E
vangelization derives from the
Greek word euangelion which
means ‘good news’. In the
Christian sense, the ‘good news’
is the revealed Word of God, especially
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. Jesus did bring the good news for
human salvation. To facilitate the proc-
lamation of this good news, he called his
followers, who themselves must allow
the Word of God to thoroughly pass
through their entire life, and be ready
agents for the announcement of it to all
peoples. Thus Jesus, having been sent by
the Father, calls his followers to become
an evangelised entity, the Church, and
entrusted it with the mission to evange-
lise others, the whole world, through the
preaching of the Word and the planting
of the Church among those who do not
yet believe in Christ.
Drawing from the insights of Vatican
II, and the deliberation of the 1974
synod of bishops, Pope Paul VI gave a
concise definition of evangelization in
the Church today. According to him,
evangelization means bringing the good
news into all strata of humanity, and
through its influence transforming hu-
manity from within and making it new.
The good news in this definition refers
essentially to Jesus himself who is the
saviour of all mankind; his message to
humanity including his promises and
assurances, and his salvific work for
mankind. The all strata of humanity
embraces persons who have not yet
known Christ and relate with him on
the strength of that Christian message;
people’s activities which are contrary
to the teachings of Christ; people’s
environment which have been polluted
by sin and demonic forces; people’s
consciences which have been marked by
the increase of wickedness; people’s cul-
tures or way of life which have made the
enjoyment of the freedom won for man
by Christ impossible; and also human
relationships, etc.
The activities involved in this exercise
according to the teaching of the Church
at this point, include explicit proclama-
tion of the good news of Jesus Christ in
words through the Kerygma, preaching,
catechesis and in deeds through witness
of life to those who have not yet known
Christ; incorporation into the Christian
community of those who have been
evangelised.
The aim of this exercise according to
the above definition include, the re-
newal of the individual or society from
within; interior change of persons or
conversion and transformation with the
power of the good news, of judgements,
lines of thought, actions, points of
interest, determining values, sources of
inspiration and models of life which are
in contrast with the word of God and
the plan of salvation.
In practical terms, evangelization in
this context means brining the good
news of Jesus Christ which I have
personally experienced to others;
sharing with others the joy I have in
my intimacy with the Lord and in
experiencing his mighty deeds in my
life; getting others to share in that joyful
and marvellous experience of the Lord
in me. It entails also deepening the
faith and knowledge of those who have
accepted to follow Jesus to enable them
take on the responsibility of evange-
lizing others in turn. It calls for the
explicit proclamation to others of God’s
love in Jesus Christ as the good news
of salvation, of the name, teaching, life,
promises, assurances, the kingdom and
mystery of Jesus the Saviour, as well
as the fact that in Jesus there is salva-
tion from everything that oppresses
humanity, especially liberation from sin,
fear and evil. It involves showing when
and how God intervened in the hearer’s
experience in life, invitation of hearer
to make a faith commitment to Jesus;
incorporation of the respondent into
the ecclesial community where he could
have the opportunity to deepen his faith
and be prepared to take on responsibili-
ty within the Church.
In this broad understanding, all in
the Church are called to evangelise in
keeping with the possibilities of their
situation. The Magisterium reinforces
the evangelization thrust of the Church
according to this understanding in the
1983 Code of Canon Law as a right and
a duty of all the faithful in every part of
the world:
All the Christian faithful have the duty
and the right to work so that the divine
message of salvation may increasingly
reach the whole of humankind in every
age and in every land.
This canon implies, that evangelization
in this broad sense is not restricted to
the ordained or those with a canonical
mission or mandate or professional
missionaries (although all these retain
a special importance in the work of
evangelization for all Christians).
On this note, Vatican II caution that
bishops, parish priests, and other priests
of the secular clergy will remember
that the right and duty of exercising the
apostolate is common to all the faithful,
whether clerics or lay and that in the
building up of the Church, the laity too
have parts of their own to play. For this
reason, they will work as brothers with
the laity in the Church and will have
a special concern for the laity in the
apostolic activities of the latter.
Pope John Paul II also stresses that
today evangelization is the work of all
the members of the Church: Bishops,
theologians, priests, religious and laity,
both adults and youth.
The canon stresses that, as a duty, the
Christian faithful is obliged to spread
the good news of Jesus in the man-
ner described above whenever and
wherever the opportunity presents itself.
It shows that, as a right, the Christian
faithful need no other authorization or
commission to exercise this right in the
various circumstances of his life. His
authority comes from a divine com-
missioning that calls for the baptized
to act in virtue of their own Christian
commitment. Authorization and com-
missioning by the Church authorities
becomes necessary only for the sake of
good order and especially where the
evangeliser exercises this right in the
name of the Church and in Church
buildings.
The 1983 code gives the lay Christian
faithful the authority to carry out this
obligation either as individuals or in
associations.
Since the laity like all the Christian
faithful are deputed by God to the
apostolate through their baptism and
confirmation, they are also bound
by general obligations and enjoy the
general right to work as individuals or in
associations so that the divine message
of salvation becomes known and accept-
ed by all persons throughout the world;
this obligation has a greater impelling
force in those circumstances in which
people can hear the gospel and know
Christ only through lay person.
This canon implies that lay persons
have a special role in the task of evan-
gelization because at times or in certain
circumstances, it is only through them
that the good news could reach certain
class of people and it is only through the
secular activities typical of lay persons
that the temporal order could be trans-
formed.
Pope John Paul II highlighted at the
beginning of his encyclical letter regard-
ing the above cited mandate of Christ to
his followers that “the Mission of Christ
the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the
Church, is still very far from com-
pletion”. So, it is incumbent on every
Christian faithful to be zealous about
furthering the proclamation of the good
news.
The term ‘mission’ is derived etymo-
logically from the Latin word missio
which means ‘to be sent out’. Jesus in the
final stage of his redemptive mission, as
can be seen in the foregoing scriptural
text, commissioned his followers to go
out and evangelise all persons in the
whole world. The high importance of
this ultimate mandate of evangelization
given after Christ’s resurrection from
the dead is comparable to his last testa-
ment of love before his passion. In John’s
gospel, Christ before he suffered, gave
his disciples the greatest commandment
to love one another after his own pattern
of love (Jn. 15:12). That means a love
that is self-sacrificing (Jn. 15:13) and
that is employed in the humble service
of others (13:14). The greatest act of love
is manifested in evangelization whereby
one lovingly presents to another the
message of eternal salvation for his soul.
So, evangelization is the most supreme
act of love since it could lead to the
greatest good of salvation of soul.
The lay members of Christ’s faithful
are invited by the Church to closely
collaborate with the sacred ministers in
order to further the mission of evange-
lization entrusted to the whole Church.
Particularly, by their more direct pres-
ence in the temporal order, lay people
should “strive so that the divine message
of salvation may be known” and they
“have the special obligation to permeate
and perfect the temporal order of things
with the spirit of God”. Lay faithful can
fulfil their role in the mission of evange-
lization beginning with good partic-
ipation in the organization of Family
Prayers and Discipline, Neighbourhood
Preaching, Small Christian Commu-
nities, Church Societies, Christian
Apostolates, Collaborative Ministries,
Parish Projects.
The faithful from the good moral and
Christian discipline in their homes can
become springboards of evangelization
to all around them. They become thus
“the light of the world” (Mt 5:14) to
those around and a shining example
of high moral probity, good conduct
and sources of admiration. In addition,
Christians could attempt actual verbal
evangelization of all around them by
speaking of Christ to them, apart from
their lives of living testimonies. The
faithful may therefore pay some brief
and friendly visits to neighbours around
them. Showing that they care about
their neighbours’ welfare and asking
them about how they are faring, materi-
ally and otherwise, are enough prepara-
tory steps to sowing the gospel message
which they may spontaneously imbibe
from the Christian faithful at seeing the
good works of their lives. Indeed, in the
lucid viewpoint of Pope John Paul II,
“the evangelical witness which the world
finds most appealing is that concern for
people, and charity towards the poor,
the weak and those who suffer”.
Every lay faithful according to
individual state or profession in the
world should evangelise. They could
preach as individuals or while forming
a partnership of two in the manner of
the early disciples sent out by Christ (cf.
Lk. 10) carry out evangelization of their
working environments. As teachers and
administrators of schools they should
discharge their functions so well as to
make the spirit of the Gospel manifest.
Christian apostolate of catechizing
the young and old converts, even as
volunteer or professional catechists, is a
laudable venture that lay faithful could
also embrace. Efficient pre-marital
courses could also be well organized
with the assistance of the lay faithful but
with the full involvement of the clergy to
ensure that the programme is success-
fully directed to meet especially its
spiritual goal and that it is not a wasted
endeavour. As medical staff of whatever
categories of doctors, nurses, auxiliaries
or other health workers they should be
conscious of the sensitivity of the states
of patients as maximum opportunities
to discharge their duties efficiently,
mercifully, while also encouraging them
to trust in God, be fully reconciled to
faith and giving them the possibilities
of sacramental visits especially of a
priest. Evangelization is enhanced in
such group or individual apostolates to
prisons, hospitals, orphanages or other
similar institutes where Christian mercy
and charity are demonstrated.
The various ways and means by which
the lay faithful can be effective witnesses
to the faith described in the preceding
sections can be summarized as follows:
• Regular (weekly) Confessions
to purify themselves and be effective
witnesses to the faith.
• Frequent devout participation
at Eucharistic celebrations and Eucharis-
tic adorations.
• Contributing to the Diocesan
development fund.
• Praying for the conversion of
those who do not yet believe in Christ
and for the unity of all Christians.
• Praying for our Bishops,
Priests and Religious.
• Praying the Rosary everyday
for increase in faith, for conversions and
for increase in vocations to the priest-
hood and religious life.
• Teaching Catechism at Cate-
chism classes in the parish on voluntary
basis.
• Avoiding all forms of dis-
honesty, corruption, immorality and
ungodly living.
• Showing love and compassion
to fellow human beings, whether Chris-
tians or people from other religious
faith.
• Discharging our duties credit-
ably wherever Divine Providence places
us.
• Striving to live exemplary
Christian life and being actively in-
volved in Parish activities.
• Being on the lookout for
lapsed and fallen Catholics and doing
whatever one can, to bring them back
to active membership and religious
practice.
• Making our families models
of what Catholic families should be.
• Showing complete dedication
to Church activities by devoting time,
talent and treasures for the growth of
the Church.
• Supporting the work of
Catholic charities.
• Supporting the Propagation
of the Faith by contributing generously
(financially) to it.
• Reaching out to the alienated
and lonely.
• Reaching out to divorced and
separated couples.
• Making regular visitations to
the sick, the bed-ridden and the ageing.
• Bearing witness to Christ
through exemplary life in the family, in
society, at work, and in the Church and
offering to God your sufferings, uniting
them to the sufferings of Christ for the
salvation of souls.
