Picture this: I am speaking to a young man about a young lady that he is interested in. I tell him that she is a godly young woman who would make a good wife, and that I believe the two of them would be a good fit. He expresses interest and says that he agrees completely with what I have said. Then, he decides it is time for action. He thinks quietly about her, commits himself to loving her, gets a picture of her and keeps it in his pocket, and then decides that he will never change his mind.
But . . . he never speaks to her face to face; he never visits her or her family; he merely admires her from afar. He is totally committed, but holds his love "just in his heart" because (as he says) that is what is really important. Would anyone think that this is a proper response to his love for her? Would it not be right for him to approach her, seek to court her, and eventually ask her father for her hand in marriage? Of course, we all would agree on that.
In the same way, we cannot imagine that evangelism (the effort to convert a soul to God) is nothing more than getting someone to make "a decision" about the Lord. To do nothing more than making a decision about Christ is comparable to the story above. We certainly must do more than "decide" something about God (the devil has decided much about God, but it does him no good), there must be genuine action, an action that moves to a commitment that is visible to all. This is why the Church requires the initiatory sacraments for converts. These are genuine acts that display what is in our hearts; for if we keep it in our hearts alone, then there is no real commitment. Just like a couple that is in love will act on that love by committing to holy matrimony.
When we think about what evangelism is, we cannot avoid the fact that protestants and Catholics have very different views of evangelism. Yes, it is true that many Catholics go about evangelism as though they were protestants, but that is in spite of Catholic teaching, not because of it. Protestants would not actually want to described their evangelistic efforts like I did in the odd story that I gave above. They would prefer very different terms, yes, but the story is a perfect description. The most common summary of protestant evangelism (often from their own words) is as seeking to get someone to "make a decision for Christ" (with often little or no reference to Church membership or baptism).
On the other hand, the Catholic view of evangelism would be best compared to the proper response we all expected from the young man above. To get someone to follow through with one's heartfelt emotions, and publicly make a commitment. Catholic evangelism could be described as seeking to get someone to join a family, whereas protestant evangelism is more akin to getting someone to change which brand of shoes they buy. Protestants are aiming at the heart of the person they are seeking to convert (which is not a bad thing!). Catholic evangelism, however, is more difficult, since it is aiming at the entire person: heart, soul, mind, and body.
In the Catholic perspective, it is an entire life change; not just a mental decision. It is moving out of one culture into another, and then seeking to do what is necessary to fit into that culture. The protestant view is almost exclusively individualistic, and thus it has little association with the larger picture of the historic Church. For most protestants, the convert makes a mental commitment, and then "Church stuff" might come later. There are certainly some protestants whose evangelistic efforts are more like the Catholic perspective that I describe here, but they are distinctly out of accord with the tenets of protestantism (and thus more like Catholics, whether they admit it or not).
The subject of evangelism has so many aspects to it, that I could not possibly cover them in one post; at least not one post of the normal size that I write. Therefore, I will work over the next few posts to delve more deeply into this subject. May the Lord guide my words, and our hearts, that we may all be able to serve Him as we seek to spread the gospel of Christ.
