How do you evangelize others?

[Pilgrim525]

“*Go into the whole world and
proclaim the Gospel to
every creature.” * - (Mk 16:15)

It took me a long time to decide to get an Internet connection. My children had been nagging me about it for over a year before I acceded to their entreaties. I was hesitant because I was afraid it would further distract me and lessen the time I have allotted to the Lord. So I really had to consult God in prayer if He’d allow me to have one. When He finally allowed me to have an Internet connection, I knew He had a purpose for indulging my wants and my children’s. I considered it a gift from Him, and since it was a gift, I decided that I should be able to make use of it to benefit His Kingdom. Thus I was inspired to undertake a Bible Sharing Apostolate via the Internet.

On June 19, 1999, I sent out my very first bible sharing to twelve (12) people. It was my way of promoting the reign of God and proclaiming the Good News to the whole world by sharing about my personal life and faith experiences in the Lord; about the things God has done to me and my life. I never thought that this email apostolate would later create an evangelization network on a global scale. What happened was that the 12 people, to whom I initially sent my bible sharings, forwarded them to their friends and their friends to their own set of friends. As I was also a member of the Stewardship and Scripture Discussion groups at CatholiCity.com at that time, I sent my bible sharings to these groups as well. Soon I was getting reactions from all over the world: USA, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Singapore, Holland, Australia and South America. My Bible Sharing Recipient List also grew later on to almost a hundred because many had requested that I send the sharings directly to them. Everyone was encouraging me to continue because they said they were being nourished spiritually by those bible sharings.

Very recently I had a cable connection installed so I am able to be continuously on-line. Then I thought of continuing my apostolate which was stopped in 2001 because during that time my attention was being focused in the TOC. In March, 2001, the Carmelite Friars in Manila had given the Philippine TOC complete autonomy in the governance of its affairs and I was tasked to undertake the job.

The internet indeed has its many advantages. Nowadays we do not have to go around the world preaching the good news; we can do it right here in our own homes at the click of a finger. Through the bible sharings therefore, I knew I had been able to contribute, in my own little way, in the mission of Christ, without having to actually go into the whole world to preach them.

How about you? How do you go about preaching the good news to the others? Please feel free to share…

God bless,
Nimfa

 

[Fidelis]

In addition to leading Bible studies, RCIA, Adult Confirmation and apologetics classes at the parish level, I have a Bible Study website at the link below. Oh, and I spend a lot of time answering questions here, as you can see by my post count!

 

[Jade]

I feel most comfortable with putting St. Francis of Assisi’s advice to practise: Preach everywhere and anywhere and when nessesary, use words."I also do a lot of talking with others, and I have been blessed to work with an employee who is Catholic- we roll up our sleeves and jump right in- talking of God and faith any time we work together…it’s great for the other employee’s, I’d like to have a discussion at some point…

But my main tool for evangelizing others is through my actions. I have found that it is my actions that get people to asking questions.


Jade.

 

[Pilgrim525]

Fidelis:

In addition to leading Bible studies, RCIA, Adult Confirmation and apologetics classes at the parish level, I have a Bible Study website at the link below. Oh, and I spend a lot of time answering questions here, as you can see by my post count!

Great site. I have included it in my ‘Favorites’ folder for future reference. Thanks.

 

[Fidelis]

Pilgrim525:

Great site. I have included it in my ‘Favorites’ folder for future reference. Thanks.

Thanks for the compliment. Actually, it is my wife (who is from the Phillipines, BTW), who is my webmaster. I supply the ideas and resources; she’s the one who makes me look good (which is true in other areas of my life as well! )

 

[selvaraj]

Fidelis:

Thanks for the compliment. Actually, it is my wife (who is from the Phillipines, BTW), who is my webmaster. I supply the ideas and resources; she’s the one who makes me look good (which is true in other areas of my life as well! )/QUOTE

Wonderful site. Thanks to you and your wife.
God bless you my friend.

In Christ,
selvaraj

 

[Little_Mary]

Fidelis:

In addition to leading Bible studies, RCIA, Adult Confirmation and apologetics classes at the parish level, I have a Bible Study website at the link below. Oh, and I spend a lot of time answering questions here, as you can see by my post count!

I’d love to start apologetics classes in my parish albeit I am nowhere near qualified to head them up.

 

[Fidelis]

Little Mary:

I’d love to start apologetics classes in my parish albeit I am nowhere near qualified to head them up.

They say that, while sometimes God call the qualified, more often he qualifies the called. The best way to begin to teach apologetics is to just do it. You don’t have to be an expert: If you have the enthusiasm which comes with the calling and are willing to do a little study for each class or topic, you can do it. Just think how many lives you can affect by teaching even a small class.

My wife presented a beginning apologetics bible study for her women’s group which was very well received. We worked on it together and here’s the topics we covered:

Apologetics 101: What Do Catholics Believe and Why?

Week 1: Sola Scriptura? (The Bible Alone?)
Where did we get the Bible? What is the role of the Bible in the Church? What is Sacred Tradition?

Week 2: Salvation – How do we get to heaven?
Do Catholics really believe we can work our way to heaven? Can we lose our salvation?

Week 3: The Sacraments
What are sacraments? Why are they necessary? Why do we baptize infants? Why do we believe in the Eucharist?

Week 4: The Pope, the Bishops and the Magisterium
Where does the pope get his authority? Why do we have a church hierarchy? When does the pope speak infallibly? What exactly is “Church teaching?”

Week 5: Mary and the Marian Doctrines
Do Catholics worship Mary? Does she have a role in salvation? What about the Marian Doctrines (The Immaculate Conception, The Assumption) and Marian apparitions (Lourdes, Fatima, etc)?

Week 6: Communion of Saints
What do Catholics believe about the saints? Why do we pray to them?

Week 7: Tour of the Church/The Meaning of Catholic Practices
What is the meaning of the various items in the church? Why do we have statues, paintings, icons, holy water, incense, candles, etc? Why do we have a crucifix instead of just a cross?
Why do Catholics cross themselves? Why do they kneel, stand and sit at various times of the mass?
What are relics, scapulars and medals?

Week 8: The Last Things – Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and the End Times
Do Catholics still believe in Purgatory? Why? What do we know about heaven and hell? What is “Limbo”? What do we believe about the end times?

In our experience, you cannot assume your audience, even lifelong Catholics, have any working knowledge of apologetics, the Scriptures, and an adult level knowledge of Catholic teaching. Be prepared to explain the basics.

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You also might want to check these previous threads for more ideas:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ologetics+class

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ogetics+classes

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ologetics+class

Good luck. I am starting to teach another apologetics class this week, this time using the Beginning Apologetics 1 book.

shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/…7f+11 19312428

Pray for me and the success of the class, and I’ll pray for you to get one started!

 

[Pilgrim525]

Fidelis:

They say that, while sometimes God call the qualified, more often he qualifies the called. The best way to begin to teach apologetics is to just do it. You don’t have to be an expert: If you have the enthusiasm which comes with the calling and are willing to do a little study for each class or topic, you can do it. Just think how many lives you can affect by teaching even a small class.

My wife presented a beginning apologetics bible study for her women’s group which was very well received. We worked on it together and here’s the topics we covered:

In our experience, you cannot assume your audience, even lifelong Catholics, have any working knowledge of apologetics, the Scriptures, and an adult level knowledge of Catholic teaching. Be prepared to explain the basics.

---

You also might want to check these previous threads for more ideas:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ologetics+class

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ogetics+classes

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthre…ologetics+class

Good luck. I am starting to teach another apologetics class this week, this time using the Beginning Apologetics 1 book.

shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/…7f+11 19312428

Pray for me and the success of the class, and I’ll pray for you to get one started!

Hi Vince,

Do you have materials, some kind of modules I could use for the topics you have enumerated above? I may have use for them at some future date.

God bless,
Nimfa