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I’d been to a Lords Supper service many years ago in which they passed trays around, but I was shocked to read this post about how they just went up to grab a cracker and spilled the on the floor. Thanks for sharing this. I’m forever amazed at the diversity in Protestant gatherings.

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1) Differences: They all brought bibles. There as no procession and no crucifix. There was no altar, though they called their stage one. Their pulpit was the only thing on stage and was centered there. There were no kneelers nor kneeling. There was no group prayer. People mostly sat and listened to the sermon. There was no priestly dress. There was no Eucharist. There was no Christian art. Similarities: The service was led by their pastor, who read scripture and commented on it. He also led prayer. There was music, hymn books, a projection screen and singing. There was a collection. (2) There was a lot of emotion and body animation during praise and worship type music, but without emphases on the charisms of the Holy Spirit. So I recognized these as evangelicals. (3) I would befriend them and ask why they are with that church or denomination, and why they think someone else should join. Which is more important, the truth or the reasons they gave. I would ask for f I could give one good reason why I think Catholicism teaches the fullness of truth. (4) This lesson gave a good explanation of the major Christian denominations and their characteristics, and how to recognize different types of followers within them so as to know how to engage them fruitfully.

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Thanks for linking Phil 2:5-8 and Christ himself to this discussion, good sharing of God’s word. Philippians 2:5-8 RSV-CE, “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”

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I understand Paul to say that we should place ourselves in the service of those to whom we are evangelizing by identifying as much as we can with their means and ways in order to persuade them to the law of Christ so that they too may share in His blessings. St Augustine seems to raise the bar from St Paul a bit. I feel he’s saying we should not only be willing to identify with another, but we should imagine that the other person is ourself, even to the point of feeling their suffering.

The roles of sympathy and empathy in evangelization are that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. When I spoke with Anton last week outside the library recently, I spoke with sympathy and empathy, but remained detached from him. If I had imagined him as myself, I would have been even more motivated to win him over because I would have been helping myself, and not just some stranger. The even higher standard would have been to have loved him as Christ loves me. However, since I don’t love at that level, I think I’ll try identifying with others next time and imagining that they are me. In other words, I will try calling the lost sheep home, while imagining that lost sheep and their story is me.

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I agree, Lexa, the simple offer of prayer and sharing the love of God is always appreciated and a channel of grace for both the prayer minister and the prayer recipient. Of the many times I’ve prayed for people now over the last three years, only once has this not been the case. This was the case of someone who was apparently suicidal; our prayer had absolutely no effect. She continued to talk in the same manner after prayer as before, and planned on going home next to get all her jewelry to sell at the flea market. This was a flea market vendor event on our parish grounds, so Father was available to consult afterward. He suspected it was someone he had encountered before, and counseled that in such cases we were legally liable to report her to 911 so a welfare check could be conducted by competent authorities. She never returned during the event, so we had no way to follow up to learn who she was or where she lived. The following month, several of us attended a suicide prevention conference, which included Father Chris Alar (also on found YouTube). I recommend this topic be incorporated into the training. Thanks again for the great job you all did in providing this training. It is very comprehensive and well produced.

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One of our Encounter Ministries students just started a monthly healing prayer night at a local parish chapel. It includes singing with a couple of recorded praise hymns, a Gregorian chant, an educational talk, Eucharistic procession and adoration, and options for confession and/or healing prayer. I led one of three prayer teams encircling a centrally placed tabernacle. We prayed for an elderly woman with Rheumatoid arthritis, a middle aged mom in proxy for her adult daughter’s blood disease and inner healing for the mom’s guilt, and for a middle aged man who bore resentment towards a hospital for his mother’s death, and for his siblings response. With each prayer, we laid our hands on their shoulders. I just about always use our street evangelization ACTS method of prayer before invoking the healing prayer. The elderly woman did not report improvement but received peace and grace, the mother was tearing during prayer and also received a degree of peace and joy, but tempered by not knowing about any healing for her daughter (yet). The man was led through a prayer of forgiveness for the hospital and his siblings before we prayed for his inner healing. He was very receptive and grateful, and we referred him for further inbound healing at another parish with Unbound Prayer ministry. He said he had been to Unbound Prayer once before, and thought it would be good to have another session. // After the evening ended I spoke with another Encounter Ministries classmate and friend who has experienced significant healings from his prayer ministry over the last few years. Three years ago he had been advised by his doctor to enter assisted living because she didn’t think he could take care of himself anymore from his Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. He only had a few more months to live. A couple of weeks later, he was completely healed at Father Carlos Martins’ traveling relics exhibit, Treasures of the Church (https://treasuresofthechurch.com/). The next summer he walked hundreds of miles on the Camino del Santiago pilgrimage route through France and Spain, and giving his testimony to everyone he met along the way. This evening, he told me he recently attended a Randy Clark conference (Non-Catholic pastor), where he gave his 30 second testimony to Randy. To his surprise, Randy invited him on stage to give his testimony to everyone, and then invited him to be on the prayer teams afterward. My friend told me everyone wanted to be in his line, and every single person he prayed for was healed, including two with Parkinson’s! God is Great! // One thing I am still trying to get used to is keeping my eyes open during prayer so I can watch for how God may be working in the person, while at the same time hearing what the Holy Spirit may want me to say. Also, I know I could be spending more quality alone time with the Lord in order to be in right relationship with Him for this ministry, but I prioritize worldly needs and preferences, and focus more on expanding my strength in apologetics. I’ll be learning more from my friend at these monthly prayer events. // Well, I have to pack my car next to staff an SPSE info table and street evangelization set up at the Orlando Charismatic Renewal Conference this weekend to recruit more teams for Florida. Please pray for this effort. Turnout for the event is way down from what was expected.

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I’ve been in healing prayer ministry for a year and a half now. Three summers ago, I heard testimony on it from another team leader at the 2022 SPSE summer immersion event. I went home shocked that the prayer component of evangelization was a bigger deal than I thought. I’ve heard of healings and believed in them, but had never known anyone who had witnessed them after their own prayers. When I returned home, I wondered how I was going to learn more about this, and remembered another parish’s monthly healing mass and weekly (charismatic) prayer group. I attended the prayer group, didn’t tell anyone why I was there, and upon the first visit someone told me about an Encounter Ministries course starting in a month. I looked into it, found they covered healing prayer and power evangelization, and signed up. During that two year course, a couple joined our SPSE team who were very experienced in healing prayer after attending Encounter in another state. I also read Steve Dawson’s book and have now taken this Healing in Evangelization Training. Both Encounter and SPSE’s healing prayer training are excellent and similar, only Encounter offers in person training and practice. I think the SPSE version is comprehensive enough to not need Encounter’s version if one only wants to pray for healing, but Encounter goes into far more prayer ministry.

With all this education and experience, so far there have been no physical healings from my ministry, but they were not uncommon when the couple was on my team. I will recount one event: A mother and two middle school children visited our SPSE table. She had recently become Catholic and we had a good time sharing. She had been hard of hearing in one or both ears since childhood, and her hearing loss completely disappeared after the couple prayed for her. Her children witnessed this, and then they all tracked down their husband/dad at the event, and brought him to our tent. He had a noise in one of his ears for several years. When prayer started for his ear, the family was invited to pray along silently. Those children got down on their knees in the grass/dirt and prayed along, and then witnessed their dad healed too.

Although my healing prayer journey has not resulted in any physical healings yet, I have come to experience the prayer portion of evangelization as a vital part for others to experience the love of God, through which they may be healed in other ways. In prayer ministry, Our Lord is at work; it is not us. I am now in three different healing prayer ministries, and will continue regardless of physical healings or not because I know now that healings of heart, mind and soul may be more important for an individual.

The one aspect of healing prayer that has been difficult for me to sort out is the laying-on-of-hands. There are other ministries that advise against it unless you are clergy or have natural authority over a person, such as parents over their children. Otherwise, you open yourself up to potential demonic retaliation if the person is not in a state of grace. Also, our bishop prohibits touching the head, which he believes is a priestly act reserved for clergy.

I know all the scriptural verses in support of laying-on-of-hands, but I’m at the point where I only do it if the healing is for an obviously physical cause, like a broken bone. If the cause is less clear, I will pray with my hands oriented toward them but not on them. I’m open to further learning on this because it seems to me human touch is a loving act and therefore a vehicle of healing, whether any lasting physical or emotional healing takes place.

Sorry for the long post, but this is an important topic to me. I look forward to reading other posts and learning from others.

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I’m sorry to say anything negative when this forum is about building each other up, especially since I don’t know what conversation preceded her abortion statement, but there might be some benefit from hearing my impression of your response. You got the kerygma in, but I doubt she appreciated it after hearing about wickedness, the demon and implying she was a murderess. Its not clear her story and particular needs were heard first, so it’s not clear she was ready for any portion of the kerygma. I feel it’s long, preachy and talks over her, thus not in keeping within a dialogue. // I’ve never been drawn to social media myself, so it’s a good that there those like you willing to enter such a perilous media. I’m so thankful for St Paul Street Evangelization training and the experience I’ve gained during the last year or two. With face-to-face dialogues we have the benefit of body language and tone, which are 90% of communication. People on both sides of the table have greater appreciation and empathy for each other when in person. Meeting and talking with new people about the faith is fun and a blessing to both parties. // Hope you understand my feedback; I mean well. God bless.

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Hi Maureen, I took One Good Reason (OGR) a year ago, but never documented my practical activity, which I just documented (pgrace). While there, I found you’re OGR practical activity comments, and am replying to them as part of the course requirement. (For kjsspei, Maureen and I are on the same SPSE team.) I see you used the OGR method as intended. You already had established friends to listen to and befriend, so when faith came up it was easy for you to transition to OGR why you are Catholic. Good job! I look forward to evangelizing with you when you return to Florida in the Fall for more OGR testimonies. Pete

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During the past year, I have used the one-good-reason method many times during our evangelization outings. This past week, we were on a university campus where I offered a rosary to a young man who turned out to be a pagan with a Christian background. He no longer believed in Christianity, but accepted the beads because he uses beads in meditation practices. I asked him why he no longer believed in Christianity. He indicated things happened when he was younger, but wasn’t open to elaborating. So I asked if I could give the reason I came to believe in Christianity after being agnostic all through high school. I realized I would likely have children at some point, and if there was a God, I’d be responsible for their soul, at least until they were of age. So I needed to know what was true before I had children and started investigating truth, including philosophies and world religions. I settled on Christianity when I found what I believed to be the one true God in the Old Testament, and then discovered the many prophesies in it about the Messiah, which were fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. I explained how Jesus was the only person in history to be pre-announced. I asked the young man, if there was a God, wouldn’t he want us to know him? And if God was to send a messenger to us to reveal who he is and his will for us, wouldn’t God want us to be able to recognize his messenger when he came? Jesus is the only person in history to fulfill that role. No one else in history was pre-announced, not Buddha, not Mohammed, not any other historical or religious figure, only Jesus. The young man listened, and thanked me for the conversation but had to get to class. I invited him to continue the conversation when he returned from class, but he did not return.

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Thank you, kjsspei. I’m familiar with these already and don’t think they will hold the brochures secure enough in our winds. However, I think I’m going to experiment with one by retrofitting it in different ways to hold the brochures more secure. Pete

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1. I spent the past three weeks attending daily Mass, after which I would remain for an hour in the church. On the first day, I wrote and prayed my own Holy Spirit prayer as you suggested. I pray it each day after Mass, and then spend time in silence, contemplation, prayer and spiritual reading. I read and pray the Magnificat, scripture and more recently the Cenacle Formation Manual for the Eucharistic Apostles of The Divine Mercy.
2. I enjoy giving the first fruits of my day to God in this way. When I listen, I don’t really hear much except the conviction to continue on the path I am on. It’s so much easier to be fruitful in prayer than it is in evangelization, but I am convicted by the Gospel to be a light on a lampstand rather than under a basket. So I’ll continue to learn how to evangelize.
3. I’ve been going to a new parish because it’s a safer environment COVID-wise. When I learned during Mass that a friend of my deceased wife was in the hospital because of COVID, and nobody at church new her status, I called the hospital to inquire. I would have taken the Eucharist to her in the hospital, but visitors were not allowed. The Orlando Diocese just happened to have Eucharistic Minister training in the parish about this time, so I attended and have been taking Communion to her since she’s been out of the hospital. I expect my background check to be completed any day now so I can be a Minister to the Sick for other parishioners. I listen to several Catholic podcasts every day, including Fr. Mike Schmidt’s Bible in a Year, Fr. John Ricardo’s Christ is the Answer, and Al Kresta’s Kresta in the Afternoon. I’ve been using EWTN’s bible app to highlight different texts for apologetic references, and expect to purchase Logos 9 Bible resources at some point.
4. I thought the Intro to a New Pentecost course was very good. I was already going to daily Mass after I realized a few weeks ago that a different parish, St Luke’s in Micco, was very safe to attend with respect to COVID, instead of my other two parishes in Sebastian and Vero Beach. The course has inspired me to remain after Mass to give more of the first fruits of my day to God and souls in need.

I’ve now completed all practical activities for Intro to Evangelization, after having just now replied to Courses 4 and 6. I’m hoping I can meet up with a SPSE team somewhere in Florida to start experiencing directly from others. The last time I looked a few months ago, there weren’t any in my area of Florida, the Central East Coast.

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I’ve been out and about starting conversations for several weeks in various environments, but they’re always short and about what’s going on at the time. These environments primarily include the city waterfront with its sidewalk, benches, fishing piers, bars and restaurants, and also the beach and inlet. The inlet is my favorite place for fishing, kayaking and paddle boarding. There are lots of visitors from local, regional and other states. Other environments include stores, but their employees are there to serve customers for very short interactions, and shoppers are on the move loading their carts.
Fishermen on the other hand are captive to their chosen fishing spot, and are usually happy to have their silence broken with a little conversation, especially if it pertains to fishing of course. If I fish too, I can get to know them a little, but I don’t go there often enough to see the same people twice so it hasn’t felt appropriate to exchange names. It’s a half day commitment to go there to fish, so when I have more time, I’ll try to notice who the regulars are, exchange names and get to know them.
I bought a Catholic ball cap from SPSE, thinking that if I wore it around it might prompt some people to ask me about my faith. I’ve tried it in all of the environments I’ve mentioned, but so far haven’t had any bites, and am now wondering if it’s more of a barrier. Pete

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I’ve given my story on a number of occasions before over my life, so already feel pretty comfortable telling it. I also feel comfortable tailoring it to a particular listener on the fly.

Sometime in mid-December my new neighbors invited me over for dinner. We had already established that we were all active Christians on previous occasions. At some point during the dinner, the wife asked me how I came to be an active Christian. Since they were already active Christians, and this was over a friendly dinner, I gave an abbreviated version. Without going into all the details here, I’ll just say the wife was very happy to hear that I was converted by reading the Bible after a long search during my college years. We prayed together a couple of times during the meal, once at the beginning of the meal, and then again when someone called about a missing family member who was far from God and had potential for suicide. A few days later the person showed up safe. Also the husband neighbor invited me to his church to attend a class with him. I may have, but besides Mass, I am not attending indoor gatherings now because of the pandemic.

Finally, for an introduction to Christian testimony, I found the course outline and content to be very comprehensive and well written.

Pete

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I’ve been praying for my three brothers for decades. All three are hard core atheists. I’ve been praying as you’ve suggested all these years without any success. I have mostly evangelized to them by example, but have sought opportunities to dialogue on very rare occasions when I thought there might be an opportunity for fruitful discussion. They’re all highly indoctrinated by their scientific or social disciplines, have chosen selfish lifestyles, read the New York Times every day, and see themselves as superior over others (including me). My efforts feel completely fruitless.

On the other hand, my sister has kept the faith but has liberal leanings since Vatican II. Since my wife has passed away, I’ve had some good discussions with her although not in depth.

The husbands of two of my wife’s best friends are not church goers, and show no sign of God in their lives, but they are both very good husbands, parents and friends. I have prayed for them in the past, and have always been kind and formed good friendships with them. I have started to pray for them again and will seek opportunities to visit with them, but it is harder now that my wife has passed away. We only met in the past as couples. One of them I invited kayaking, and another time fishing. We had a good time both times, and continue to have a good relationship.
Finally, for an introduction to prayer, I found the course outline and content to be very comprehensive and well written.

Pete

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