What is Evangelisation and How Much does it Cost?
What is Evangelisation? What are the resources needed to evangelise? One answer is to bring people to the love of Jesus by bringing them to a warm friendly Church. This seems to be a very popular answer but it has many drawbacks. In a warm friendly Church there are people who have one image of Jesus, "Here is Jesus, the non-judgemental Jesus who does not care how we live as long as we praise him and give money to the poor" Then "Here is Jesus with a firm policy to rid the world of poverty and hunger" Then of course there is the least popular "Here is Jesus, the one who spoke about sin and hell, who uncompromisingly said "Do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness, do not steal" to the rich young man who asked him how to earn eternal life. So the prophecy of Jesus that there would arise false Christs and Prophets has been fulfilled in todays Church. So there is a difficulty but it was solved by the most vociferous taking charge of many parishes, but can one group work with another group - the answer is an emphatic no. Only one catechesis can be taught and power is not shared equally so how can all groups work together for evangelisation.
But what is evangelisation? The answer is found in Matthew 28 when Jesus said "All authority is given to me, go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them............and TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE 'ALL' I have commanded you". Now Jesus spent three years teaching his disciples about the kind of Church he wanted. so how does the present Church in England shape up to his vision.
It was St Augustine who gives us a glimpse of the early Church he grew to love. Augustine was like many young people of today, he wanted a good time and he enjoyed the freedom of the culture he was born into. Then one day he looked at a group of people who were not immersed in that culture. The young people did not not indulge in sex outside marriage but took marriage very seriously. He noted the faithfulness found in the marriages of that Church, and the unity with 'Christ that way of life brought. They were living as Christ commanded them to live, making no excuses for the hardship and the crosses that came with doing this. He found a deep attraction to his way of life and eventually became a member of that Church he had once despised.
Let us forget then all the 'we are a loving community' bit for the Jehovah Witnesses can boast the same. Let us ask the question "When people look at the Catholic Church do they see what Augustine saw?" Sadly our children are no different from other children in the ways of the world, sadly Catholic Marriages fail as much as Civil Marriages, sadly faithfulness to Christ is just not visible as disputes over divorce, contraception, adultery, and the role of conscience divide and bring the Church to its knees. And the great respect found in the early Church for the Blessed Sacrament, it is a proven fact that nobody received in the hand in the early Church, has disappeared. Were I not a Catholic would the Church attract me? Only if I found the right group teaching the real Christ.
But what is evangelisation? The answer is found in Matthew 28 when Jesus said "All authority is given to me, go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them............and TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE 'ALL' I have commanded you". Now Jesus spent three years teaching his disciples about the kind of Church he wanted. so how does the present Church in England shape up to his vision.
It was St Augustine who gives us a glimpse of the early Church he grew to love. Augustine was like many young people of today, he wanted a good time and he enjoyed the freedom of the culture he was born into. Then one day he looked at a group of people who were not immersed in that culture. The young people did not not indulge in sex outside marriage but took marriage very seriously. He noted the faithfulness found in the marriages of that Church, and the unity with 'Christ that way of life brought. They were living as Christ commanded them to live, making no excuses for the hardship and the crosses that came with doing this. He found a deep attraction to his way of life and eventually became a member of that Church he had once despised.
Let us forget then all the 'we are a loving community' bit for the Jehovah Witnesses can boast the same. Let us ask the question "When people look at the Catholic Church do they see what Augustine saw?" Sadly our children are no different from other children in the ways of the world, sadly Catholic Marriages fail as much as Civil Marriages, sadly faithfulness to Christ is just not visible as disputes over divorce, contraception, adultery, and the role of conscience divide and bring the Church to its knees. And the great respect found in the early Church for the Blessed Sacrament, it is a proven fact that nobody received in the hand in the early Church, has disappeared. Were I not a Catholic would the Church attract me? Only if I found the right group teaching the real Christ.
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