Teen to teen evangelization

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Brian777

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Im an 18 yera old senior high school student and attended 8 years of catholic school before high school, as did many of my Catholic friends. However, we learned very little about the actual traditiions, histroy, dogmas, saints, etc. of the Church. In the last two years my personal faith has grown tremendously with the help of EWTN and certain youth-oriented events in my diocese as well as my own study of the Church throughout the ages. My question is how best can i begin to share the awesome knowledge of our faith that God has seen fit to allow me to glean with my Catholic peers, many of whom would look at me with a blank stare if asked them “Would you like to join me for Eucharistic Adoration?” I guess I wont ask them about extra ecclessiam nulla solus then, huh? It just seems to me that Catholic youth today are just so ignorant of actual Church teaching, and need to be taught. I want to do just that, but don’t want to come across as a preachy person. I just want to share the faith. Its even worse when many dont even want to talk about the faith because they fear an argument and other such hogwash like that. An argument with a fellow catholic? How best can this type of evangelization take place? Thanks for listening anyone.
 
first of all, i would like to commend you brian for having so much faith and wanting to share it with your peers- bless you!

i think that reaching the youth is a very challenging thing- know that you cannot ‘convert’ only the Holy Spirit does that, so try not to have unrealistic expectations.

a good set of steps would be:
  1. pick a person who you think is thirsting for more- think of the wheat and chaff story.
  2. pray for this person’s intentions and conversion of heart
  3. whenever possible, expose said person to uplifting, orthodox media- this seems to be the way that young people understand the world. maybe a podcast of something geared toward youth- maybe play an episode of “life on the rock” from EWTN. the car can be a good place for this sort of thing- podcasts to a captive audience!
  4. see if you can help share your faith through good orthodox books- maybe a book club where you can discuss and share- likewise, you could invite said person to teen bible studies
this is just off of the top of my head- i am sure that others will have more and better ideas but maybe it is a place to start 😉

good luck and God bless you Brian 🙂
 
thank you so much…well not to unload my personal problems…but the amount of darkness that Satan has been able to ensnare so many Catholic youth, even practicing youth, in is very saddening. I should be brimming with joy at my Faith, but instead I am sad, mournful, and even angry because I have not found a way to share it, and my peers, as well as i, are in such spiritual danger…thanks again for your advice. Prayer is obviously the place to start, and i do plenty of that.
 
believe me brian, it isnt just the youth- it crosses into all stages and ages. i am personally surrounded by lots of people who have no faith, all the way to those who proclaim to be atheist. our job as Catholic Christians is to not let the darkness affect our own souls- then satan wins- if the darkness of others invades our hearts and minds, then we do not only have to help others, but we are in no shape to share our faith with anger and darkness in our hearts. we have to dig our own selves out- how can we be of service if we are filled with sadness and frustration? 90% of evangelization is being a good example of hope, love, and charity. i think it was st. francis who said something like’evangelize always, and sometimes use words’…now if i could only take my own advice lol

keep your chin up- maybe instead of praying for others’ hearts to be opened, you could concentrate on praying for peace and happiness for yourself so that you can better share? your heart has to be clean, happy, and pure to be able to influence others. your positive attitude will shine through- people will see it and want what you have 👍
Brian777 said:
thank you so much…well not to unload my personal problems…but the amount of darkness that Satan has been able to ensnare so many Catholic youth, even practicing youth, in is very saddening. I should be brimming with joy at my Faith, but instead I am sad, mournful, and even angry because I have not found a way to share it, and my peers, as well as i, are in such spiritual danger…thanks again for your advice. Prayer is obviously the place to start, and i do plenty of that.
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melissaP said:
believe me brian, it isnt just the youth- it crosses into all stages and ages. i am personally surrounded by lots of people who have no faith, all the way to those who proclaim to be atheist. our job as Catholic Christians is to not let the darkness affect our own souls- then satan wins- if the darkness of others invades our hearts and minds, then we do not only have to help others, but we are in no shape to share our faith with anger and darkness in our hearts. we have to dig our own selves out- how can we be of service if we are filled with sadness and frustration? 90% of evangelization is being a good example of hope, love, and charity. i think it was st. francis who said something like’evangelize always, and sometimes use words’…now if i could only take my own advice lol

keep your chin up- maybe instead of praying for others’ hearts to be opened, you could concentrate on praying for peace and happiness for yourself so that you can better share? your heart has to be clean, happy, and pure to be able to influence others. your positive attitude will shine through- people will see it and want what you have 👍
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thanks again for the advice and encouragement. God bless you!
 
im 16. This is what I do.

I go to mass every morning at my school

I treat people nicely. I dont cuss even though its not a sin.

I am generous, yet wont tolerate injustice towards me.

I answer questions seriously. So many guys ask me perverted questions like if I would sleep with that girl. ( they say it way more dirty ) I say to them " if I were married" they all start laughing or something most of the time. Just be serious.

I now got a guy to go to mass every morning with me! how did I do it? Well, his dad is dieing, I wasnt even talking to him THAT much, but I think he saw that I went. He liked me as a friend some. So, I guess thats why he went. I dont even know where im going with this. I hope this helps some. I dont even know where to end my post. It probably wasnt helpful… aw well 🤷
 
I have the same problem. I want to evangelize, but I’m not great at reading people, like how they’re feeling about things. I never know if I’m getting anywhere.:confused:
 
well i guess we just have to take the leap of faith the Apostles took after pentacost and just do it. prayer is the best place to start.
 
Mini_gerbel said:
im 16. This is what I do.

I go to mass every morning at my school

I treat people nicely. I dont cuss even though its not a sin.

I am generous, yet wont tolerate injustice towards me.

I answer questions seriously. So many guys ask me perverted questions like if I would sleep with that girl. ( they say it way more dirty ) I say to them " if I were married" they all start laughing or something most of the time. Just be serious.

I now got a guy to go to mass every morning with me! how did I do it? Well, his dad is dieing, I wasnt even talking to him THAT much, but I think he saw that I went. He liked me as a friend some. So, I guess thats why he went. I dont even know where im going with this. I hope this helps some. I dont even know where to end my post. It probably wasnt helpful… aw well 🤷
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On the contrary it was uplifting to see that you found a soul. I guess you go to a catholic school if mass is at your school. what a shame the guys act like that so blatantly.
 
Brian777 said:
On the contrary it was uplifting to see that you found a soul. I guess you go to a catholic school if mass is at your school. what a shame the guys act like that so blatantly.
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well, they act like that for a reason. They just dont care about God. I think I have seen God try to reach them. I dont claim to know if they have accepted or if they are worthy to go to heaven or anything. But, a speaker came one time and talked about God. He used example names to explain things. It turned out that all those example names he used were real people, who I see do bad things, such as take the lords name in vain. Maybe he was trying to call them?

I believe people have to be broken down over something, to accept God.

Would you accept God if you had a ton of girl friends to hang around with ( in a bad way ) and partied a lot? I wouldnt have accepted God if I were completely happy and their age.

I felt the way you did a while ago. Saint Francis said “preach with actions and use words only when you have too.” something like that. I dont know it exactly.

Only outright tell someone if something they are doing is sinful if they dont know it. Most ordinary people at my school skip mass on purpose. And say the lords name in vain on purpose. I accept that they made up their mind. I know the lord doesnt. If you receive a sign to tell someone something, then do it. Most of the times the lord gives a sign for you to talk to someone. But if he doesnt, well I wouldnt bother. I am trying to beat my own sin anyway. If people only knocked they would find God.

Also, in the bible it says to warn people that they are sinning. Most of the time, people have already heard all the numerous warnings, dont worry about warning them much either. But im only 16. So I could be wrong about all this.
 
Brian777 said:
Im an 18 yera old senior high school student and attended 8 years of catholic school before high school, as did many of my Catholic friends. However, we learned very little about the actual traditiions, histroy, dogmas, saints, etc. of the Church. In the last two years my personal faith has grown tremendously with the help of EWTN and certain youth-oriented events in my diocese as well as my own study of the Church throughout the ages. My question is how best can i begin to share the awesome knowledge of our faith that God has seen fit to allow me to glean with my Catholic peers, many of whom would look at me with a blank stare if asked them “Would you like to join me for Eucharistic Adoration?” I guess I wont ask them about extra ecclessiam nulla solus then, huh? It just seems to me that Catholic youth today are just so ignorant of actual Church teaching, and need to be taught. I want to do just that, but don’t want to come across as a preachy person. I just want to share the faith. Its even worse when many dont even want to talk about the faith because they fear an argument and other such hogwash like that. An argument with a fellow catholic? How best can this type of evangelization take place? Thanks for listening anyone.
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This isn’t very specific advice, but I think that you can use it all the time:
Reflect Christ in the way that you live and interact with others.
People will wonder why you are such a great person if you do this. Consequently some will discover that it stems from your faith. I truly think that this is the most effective way to evangelize at your age.
 
Hi Brian.
I am in a similar position to you- most of my friends don’t go to Mass or believe in God, and those who do don’t believe the basic teachings of the church.
One of my greatest wishes is to attend daily Mass, but the only morning it is on at school is Friday and I have other school commitments that make it impossible 😦
Another wish of mine is to help people my age to believe in God and actually follow the teachings!
I hope when I leave school I can become a Religion teacher at Catholic high schools (and maybe a nun too…) and be thought of as “cool” by the students, so that they can see that it ISN’T WEIRD OR STUPID to go to Mass and believe in God.👍
-Rachael :cool:
 
A good example of evangelizing to the youth is Saint Don Bosco.
 
littletherese3 said:
Hi Brian.
I am in a similar position to you- most of my friends don’t go to Mass or believe in God, and those who do don’t believe the basic teachings of the church.
One of my greatest wishes is to attend daily Mass, but the only morning it is on at school is Friday and I have other school commitments that make it impossible 😦
Another wish of mine is to help people my age to believe in God and actually follow the teachings!
I hope when I leave school I can become a Religion teacher at Catholic high schools (and maybe a nun too…) and be thought of as “cool” by the students, so that they can see that it ISN’T WEIRD OR STUPID to go to Mass and believe in God.👍
-Rachael :cool:
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Good luck with your discernment to the religious life…I am currently discerning a call to the priesthood. God bless you.

I am now considering simply inviting a friend of mine to Eucharistic adoration and “lure” them in with the thought of a meal or hanging out somewhere afterward. 😉 And of course to continue praying. Holy Thursday Mass woulfd be a great opportunity as well, my parish does a pilgramage to seven churches throughout our diocese and we do the stations throughout…at the end we usually finish at a chapel that contains literally thousands of relics including MULTIPLE pieces of the True Cross. It would be good experience for some of my friends definitely.
 
Hey guys

I’ve been reading your posts and its good to see that I’m not the only teenage catholic on here! It is great to see that others my age are also interested in the Church.

I’m currently a high school senior and I’ve been trying to get closer to God over the past few years but never really accomplished much…

I hope that this Easter I can finally grow in my faith by becoming more dedicated in my prayer life.

Please pray for me as I will be praying for you too!
 
I feel the same way as you do. What they taught us in religion class at school was confusing enough to make people believe the opposite of what Catholicism really teaches.
Brian777 said:
I am now considering simply inviting a friend of mine to Eucharistic adoration and “lure” them in with the thought of a meal or hanging out somewhere afterward. 😉 And of course to continue praying. Holy Thursday Mass woulfd be a great opportunity as well, my parish does a pilgramage to seven churches throughout our diocese and we do the stations throughout…at the end we usually finish at a chapel that contains literally thousands of relics including MULTIPLE pieces of the True Cross. It would be good experience for some of my friends definitely.
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That sounds like a great idea. I hope it goes well. I should do the same with my friends. 👍
 
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