The easiest evangelization

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Iheartcoffee

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Let me provide a disclaimer first. I DID check with Catholic.com staff to make sure I could do this.

I have run into some situations where I would love to have had a small business card to give to someone that was curious about the Church and what Catholics believe. I have been in situations where it would have been so useful to say, “Go HERE for info on what Catholics really believe!”

So, thanks to the “free” (pay shipping and handling only) business cards on Vistaprint I made some! It’s simple and friendly. It tells the receiver that they can read, ask, debate, and discuss all in one place. I really feel that some people will be led here purely because they want to debate, but then they will have an opportunity to hear the truth!

I think this is kind of the easiest evangelization tool ever - and it’s cheap! Leading people TO the apologists is a good way to get started. I feel like I know quite a bit about my Faith, but I am no expert apologist, so by having these cards available I can always be ready to invite someone to a good resource.

I may not be able to donate a ton of money to organizations that do great work (like Catholic Answers) but I can work on leading more people to them so people realize there is a place online to learn the truth about Catholicism (and not what your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from a Catholic she met).
 
Cool! I hope more people join and come to Jesus! You are doing a wonderful thing! Thanks for all that you are doing! 🙂
 
Thanks y’all! Feel free to steal my idea. Lately I have just felt really called to lead people to good sources, rather than trying to rely on myself to be the source. I put a Catholic radio bumper sticker on the back of my car, and on the other side of the back window I put a sticker with the number for the local pregnancy center. I feel like just by driving to and from work I am spreading a message. I actually felt very definitely called to put the pregnancy center bumper sticker on my car while I was at Mass one day. I guess God has a plan for it and I’m happy to make my car his little instrument.

I think some of these very anonymous forms of outreach (printing cards, bumper stickers, etc.) have been a good exercise for me in letting the Holy Spirit take charge of the situation. I am creating the opportunities, but I have taken myself out of the equation as far as following through - and I am forced to leave it up to the Holy Spirit. It’s really very freeing.

Of course, face to face evangelization has its place. (Otherwise, where would I be trying to direct people?!) I just feel that I am supposed to be finding ways to handle the less visible, but nonetheless important back stage tasks. There are people out there that may not want to admit publicly that they are curious about Catholicism, but if they find out there is a radio station or a website then they can start to learn about our Faith in the privacy of the car during rush hour, or their laptop at home!
 
Great idea! Get their email address as well. Invite them to Mass, and to pick them up as well. Share with them your positive experiences and how much you appreciate them. Be genuine.
Generalization is a real and important thing in our faith. I left for a while, and (mea culpa) was a Mormon. They have a very strong and well developed missionary effort, they just loose them about 95% of the time. If you are a Mormon and want to return to the Catholic faith email removalinfo@lasvegasdon.com and an automated system will tell you what to do via instant return email.
We are the best at missionary efforts. As we move forward in baptizing all our famlily members, and attend ourselves…it will be fantastic.
Don, Las Vegas
Iheartcoffee said:
Let me provide a disclaimer first. I DID check with Catholic.com staff to make sure I could do this.

I have run into some situations where I would love to have had a small business card to give to someone that was curious about the Church and what Catholics believe. I have been in situations where it would have been so useful to say, “Go HERE for info on what Catholics really believe!”

So, thanks to the “free” (pay shipping and handling only) business cards on Vistaprint I made some! It’s simple and friendly. It tells the receiver that they can read, ask, debate, and discuss all in one place. I really feel that some people will be led here purely because they want to debate, but then they will have an opportunity to hear the truth!

I think this is kind of the easiest evangelization tool ever - and it’s cheap! Leading people TO the apologists is a good way to get started. I feel like I know quite a bit about my Faith, but I am no expert apologist, so by having these cards available I can always be ready to invite someone to a good resource.

I may not be able to donate a ton of money to organizations that do great work (like Catholic Answers) but I can work on leading more people to them so people realize there is a place online to learn the truth about Catholicism (and not what your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from a Catholic she met).
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Definitely don’t stop at the business cards, everyone. We should evangellize with lots of things! Postcards, tote bags, etc!
 
Iheartcoffee said:
Definitely don’t stop at the business cards, everyone. We should evangellize with lots of things! Postcards, tote bags, etc!
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The best way to evangelize, IMHO, is to reinforce our internal members first. Pick them up, take them with you. Be sure that all the family members are baptized, are attending and sit together as a family. Set up parish pot lucks for all the members of the Parish for after Mass! I will set up an auto-responder with a message on successful Catholic grass roots evangelizing! Give me a few days and I will report back here with the email address, and a link back to this group for sharing. The language will be in English, but you may make material correct translations into another language that you speak.
It is free, no cost or obligation. It is automated and no human is within the equation. Your email address is not recorded. The information is not an official anything of the Catholic faith and represents my personal approach and views. Its sole (soul 🙂 purpose is to share the excitement and glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy of the Roman Catholic Church!🙂 The email address will be CatholicJoy@LasVegasDon.com, and will be active in a few days.

Don, Las Vegas. .
 
Such a cool and neat idea! Way to GO!

Something I have done is visit with my Parish Priest for permission to leave Catholic Answeres Tracts at the back of the Church for the Parishoners and any visitors to pick up. (We attend in downtown where there is a lot of tourism traffic.) The trats are relatively cheap (like $16 or so for a pack of 50) and there are dozens (maybe over 100?) topics to choose from. I try to narrow it to the top 4 things at any moment and just do 4 at a time…and replace with new ones when they run out.

My wife found a couple sites where apologetics CD’s are free, or nearly so, and after visiting with the neighbor of a friend, she put together a “Catholic Care Package” with apologetics CD’s tailored to the neighbor’s needs. (The neighbor had said she would be open to listening to them.)
 
ahs said:
Something I have done is visit with my Parish Priest for permission to leave Catholic Answeres Tracts at the back of the Church for the Parishoners and any visitors to pick up. (We attend in downtown where there is a lot of tourism traffic.) The trats are relatively cheap (like $16 or so for a pack of 50) and there are dozens (maybe over 100?) topics to choose from. I try to narrow it to the top 4 things at any moment and just do 4 at a time…and replace with new ones when they run out.
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I work as a Coordinator of Faith Formation. Previously our Liturgy and Music Coordinator was in charge of “the Rack in the Back of Church” as I call it. During one of the staff meetings we got to talking about how difficult it was to keep it stocked. Our pastor turned to me and asked me if I would take it over as part of Faith Formation. I was overjoyed. The first thing I did was order CA Tracts. The next was to order some of the Knights of Columbus short booklets on a variety of topics. This past month my pastor asked me to get some pamphlets from Our Sunday Visitor on 10 top reasons to come back to the Catholic Church. I love this part of my job.
 
bcuster said:
I work as a Coordinator of Faith Formation. Previously our Liturgy and Music Coordinator was in charge of “the Rack in the Back of Church” as I call it. During one of the staff meetings we got to talking about how difficult it was to keep it stocked. Our pastor turned to me and asked me if I would take it over as part of Faith Formation. I was overjoyed. The first thing I did was order CA Tracts. The next was to order some of the Knights of Columbus short booklets on a variety of topics. This past month my pastor asked me to get some pamphlets from Our Sunday Visitor on 10 top reasons to come back to the Catholic Church. I love this part of my job.
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I think that is great! I believe there is a lot that can be done with the written word. Unlike door to door evangelization, conversations, etc. the is a certain ability to meet people where they are at with something written. Face to face evangelization absolutely has its place, but something written that is left for a person to pick up will meet them on their terms. It won’t interrupt them, call them during dinner, etc. It is also very portable. It is something a person can carry around while they are considering it. Plus, I believe there are a lot of people that are really shy about their questions. They don’t want to ask in person, or perhaps they do not want family or friends to know they are curious about Catholics, but if there is something they can read or a website where they can go on their own terms they will be a lot more comfortable, open, and receptive.
 
This may seem counterintuitive, but I think street evangelization is the easiest… and I have done it all. Not the confrontational type but like what st. Paul Street Evangelizatin does. The most effective type is relational evangelization.
 
stove said:
This may seem counterintuitive, but I think street evangelization is the easiest… and I have done it all. Not the confrontational type but like what st. Paul Street Evangelizatin does. The most effective type is relational evangelization.
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I have heard some great things about that group. I think it is great how they just set up a table and let themselves be available for questions. I think that kind of friendly, approachable, and non-confrontational evangelization is a great thing for the Church.
 
:juggle:What about evangelizing with pro-life and Catholic-themed pin buttons (images and pictures of popular saints, our Blesses Mother, Divine Mercy, Sacred Heart, crosses, monstrance, and other Catholic clip arts)? Would having such a button pinned to your shirt, lapel, cap, bag, backpack, work place cubicle divider and any other ways of displaying it, help you evangelize? Other people will see and notice it, and may start a conversation leading to a conversion. or it may remind them of something that they need to do, or may lead somebody to not liking you for showing off your belief in pro-life cause and that you are a Catholic. We are told to be bold and share our faith with others. Think about it and please give me your comments/feedbacks. Just trying to contribute something to the New Evangelization work of the Church. Thanks for this chance to participate. God Bless. Filipino
 
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