Evangelisation - What It Is and What It Isn't

Evangelisation is a term that simply means guiding others toward an encounter with Jesus by proclaiming or sharing the Good News. This desire to share Jesus with others comes from our own “renewed encounter with God’s love which blossoms into an enriching friendship… here we find the source and inspiration of all our efforts at evangelization” (Evangelli Gaudium, n.8).

We find the source of this at the end of Matthew’s Gospel as the great commission - “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20). Under this command, Catholic schools, being an extension of Catholic parishes, have a duty to evangelise and must seek opportunities to do so.

We need to constantly revisit the words of the Popes since Vatican II to review its meaning. For Pope Paul VI ‘witness’ is primary. St Pope John Paul II called for a ‘new’ evangelisation in the ways and methods we bring Jesus to others. Pope Francis asks us to ‘go out’ in our families, homes and towns as ‘missionary disciples’ because people are no longer coming to us. Our Bishops suggest ‘going out’ to meet students providing opportunities for learning through the sacraments, youth ministry, parish groups, music ministry and in the RCIA. 

Evangelisation is an often misunderstood term. It is never about the conversion from other faiths. Indeed, Pope Francis gives us many clues of things to avoid when we use the term, especially regarding the differences between evangelisation and proselytization:

• “Evangelisation goes out to others and listens to them; proselytization excludes others and simply talks at them.
• Evangelisation is a proclamation of Jesus, allowing people to have an encounter with Christ; proselytization is proud and convinced that it has all the answers.
• Evangelisation trusts in the Holy Spirit as the true evangelist, as the one who makes converts; proselytization believes it's up to us, to the force of our arguments and persuasive power.” (source)

In addition, those evangelised are not to see themselves as a self-absorbed or special ‘in-group’. Our focus, according to Pope Francis is to be at the fringes, accompanying people towards Christ - families who are diverse; families who may feel alienated or are hurting; ’occasional’ Christians (in whom the Holy Spirit still moves with grace); the ‘new’ poor; the newly addicted; the new migrant or asylum seeker.

We are now called to evangelise in the middle of how things really are; not what we hope them to be, or how they once were.

Our staff are to be congratulated for the way they work, welcome and show compassion to students. What Catholic school staff do is an extension of their baptism as priest, prophet and king (CCC 783). If we take baptism seriously, we find that accompaniment is enmeshed within our sacred vocation. In this, the Parish acts as an animator of our vocation. We must make all efforts in the life of the parish community, and the sacraments that nourish us from it, to be authentic evangelisers guided by the Holy Spirit.