS (Adult bible and faith studies) study on the parish subscription to FORMED.org called Evangelization and the Acts of the Apostles. We will explore how the people in Acts and first to third century Christians living under the same condition as our world today of non-Christian, anti-Christian, etc., managed to evangelize 40% of the Roman Empire by the 4th century. I will use your talking points and tell them where I found such practical offerings. Looking forward to the rest.

  3. Does Jesus want every Catholic to try to evangelize to the best of their abilities?

    I think it is undeniable, as He Himself said:

    “The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest. Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.” [Luke 10:2]

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