Catholic Evangelization

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John Paul II had directed for us to evangelize. However, Catholics are really bad at this! Many protestants have come up with simple formulas such as the Roman road. This is a series of formulated readings that take a non believer through several bible passages, mostly in Romans and it ends in the same type of prayer that they use in alter calls, asking for forgiveness and Jesus to come into their heart. From this moment on they are said to be “born again”. I realize that this is bad theology, but it is responsible for taking more luke warm Catholics out of the Church than any other canned method that I know. I am wondering if anyone Catholic uses anything similar. The idea is to demonstrate that God knew them before they were born, loved them, sent his son to save them, has created a place for them and is waiting for them. The next step is some form of closure that will seal them into gods family and draw them into the Catholic Church. This should be presented in a very few minutes (like 5) to be effective. Anyone got any ideas, methods or formulas that might work for this?
 
Jack,

This is a really neat question. I don’t have an answer for you but I know that we need something like the other churches do. The fact is that we everything we need in the CCC but we need to break it down a little bit.

I am working on a summary of our faith using the Table of Contents of the CCC. If you follow the link you can see the train of thought starting with “The life of man - to know and love God”.which leads to the God’s desire to know man and man’s response etc.

I am still working on a way to present the Catholic faith using this model.
 
I am surprised that I haven’t received more of a response than I have to this question. I do REALIZE that there is no real easy answer to this, but with the Church being around for two thousand years, I thought some Saint somewhere would have had a simple formula. For those unfamiliar with the Roman Road, I found this on the Internet and it is likely the kind of formula that the door to door preacher is going to use to lead you into being “born again”. It is a mixture of bible verses and his interpretation (purple) It goes something like this:

Roman Road:

Romans 1:20-21: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” *We must acknowledge God as the Creator of everything and accept our humble position in God’s creation. *

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” *We must all realize that we are sinners and that we need forgiveness. We are not worthy of God’s grace. *

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” *Through Jesus, God gave us a way to be saved from our sins. God showed us His love by giving us the potential for life through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. *

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” *If we remain sinners, we will die. However, if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and repent of our sins, we will have eternal life. *

Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." *Just confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you will be saved! *

Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” *There are no religious formulas or rituals – Call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved! *

Romans 11:36: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” *Determine in your heart to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life today. *

Roman Road: *Are You Ready to Accept God’s Gift of Salvation? If you truly believe the message of the Roman Road, and want to accept God’s gift of salvation right now, it’s a matter of repenting of your sins and turning the rest of your life over to Jesus Christ. Again, this is not a ritual based on any specific words or prayers, but rather, a willful decision and a sincere step of faith. *

“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
 
you already received the best possible links to answer your question.

if you spend any time at all on this forum you will see links to all kinds of evangelization sites, resources, links, books, programs, renewal efforts, evangelization, not to mention papal encyclicals and bishops’ conference documents giving direction on the topic. Why not begin with the Church’s catechetical documents and go from there. USCCB site and Vatican website good places to begin.
 
Catholics and Bible-Only Protestants have very different takes on the gospel and on evangelization.

For Bible-Only Protestants, salvation comes first, and sanctification is the process of walking with the Lord in grace and bearing fruit. For Bible-Only Protestants it is essential that each and every “believer” (i.e., someone who has repented of their sin, has personally accepted Jesus Christ into their life as Lord and Savior, and is walking in daily obedience to Him) evangelize others not only because this is seen as a command of the Lord, but because only “believers” are saved. For Bible-Only Protestants there is a sense of profound urgency in evangelization as they believe that the time is very short before they are taken up in the rapture and God “hides His face” from those who have not become believers.

Catholics, on the other hand, understand salvation as an end, and sanctification as a means to that end. Catholics do not restrict salvation only to Roman Catholics, or for that matter to only those who believe in God. Catholics recognize that God is working to draw all people near to Him. Catholics do not draw on the Bible alone as the only source of God’s revelation and as such embrace a belief in continued purgation for the majority of people after this earthly life comes to an end. Catholics do not believe in a coming rapture followed by a great tribulation period in which God hides His face. For Cathoics, there is less urgency to evangelize as Catholics understand that God frequently draws others gradually first to faith, and then to a deeper faith in Him.

This does not mean that Catholics are not called to evangelize, but keep in mind that many Catholics today have profound misconceptions about Church doctrine and practice.
Bible-Only Protestants have a such a certainty that what they believe is the only truth that they can overwhelm most people who have not seriously examined and embraced the Catholic faith. It is truly a mistake for Catholics to be intimidated by them, but encounters can serve as a wake-up call to Catholics who have been passive or complacent in understanding and practicing their faith.
 
The Cursillo movement is a great start for laying the groundwork to evangelize. It is a short course on Christianity and teaches a method for catholic evangelization: study , piety and action.

It is difficult to explain , but one of those things you have to “live” to get the meaning. It causes a profound conversion “turrining towards God”. It ignites the spirit within you.

I Lived Cursillo #357 in New Mexico in January, it is a worthy movement and I plan to donate 3 days of work to help it in July.

Send an email for more information.

Peace.
 
Thanks guys,
I have been on this site, off and on, since it’s very beginning. So, I am aware of the links, and the links that were given to Catholic answers fall very short of what i’m looking for. They are not bad links, but they don’t do the bible walk that the Roman Road does. Yes, I am fully aware that the Catholic idea of salvation is much different than the protestant view. However, I have a specific person in mind. This person, like many Catholics, has a junior high school (somewhat rebelious) idea of Catholicism. He received all of his sacraments, then he met miss wonderful protestant. He Married outside the Church, learned all about some form of protestant worship, had three kids and then divorced after about twenty years. Now agnostic, he talks to me often about why he should believe the Christians over the Jews over the Moslems, let alone the Catholics over the protestants. So, with him, i have a daily opportunity to dialog. He was trained in the short form, Roman road to salvation and that is what he wants to hear, short form and to the point of why he should believe. As a Catholic, I have never heard of a brief answer to his questions. So, that is the reason for the appeal to others. He has heard the Roman road before, but what can Catholics offer? The brief links offered here fall short to convince s bible Christian whos gone agnostic.
Thanks…
 
JackPaul said:
I am surprised that I haven’t received more of a response than I have to this question. I do REALIZE that there is no real easy answer to this, but with the Church being around for two thousand years, I thought some Saint somewhere would have had a simple formula. For those unfamiliar with the Roman Road,
Romans 1:20-21: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkenedRomans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvationRomans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Romans 11:36: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Roman Road:

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
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Yes these are very good and useful writings, however do you know the readings where Jesus tells us that the “goats” came up to Him (God) and said "Lord Lord, we cast out demons in Your name, healed the sick etc and Jesus told them “be gone from me you evil doers”? What! How could those who have done these acts of the Holy Spirit do they and be evil? You see there is more to each passage than what the person mainly those in apostolic religions believe.

Generally they believe quite superficially quite shallow. That the passage read is what you refer to, without going to what comes before and what goes after the main passage.
What does Jesus say to the sheep? This is the answer to why the goats were told to go, and where otherwise the Catholic Church generally is placed.

I am one who had many of my cousins leave the Catholic Church and go to apostolic churches. They told me I was wrong not going out preaching (as, they said) Jesus tells us to do. One day while praying in the Catholic Church on the way home i saw an arm on a stake of wood held by a nail I opened my eyes and asked Jesus what this all meant! He asked me who told me to go out preaching so I mentioned that it is written in the bible.

Once again He asked me who told me to go out preaching and added for every man there is a ministry who told you that yours was to preach. Well! I was shocked I asked Jesus what I should do, He gave me the reading of the “goats and sheep” and the key to evangelizing is in the part where Jesus told the disciples not to give preaching words to people when they are hungry, feed them, dress them, visit them in the infirmary, prisons etc. I may be a little presumptions but i think that this is the Catholic way. I believe that generally we building more on the “Love actions” than on the other gifts.

I use the other gifts openly and have no problem with them but use the open healing of visiting feeding etc. I think it is all a balance and when lead by the Holy Spirit who gives discernment, how can we go wrong?
Maybe?

God bless
littleone
 
JackPaul said:
… ends in the same type of prayer that they use in alter calls, asking for forgiveness and Jesus to come into their heart. From this moment on they are said to be “born again”. I realize that this is bad theology, but it is responsible for taking more luke warm Catholics out of the Church than any other canned method that I know.
Click to expand...
So you want the Catholic version of an alter call? Look at this: **CCC 1259 :highprayer:
For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament. **

In light of CCC 1259, the Roman Road isn’t too bad.

their explicit desire to receive it
If you truly believe the message of the Roman Road, and want to accept God’s gift of salvation right now,

together with repentance for their sins,
it’s a matter of repenting of your sins

and charity
and turning the rest of your life over to Jesus Christ.

The only problem (so far as I can see) is some commentary devaluing right formulas and ritual – but that’s not the fault of the scripture, it’s the commentators fault.

Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” -]There are no religious formulas or rituals – /-]Call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved!

Roman Road: Are You Ready to Accept God’s Gift of Salvation? If you truly believe the message of the Roman Road, and want to accept God’s gift of salvation right now, it’s a matter of repenting of your sins and turning the rest of your life over to Jesus Christ. -]Again, this is not a ritual based on any specific words or prayers, but rather, a willful decision and a sincere step of faith./-] This is not the sacrament of baptism – this is only a declaration of your explicit desire to recieve it. Baptism, the remission of sins, the reception of Holy Spirit and full communion with the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church will follow later.

(In the last lines of the prayer…) I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please let me be baptized as Christ instructed and help me -]send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and/-]to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

Follow it up with suggestions at God’s Love for You for daily prayer, attending Sunday mass, contacting your local parish, reading the CCC, surfing Catholic answers.com, and sharing the good news; and you’ve got yourself a fine Roman Road.

Optional but highly recomended: Talk with an Irish accent. :irish3:
 
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