Favorite: Six Ways Sharing Our Faith Story Helps Us Grow
Praying Together by Xavier Marchant (Dollarphotoclub)
Why Share Our Faith Story: Part two of four parts
Editor’s Note: This four-part series is taken from Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies by Nancy HC Ward. The series includes Six Reasons Jesus Calls Us to Evangelize, Six Ways Sharing Our Faith Story Helps Us Grow, Three Ways We Encourage Others with Our Faith Story, Three Ways We Glorify God by Sharing Our Faith Story. Enjoy!
Evangelization is part and parcel of being a Christian, but sharing our faith is not simply a chore to be carried out. When we share our faith stories with others, not only do we grow as Christians, but we encourage others and give glory to God. We grow as Christians in six ways:
1. When we share our faith stories, we fully live our baptismal commission
During the baptismal rite (1970), one of the intercessions offered on behalf of the newly baptized is: “Through baptism and confirmation, make him (her) your faithful follower and a witness to your Gospel.” So, from the moment of our baptism, along with our new life in Christ we also receive this call to offer that life to God for others by witnessing to the Gospel. We also were equipped to evangelize through the intercessions to “free him (her) from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her).”
I was first baptized as a Protestant and later conditionally baptized as a Catholic (as was the custom before Vatican II). For me, the effects of baptism have been a tremendous source of joy. That’s when I was adopted as a beloved daughter of God, equipped as a follower, commissioned to witness, freed from original sin, made a temple of his glory, empowered by the Holy Spirit, welcomed into the Church, and lovingly placed into the river of my faith story.
My baptism gave me my identity in Christ and began God’s work in my life. May I never “dry out” and turn away from being his beloved daughter, whom he continues to transform.
2. We examine our life and reconcile with God and others
As I recall my story, I’ve received the grace to evaluate my life. Exploring different quandaries in it—those boulders that block the flow to a trickle—prompts me to make amends, to forgive and ask forgiveness, including celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I have become comfortable asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom about things I don’t understand and trusting God when answers do not come. Primarily, self-examination leads me to gratefulness to God for his merciful and loving care.
3. We experience God’s power in us
In John 10:10, Jesus says that he has come that we may have abundant life. This life of abundance comes as we open ourselves to receive power in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and enjoy the fruits of the Holy Spirit. His power works within us for his glory, as we see in the prayer of Ephesians 3:20–21:
Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
God’s power comes to us through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) identifies as wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (CCC 1845).
Living our Christian life with these powerful gifts produces the fruits of the Spirit, which are the evidence of the abundant life Jesus promised. The Catechism teaches us that:
The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity.” (1 Cor 12 in CCC 1832)
4. We share in the Great Commission
We share the honor of our calling as evangelists with the first Apostles. Evangelization is the major purpose of the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16–28) that Jesus gave his followers, to spread the faith into the whole world. In our little circle of influence, sharing our story is essential in becoming God’s co-workers as evangelists—and also in strengthening our faith. Evangelization is a ministry of giving back to God, who is generosity itself. Like any act of Christian charity, sharing our story brings us the reward of knowing we gave of ourselves to provide what others need without expecting payback. Because sharing our story brings others closer to Christ, the warm feelings of accomplishing something for God are worth any sacrifice we bear.
The personal benefits of evangelizing go way beyond warm feelings, however, which may not always come. God never fails to reward obedience to his will and to bless us abundantly. As 2 Corinthians 9:8 assures us, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work.” When we share our story, our faith grows exponentially, no matter how those listening react at the moment. We can never be as generous to others as God is to us, but we can give to others a little of the faith we have received from those God has used to mentor us.
5. We embrace our God-given identity
When I contemplate my identity as a beloved daughter of God, I am moved by how deeply he loves me.
He pursues a close relationship with all of us, the way we might pursue a wayward child. God does everything in his power to win us back without forcing us against our will. We cannot imagine to what extremes he goes to fight for our souls. Once we allow his never-ending love to overwhelm us, we have the confident assurance found in the saints that he is always with us. When we share our story, we rely on him to overshadow us and to carry us through with his grace, and to speak his message of hope through us. Sharing our Catholic faith story is how we live out our God-given identity as Spirit-filled evangelists, as St. Paul assures us in his Letter to the Philippians: “I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
6. We express our love for God
We can gather up all the rewards for evangelizing and they mean nothing unless we are doing it all for God. Evangelizing is our purest way to declare our love and thankfulness for all that God is to us, much less all he has given us. We are only cooperating as he completes the work he began.
We need to evangelize! Beyond any other benefits, it allows us to pour out our love for God and to God, and to acknowledge his love for us. Evangelizing is all about love.
Evangelization fulfills the command to love God by acknowledging to ourselves and others how he has always saved, forgiven, guided, and supported us. As Jesus commands us in Mark 12:30, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” When we willingly share our unique story with someone whom the Holy Spirit has prepared to hear it at that unrepeatable moment, we are loving God in a one-of-a-kind way. No matter what happens, we are fulfilling our commitment to follow where his Spirit leads and to minister right here, right now. We pour out our heartfelt love for him in our story to others as perfume on his feet. In these moments, no one else is there to love him like we can with joyful abandon.
Ask Yourself: Am I surprised by any of the ways that sharing my faith story helps me grow? Which one intrigues me the most?
Next in the Why Share Our Faith Story series: Three Ways We Encourage Others With Our Faith Story.
