What Evangelicals Can Teach Us About Sharing The Faith By Daniel Tobin

Daniel Tobin, Director of Catholic Evangelical Relations at Glenmary Home Missioners, has written this guest post about how his experience with sharing his faith with others has been changed as he encountered evangelicals in college. You can read more of his reflections on this subject here.

I am a Catholic, and while in theory Catholics understand evangelizing is for everyone and not just for religious orders and priests, we still don’t often consider it as primary to our religious identity. Not so for Evangelicals!

I had a good look at this when I studied at Florida State University. The bible study I attended with the Navigators was focused on three things

faith in Jesus,
discipleship training,
and witness.

Those were the stages their ministry walked you through. No specialized vocation necessary, it was just what it meant to be a mature Christian.

I got a surprise one night when I joined up with one of my friends from a different ministry group on campus. He told me that we were going on a “Jericho Walk.”
In this spiritual practice, they would choose a dormitory or another building on campus and pray as they all walked around it, seven times. (If you’re curious, How to Talk Evangelical has a good post about Jericho Walks.)

I’d been to prayer groups before, but they were usually in chapels and this was a bit more public, it was unnerving. It helped that we weren’t alone, still it was uncomfortable to be seen praying out in the open for all to see.

But publicity was the point.

We weren’t just praying for the people in the building, we were letting the world know we were praying for them.

Despite the fact that all churches evangelize, I think Evangelicals have such a strong focus on it because of their emphasis on personal religious experience which so undergirds their religious culture. It’s a very authentic part of being Christian, the link between experience and witness. I’m reminded of 1 Jn. 1:3-4

^“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make ourjoy complete.”

The joy of our life in Christ grows more complete with each new member. I believe more Catholics could learn from Evangelicals in this way. Being a Christian isn’t just a particular world view or even a way of life. It’s a relationship with God that does bring an inexhaustible joy. But it’s a joy that increases when it’s shared.

How might you share the faith in new ways?

You can read more from Daniel as he seeks to build bridges with evangelicals at his blog They Will Know.