2010 Evangelization Supplement

How to form an evangelization team in your parish

By Peg McEvoy

You may have read about how evangelization can happen in other parishes, but how is it supposed to work in and through your parish?

Remember that Jesus started with a group of Apostles, not just one person, and Pentecost did not happen in an individual encounter. It happened in a “meeting.” You need a team!

How do you get a parish evangelization team started? There are no exact “cookie-cutter” approaches, but here are a few basic steps that should be included in any parish evangelization team formation.

• Pray—Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance as you begin this process.
• Talk to your pastor—If you haven’t already done so, share with him your desire to work on evangelization efforts in your parish.

Ask if he knows of other parishioners or staff members who feel called to evangelization. To find more team members, look for people who are comfortable sharing their faith with others. These may be people involved with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, service outreach work or a catechist who would make great team members.

There may be someone active in your “coffee and donuts” fellowship who is great at greeting newcomers and strangers, but never before considered hospitality as a form of evangelization.

• Gather your group to read, pray about and reflect on Go and Make Disciples—This statement from our bishops gives both a faith-based rationale for evangelization and specific objectives. Even if you have read this document before, you will find new insights for today.
• Determine the needs of the people in your community—Where does the Lord desire the Gospel to be proclaimed and lived in a new way? That is where to begin.
• For the first year, choose one measurable goal for each group we are asked to focus on—This might include the unchurched, those who have stopped practicing their Catholic faith and practicing Catholics who want to deepen their faith. Each group could benefit from a targeted spiritual card campaign or a planned “invite-a-friend” Mass. Other events might focus on just one of the groups, for example, home calls and/or visits to inactive parishioners.

As always, continue to pray and ask others to pray for you. Also ask for Mary’s intercession for your efforts.

In the words of our Holy Father, Benedict XVI: “May the Virgin Mary, who accompanied with motherly solicitude the development of the newborn Church, also guide our footsteps in our time and obtain for us a new Pentecost of love. May she especially make us all aware of being missionaries, that is, those who have been sent out by the Lord to be his witnesses at every moment of our life” (Message for World Mission Sunday, May 27, 2007).

We are missionaries of the Gospel in our own land. Keep looking, as individuals and as a group, for opportunities to share the Gospel message with non-practicing Catholics, with those searching for a spiritual home, and with all those who need to be re-energized to deepen our faith—and that last one includes all of us.

(Peg McEvoy is associate director for evangelization and family catechesis in the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education.) †