Plymouth, MI. At Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, Michigan, nearly 200 members of the Men’s Prayer Breakfast group (MPB) meet every Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. The men gather to share and study their Catholic faith, and most importantly to pray together. Through these weekly gatherings, they grow in their prayer lives and encourage each other to give of their time, talent and treasure to support the Church and the faith. For several weeks, the men had been reading the SPSE book, Catholic Street Evangelization, and inspired by the examples given in the book, 15 of the men decided to start sharing the Good News.
Steve, who is in charge of MPB, shared his reflections about that first night that they set out to evangelize in downtown Plymouth:
It was a beautiful Friday night in the heart of Plymouth, Michigan. The center of Plymouth is filled with restaurants, bars, shops and, on Friday nights during the summer, the center square is packed with over a thousand people who gather to listen to live music.
On this particular Friday in June, the crowds were joined by about 15 men who had decided to take a first step to serve the Lord by answering his call to help evangelize the people of Plymouth. SPSE Regional Missionary, Maisa, arrived to lead these rookie evangelists and instruct them on the basics of street evangelization.
Like many first timers, the men started somewhat slowly and had to be pushed out of the “nest” to begin moving among the large crowd. Starting with prayer, the men began to offer rosaries to the many people who were enjoying the beautiful evening.
Many people, of course, chose not to accept the offer of a rosary; some people didn’t even respond. The men were urged to stay positive, to always thank the people, and to say a simple “bless you” as they walked by. However, the Holy Spirit was working through the men, and dozens of people accepted the rosaries. Others engaged the men with questions and discussions of faith.
One man in particular, after being offered a rosary, commented that he had not been to Church in a very long time. He began to ask questions about the Church, and the men told him about their church and invited him to come to one of the Men’s Prayer Breakfast group meetings.
That evening was the first commitment by the Men’s Prayer Breakfast group and their church’s Evangelization committee to work together to reach out to the people of Plymouth every Friday night during the summer long music series.
The hope is that all of the men in this large group will find the courage and take the time to become active evangelizers. By openly sharing the beauty and the truth of the Catholic Church, they will be offering the many people of Plymouth a life-changing encounter with our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Praised be Jesus Christ! Those fifteen men of Plymouth had a very positive experience when they first joined Maisa of SPSE. They found the courage to do what all Catholics are called to do – to evangelize, to share our faith with others. Unfortunately, most of us are a bit uncomfortable with the idea. We have been conditioned by the secular culture around us to accept the idea that faith is a “private affair.” We’ve also been told that we can evangelize by the way we live our lives. Which is true; but in our world today, it is not enough. We must begin to actively engage the culture. A surprising number of people today have never been told the Good News about Jesus Christ. Your brief encounter with a person could be the first time he or she has ever been invited into a relationship with Jesus. Your presence and your prayers could change a person’s whole future.