There Power In The Name Of Jesus

As with any creative endeavor, each person will approach the process of crafting a message differently, but we can suggest the following steps:

1) Identify the objective for your specific crafted message. Perhaps you will be talking to a relative who has stopped practicing the Faith. In this case, your objective might be to get the relative to come to Mass with you one weekend. Or perhaps you'd like to discuss with an atheist you know from work. In this case, your goal might be to find an opportunity to share just one reason why you believe in God.

2) Know your hearer’s background. Even if your message is entirely about what Jesus has done in your life, your message will be different, for example, if you are going to talk to a Baptist neighbor who knows the Bible than if you are going to talk to an unchurched neighbor whose only experience of Christians is on television. If you’re going to be talking with that Baptist, take some time to learn what Baptists believe. If your hearer is unchurched, familiarize yourself with such people’s common obstacles to religion.

3) Make sure the tone and language of your message are appropriate for your audience. It isn’t just the content of the message that must be fitted to the person, but the manner of speaking. Sometimes a tone of compassion is demanded because you are dealing with a person who is lost or in pain. But, on some occasions, a more intellectually or morally challenging tone might be needed.

4) logically organize your message. Usually, this means having a beginning, a middle, and an end. This might sound like simplistic advice, but you would be surprised how easy it is to become undisciplined in your message if you’re not intentional about its structure!

5) Incorporate personal testimony into your message, using examples, anecdotes, and analogies where appropriate. If coming to Jesus meant you were able to overcome an addiction or allowed you to forgive a cruel hurt, mentioning this might well be important, even if you don’t go into great detail. Simple analogies can help support such details: “I was stumbling around as if in the dark and meeting him was like turning on a light.”

6) Make sure your plan includes practical and logistical details. Could you invite the Baptist neighbor over for dessert some night? Are there times when you run into this same neighbor at the coffee shop? Do you have a shared interest or activity that you know will provide an opportune setting for evangelization? Do a person’s life circumstances provide specific openings or, conversely, recommend you avoid certain topics?

7) Anticipate questions or objections that might come up. At some point, that Baptist is probably going to say something like, “I don’t need a priest to forgive my sins. I can go directly to God.” Maybe you want to look up some common Catholic replies to this objection before your chat. On the other hand, many people will ask entirely innocent questions: “What is a sacrament?” or “Does it really matter what church I go to?”

8) Revise, refine, practice, and get feedback from people you trust! As you would with anything you want to get good at, work on your presentation by simplifying your message and taking out jargon or “churchy” sounding phrases. Strive for brevity and clarity. The Church offers many opportunities for help with this. We have already mentioned St. Paul Street Evangelization, and many parishes have evangelization teams that can be helpful. Campus ministry and Newman Centers can help. Religious orders have affiliate programs. And apostolates such as Catholic Answers can give you both ideas and support.