For a parish to grow and prosper both spiritually and temporally they must first develop a strong evangelical outreach. As Catholics, we must look to our Founder for successful strategies to employ. Sadly, many times, as Catholic laypersons we do not take one of Jesus’ most solemn commands very seriously. He charged us all to spread the Good News and bring eternal life to people throughout the world. He commands us to love others, and if we truly love them, we must want for them, eternal salvation. To ignore that command is to allow many men and women to remain in the dark, jeopardizing their very souls. Our Lord and His disciples took this task seriously. In acts of genuine love, those who came before us provided the knowledge and the path to eternal life. In an act of real love to our neighbors, we must show them, “. . . there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Evangelization is an essential commission. Individuals’ eternal lives depend on it.
As followers of Jesus, we all must obey his command:
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28: 19-20).
Fortunately, he provides us with much needed help:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
Jesus tells us we must spread His Good News throughout the world. The best place to start is where we are at, as the Apostles did in Jerusalem. To follow His commands, the parish need to form a core evangelization ministry to receive training, actualize the evangelization, and then train more parishioners to conduct more evangelization.
Kerygma Parish Consultants will show your parishioners many strategies and methods to conduct evangelization within your parish and local community. These strategies will reignite parishioners, bring nonactive parishioners back, and reach out to your local non-Catholic and unchurched neighbors. They will grow your parish in numbers and resources. When we follow Christ’s guidance, we know: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”