Help communicating with Evangelical missionary

[milkbar]

I recently got back in touch with a woman after having lost contact with her for over ten years. We were such good friends before and I am happy to have found her again. She was Fundamental Baptist way back when and I gather that has not changed, as she has married a missionary and they are now living overseas. Our beliefs were similar before, although even at a young age I was aware that her church was far more conservative even than mine.

She is in a country in which the majority of people are Christian, but Catholic Christians in communion with Rome are the tiniest of minorities.

She made a remark in her last e-mail about so many people around her not knowing Jesus as their Savior and rather thinking they have to earn their entrance into heaven. She just kind of slipped it in there in such a way that saying anything in response to that specific remark will require some preamble. She is incredibly intelligent and she is not thrilled I am Catholic now. I feel like we would be discussing semantics for the most part, but she wouldn’t see it that way.

I just don’t know what to say to her, or what to do on my end beyond praying for her family’s well-being. I almost feel as if even praying for her success would be sinful. She has hinted several times that the non-Evangelicals are a great concern for them. I think I can safely pray for them to lead non-Christians to Christ. Jesus is Jesus. I wasn’t Catholic and now I am and Jesus loved me before and after. But I find myself wondering if it would ultimately be better for someone to be non-Catholic Orthodox or to be an Evangelical Protestant, or if it would be the same in the end, especially if they love Jesus.

This has been eating me for a few days. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[JeanMichel]

I recently got back in touch with a woman after having lost contact with her for over ten years. We were such good friends before and I am happy to have found her again. She was Fundamental Baptist way back when and I gather that has not changed, as she has married a missionary and they are now living overseas. Our beliefs were similar before, although even at a young age I was aware that her church was far more conservative even than mine.

She is in a country in which the majority of people are Christian, but Catholic Christians in communion with Rome are the tiniest of minorities.

She made a remark in her last e-mail about so many people around her not knowing Jesus as their Savior and rather thinking they have to earn their entrance into heaven. She just kind of slipped it in there in such a way that saying anything in response to that specific remark will require some preamble. She is incredibly intelligent and she is not thrilled I am Catholic now. I feel like we would be discussing semantics for the most part, but she wouldn’t see it that way.

I just don’t know what to say to her, or what to do on my end beyond praying for her family’s well-being. I almost feel as if even praying for her success would be sinful. She has hinted several times that the non-Evangelicals are a great concern for them. I think I can safely pray for them to lead non-Christians to Christ. Jesus is Jesus. I wasn’t Catholic and now I am and Jesus loved me before and after. But I find myself wondering if it would ultimately be better for someone to be non-Catholic Orthodox or to be an Evangelical Protestant, or if it would be the same in the end, especially if they love Jesus.

This has been eating me for a few days. Thanks for any thoughts.

What a great blessing that you have found your friend anew! Evangelicals can be very difficult; their view of the Church can be wildly inaccurate and easily anti-Catholic. The best way to handle these type of people, particularly dear friends, is to demonstrate your love of Christ through your words and actions. It is the gentle hand that invites the Holy Spirit into a conversation and a relationship. Do not pull back from sharing your life with her; if you attended a great mass, share it and why it was great for you. If you heard something inspriational share it so that she too may know of the truths you know.

If I were to pray for her, I would certainly not pray for success in their labors. I would focus on personal things like her health, etc. I would pray for the people in her community that they may be lead to a fulliness of knowledge and truth found in the Church. All will come unto Christ and we will be one. We are operating under God’s plan and his rules.

 

[po18guy]

You may feel free to speak their language of being ‘born again’ through water and the Spirit (your baptism). You may speak of your personal relationship with Jesus (via the Holy Eucharist). Stress also that they are true brother and sister in Christ, despite what they think of the Catholic Church. Show your love of our Lord to them, since they may view Catholicism as a religion of Rosary beads and statues. It is, in part, but you get the point.

A couple of reading suggestions: The Essential Catholic Survival Guide, a compact book which quickly teaches you to defend your faith, and Catholicism for Dummies, which will teach greater understanding of our faith to even lifelong Catholics.

Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[Romanova]

I have a good friend who’s an evangelical missionary in a historically Catholic country. Suffice it to say that since childhood she has not generally thought highly of the Catholic Church. When I converted, she outright told me that she thought I’d left Christianity and that I was risking my salvation. But over the years since my conversion, she has recognized that I still love Jesus and follow Him, although I am no longer evangelical Protestant. I think her current position is that the Catholic Church as an institution is misguided and overall not-Christian, but there are individual Catholics who are Christian. This is progress for her! I continue to pray for her to soften her views on the Catholic faith, and when we do talk about faith, I pray for the Holy Spirit to give me the right words.

You mention the Orthodox, so I’m guessing she’s in a primarily Orthodox country in Eastern Europe? Honestly, she might be right about the majority of the people around her not knowing Jesus as their Savior or not really believing… Decades of Communism seriously wounded the Orthodox church in many countries, and it’s taken time for the Orthodox church to recover. There are many baptized Orthodox in Eastern Europe who don’t practice regularly or don’t really believe --similar to certain predominantly Catholic countries in Western Europe, actually. The Orthodox Church is working hard to combat that and has made much progress, but often these things take time.

That said, I’d also have serious misgivings about her mission of converting non-evangelicals. If a person is not a Christian, fine, but if they’re already a practicing Eastern Orthodox Christian… I’d have serious concerns about praying for her “success” in this. Pray for her health and safety, sure, but praying for her success is different.

Keep up the communication, and as a previous poster said, talk about your love for Jesus and your relationship with Him. You don’t have to argue about doctrine now (though that may come eventually) – just talk about your faith and love for Jesus, and eventually that may open her heart to consider that the Catholic and Orthodox churches are Christian too. My friend has made some progress in her views on the Catholic Church, and I pray that your friend can too.

 

[Cat_Herder]

She made a remark in her last e-mail about so many people around her not knowing Jesus as their Savior and rather thinking they have to earn their entrance into heaven.

Why not link her to the Catechism and ask her where in there it says that we earn our salvation?

 

[milkbar]

Thanks SO much for your responses!

Why not link her to the Catechism and ask her where in there it says that we earn our salvation?

That’s what gets me. Probably 80% of the Christians she will meet there are going to be this country’s Orthodox church, which is essentially Coptic. Close to 20% of the Christians are some form of Protestant, and then less than ONE percent are actually Catholic. However, she may very well lump the Catholics in with the Orthodox mentally, even though the Orthodox are monophysites. I considered mentioning the Catholic views on salvation but really, I’m still reading about this Orthodox church to see if somehow they really do teach you have to in some ways “earn” your way into heaven.

It’s so sticky. I have been talking to God about it and He knows in my eart I don’t want to offend Him and want what’s best. But I still worry that even telling her about any differences between Catholic and Orthodox teachings might be “helping the enemy”–IF it were better for someone to remain Coptic Orthodox than to become an evangelical Protestant. See what the problem is? But on the other hand, it can’t hurt to clearly define truly Catholic doctrines for her because I think she would trust that I know what I’m talking about and haven’t been brainwashed into believing the Chirch believes one thing when really it believes another. I could say whatever I want to about the Catechism, though, but I still don’t know if she would ever look at it to confirm what I say. She might blow it off, who knows. But that would be on her, not me…

 

[pablope]

Thanks SO much for your responses!

It’s so sticky. I have been talking to God about it and He knows in my eart I don’t want to offend Him and want what’s best. But I still worry that even telling her about any differences between Catholic and Orthodox teachings might be “helping the enemy”–IF it were better for someone to remain Coptic Orthodox than to become an evangelical Protestant. See what the problem is? But on the other hand, it can’t hurt to clearly define truly Catholic doctrines for her because I think she would trust that I know what I’m talking about and haven’t been brainwashed into believing the Chirch believes one thing when really it believes another. I could say whatever I want to about the Catechism, though, but I still don’t know if she would ever look at it to confirm what I say. She might blow it off, who knows. But that would be on her, not me…

Read this story and send it to her, if it will of any help. It is a very beautiful story:

How I Solved the Catholic Problem"

Here is the link to the story: envoymagazine.com/backissues/0.1/solved.htm

 

[milkbar]

Read this story and send it to her, if it will of any help. It is a very beautiful story:

How I Solved the Catholic Problem"

Here is the link to the story: envoymagazine.com/backissues/0.1/solved.htm

Goodness gracious, that was fantastic. I don’t think we’re yet at the point in our dialogue at which that would be welcome, but I will definitely keep it filed away for future reference. It’s so perfect. Thank you.

 

[Izdaari]

I’ve had some really good in-depth theological discussions with Coptic Orthodox friends, and I am convinced their branch of the faith is just as valid as mine. So much so in fact, that converting to Orthodoxy is a possibility for me; probably not likely, but something I can’t dismiss without due consideration.

 

[po18guy]

I’ve had some really good in-depth theological discussions with Coptic Orthodox friends, and I am convinced their branch of the faith is just as valid as mine. So much so in fact, that converting to Orthodoxy is a possibility for me; probably not likely, but something I can’t dismiss without due consideration.

Well then, it is high time that you also had in-depth discussions with your Catholic brothers and sisters! Not that you haven’t already…