On Wednesday 28 August, Fr Stephen Wang, Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome, engaged in a lunchtime conversation on evangelisation with members of different agencies and departments across the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
As part of an unofficial ‘tour’ of Melbourne, Fr Wang reflected on why we, as Catholics, evangelise, how to do it, and what good evangelisation looks like.
Evangelisation, he says, refers to ‘our common mission to share our faith with others’.
This mission comes to us first as a command from Jesus. ‘Don’t forget, it’s a duty,’ Fr Wang said. ‘But we do it out of joy. If something has touched our hearts, we naturally want to share. And if we’re not wanting to share this amazing, good news, has it really touched us deeply, personally?’
He challenged those present to regard evangelisation as a sign of how deeply we care about other people. ‘We want to share our faith out of love … You care for your friends and family, but do you care for them enough to want them to know the love of Jesus, and to know the hope of heaven, and to know the danger of sin?’
We believe in objective truth, goodness and beauty, because otherwise how can we share anything?
‘Often at an intellectual level in us Christians, there is a subtle relativism … [We think], “Oh, my faith is really important for me … But you take that so far, and no one ever wants to share anything with anyone, because we’re all stuck where we are and there’s no universal truth, or goodness, or beauty.’
‘But we believe in objective truth, goodness and beauty, because otherwise how can we share anything?’ he said. ‘How can we be united in anything?’
Referring to the temptation to ‘quietly witness’ to our faith without actually speaking about it, Fr Wang said, ‘You can half-understand that. But actually, when you knock on heaven’s gate and St Peter is there, asking you what you’ve done in this life, that’s not going to carry very much, I’m afraid.’
But how we evangelise is just as important as the desire to evangelise. Pointing to Sherry Weddell’s book Forming Intentional Disciples, Fr Wang noted the five ‘thresholds’ people often pass through in becoming followers of Christ. These thresholds are part of the ‘subtle’ movements of the human heart in coming to faith.
First, there is trust, followed by curiosity, openness of heart and mind, active seeking and finally ‘intentional discipleship’.
‘It’s very jargony that [last] phrase, but it means not just passive discipleship … As [GK] Chesterton says, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.’
Paying attention to these thresholds allows us to know how to engage with people at different stages of their journey. The first two stages—trust and curiosity—are particularly important. For most people, he said, ‘belonging comes before believing,’ and having spaces in which people can ‘feel welcomed, connect, and take things at their own pace’ is crucial for building trust and inspiring curiosity.
Because of this, it is important not to think about evangelisation as a ‘project’. ‘It’s not a project … Evangelisation is not a machine or a program and you press the “go” button. It’s people evangelising, sharing their faith.’
What’s the one thing you can do well this year?
Although the task of evangelisation might seem overwhelming in our current context, Fr Wang encouraged everyone—parishes, communities, families—to take stock of where their priorities are, and how evangelisation fits into those.
‘You cannot do everything,’ he said. ‘[But] what’s the one thing you can do well this year? … What is needed? Were is the cry? Where is the hunger? What can we do that no one else can do?’
He encouraged people to keep it simple. ‘Pray. Find one or two others and start. And then pray again.’
‘It’s difficult. It’s difficult because the culture is difficult. It’s difficult because there are so many thresholds to go through. There’s a lack of trust, a lack of curiosity. We’re not perfect,’ he said.
‘We need to remember that we are just earthenware jars. “Cracked pots” is a better translation. But the bigger the crack, the more the light of Jesus can shine through.’
Banner image: Fr Stephen Wang, Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome, speaks to members of different agencies and departments of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.
