A Plan for Evangelization

Simple Goal: Go and Make Disciples! How?

Liturgy is how Catholics begin to Evangelize. Liturgy begins with Welcome and Hospitality. Liturgy encourages and enables Transformation because it is Paschal, Ecclesial, and Sacramental.

Archbishop Schwietz has committed that the Church of the Archdiocese of Anchorage will become more of an Evangelizing and Welcoming People.

Evangelization is NOT another program

Archbishop Schwietz has invited the pastoral and lay leaders of the Archdiocese to consciously embrace evangelization as the central mission of the Church. He wants them to place evangelization at the heart of their strategic planning efforts in each of their faith communities. Does this mean that pastoral leaders should shelve other important Archdiocesan initiatives, such as the stewardship process and the ongoing development of dynamic liturgy and faith formation programs? The answer is, “No!”

Evangelization is the central mission of all that we do as Church. It is not another Archdiocesan program (or process). Because of this it is better understood as the “Why” of all that we do as Jesus’ disciples. It is the “Why,” i.e., the goal, of vibrant liturgy, of a dynamic parish stewardship process, and of all faith formation programs. Let’s examine this more closely.

Evangelization and Divine Design

Evangelization is grounded in the Paschal Mystery: Christ’s Life, Miracles, Teaching, Gathering Disciples, Sending the twelve, Cross, Resurrection, and Gift of His Spirit. The source and summit of the Catholic life is the liturgy, which celebrates the Paschal Mystery. Therefore, liturgy is at the heart of Catholic Evangelization. The Good News of Jesus Christ tells us of God’s relationship to the human family. Christ’s Incarnation is a supreme act of love. The Gospels give witness as to how to live, how to love, how to pray, and how to be community.

Evangelization and Liturgy

There is no place on earth that we come closer to God than when we worship God together in the Church’s liturgy, especially at Mass. We grow closer to Jesus by celebrating God’s Word and Eucharist. When we deepen our relationship with Jesus, this is evangelization. Therefore, parishes that dedicate themselves to offering good, vibrant, dynamic liturgy are, in fact, dedicating themselves to the Church’s mission of evangelization.

Evangelization and Mission

Evangelization is the central mission of the Church. Paul VI wrote: We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church. It is a task and mission which the vast and profound changes of present-day society make all the more urgent. Evangelization is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection On Evangelization in the Modern World, #14).

Evangelization and Stewardship

Evangelization is growing in faith. It is deepening our relationship with Jesus by faithfully following Jesus as his disciples. Stewardship is an essential expression of Christian discipleship. Disciples who practice stewardship as a way of life recognize God as the origin of life, and the source of all they have and are and will be.

Faithful stewards recognize the most precious gift given by our gracious and generous God is the gift of faith. And they recognize that this gift of faith must be shared with others in our faith community and the larger world.

Evangelization and Faith Formation

The most important goal of faith formation is not learning more about God. The most important goal is deepening our relationship with Jesus so that we can live more faithfully as his disciples in the world. In other words, the ultimate goal of faith formation is evangelization. The Church can not be faithful to Jesus’ Great Commission without faithfully offering people of all ages dynamic and meaningful opportunities to grow in their faith. Only when our faith lives are alive and on fire, will we want to share our love of Jesus with others.

Evangelization and Social Justice

Christian disciples want to make the world a better place. We do this by fostering Christian values in the world. This is evangelization. The validity of our having accepted the Gospel does not only come from what we feel or what we know; it comes also from the way we serve others, especially the poorest, the most marginal, the most hurting, the most defenseless, the least loved.