New Evangelization
Evangelism refers to spreading the Christian gospel either by public preaching or personally witnessing so that people can know the teachings of Jesus Christ. Evangelism targets people who don’t believe in Jesus as their savior to bring them to salvation and also to strengthen, motivate and encourage those who already believe. This is the foremost duty of the church according to the current Pope and there has been a huge wake-up call over for the need of resuscitation of evangelization which is commonly referred to as new evangelization. It calls for all Catholics to make new their relationship with God and the church. This essay looks at the challenges faced by the church in her quest to achieve this, the arising issues as well as recommendations for possible solutions to these issues.
The dwindling appreciation of faith in the gospel among societies all over the world has stimulated the need for a new evangelization. This is to preach a message of hope for the unbelievers and renew the faith of those who have fallen short of the glory of God. However., this has not to be achieved without challenges. One major challenge is dominant secularization which has taken over society and even western culture. Secularism has united the world ideologically but not politically. People have found common ground in their shared living experiences. It comprises of far-reaching changes that individuals and communities have found themselves in, culturally and morally. Secularization has diminished our church institutions and completely altered the meaning of sacredness. It has been pointed out to be the main cause of reducing the faith of Christians in the church by practicing personal Christianity since people start questioning the faith, they have been brought up in. There has been a major shift from a community-based way of life where people feel accountable to one another and to the church at large, to a perspective where individuals regard themselves as hubs of life. Where the church once stood as hubs of life by being a medieval in providing ideas that explained and managed all aspects of human life, individuals now stand. Secularization has taken a major grip all over the world, corrupting morals, eroding ethics and, increasing relativism.
Secularism deteriorates the faith of Christians in the church and tries to eliminate God from the church and humanity. This has been described as one of the most dangerous pitfalls in the history of humanity. There has been massive spiritual poverty in the world and even in the church as a result of secularism leading to a one-sided perspective of a human being which reduces man to what he produces and consumes. The church always proclaims and invites people to faith and a new way of living, the vision of right and wrong, God’s love and virtue. All these have been greatly eclipsed by secularism whose pervasiveness has kept away many from experiencing the joy of Christ’s gospel and from hearing the truth hence keeping them from the true faith.
Basically, the family is the domestic church. It is where one first learns and understands God and how to pray. A domestic church prays together, attends mass together and, frequently takes sacraments of confession. The church has a great role to play in awakening faith in the domestic church. The first thing would be to reach out to domestic churches by coming up with initiatives and programs that bring domestic churches together making them fully realize their mission. Such programs would be volunteer, charitable, or community service. The pastoral charity also encourages the church to attend to issues affecting individual families and make them not feel condemned. The church is called out not to play the act of a condemning judge but in a way that reconciles people with God. This form of evangelism can help people deepen their relationship with God.
The Church is the collective body of believers with a guiding purpose. Both the church and family are institutions ordained by God. They are important in manifesting God’s eternal purpose as well as passing the gospel of Christ down through the generations. The church has many roles but the major ones are edification, worship, and evangelism. It edifies families by building by strengthening, nurturing, and building them to maturity in Christ. This can be achieved by conducting bible studies, prayers for one another, and through genuine hospitality. The Church can reach out to families through evangelism which restores their faith and proclaims the gospel of salvation to the lost. Evangelism also includes acts of compassion and mercy, expressed through helping others. Therefore, the church and family have a role to play in defending the Church’s biblical order since there is continuous warfare against the same. The Church should also have an aspect of ecclesial inclusiveness where everyone especially the marginalized groups feels welcome and loved hence encouraging people to lead a life of the Gospel.
The family aspect is important in the administration of mercy to the wounded by the church. The church pays attention to current changes in the world, the signs of these times, and God’s Grace in action upon the marginalized and unorthodox. The church is tasked with the responsibility of walking with the weak. For instance, regarding marriage and divorce, the church has to guide and strengthen affected parties and ensure they continue living a gospel-worthy life as opposed to condemning them. There is a need to fully accept the gospel as sufficient for both the church and family life
Catechesis is the study of people’s faith with the sole aim of initiating them to a full Christian life. Evangelism cannot thrive to achieve its main objective without catechesis. Catechesis comprises of both intellectual and affectual knowledge. In intellectual knowledge, faith is the most vital component. There has been this idea for a long time now that faith is not intellectual. It goes further to explain that an intellectual is not a person of faith. Looking at it from a different point of view, it is notable that this idea is completely wrong since it reduces faith to just an emotion and that cannot be manifested logically. The Catholic notion is that faith is an intellectual act that results in knowledge. Intellectual knowledge answers the many questions regarding the human understanding of God and the universe and serves to arouse faith. It calls for evangelists not only to preach the good news to people but also to manifest the gospel in their lives through actions.
Affective knowledge on the other hand is concerned with feelings and emotions and their impact in influencing one to make a morally right decision. This is important for evangelizing catechesis since it helps in displaying a Christian moral life. Affective knowledge leads to a deeper understanding of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the unique influence of the spirit on these gifts while evangelizing. An evangelizing catechesis should have both intellectual and affective knowledge. Evangelization brings good news to the people while catechesis nourishes and deepens the faith acquired from evangelization.
In conclusion, I have seen renewal of the church as a good concept in helping one understand the whole mission of new evangelization. It has been an eye opener after seeing how countries with rich Christian heritage have been eclipsed by secularism, materialism, and religious indifference all over the world. Traditional Christian countries have continually rejected or put aside Christ’s teachings and this has narrowed down even to the church. There is a greater need therefore to introduce a new era of missionary age which will by far cover those still in the dark and bring them to salvation hence to church. New evangelism also reaches out to the marginalized who have been long neglected by the church and gives them a sense of belonging by all-inclusiveness in the Church. Those who have lost faith because of the many issues and problems affecting man in current times, have their faith restored, their strength replenished, and are also encouraged in the process. The concept of renewal is not tied down to those in the church who have backslid or lost faith but also focuses on winning people from the world. The new converts are then baptized and await gifts of the Holy Spirit. I therefore agree that new evangelization is an important way of bringing back faith and hope to the world.
References
Leszek Kolakowski, Modernity on Endless Trial (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1990), 70.

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