Overcoming reluctance to evangelize — in six minutes

Radio ON AIR (Two Brains Studio Dollarphotoclub)

One beautiful Sunday morning on Jon Leonetti in The Morning, I talked on Iowa Catholic Radio about my hesitancy to evangelize. I had six minutes to share what God did to bring me to become an author and speaker who equips other Catholics to evangelize through their personal witness. Listen and learn how the Holy Spirit teaches us all!

Quotes from Nancy Ward during the broadcast:

I was raised in the Protestant Church, gave my life to Lord when I was 15, but I didn’t tell anyone about it. I was so afraid that somehow l would lose that precious gift. It was many decades — after I was married and had children and had converted that I realized that all of us are called to evangelize. 

I went through the process of figuring out how I could answer this desire I had to evangelize with the problem I had with not being able to talk about it.

I learned three big reasons why we are called to evangelize

First, The Great Commission.

Second, our baptismal anointing. Each of us as Christians is anointed at our Baptism to be evangelists. This emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit and the power of his gifts and his presence to inspire and guide us. 

Third, what I call “Our joyful duty of passing it on.” As Pope Paul VI wrote:

Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization: it is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn. 

I wondered how I could evangelize? 

I had no public stage, wasn’t blogging yet. “What can I do?” 

I discovered that our beloved Pope John Paul II said that the most effective way to evangelize is through our personal testimony. 

I can do that!

Even if you are a movie star, politician or orator, people can refute your logic, but they can’t refute your experience. That’s why stories are so important. 

The main thing is to talk about what God has done, not what you’ve done. That’s the mistake a lot of people make. They want to talk about their own accomplishments – that’s the world. We want to talk about what God has done in our lives. That’s where people really will listen.

People ask, “What can I share about?

You can share about: 

• The first time you knew God was real and loved you as his beloved child.
• How you committed your life to Christ. 
• I share how I became a Catholic. 
• You can share how you returned to the Catholic Church.
• Cradle Catholics can share when they took personal responsibility for their faith.  
• How God answered your prayers. 

Read more about how to overcome resistance to evangelizing in Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies, available in Catholic bookstores, on Amazon.com and JoyAlive.net. Order, share or read an excerpt through the links.