EVANGELIZATION IN THE MODERN WORLD

EVANGELIZATION IN THE MODERN WORLD

Of its nature the Church is missionary. Evangelization is the proper vocation of the Church.

extracted from Chapter 8 of Guidelines for Parish Pastoral Councils -
Evangelizing Together: Together in Mission

At the request of the Bishops of the world this document was written by Pope Paul VI twenty years ago, in 1975. It has seven chapters.

1. From Christ the Evangelizer to the Evangelizing Church

2. What is Evangelization

3. The Content of Evangelization

4. The Methods of Evangelization

5. The Beneficiaries of Evangelization

6. The Workers of Evangelization

7. The Spirit of Evangelization

As we go through this document there are two things to remember:

(i) Of its nature the Church is missionary, and

(ii) Evangelization is the proper vocation of the Church. The two things are the same.

1. From Christ the Evangelizer to the Evangelizing Church

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus says, "I must proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom," and again, "This is what I was sent to do." (Lk. 4:43)

Jesus himself was the first evangelizer, and as an evangelizer he proclaimed first of all the Kingdom of God. "Be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you..." (Mt. 6:33) Only the Kingdom is absolute, everything else is relative.

At the centre of the message he proclaims salvation, which is liberation from everything that oppresses us, especially sin and evil.

KINGDOM and SALVATION are key words in his evangelization; they are God's gift to us, available to everyone through a process of interior renewal and conversion of heart.

Those who accept the Good News gather together in the name of Jesus to seek the Kingdom and to build it up. The command to the Twelve applies to all of Christ's followers: "Go and proclaim the Good News to all the nations." Those who receive it must spread it further. The Church knows this; the task of evangelizing all people is the essential vocation of every member of the Church. Born out of the evangelizing work of Christ and of the Apostles, the whole community of believers is sent by Christ to continue his saving work on earth.

"Thus it is the whole Church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole."

2. What is Evangelization?

Evangelizing means bringing the Good News into all strata of humanity and through its influence transforming humanity from within and making it new.

A person who has been evangelized goes on to evangelize others.

3. The content of evangelization

At the heart of the message of evangelization is the clear proclamation that in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, who died and rose from the dead, salvation is offered to all people as a gift of God's grace and mercy.

It includes

the preaching of hope in the promises made by God in the new covenant in Jesus Christ; the preaching of God's love for us and our love for God;
the preaching of brotherly love, the search for God through prayer and the participation in the sacramental life of the Church.

Evangelization also includes the temporal struggles of people. Evangelization and human development and liberation are closely linked. But the meaning of salvation must not be reduced to material well-being only.

The Church considers it important to build up structures which are more human, more just, more respectful of the rights of the person, but she cannot accept violence and indiscriminate death as the path to liberation.

4. Methods of Evangelization

Some of the fundamental methods are:

(i) The witness of life:

People today "listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if they do listen to teachers it is because they are witnesses." (p.23)

(ii) Good preaching:

"Faith comes from what is heard, and how are they to hear without a preacher." (Rom. 10)

(iii) Good liturgy:

"The joy and hope, the grief and anguish of the people of today should be reflected in the liturgies of our parishes

(iv) Catechetical instruction:

At all stages of life, God's people need sound religious instruction which will "form patterns of Christian living." (p. 25)

(v) Use of the mass media:

In the mass media the Church "finds a modern and effective version of the pulpit. Thanks to them she succeeds in speaking to the multitudes." (p.25)

(vi) Personal Contact:

Like the people in Jesus' time, we need the person-to-person contact among believers, in order that our faith and the faith of others may be strengthened.

(vii) The Sacraments-:

The celebration of the Sacraments and the proclamation of the Good News need to go hand in hand in order that the whole of human life may be transformed and nurtured.

(viii) Popular Piety:

Devotions and popular religious practices, "when well oriented, can be for many people a true encounter with God in Jesus Christ." (p.27).

5. The Beneficiaries of Evangelization

The command of Jesus says, "Go to the whole world, and proclaim the Good News to all creation." So everyone is included.

Over the centuries there have been many obstacles, sometimes on the part of the evangelizers and sometimes on the part of those being evangelized. Yet, because of the promise of Jesus to be with us always and because of the power of the Holy Spirit among us, we continue with confidence the mission of Jesus in our time.

While the first proclamation is addressed especially to those who have never heard of Jesus, re-evangelization is necessary for many who have been baptized but who live outside the Christian life, and those who do not practice their faith. And of course, the faith of those who have received the Lord into their lives must be strengthened and nurtured.

We are called upon to include in our outreach also other Christian denominations, "preparing with them for the unity willed by Christ, " (p.31) and exploring with them the richness of the full truth of God's revelation.

6. Workers for Evangelization

The work of evangelization is the basic duty of the People of God.
Everyone shares in the mission of Christ. The whole Church is missionary.

Every evangelizer must act in communion with others. No one is absolute master of his evangelizing action.

But the universal Church is in fact made up of many local Churches. Local evangelization must reflect the universal Church and the local conditions. The local Churches have the task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and transposing it into the language and form that a particular people will understand.

The authority to teach pertains in the first place to Bishops, who share this mandate of Christ with the ordained ministers in a great variety of ways. The laity also have a very special call to be evangelizers, namely "to put to use every Christian and evangelical possibility ... in the affairs of the world." (p.42) The family, in a special way, is "a place where the Gospel is transmitted and from which the Gospel radiates." (p.43).

7. The Spirit of evangelization.

The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of evangelization.
It is he who inspires each individual to proclaim the Gospel.

Division among Christians impedes the work of Christ. Lack of fervour is also an obstacle.

Animated by love, and graced with the gifts of the Holy Spirit we are sent into our work-a-day world to be witnesses of the Resurrection and messengers of the Good News of God's Kingdom.

This decade is a great opportunity for us to recapture the spirit of evangelization and give an authentic witness to our faith in Christ.