How to evangelize without being aggressive

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Are we required to proselytize?

If so, outside of living as an example are we to do this?

When I was a protestant and attending my first church seriously, we would go out and talk to people in the mall or something and it felt very aggressive, too aggressive. I couldn’t help but feel that any positive outcome (people getting “saved”) from those times might have been done to just get us to go away.

How are we to speak without being aggressive?
 
SpeakKindly said:
Are we required to proselytize?

If so, outside of living as an example are we to do this?

When I was a protestant and attending my first church seriously, we would go out and talk to people in the mall or something and it felt very aggressive, too aggressive. I couldn’t help but feel that any positive outcome (people getting “saved”) from those times might have been done to just get us to go away.

How are we to speak without being aggressive?
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Well if it helps - I would study St Francis AND our Pope Francis or Mother Teresa. No you don’t have to go out and be aggressive. We are sent forth at the end of mass to share the Good News , this is our duty BUT that can be done by your actions as well as your words. Live a Godly life with joy and no complaints and people will want what you have. They will observe you .
 
SpeakKindly said:
How are we to speak without being aggressive?
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With patience and charity.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we beseech you, brethren, rebuke the unquiet, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient towards all men.

“The mouth of the just and wise man speaks when it is opportune and what is fitting, taking into account the person to whom he speaks as well as his temperament, lest he offend or repel him whom he wishes to heal.
…
It is by your kind words and religious behavior that men of the world are edified: the lazy are aroused, the negligent admonished, the ignorant instructed, and the devout inflamed. Men are more likely to despise the world and amend their lives by witnessing real-life examples than by any barrage of words flowing forth from this world’s wisdom.
It takes no great art or skill to instruct and correct others, but to regulate one’s own life well, to accept correction humbly, and to be serious about amending one’s life is great wisdom in the eyes of God and man.
Learn to place a good interpretation on what is doubtful, and do not judge matters unknown to you; beware of what is clearly evil, refrain from giving scandal, and bear with the faults and manners of those who are weak, and what you are unable to amend commit to God.
Keep in mind in how many ways God has borne with you and bears with you even to this day, and you still do not change your ways, though you plan and say you will. God, in His mercy, puts up with you, waiting for you to repent, to come to a better knowledge of your faults, to ask pardon with humility, and to keep from looking down on anyone or judging rashly. Therefore, bear with your brother in a few matters as God has borne with you in many.” Thomas a Kempis - The Valley of Lilies
 
SpeakKindly said:
Are we required to proselytize?

If so, outside of living as an example are we to do this?

When I was a protestant and attending my first church seriously, we would go out and talk to people in the mall or something and it felt very aggressive, too aggressive. I couldn’t help but feel that any positive outcome (people getting “saved”) from those times might have been done to just get us to go away.

How are we to speak without being aggressive?
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Sow seeds here and there to be cultivated later. Be prepared to answer questions when someone comes to you based on seeds planted by others!
 
I have found that actions speak louder than words.

People who are thinking about God and converting are very observant and curious.

I don’t mean something unobtainable as not sinning but more simple things. Be joyful in spirit and nature. Christians are called to be joyful, even under suffering. A smile costs nothing.

Be active in your parish and in your community.

Not everyone is called to go out and be a missionary. We can do mission work in our own homes, social group, work places, parishes and local communities.

I never bring up the topic of faith matters with non-believers/non-catholics. I’m only a 3yo Catholic. When they approach me I answer what I can or tell them that I’ll come back to them. I always make sure I do after my own research on vatican.va or I come on here or ask my Priest for a response.
 
SpeakKindly said:
Are we required to proselytize?

If so, outside of living as an example are we to do this?

When I was a protestant and attending my first church seriously, we would go out and talk to people in the mall or something and it felt very aggressive, too aggressive. I couldn’t help but feel that any positive outcome (people getting “saved”) from those times might have been done to just get us to go away.

How are we to speak without being aggressive?
Click to expand...
I Peter 3:15

"Be prepared to give an answer to those who ask…

Look for forms where public discussion is the venue like free speech zones on college campus.
 
I have said this before, but I will try again.

Evangelization and Proselytism are two completely different things.

Evangelism is when approaches a person who is not Christian at all, like a Muslim or Atheist.

Proselytizing is done when one Christian tries to get someone who is already Christian to switch Christian denominations, or ecclesial body.

Proselytizing is forbidden for Catholics, especially when one tries to get an Eastern Catholic or Orthodox to switch to the Latin Catholic church.
 
andrewstx said:
I have said this before, but I will try again.

Evangelization and Proselytism are two completely different things.

Evangelism is when approaches a person who is not Christian at all, like a Muslim or Atheist.

Proselytizing is done when one Christian tries to get someone who is already Christian to switch Christian denominations, or ecclesial body.
**
Proselytizing is forbidden for Catholics, especially when one tries to get an Eastern Catholic or Orthodox to switch to the Latin Catholic church.**
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Thank you for the definitions for Evangelism and Proselytizing. I would consider that to be a narrower definition of proselytise.

Trying to convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another is the full definition.

Why would a Latin Catholic try to convert a Eastern Catholic? That would just be ignorant. We are both Catholic and they are in full Communion with Rome. 🤷

Understood on proselytising Orthodox. Please provide the official declaration source for that or is it tradition. I am a new Catholic and haven’t heard of it.

Catholics are also forbidden from proselytizing Jews.
 
I think if someone - a non-Christian - reads the Gospel and rejects it. They are damned.
So by analogy you tell a non-Christian the Gospel and they reject it: They are damned.

Thus, some may be discouraged from preaching the Gospel because they are afraid that the non-Christian may reject the Gospel and thus be damned SO they don’t preach the Gospel to them leaving them in “ignorance” and hoping that God will be more merciful to them because the non-Christian did not reject the Gospel because they never heard it. :eek:

But this thinking is wrong because even St. Thomas Aquinas would hold if I’m not mistaken that this is not invincible ignorance. :cool:
 
From how I understand it proselytizing is trying to convert people aggressively.
Evangelization is just sharing the gospel with others- Catholics, non Catholics, everyone… … it’s more about inviting people to consider God and a relationship with Him and sharing our faith through our deeds and speech, rather than shoving our beliefs down other people’s throats and telling them they are wrong and need to believe what we believe. And then allowing God to do the rest, rather than pressuring people to convert.
 
Proselytize connotates speaking to a person in an attempt to convert that person to his or her religion. I think it implies discussing specific areas of faith (i.e. transubstantiation or forgiveness of sins). Evangelize would be more sharing of one’s faith and for a Catholic that would mean to share with people why we are joyful. And we are joyful because the Spirit of the Living God, Jesus Christ, lives inside of us. And we must always be ready to share that with people. We must truly live our faith in a joyful, humble way.

If we are truly following Jesus, we will have much joy in our lives. Even if we are going through tough times, we must be always hopeful, clinging to the hope that is in Christ. That joy we give is attractive, it is contagious. This is evidenced by so many non-Catholics’ attraction to Pope Francis. His joy is contagious…

May we all set the world on fire with the love of Christ.
 
Evangelisation is simply sharing the Good News. We can do this by living a life that exemplifies Christ’s teaching in our words and deeds. Jesus shared the Good News and died for it and many still weren’t willing to listen so don’t be discouraged if you find that your efforts don’t seem to be producing much fruit.

As for proselytising, it is the antithesis of evangelisation.

Best wishes 🙂
 
andrewstx said:
I have said this before, but I will try again.

Evangelization and Proselytism are two completely different things.

Evangelism is when approaches a person who is not Christian at all, like a Muslim or Atheist.

Proselytizing is done when one Christian tries to get someone who is already Christian to switch Christian denominations, or ecclesial body.
.
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No. Not the case. Not the right distinction.

It not wrong to seek to bring other Christians into full communion with the Catholic Church. Such can be very good.

Proselyize can be used in a positive or negative sense.

In the negative sense it is a matter of “means” of using not good means in seeking to bring others to know and believe the Gospel. Such as force…any kind of deception…etc.
 
andrewstx said:
I have said this before, but I will try again.

Evangelization and Proselytism are two completely different things.

Evangelism is when approaches a person who is not Christian at all, like a Muslim or Atheist.

Proselytizing is done when one Christian tries to get someone who is already Christian to switch Christian denominations, or ecclesial body.

Proselytizing is forbidden for Catholics, especially when one tries to get an Eastern Catholic or Orthodox to switch to the Latin Catholic church.
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This is absolutely NOT correct. We have an obligation to teach people about the one, True Catholic Church. We should always try to share the good news of Christ’s Church with people who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church. There is no salvation outside of the Church. While some may debate the complete and total meaning of this teaching, it is beyond doubt that Christ wants us to be in full communion with his Church.

Peace,
Sean
 
opusAquinas said:
I think if someone - a non-Christian - reads the Gospel and rejects it. They are damned.
So by analogy you tell a non-Christian the Gospel and they reject it: They are damned.

Thus, some may be discouraged from preaching the Gospel because they are afraid that the non-Christian may reject the Gospel and thus be damned SO they don’t preach the Gospel to them leaving them in “ignorance” and hoping that God will be more merciful to them because the non-Christian did not reject the Gospel because they never heard it. :eek:

But this thinking is wrong because even St. Thomas Aquinas would hold if I’m not mistaken that this is not invincible ignorance. :cool:
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The great missionaries of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries had an outlook of personal sacrifice and immense devotion to the evangelization of the world.

If they had been “discouraged from preaching the Gospel because they [had been] afraid that the non-Christian may reject the Gospel and thus be damned,” we wouldn’t have had St. Kateri or the Philippines or Japan or even Latin America with all its saints. We don’t have to wonder how some of them preached because we do have some records.
.
 
With due respect to Pope Francis’ encouragement to everyone to evangelization, I think that St Paul wisely recognized that we do not all have the same Spiritual gifts–and we do well to focus on service and charity in those areas where God calls us.
I suggest reading America’s Bishop, about Archbishop Fulton Sheen and his extraordinary life of calling and guiding people to conversion. Be forewarned, however, that the author is compulsive in support of radical socialism–hopefully someone else may suggest a better Sheen book. The Archbishop’s unfinished autobiography was published posthumously, but probably is too modest to describe much of his work.
We pray for your success in finding answers to your questions and concerns.
 
Dear eschator83,

The indubitably prominent Bishop Fulton J. Sheen had an unmistakable style, which by today’s standards may seem to have been aggressive or even ‘coercive’. We have the benefit of being able to see recorded video of his TV programs, which were very popular in America. He was unquestionably the modern day evangelist in the USA, before the Council.

His style then was popular and acceptable by Catholics, and it is instructive for us to go back and see these recordings keeping this fact squarely in mind. Ask yourself while you are watching them this question, if you dare:

How could this manner of speech have been so universally and eagerly embraced in those days as good, powerful, appropriate, beneficial, praiseworthy and right, when today it would be pilloried and calumniated as hard-line, abrasive, politically incorrect, uncharitable, aggressive, mean and unwise? Have “times” really changed that much? Is this today somehow a “different world?” It seems to me that pondering these questions is not a waste of time.

There is another question to ask. What has become of the cause of Sheen’s beatification? That could probably be another thread. Perhaps someone here on CAF knows the answer to it.
 
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