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TRAINEE'S
EVANGELIZER'S HANDBOOK (EH)

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SESSION ONE

A PENETRATING SYNTHESIS OF EVANGELIZATION
PURPOSE: To give a penetrating glance into the Apostolic Exhortation of Paul VI, "Evangelii Nuntiandi," (Evangelization in the Modern World).*

This document provides the Church with a Magna Charta for the mission of evangelization Jesus Christ gave to His Church before ascending to His Father. He commissioned His disciples, and therefore you and me, to evangelize when He said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:19f). From the content of this document, a number of questions can be raised.

What is the Good News?

The whole mission of Jesus is summed up in Luke 4:43, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do" (n. 6).

Jesus is sent to proclaim the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the new covenant offered by God. He is the first and greatest evangelizer. His preaching revolves around the kingdom of God (n. 8).

The kernel and center of Jesus' Good News is the proclamation of salvation -- liberation from everything that oppresses men and women but especially liberation from sin and the Evil One (n. 9).

Though the kingdom of God and salvation are extended to everyone, individuals gain them through a total interior renewal, a radical conversion of mind and heart (n. 10).

Those who accept the Good News . . . gather together in Jesus' Name in order to seek together the kingdom, build it up and live it. They make up a community which is in its turn evangelizing (n. 13).

What is the content of evangelization?

In the message which the Church proclaims . . . there is the essential content . . . which cannot be modified or ignored without seriously diluting the nature of evangelization (n. 25).

The essential content of evangelization is:



Why should we evangelize?

Jesus, before ascending to the Father, commissioned His disciples, and therefore the Church, to evangelize when He said in Matthew 28:19f, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

Who is to evangelize?

All those who sincerely accept the Good News and who have been gathered by it into the community of salvation can and must communicate and spread it (n. 13).

Evangelization is the essential mission of the Church, the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity (n.14).

It is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize and the work of each individual member is important for the whole (n. 15).

The Second Vatican Council gave a clear reply to this question: it is upon the Church that "there rests, by divine mandate, the duty of going out into the whole world and preaching the Gospel to every creature." And in another text: ". . . the whole Church is missionary, and the work of evangelization is a basic duty of the People of God" (n. 59).

Evangelization is for no one an individual and isolated act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial (n. 60).

Jesus came as the first evangelizer and commissioned each one of us to do the same. Each one of us, as members of His Body, the Church, is called by Him to be a visible, concrete expression of Him in our world today.

How are we to evangelize today?

There are two ways in which we are to evangelize and both are necessary.

a) Witness of life: first and foremost, the Gospel must be proclaimed by the witness of one's life; by persons truly living a life according to the values of the Gospel, a life of holiness. All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelizers (n. 21).

The first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically lived Christian life, given over to God and to one's neighbor with a limitless zeal (n. 41).

b) Explicit proclamation of the Gospel: evangelization must sooner or later be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization without the proclamation of --


But this proclamation -- the witness of life and our words about Jesus is only one aspect of evangelization. Proclamation reaches its full development only when it is --


Who are we to evangelize?

The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself, and is always in need of being evangelized by constant conversion and renewal, so that she might evangelize the world in a way that is credible (n. 15).

Before anyone can become a "fisher of men and women," he or she must "follow" Jesus. We begin, first of all, by becoming evangelized ourselves. The person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and gives himself or herself to the kingdom, becomes a person who bears witness to that kingdom and proclaims it. We are to reach out and evangelize our families, our friends, our co-workers, and those in our churches. In other words, we are to evangelize wherever we find ourselves.
Jesus has told us to, "Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to the whole creation" (Mark 6:15) --


When do we evangelize?

Whenever the opportunity presents itself.

How do we begin?

We begin by being evangelized ourselves by becoming more deeply converted to the Lord Jesus and by being renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to look at how deep our own commitment to the Lord Jesus is, and whether our lives and lifestyle reflect that commitment. What we speak to others about Jesus must be substantiated by our witness of life.

In 1 Peter 3:15, we are told that we must "always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence."

A deeply lived Christian life will arouse questions in others as to how and why we live the way we do (n. 21).

How are we to prepare ourselves for this mission?

Pope Paul VI sets forth six means by which we can prepare ourselves for this mission:

a) Through the action of the Holy Spirit: evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit (n. 75). This is because the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church:


Without the Holy Spirit, no amount of preparation, technique or arguments have power over the heart of the person.

The Holy Spirit is the principle agent of evangelization:


Therefore, we are exhorted to study the Holy Spirit's action in evangelization today.

b) Through authentic witness of life: it is essential that we be authentic (n. 76). We are to ask ourselves --


Because witness of life is essential, then it is we who are responsible for the success or failure of the Gospel message.

The world calls for and expects from evangelizers:


Our evangelizing zeal must spring from true holiness of life which is nourished by prayer and above all by love for the Eucharist.

c) Through the search for unity: unity must be evident among the followers of Jesus (n. 77). We are urged to make a greater commitment to the effort for Christian unity by coming together on the basis of what we now hold in common: our baptism and the faith we all have in Jesus Christ.

d) Through serving the truth: we are to seek the truth even at the price of personal renunciation and suffering (n. 78).

e) By being animated by love: it is presupposed that, as evangelizers, we are growing in the gift of love for those we are sent to serve (n. 79).


f) With the fervor of the saints: each one of us is to go forth to proclaim the Good News with the fervor of the great preachers and evangelizers who have gone before us (n. 80).

They knew how to overcome the obstacles to evangelization. And obstacles they had.

Lack of spiritual fervor on the part of the evangelizer is the most serious obstacle to the mission of evangelization. It comes from within and shows itself in the following ways:


Such preparation for the mission of evangelization requires prayer, vigilance, study, service, and community.

We must keep our eyes on Jesus. He is our main teacher. And the book that He gives us is the Bible, the handbook for all evangelizers.

STUDY GUIDE

PART 1
How will this training equip you?

PART 2
1. What we are primarily concerned with in this training is to form disciples. But what does it mean to be a disciple?

2. What is evangelization?

3. What did John Paul II mean by NEW evangelization?

4. What had John Paul II hoped to see happen within the Church as a result of the new evangelization? What Scripture brings out his hope rather well?

5. What three aspects of our society today work against the powerful carrying out of this mission?

6. What approach is being taken in this training for evangelization? Explain?

7. The evangelists present Jesus as the first and greatest evangelizer. They show us what He did to lead people to the Father. What was His strategy?

8. Begin making your own the "Penetrating Synthesis of Evangelization" so that you have a succinct understanding of the Magna Charta for evangelization.


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*Numbers in parentheses refer to the numbered sections in Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World).



ACTS II EVANGELIZATION LEADERSHIP TRAINING GUIDES AVAILABLE HERE