You
Can
Share the Faith
You
Can
Share the Faith:
Reaching Out
One Person
At a Time
Karen Edmisten
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible—Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.
Copyright © 2016 by Karen Edmisten. Published 2016
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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
200 Noll Plaza
Huntington, IN 46750
1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-61278-913-2 (Inventory No. T1696)
eISBN: 978-1-61278-919-4
LCCN: 2015958295
Cover design: Lindsey Riesen
Cover art: Shutterstock
Interior design: Dianne Nelson
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dedication
For Emily, Lizzy, and Katy, who have shared Jesus with me in ways untold.
Contents
Do Remember That You’re Being Watched
Do Hang Out with All Kinds of People
Do Be Honest About Your Own Struggles
Do Remember That Conversion Comes in Stages
Don’t Lose Patience: Hope for the Married
Don’t Forget That Words Matter
Don’t Limit the Definition of a Personal Relationship
Don’t Assume You Are Speaking the Same Language
Don’t Pretend the Pilgrim Church Is Perfect
Introduction
I HAVE A CONFESSION. When I hear the Scripture verse about going forth and making disciples of all nations, I want to run and hide. All nations? That’s a lot of people. I feel defeated before I’ve begun. I’m itching to spread the Good News, but I don’t think I know how to spread it that far and wide.
Global coverage sounds daunting. It conjures up images of tromping town to town and country to country. It sounds as if we’re all required to be missionaries in this manner. But is that true? What does evangelization look like on a practical level?
Since Jesus was the first and best at it, we should follow his lead. He started small, asking Peter, “Join me?” Peter said yes. Then Jesus invited Peter’s brother, Andrew, to come along. A handful of guys here, a couple more there, and in no time Jesus had an active band of followers. This premiere Christian evangelization was carried out quietly—except on those occasions when they jostled for position—and without fanfare. But this humble start bore tremendous fruit, thanks to the Leader, who knew the importance of interpersonal communication.
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century. There are efforts at evangelization all around us. Parish initiatives, programs, books (like this one), lectures, conferences. Everywhere a concerned Christian looks he’s faced with the problem of the century (“How do we spread the Gospel?”) and proposed solutions (“How to spread the Gospel in five easy steps!”)
On