Catholic Blogger Brandon Vogt joined the new Orlando, FL chapter of St. Paul Street Evangelization for an hour and a half recently. The team handed out literature, books, and rosaries, speaking to those who passed by about the Catholic faith.
Sometimes team members will become discouraged if they don’t experience dramatic encounters or conversions right away. Brandon offers some advice:
“Just do it! You might be nervous, and you might feel silly standing out there if nobody approaches you. That’s fine. We talked with about 10 people in 1.5 hours, and only made real headway with 1-2 of them. But don’t worry about the results. The important thing is just to show up!”
When our teams go and evangelize on a regular basis in the same area people from the local community get to know them and expect to see them. That is why our joyful witness is so important. The community begins to get a sense of who we are and whether or not we are trustworthy.
Our teams are thanked every day for being so friendly and approachable. While someone may pass by a team once, twice, or a dozen times without ever stopping our faithful witness may lead them one day to engage us and seek out more information. If we can be approachable we will begin to serve as a bridge of trust from the public square to the local parish, leading others to encounter Jesus Christ. If you have ever become discouraged as an evangelist, don’t worry and be of good cheer. God is pleased with your work in the vineyard, and he will grow the harvest.
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:35-39
St. Paul Street Evangelization depends on monthly gifts from our supporters to keep our apostolate running. Will you help us continue to expand throughout the world today?