In many ways, the Bishops of the USCCB gave us the perfect plan when they wrote “Go and Make Disciples”. Why? It is because, there is something in there for everyone.
When I first discovered this document, I was struck by the simplicity of the plan. I happen to be interested in using the media to evangelize. So, I immediately looked for how they incorporated media into the structure. It took about 10 minutes to find it. There it was. Number 126 showed a strategy that said “use of audio, video, and videotapes to communicate the Catholic faith to others”. I was delighted.
But maybe producing media is not your thing. Perhaps you like to teach. Good news on that. You can evangelize through teaching the faith.
Perhaps you don’t see yourself as a catechist. You would rather organize or just participate in prayer devotions. That is evangelization too!
You see, the Bishops have designed a national plan for evangelization that can include every single Catholic. I would challenge any practicing Catholic to spend time in this document and not find something that they would be willing and able to do.
Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this document. It is available to read for free at the USCCB website.
https://www.nccbuscc.org/evangelization/goandmake/
The core of the document established three major goals tied to three levels of evangelization. Goal I shows ways to evangelize at the “individual” level. Goal II highlights ways that we can evangelize at the “community” level. Finally, Goal III encourages us to evangelize at the “society” level.
The beauty is that you can pick whatever level you want. You can evangelize at one or all levels.
Each Goal is broken down into “objectives”. For example, the objective related to my favorite “media” strategy is “126. To involve the Catholic Church, on every level, in the media”. Each objective has simply stated strategies. So there you have it. It is a shopping list of evangelization strategies. Look down the list. Select your favorite and begin! In the coming months, We will explore some of these objectives and strategies. Please take a moment to email me any methods you have utilized and we can to share ideas. If you prefer, you can enter them at the website: www.TheEssentialMission.com
Let’s Begin!