Who wants to evangelize DFW?

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DEXTRA_DOMINI

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I have been trying to incorporate a program to evangelize around our Catholic Parish in the DFW area and have been speaking with our Pastor to try in get this going. So far I have not had approval to go out on behalf of the Church.

However I have been contemplating just going out on my own with fellow Catholics who believe in the faith and are well versed in Scripture and Church Teaching.

So I am calling out to any of you in the DFW area who are dedicated to scripture study and Church teachings, who may be willing to join me in going out door to door so that we can share the faith with others and hopefully bring them to our Church so that they may recieve the fullest means of salvation.

I am not certain that I will accomplish activating this ministry in my Parish due to many barriers of legalities and what not but I am now wondering if I am the only Catholic who really wants to step out into the world and bring the good news to the people…

I Coordinate the scripture studies at our Parish and I dedicate quite of bit a time everyday to Church teaching and Scripture, as well as teach and facilitate some other ministries at my Parish, so I can better understand my calling and give back to those searching for God. If there are any of you out there who feel like myself please post or PM me I would be interested in maybe meeting up once a month or so and sharing our faith with others door to door. So hopefully our Parishes will benefit from it, obviously we would not be going out on behalf of our Parish (because that would require our Parishes Blessing and Permission which could take quite some time to get put in stone, so that it could be done) but Jesus Christ and if anyone was interested in where we attend Church we could honestly tell them.

Since we are Catholic I think if we take the word from the Church to the Unchurched without blowing a horn telling everyone we are Catholic but just focusing on sharing the word of God, helping teach them the teachings of our Church, and the reflection of the Scriptures in accordance with our Church teaching that is truth, many will better understand our Church and could take interest in participating in the faith.

We can Truly fulfill the scripture in Matthew 10:16 - “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” No one will expect a Catholic to be knocking at their door, as well as know the scripture from Genesis to Revelation well enough to give a strong in debt debate, we’ll take the world by surprise 🙂

Our Church does a great job proclaiming the Gospel to the Churched, and helping us with our needs in most cases, however the message seems to stay in the walls of the Church building. It is up to us to take it outside the walls, not only by actions but by words, proclaiming the Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

So who is willing to help me? DFW area only I can only do this locally due to family and work…

Vivat Jesus!
 
**James 2:18 **Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.

**Hebrews 10:24 **We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Just some inspiration for us… I ask that you pray for me, that I find some of my fellow Catholic brothers and sisters who are willing to take the message to the world with me, out of the convenience and shelter of their Parish, to those who are lost and unchurched.

Thanks be to God for his Church, the Teachings of the Church, the Word of God and our dedicated Clergy.

(DFW = Dallas / Fort Worth Area in Texas - fyi)
 
Good News, our Parish has approved this ministry I have been working on, along with some of my Brothers and Sisters. Our Pastor is behind us all the way, has given is consent as needed and is guiding us so that we can achieve the best results possible, Thanks be to God for his dedication.

So I am going to keep everyone here updated with our results and hopefully some of you will also help institute (with your Pastors Blessing of Course we have to be Obedient to our Church) a similiar program to help in the mission of the Church. Once we have molded this ministry into how and what it needs to be, to achieve the best results and return on our work I’ll post more details and provide information on what we have instituted to any other Catholics who wish to see how we put it together. For more information just PM me.

Also thanks for those who inquired and support these efforts. God Bless You all and strive to help your Church in everything that you do to bring others Closer to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
 
Would you mind keeping us up todate with how things are going, and what methods of evangalization you’re trying out? I’ve toyed with seeing if something like this can’t be done in my parish, but I wasn’t really sure where to even start lol
 
Aboslutely I’ll keep you informed…

I am a former protestant so I am familiar with several bibles, I can debate out of all the most common, thus a King James Version is what brought me to the Catholic Church. Knowing the bible well (in other words being able to memorize where most major details of the profits are for the most part) and being able to tie it well to the catechism of the Catholic Church allows you to evangelize with confidence because our Catholic Faith ties in so well with scripture, it is extremely easy to defend our faith by it, even if you are using a **New Kings James Version **that’s missing the seven books, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Wisdom, Sirach (one of my favorites), Mcccabees I and II. I’ll keep you posted, we will succeed:)
 
DEXTRA_DOMINI said:
Aboslutely I’ll keep you informed…

I am a former protestant so I am familiar with several bibles, I can debate out of all the most common, thus a King James Version is what brought me to the Catholic Church. Knowing the bible well (in other words being able to memorize where most major details of the profits are for the most part) and being able to tie it well to the catechism of the Catholic Church allows you to evangelize with confidence because our Catholic Faith ties in so well with scripture, it is extremely easy to defend our faith by it, even if you are using a **New Kings James Version **that’s missing the seven books, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Wisdom, Sirach (one of my favorites), Mcccabees I and II. I’ll keep you posted, we will succeed:)
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Yep, well aware of the situations with the Deutorconnoical books… I don’t have the memorization that a lot of protistants do (bible memorization just isn’t a required skill in the Church), but I’ve been spending a lot of time doing bible studies (just finished Revelation via CSS), teaching CCD (more bible study and CCC reading there), and just doing stuff on my own.

I can debate a pretty good variety of subjects, though I won’t claim to be a super apologist by any means yet lol… Where I’m really lost on, is good methods of engaging the community! Be sure to post back your ideas, programs and how they’re working out!

God bless you with your honorable mission!
 
Hi I’m from Cincinnati area and I am interested in the same door-door evan. I believe it will be a ‘do it myself’ operation. It is really hard to get anyone to participate in something like this because they are unsure of their abilities for the most part. I feel it is necessary to have provision for those going out ( apologetics instr. and bible study…) and also for those who except the invitation to come to church (what groups are available for them, RCIA, Sunday hospitality, etc). I could really use any ideas anyone has to offer.
 
Shucks. I thought this thread was going to be about my favorite author, David Foster Wallace.
 
Ok, I said I would keep you posted and I am.

We went out for the first time last Saturday, just 3 of us because we wanted to see how it goes with about 60 homes before taking our other volunteers (about 12 volunteers so far). This is so we could perfect our approach by changing how we approach others to fine tune what we have put together so far. But thus far it went GREAT!

One non-Catholic was so taken from our presentation ( I went through about 5 different books and several verses while explaining them and how they pertained to Jesus Christ and our Church) that we actually had end our visit earlier then what we would have liked so we explained that we had to go to a lot of houses but would try in come by again another day then ending in prayer because we had a lot of houses to go to. We spent about 30 minutes their with her reading scripture and praying a prayer with scripture interjected (John 18 to be exact) it was absolutely beautiful and she told us that she felt so blessed that we showed up and spoke with her about Jesus Christ, of course we told her we were blessed to be able to visit with her one of our Sisters in Christ as well. She also wrote down ALL the scripture I gave her and she was beyond excited to learn about how they attested to Christ!

Another woman this one was Catholic, that we ran into opened her door to us looking very curious with a Rosary and she said hello, then we told her we were there to pray for her needs, it appeared she had been praying and you should have seen the look on her face, her eyes grew and she jumped out and told us her needs and we prayed together. She was very thankful just like the other and we talked for a little bit about the scriptures and how they related to her Church and Jesus Christ, then closed in prayer and went on our way, again it was absolutely beautiful, you could see she was so happy we where there.

We went in total to 23 houses and it was a wonderful, a beyond words experience…

We will be going out again this Saturday God willing, please pray for our success.

I have made a script for others who will be going with us that is quite easy to follow with some basic prayer suggestions and scripture readings so that anyone is able to participate.

I will have this completely finalized after two more trips with just us three of us and will provide it to any of you who want to do something like this in your Parish, along with our rules that we are following to make sure everything is safe for everyone, and the structure used for our approach in faith sharing to be sure we captivate our audience.

God is great and his word captures all hearts…👍
 
crazzeto said:
Would you mind keeping us up todate with how things are going, and what methods of evangalization you’re trying out? I’ve toyed with seeing if something like this can’t be done in my parish, but I wasn’t really sure where to even start lol
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Start with a bible group and learn the scriptures, the good news , Gods proclaimed word. Use the material Home is a Holy place on the website for the BCCEW. THE BISHOPS CATHOLIC CONFERENCE FOR ENGLAND AND WALES. I know it is English but we speak the same message and have the same motives for evangelization.

I recently got up a steering group who together came up with some good stratergies. We produced and simplified our own prayer cards. We attended a primary school Induction day for new reception children starting school. we meet over 120 children and their paarents, some single and some married and some had brought along their grand parent. So you can see, by the numbers we were able to share our faith with other people without them feeling put in a corner. I had also produced a pamphlet which contained information about all the groups, that were operating in our church community I also had put in about the wider community activities such as Guides and Scouting organisations, another good network connection for Evangelizing. The booklet contained the mass times and (name removed by moderator)rticular the times of the Children’s Liturgy mass times. How do we measure the success, well we can’t as we can not know were people our at, with regards to thier stage of faith. We can offer the information and live in hope of its success to bring more sheep to the hub of our community, the church.

I hope this helps as I came across it in hope that it would help me with an assignment of 2,000 words that has to be in for FRIDAY, Phew! I hope I can do it! My question is … ‘I have been asked by my parish ledership team to asses the effectivness of your local church, as an evangelising community and I need to suggesst thre priorities for development over the next three years.’ I have to produce a report and this is was I am struggling with I have the knowledge of the church and I know what they are doing to encourage this but I feel they need to be doing more. I really don’t know where to start in the presentation of nthe format of the report. If anyone has any Ides or can show an example, I would be really greatful. As I know I am a kinestic learn, who is a hands on person and if I am shown something I can easily pick it up. Thank you and God’s Blessing to you and your good work DEXTRA DOMINI and crazzeto:thumbsup:
 
Yeah, I’ve been working on the scripture study for a while but thanks for re-enforcing that. More so what I’m looking for is approches for getting the word out 🙂 Though I suppose on some level that really just comes down to getting over your own personal insecurities, and getting out there.
 
ANGELALIVERPOOL and CRAZZETO send me an email and I’ll forward you what I have put together so far, so that you can review it if you like and you can share it with your Pastor.
 
I sent out an email via the forums containing my email address, let me know if you failed to get it. Thanks so much for the gratious offer.
 
Ok, the information is sent, God Bless You both and have a great night!😃
 
After spending an enormous amount of time in my life proselytizing others I’m not only a bit embarrassed for my behavior but also burned out from it. Now I’m concentrating on teaching the Catholics their own faith, now that I’ve learned it.

edited to add: But please go out into the world preaching and teaching. All of us are called to evangelize. There are many ways to do this.
 
eucharisteo, I am sorry you find it embarrasing, that is going out and faith sharing. But many of our separated protestant brethren are doing it quite well bringing many to the Faith in Jesus Christ and God Bless them for doing so.

I believe we also should be going out and bringing the word to homes, outside the walls of the Church. I have never felt embarrassed about the Words of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but I am enthusiastic about being able to speak to others about him.

The KEY POINT is to bring the true message of Jesus Christ to every home, not to beat someone up about not being Catholic (in case that is what you are thinking we are trying to accomplish), you have to have faith that once you provide the Word with the truth about what it means, that the Holy Spirit will lead them back to the Church. We should never try to belittle anyone, but always provide the TRUTH in words and deeds.

I agree there are different ways to evangelize, but faith sharing with others outside the Church is a GREAT way to do so, if we only live out our lives, and neglect to share the message with others outside the walls of our Church, we keep a treasure unto ourselves, I say let us share that treasure we hold which is the Word of God with all those around us. And be a LIGHT in the World. God Bless, You are in my prayers and don’t feel embarrased, feel thankful that you had an Opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ, do not be ashamed of his message but proud to be a part in bringing it to others however he has gifted you to do so, and let every action and word be done with LOVE.
 
DEXTRA_DOMINI said:
eucharisteo, I am sorry you find it embarrasing, that is going out and faith sharing. But many of our separated protestant brethren are doing it quite well bringing many to the Faith in Jesus Christ and God Bless them for doing so.

I believe we also should be going out and bringing the word to homes, outside the walls of the Church. I have never felt embarrassed about the Words of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but I am enthusiastic about being able to speak to others about him.

The KEY POINT is to bring the true message of Jesus Christ to every home, not to beat someone up about not being Catholic (in case that is what you are thinking we are trying to accomplish), you have to have faith that once you provide the Word with the truth about what it means, that the Holy Spirit will lead them back to the Church. We should never try to belittle anyone, but always provide the TRUTH in words and deeds.

I agree there are different ways to evangelize, but faith sharing with others outside the Church is a GREAT way to do so, if we only live out our lives, and neglect to share the message with others outside the walls of our Church, we keep a treasure unto ourselves, I say let us share that treasure we hold which is the Word of God with all those around us. And be a LIGHT in the World. God Bless, You are in my prayers and don’t feel embarrased, feel thankful that you had an Opportunity to share the message of Jesus Christ, do not be ashamed of his message but proud to be a part in bringing it to others however he has gifted you to do so, and let every action and word be done with LOVE.
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Which part of I used to do this did you not understand now. My embarrassment was is from trying to convert lost Catholics from going to hell because they were part of a pagan religion built up on lies. Sorry, but I evangelize all the time. You’ve misunderstood the meaning of my words. My story is too complicated to give much details. I grew up Protestant even though I was baptized Catholic at 14 months old. I believe my aunts snuck me to a parish in San Antonio, St. Cecelia’s. Mom was anti-Catholic and my father was in the military. I believe mom was so pregnant with problems that she either didn’t suspect or realize or just crumbled in to allow it. Not sure, but I know for certain that my little brother, 15 months my junior was secretly baptized at a parish, probably the same. It wasn’t until after living with my father that he finally started to sort of practice his Catholic faith. It seemed to be around the time that the Church allowed divorced people to receive communion in the 70’s. I’ve lived my entire life under the gun. And you have no right to make people feel guilty one way or the other. If that is how you plan to pursue this then you’re in for a big disappointment. People will often not even answer the door or slam the door in your faith. Be prepared.

Your approach should be in the form of inviting people. Just because one group uses a method does not mean it’s acceptable. Door knocking if fine if you do it with charity and without trying to stick your foot in the door like a quick salesman. Please don’t accuse people of what you’ve accused me of. You have no idea why I take the position I do now over this method of evangelizing. I was heavily supportive of this in the Church of Christ faith. I was trying to save the lost souls of the poor Catholic immigrants, otherwise known as apartment dwellers. I’ve spoken with similar people before like you on here. I dispelled the incorrect idea you have of thinking I don’t evangelize or speak out about my faith. I’m probably more verbose than I should be and often share my faith with perfect strangers. This is the tradition I picked up in my Protestant faith. I’m no newbie to evangelizing.

I’m saying that not everyone can or is called to do as you wish to do. Some people are called to follow the ways of St. Francis of Assisi, to “preach the gospel always and when necessary use words”. Some are called to evangelize their children or spouse. Some are called to evangelize the poor, or those in need of financial or medical assistance. You see, evangelism does not merely mean to go from door to door to tell the good news. Most of the time it requires one to practice it by setting a good example and when the opportunity comes then to share. I hope this helps in your enthusiastic ministry. It’ll be nice to see you when you knock on my door. But more than likely we’ll just not answer the door like we started to do after we converted to being Catholic. Now we don’t answer the door to just anyone. When we see well dressed people carry materials we assume its the JWs or the Mormons. People are overwhelmed with constant being bombarded during their family time. I certainly don’t appreciate it when I receive any kind of pre-recorded message during our dinner time from the schools. You see there is more than one way to look at this and it is not always received well. I hope you are successful. But please concentrate on the immigrants, they need much help in understanding their faith.

I’ll explain next post.
 
This week I called in a claim for water damage to my leaking home. I need a new roof and am trying to see if the insurance company will help me replace the roof with a composite rather than more cedar shake. The entire crew that came over for water mitigation damage, which I didn’t want initially but allowed at the advice of the insurance company. I went outside to talk to the insurance company. While standing there one of the members, Hispanic young man, asked me if I was Catholic. I looked at him funny and thought how did he guess. I was wearing my Franciscan University t-shirt. And he walked through my house. Well, I have sacramentals on almost every wall. We have a huge prayer corner in our living area. My wife really took the bate when we converted. I said “yes” and then asked “are you Catholic”. He said “yes”. Then I asked where to do go to church? He said “I don’t go to church”. I then looked at him in amazement and expressed the truth about what we sacrificed to become Catholic. We sacrificed the only family that spoke to us, my wife’s huge Church of Christ family filled with elders, preachers and deacons. They are opposed to us now and make it known in many different ways. It’s rather heartbreaking to be alone in the world with living family. I expressed this to him and told him that when we hear people that say their Catholic and don’t actually practice their faith it makes us wonder what in the world are they thinking… A few more words along this same line and then we got interrupted with more insurance questioning. I believe God sent that young man to me to evangelize him. You see we have plenty of time to evangelize when we live our Catholic faith and allow God to bring others to us, even when we go to unexpected places to evangelize. I get into interesting conversations with people from all walks of life. Now I’m going to evangelize my pastor by cleaning up this story and email it to him. They need to hear these things a well. It inspires them to see us living out our faith day to day.

Good luck on your new ministry. I’m working on the diaconate and hope to hear wonderful things about you. BTW: "Which diocese are you in? or should I say which Kevin is your bishop.😉
 
I read what you said, and still find it to be very judgmental. You now say you were trying to convert lost Catholics from going to hell because they were part of a pagan religion built up on lies. If this is what you were saying to others I would understand why you are embarrassed but know I do not act in any such way. I do not operate in this way for I know every person out there no matter how far from God is loved by God and is a Catholic member waiting to be converted to the fullness of the Truth. (Romans 10:6 But the righteousness that comes from faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will go up into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)

I guess I am not understanding you very well, hopefully you are not taking the place of GOD and judging who is or is not going to hell?

I don’t judge anyone and this is not what our ministry is about, we only provide the truth, and yes we knock on doors and yes so far people are responding wonderfully to it. None have asked me to leave thus far but have been overwhelmed with joy for our showing up. I wonder what kind of message where you bringing them. (**Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.) **

If you are Catholic, AMEN to you! However stating that this method is flawed because you were not successful in it is quite silly. You believe because it didn’t work for you, it doesn’t work, but it is not by my crafty skills that it will work, it is by the Power of Jesus Christ it will prevail.

Look at **John 21:5-6 Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. ** and you see when Peter and the apostles were fishing by their own ability it was fruitless they caught nothing, but when they listened to the call of Jesus Christ who told them where to fish, they caught so many they couldn’t even pull the net up.

It is only by the Power of Jesus Christ that I accomplish anything, I am not going out because I am trying to act as a protestant, but I am going out to reach out to others who are seeking God. In case you were curious I also reach out at every oppotunity to everyone I come into contact with but it is still not enough for we can never do enough for God, no deed is to great for God, nor any amount of work sufficient, we should always do all we can depending on the ability he has blessed us with read ( Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of the Talents)

You say to me you are trying to save souls, I say to you only Jesus Christ can save souls but through our actions he can reach them. You say I have no right to make people feel guilty, I say to you I have done no such thing, I only provide the truth about his Church and his love for them, I have no intention nor have ever had one of trying to make one guilty.

You see I love my seperated brethren, I don’t condemn them because they do not understand the teaching of the Church, or if they don’t understand the scripture, because it is not my job to condemn. We are called to provide TRUTH only and let GOD be the judge. Whether they accept the truth or not is not my concern, it is only my concern that I Iove them and try to provide the truth to them. Not by SCARE tactics of stories of damnation or HELL, but by showing them the love that Jeus Christ has for us.

You say you teach Christians, I tell you so do I, I am a Catechist for RCIA and I teach Conformation classes for the Youth. I Coordinate all the scripture studies at our Church, I facilitate a Why Catholic course at our Parish, and I am currently facilitating an Apologetic course at our local University for the Catholic Students there who want to grow their knowledge of scripture and church traditions, as well as go out to Evangelize door to door.

You assume that I don’t understand Evangelization and that I believe it is only valid door to door, but your assumption is wrong. You could of asked but you prefer to assume, Presumption is well spoken of in the scripture to what it intels (see Samuel 15:23).

Using St. Francis of Assisi as a means of accepting to do less than one may be capable of doing is a poor use of this wonderful Saints name. I assure you if he stood before us now he would give thanks to God for my efforts but not find a way to scorn me.

Hebrews 10:24 We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.

I see anger and malice in your profession to me, this is not the love that Christ asked us to have for one another 1 John 4:21 This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

You have not dispelled my thoughts of evangelization but only reinforced that I need reach out to even more than I currently planned to, I will accomplish this by the Power of Jesus Christ.

You say you have no family, I too have lost my relatives who raised me, what is it that makes you think your knowledge and idea’s are greater than anyone elses? Are you are Pope, I believe not, because his message is one of Unity and Evangelization.

You say you are a convert and former protestant, I say to you so am I.
 
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