Evangelism as a charism empowers Catholics to share their faith in a supernatural and effective way. It goes into the when, where, how, and follow-up of it all. So what is the gift of evangelism?
Unveiling the Charism of Evangelism
What is the gift of evangelism? The charism of evangelism specifically focuses on empowering individuals to spread their faith and bring others into the church. Building upon the example of the apostles, evangelism is powerful and it influences conversions and dedication to the faith.
The Parable of the Seeds
Additionally, reflecting on the parable of the seeds, there’s a parallel between the types of soil and the evangelism’s impact. Evangelism is like spreading seeds and tilling the soil for others to receive the Word. What is the gift of evangelism? This supernatural process is a calling from the Holy Spirit.
Sharing Faith Inside and Outside the Church
The primary arena for evangelism lies outside the Church, as all individuals are called to share the Gospel and be witnesses. However, for those with the charism of evangelism, it’s an integral part of their growth in courage, faith, and love. What is the gift of evangelism? By sharing their testimony, discussions on Scripture, or demonstrating spiritual growth in daily routines, they spread the Good News.
Embracing the Charism
What is the gift of evangelism? Highlighting the organic and innate nature of the evangelism charism, it does not require extensive learning or great effort. Evangelists possess a natural ability to share their testimony, discern when to share, follow up, and witness to God. While fear may still be present, it is less significant for those who have the evangelism charism.
What is the gift of evangelism? Finally, evangelism, a charism woven into the hearts of Catholics, invites them to share their faith with the world. Through supernatural encounters, witnessing, and sharing personal testimonies, Catholics can boldly bring others into the Church and advance the kingdom of God.
Learn more at Many Parts Ministries.
Jill Simons [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Charisms for Catholics. My name is Jill Simons, and I’m the executive director at Many Parts Ministries, where we equip the Body of Christ by helping people learn about and discern their charisms, which is really another word for spiritual gifts. When you discern your charisms, you’re able to see how the Holy Spirit is already active in your life and where he is inviting you to further build the Church. Let’s dive in. Right now we are chatting about evangelism, the charism of evangelism and what that means. So to kick it off with the definition, evangelism as a charism is about empowering an individual to share their faith in a way that is supernaturally effective. So we’re looking for that witness to be supernaturally effective. You think of the apostles and the way that their witness to what they experienced in the life of Christ was so powerful, and this is clearly a gift of evangelism on their lives. That this sharing of their story and their testimony encouraged both conversion and dedication to faith in the people that they shared it with.
Jill Simons [00:01:16]:
And so at the time of recording, I’m fresh off of having the Gospel reading about the parable of the seeds. And so you hear about the parable where the seeds fall on rocky soil, in thorns, in the different situations. And when you have someone operating in the charism of evangelism, it also tills that soil of the people who are receiving the Word. So them sharing the Word is like spreading those seeds and them being the person to do it is like tilling that soil for people that are receiving the Word from them. So this is a supernatural process. This is not because this person is a superhero or better even at sharing their testimony than anyone else. This is because this is a calling on their life. This is something that the Holy Spirit is specifically asking them to do.
Jill Simons [00:02:14]:
And so when we look at all of these charisms as we have already, and we will continue to do as we go through all of them, this is another example of one that we’re all called to do. We’re all called to evangelize. But some of us, the story of us evangelizing is going to be a part of our spiritual journey of growth with the Lord if we do not have the charism. But if we do have the charism, that’s really going to be an expression of the faith that we have, of the devotion that we already have to God in our lives. And this isn’t going to be challenging. And I think that that’s something I want to reiterate about every charism, is that when it’s your charism, it’s not like something you have to spend a whole bunch of time and energy learning how to do. It’s usually incredibly organic. And so that’s what we’re going to see in people who have this charism of evangelism, is that knowing how to share their testimony and when to share their testimony and how to follow up with people and how to really witness to the Gospel is going to be very organic.
Jill Simons [00:03:20]:
They’re not necessarily going to need to be taught that in so many words, unless there is maybe a little bit of fear that just is holding them back from accessing what they already know how to do. So when people use and walk in this charism, that’s when you see this tremendous faith being shared with someone else in a way that brings people into the Church. So this evangelism charism is a frontlines charism. There are some charisms that are really ministering to the interior of the Church, not exclusively because we never limit anything to only being inside the Church. That Catholic nature of the Church is that it is one and for everyone. And so we are able to use our charisms in many situation by and large with any people. But there are some, like encouragement that we talked about last time, that’s very much focused on encouraging people in the Church to persevere in the Church. That’s not to say that you can’t encourage someone who is not already in the Church and that is impactful to them. But kind of the primary arena where it is used is going to be in the Church encouraging people to persevere and to have faith and to have courage and to move forward in what the Lord is asking them to do.
Jill Simons [00:04:42]:
Evangelism, on the other hand, is very outward facing thing. So again, there are times that it is appropriate and helpful to share your testimony and things like that among people who are already in the Church and that can have benefits. But the primary arena for this charism is going to be outward facing, going out to people who are not already a part of the Church and sharing with them about what they can expect from being in the Church through the power of their testimony. This is going to be in all different kinds of ways. It’s not necessarily going to be a long form, let me tell you my life story every single time. It might be in just sharing a bit of Scripture or in sharing something about how the Gospel has impacted their life or making their daily routine of spiritual growth visual and available to other people. So reading the Bible at their desk during lunch or something like that.
Jill Simons [00:05:43]:
There’s a whole bunch of different iterations that this can take so that you are able to share your faith with people with kind of varying levels of intensity and longevity. And that’s part of what we go into in the book “1001 Ways to Use and Test Your Charisms”. The section on evangelism goes through that kind of different ways, different levels of intensity, of sharing your story and sharing what it is that the Lord has done for you, expecting and going into it with faith that, when this charism is active, that the Holy Spirit is going to show up in a supernatural way. So, just to reiterate, all of us are called to share the Gospel and to really be witnesses of that to people. But for some of us, that’s going to be a huge part of how we grow in courage, how we grow in faith, how we grow in love, really, of God to kind of take the risk of sharing that. Whereas people with this evangelism charism, those blockers to doing this are going to be much, much less. They’re going to feel very organically oriented towards doing this.
Jill Simons [00:06:51]:
And that’s not to say that there will never be any fear or never any need for courage in their use of this charism, but it’s going to be less than is necessary for the rest of us. The rest of us are probably going to have a lot more growth in virtue in order to get to this point versus someone who has been given this charism. So I encourage you to check out the book and other resources for more about evangelism. If you have more questions about it, let us know. I would love to answer those for you. Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode of Charisms for Catholics. If you would like to learn more about your charisms or begin your own discernment journey, head to our website at manypartsministries.com where you can download our free PDF guide to all 24 charisms and also begin your own journey by taking our charism assessment.
