Evangelisation - An Introduction

In the thirteenth chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel we find the following story"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Mt 13:44)

It is an interesting story, a story where the treasure is secretly hidden, but also a story of very visible transformation and change. Finding this precious treasure so changes this man’s life that in his great joy he sells EVERYTHING else- nothing is as important to this man as the treasure he has just found. Imagine the scene, imagine his unbridled joy, imagine him telling all of his relations and friends his good news once he had secured the treasure!

The gift of faith in Jesus Christ is for many people a very treasured and personal thing, which they rightly cherish in the depths of their hearts. However the Church is encouraging us to realise that while our faith is personal it should never be ‘private’, but rather something to be shared through the joyful lives we lead, through our actions and our words

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in evangelisation. While we could be forgiven for thinking that this may be a response to the challenges of declining numbers of vocations to the priesthood and religious life and other indicators the truth is that the Church exists to evangelise and that a deep commitment to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is and has always been central to what it means to be a Christian.

The times we are living in and the challenges we face make this task all the more urgent and the teaching Church tells us very clearly that it is a task for every member of God’s family to become involved in, each in our own unique way

The Northampton Religious Education Service (NORES) which works in the areas of Religious Education, Evangelisation, Catechesis and Schools serves the Diocese by co-ordinating projects for evangelisation in the Diocese, notably through supporting the work of the Diocesan Evangelisation Team.

For more information about what is on offer in the Diocese to support evangelisation please follow the links on the left for the Diocesan Evangelisation Team and the sections on Evangelising, Forming Evangelisers and Forming Formers. If you are interested in finding out more about what the Catholic Church understands when it speaks of evangelisation please visit the website of the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE) for some useful definitions.