From Proselytism to Evangelization
The mission of the Church is the Gospel-ization of the world
Happy 7th Week in Ordinary Time!
In this next issue of our series on false assumptions we make about following Jesus, we’re turning our attention now to how our life with God is shared outwardly.
If you’re behind at all on this series, you can get caught up here:
Preach with Your Words… and Your Life?
“So what do you think? Do you want to pray with me to make Jesus the centre of your life?”
“Uhhh, sure I guess.”
At the time, I was working as a Parish youth minister, sitting on the floor next to a high school student I’d been accompanying for a few months. I had a Gospel tract open on my phone and had just walked him through what I thought had been a pretty solid pitch for the good life Jesus offered.
There was only one problem: he didn’t seem to care.
If you’re a Catholic who’s been seriously involved with Church at some point over the last 30-40 years, you’ve almost certainly heard the term “evangelization.”
Evangelization has been the buzzword of Catholicism since the 1970s - and for good reason, because Jesus did give the Great Commission:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
But for all the talk about the importance of evangelization, it’s been difficult to nail down a good definition of what it is, or more crucially, how it’s done.
For many contemporary Catholics, the dominant understanding of what it means to evangelize is a lot like what I just described in that moment with the high school student: having a spiritual conversation that results in a conversion.
Those kinds of conversations can be beautiful, deeply impactful, and effective when they’re led by the Holy Spirit (and with a huge dose of humility, nuance, and emotional intelligence). But over time, I’ve come to question whether or not intellectually converting people is really the full meaning of evangelization. Spiritual conversations that begin with the intent to convert can sometimes feel forced or downright manipulative. Surely this is not what Jesus had in mind when He told us to go and announce the Good News.
There’s a word for this approach to evangelization: proselytism.
Now, it’s important to note that proselytism is not in and of itself a bad thing. Having convicted conversations with our friends and family about Jesus and hoping that they see what has moved us (and are moved themselves) is a noble goal.
My concern is not that people have conversations about Jesus with nonbelievers, but that we fail to properly contextualize those conversations within a broader vision of evangelization. Yes, evangelization ****includes conversion, but it also includes a vision for the renewal of the whole societal order to fall more in line with the Kingdom of God, where all things are done according to His glory and our flourishing.
Under this vision, evangelization encompasses so much more, including the creation of beautiful art that images the glory of God, business done with radical honesty, and community that skillfully walks the tightrope of depth and welcome.
When we live in alignment with the Kingdom of God, our lives radiate everything that is good, true, and beautiful. People are drawn into faith by attraction, not technique. Those conversations about Jesus should simply be clarification - we live this way because of Jesus and only by Him can we live this way.
When these two pieces are paired - witness and proclamation - evangelization comes to life because we can speak honestly about the goodness of our life with God without some kind of hidden agenda.
The quote “preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words” has been frequently derided for being misattributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but I can’t help wondering if it’s been written off too quickly. It wouldn’t be right to suggest that words are unimportant, but it would be just as wrong to say we can’t preach with our lives either.
In the words of one of my favourite spiritual writers, Catherine Doherty:
Preach the Gospel with your life - without compromise. Listen to the Spirit. He will lead you.
Practice
When I began to think about evangelization in terms of how my life revealed the Good News along with Spirit-Led conversations, it meant that I really needed to consider whether my life with God was something worth talking about.
Full disclosure: in many ways, it was not.
Our practice for this week is to:
Examine your life to see where you might be giving a false witness to the Gospel
For some, this might be a difficult exercise. It’s important to emphasize that we’re not looking for perfection, but trying to see if there’s any way we’re interacting with the world that is inconsistent with the faith we profess.
Living a double life is one of the biggest hindrances to the Gospel, even if that “double life” is an unwillingness to be honest about your convictions around people who don’t share them.
Side Note: Being honest about your faith does not mean clobbering people over the head with the fact that you are a Christian. There’s a happy middle ground where we don’t shy away from our beliefs but also bring them up in the right time and place.
If anything comes up in your examination, consider taking one piece at a time and partnering with the Holy Spirit to more closely align that area of your life with the Gospel.
Recommended Reading
This article which has one of the most holistic definitions of evangelization I’ve come across
A great exploration of the role of witness in ministry on the John Mark Comer Teachings Podcast
Benediction
I’ll leave you with this good word written by Catherine Henry:
Lord, as I strive to share and witness Your Gospel, grant me the gift of self-knowledge. Help me to be attentive to the movements of my heart and the ways You are working in my life today. Reveal to me, Lord, any ways in which my witness falls short of the truth of the Gospel.
Jesus, show me what lies beneath these inconsistencies. Is it fear, pride, or a wound that still needs healing? Give me the grace to surrender it into your hands, trusting that You desire to transform me so that I may reflect Your love more fully.
Amen.
That’s all for this issue! We’ll be back next week to explore moving from abstraction to practicality.