How long should one be a Christian before trying to evangelize?

[JRKH]

The title pretty much says it all…

How long should one be a Christian and maybe - how knowledgeable should they be BEFORE they try to seriously evangelize others.

St Paul Spent 3 years after his conversion in “Arabia” before coming back and beginning his ministry.
How does this compare with some of the evangelical groups that put people on street corners after only a few weeks???

Just curious about other peoples thoughts on the matter…

Peace
James

 

[Veronica97]

I think that depends on the person and the circumstances. I’ve been Catholic (baptized and confirmed) for going on 15 years. Before that I attended Mass with my husband for 10 years and even went through RCIA for several months during that time (before discovering that marriage/annulment issues needed to be resolved before I could be baptized). But it’s only been in the last 9 months that I have truly understood my Faith!! Since then I’ve been devouring everything I can about Catholicism and I’ve been praying the rosary, reading/studying scripture and trying to live and breathe my faith everyday. So it’s only now that I am trying to evangelize. It’s only now that I “get” how important it is to pray for and convert others. Surely it doesn’t take most people 20 years to know their faith well enough to evangelize but it did me!

 

[Splagchnizomai]

The title pretty much says it all…

How long should one be a Christian

We start evangelizing the moment we become Christians. You don’t have to be an encyclopedia of Christian apologetics to evangelize. Think of the miraculous healing stories in the Gospel and how those healed immediately proclaimed Jesus Christ.

Serve the poor. Visit the imprisoned. Care for the sick. Be a mirror of Christ.

St Joseph never said a word.

 

[mab23]

We start evangelizing the moment we become Christians. You don’t have to be an encyclopedia of Christian apologetics to evangelize. Think of the miraculous healing stories in the Gospel and how those healed immediately proclaimed Jesus Christ.

Serve the poor. Visit the imprisoned. Care for the sick. Be a mirror of Christ.

St Joseph never said a word.

this - we evangelize by example!

 

[PeterJohn]

I agree, we must first and foremost live the life of a good Christian. Confession on a regular basis is key. Ask your priest how and when a good time/way is to spread the Good news!

God bless you!

 

[Splagchnizomai]

From Easter Wednesday’s First Reading in Acts 3:1-10.

Then Peter took [the man crippled from birth] by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and astonishment
at what had happened to him.

He evangelized immediately.

 

[JRKH]

From Easter Wednesday’s First Reading in Acts 3:1-10.

Then Peter took [the man crippled from birth] by the right hand and raised him up,
and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong.
He leaped up, stood, and walked around,
and went into the temple with them,
walking and jumping and praising God.
When all the people saw him walking and praising God,
they recognized him as the one
who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,
and they were filled with amazement and astonishment
at what had happened to him.

He evangelized immediately.

Did he??
What about the three years he spent being taught by the Lord? do these count for nothing?
Just asking…

Peace
James

 

[Splagchnizomai]

Did he??
What about the three years he spent being taught by the Lord? do these count for nothing?
Just asking…

Peace
James

The passage refers to the man crippled from birth, not Peter.

 

[JRKH]

The passage refers to the man crippled from birth, not Peter.

My bad…

However, I’m not sure that I would classify “praising God” as "evangelizing. I suppose one could…since this was powerful testimony to be sure.

Peace
James

 

[Splagchnizomai]

My bad…

However, I’m not sure that I would classify “praising God” as "evangelizing. I suppose one could…since this was powerful testimony to be sure.

Peace
James

It seems you are leaning toward an intense study for a period of time as being the only way an individual can properly go out and evangelize. Something along the lines of a degree or intense study of apologetics? Are you saying that only the educated (and only properly so) can evangelize?

Before I became Catholic (and I wasn’t Christian before), I evangelized – once I believed in the Lord and the RCC. I had yet to go through RCIA and be received into the Church, yet it seems to me that you are saying, or maybe implying, that I should have refrained from evangelization until certain (as yet undefined factors) had been met.

This is just my impression, and I could be completely misreading you. If so, mea culpa.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

The title pretty much says it all…

How long should one be a Christian and maybe - how knowledgeable should they be BEFORE they try to seriously evangelize others.

Some of the best evangelizers I know are people who are not yet baptized and maybe not particularly knowledgeable at all.

Folks in RCIA are showing by their lives how important their faith is. I hear comments from them all the time where someone invites them to something and they say they can’t go because they’re in RCIA and have a class or some other activity. Sometimes people are shocked that someone wants to become Catholic (in this day and age!) or that they’ll put other things on hold to be able to attend their classes. And then when people hear that these folks aren’t in RCIA for a few days or weeks, but for months or over a year, they’re still more shocked.

Evangelization isn’t a matter of being able to recite facts. It’s showing with your life what is important and leading other people in the direction of Christ and his Church.

 

[clem456]

We start evangelizing the moment we become Christians. You don’t have to be an encyclopedia of Christian apologetics to evangelize. Think of the miraculous healing stories in the Gospel and how those healed immediately proclaimed Jesus Christ.

Serve the poor. Visit the imprisoned. Care for the sick. Be a mirror of Christ.

St Joseph never said a word.

Thank you. Well said

To quote a saint who’s name I can’t remember (St Francis of Assissi possibly?):
Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.

Many people (myself included) like to talk about things they are not qualified for.
Simply living the Christian life is our most powerful witness. If we live a life of charity, our words can be fruitful.

 

[JRKH]

It seems you are leaning toward an intense study for a period of time as being the only way an individual can properly go out and evangelize. Something along the lines of a degree or intense study of apologetics? Are you saying that only the educated (and only properly so) can evangelize?

Truthfully I don’t know what I was aiming at when I decided to start the thread.
The two things that were on my mind I guess was the fact that a couple of LDS missionaries came to the door recently and neither one of them looked old enough to shave…
Then there are the times I’ve heard about certain “evangelical” churches who send young people, often times new converts, out to do “street evangelization” with only minimal training…really just a few catchphrases and pat answers and some tracts to hand out.

So - no I’m not leaning toward need for some sort of degree or something.

Before I became Catholic (and I wasn’t Christian before), I evangelized – once I believed in the Lord and the RCC. I had yet to go through RCIA and be received into the Church, yet it seems to me that you are saying, or maybe implying, that I should have refrained from evangelization until certain (as yet undefined factors) had been met.

Well - I can’t say whether you should have or not since I don’t know what form or to what degree you engaged in evangelization…and besides, who am I to judge you?
But you bring up a good point in that there is likely a certain amount of study, Scripture reading, discussion and debate that precedes ones conversion. Given that case, a person might be rather well prepared to evangelize - at least based on their own experience - from day one of being received into the Church and even before.

This is just my impression, and I could be completely misreading you. If so, mea culpa.

Well since I didn’t have a really clear cut idea myself and just sort of tossed it out there, I can’t really say you “mis-read” me. no mea-culpa necessary.

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

Some of the best evangelizers I know are people who are not yet baptized and maybe not particularly knowledgeable at all.

Folks in RCIA are showing by their lives how important their faith is. I hear comments from them all the time where someone invites them to something and they say they can’t go because they’re in RCIA and have a class or some other activity. Sometimes people are shocked that someone wants to become Catholic (in this day and age!) or that they’ll put other things on hold to be able to attend their classes. And then when people hear that these folks aren’t in RCIA for a few days or weeks, but for months or over a year, they’re still more shocked.

Evangelization isn’t a matter of being able to recite facts. It’s showing with your life what is important and leading other people in the direction of Christ and his Church.

Agreed…

Like I mentioned above, the things I had in mind ran more toward the “street evangelizers”.

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

Thank you. Well said

To quote a saint who’s name I can’t remember (St Francis of Assissi possibly?):
Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.

Many people (myself included) like to talk about things they are not qualified for.
Simply living the Christian life is our most powerful witness. If we live a life of charity, our words can be fruitful.

 

[Uriah_Betrayed]

HA!

Nowadays there isn’t anyone left to evangelize, everyone is perfectly content to be godless secularists and will shout you down to stop infringing on their rights to be a godless secularist without persecution!

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

HA!

Nowadays there isn’t anyone left to evangelize, everyone is perfectly content to be godless secularists and will shout you down to stop infringing on their rights to be a godless secularist without persecution!

I doubt that calling someone a godless secularist would be an effective way to reach them.

Considering that former Catholics are one of the biggest religious groups, I think there’s lots of room to evangelize. How can we reach out to people who have walked away from the Church?

 

[Uriah_Betrayed]

I doubt that calling someone a godless secularist would be an effective way to reach them.

Considering that former Catholics are one of the biggest religious groups, I think there’s lots of room to evangelize. How can we reach out to people who have walked away from the Church?

Well I personally don’t have any intention to evangelize. I’m simply stating that in today’s culture it seems to be far more “my way or the highway” when dealing with the Church.

That’s the last I’ll say on the matter, I’m sorry OP for entering without giving an answer. It really was pointless in retrospect…

 

[yellow8yellowM]

The title pretty much says it all…

How long should one be a Christian and maybe - how knowledgeable should they be BEFORE they try to seriously evangelize others.

Peace
James

I thought the original post was intended to mean evangelize in the active sense. I think we would all agree that we should passively evangelize at all times by imitating Christ and being good Catholics. But to answer the question…

I think of it like a doctor might, and that is to do no harm. We should do whatever we can, however we can, but always moving people in the right direction. I think wisdom here is more important than knowledge. There is a best way to evangelize every person but it may take more people skills than knowledge to figure out the chink in each person’s armor so to speak.

 

[PeterJohn]

Some of the best evangelizers I know are people who are not yet baptized and maybe not particularly knowledgeable at all.

Folks in RCIA are showing by their lives how important their faith is. I hear comments from them all the time where someone invites them to something and they say they can’t go because they’re in RCIA and have a class or some other activity. Sometimes people are shocked that someone wants to become Catholic (in this day and age!) or that they’ll put other things on hold to be able to attend their classes. And then when people hear that these folks aren’t in RCIA for a few days or weeks, but for months or over a year, they’re still more shocked.

Evangelization isn’t a matter of being able to recite facts. It’s showing with your life what is important and leading other people in the direction of Christ and his Church.

This is the “Joy” PJPII talks about in his encyclical on evangelizing. If you love Gid, don’t hide it. I know we live in a secular world but we must be like our church forefathers and Bradley proclaim the glory of god.