Terry Barber wrote an excellent book on evangelization: How to Share Your Faith with Anyone: A Practical Manual for Catholic Evangelization. Get yourself a copy today!
Terry has 40 years of evangelization experience. Among other things in his book he teaches the eight laws of effectively sharing the Faith:
- Keep it simple.
- Keep him or her saying yes.
- Be enthusiastic.
- Call him or her by name.
- Show and then tell.
- Always agree.
- Ask questions.
- Practice virtue.
These laws are based on principles of selling. We will see how they apply to evangelization in future columns.
You may question why prayer is not #1? Of course, prayer is the first thing you should do. Everything begins with prayer, and evangelization starts with prayer as well.
In Psalm 37:4 David says: Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart’s desire.
Just as during Lent you pray for opportunities to be charitable, pray for opportunities to share the joyous Gospel of Jesus Christ. God promises he will give you those opportunities you long to have. Pray for courage to open your mouth and He will come to your assistance. Pray for wisdom and He promises to provide you with the words you need.
Share the Gospel with someone today!