Evangelization

Sharing the Treasure of  Faith Evangelization is the PRIMARY Mission of the Church!   People all around us NEED God and we are the ones who can share the good news by both our actions and our words.

      The Evangelization Team of St. Laurence was formed in 2012.  Our mission is to encourage and equip all parishioners to take advantage of opportunities to share the treasure of our faith, and to invite seekers to explore the Catholic faith in our church community.

       Presentations  are available to encourage and equip parishioners to share their faith more effectively. 

       Inspirational books and CDs  are valuable for all of us to continue to grow in and strengthen our faith.  We offer free resources to parishioners at Hospitality Sunday tables. 

       Street Evangelization:    We are excited!  We now have an official St. Laurence Street Evangelization Team!  We are currently doing an online training with St. Paul Street Evangelization .
We began in May to bring information about the Catholic faith to our larger Sugar Land community, by going out to the Sugar Land city parks on Saturdays.  Interested in hearing more?  Perhaps joining us?  See the flyer posted under documents on the right side of the page. 
                 
Please contact Marta Alves (alvesm@att.net) if you would like to attend our meetings.

Please pray that we will all grow in our ability to share our faith!  See the right side of this page for a suggested prayer.

Presentations:

• Sharing the Treasure of Our Faith:  30 min presentation.
  This PowerPoint presentation reminds us of our call to evangelize, and presents concrete steps to do so more effectively.  Parishioners are encouraged to be “visibly Christian”, as well as to be prepared to share their faith explicitly.  The importance of good listening is stressed, and responses to various comments that may come up are considered.  People are encouraged to be ready to answer questions such as “Why are you Catholic?” and to prepare their personal faith story to share.  A handout to help you to do that is posted on the right side of this web page. When someone does seem interested in the faith, the evangelizer should be ready to invite them to take another step – to read something about the faith, or to accompany the evangelizer to Mass.   
  
  To arrange for a presentation for your ministry group or any group, please contact Marie McCoy at mariemccoyprc@gmail.com  or 281-265-7749.
• Sharing the Treasure of Our Faith:  3 Session Class
  This class covers the same main points as the 30 minute presentation, in 3 sessions of approximately 90 minutes each.  The additional time allows for a short video, discussion of evangelization opportunities and stories, small group discussions, sharing of faith stories, and role plays of evangelizing situations.

 
Inspirational books and CDs
    
     Catholic authors and speakers can inspire all of us to deepen and strengthen our faith.  Listening to a CD in the car or reading a conversion story are easy ways to ensure that we all continue to grow closer to Jesus.  Many resources are available at low cost at  www.DynamicCatholic.com , and from  www.LighthouseCatholicMedia.org .   Some of our favorites are: 
      CDs:    Seven Pillars of Catholicism   -  Matthew Kelly, at Dynamic Catholic
                 The Healing Power of Confession -  Scott Hahn,  at Lighthouse Media (also in Spanish)
                 Raising Amazing Children  -  Matthew Kelly, at Dynamic Catholic
                 The Hidden Power of Forgiveness by Jeff Cavins  at Lighthouse Media
 
   Books:   Rome Sweet Home  by Scott and Kimberly Hahn, at Lighthouse Media (also in Spanish)
                 Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Mission,  by John R. Wood at Dynamic Catholic
                 Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly at Dynamic Catholic  (also in Spanish)
            Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor by Allen Hunt at Dynamic Catholic  (also in Spanish)
 
Street Evangelization :   St. Paul Street Evangelization provides training and materials to take our faith out to the community in a non-confrontational way.  We don’t knock on doors, but simply staff a table with information and free rosaries.  A small sandwich-board sign declares “Catholic Truth / Have Questions? / Free Literature / Need Prayer? / Find True Joy”   As people choose to converse with us, we can gently invite them to connect – or re-connect – with the Catholic Church and with our Lord. Learn more at  St. Paul Street Evangelization .

For more information about the Evangelization Team at St. Laurence, please contact  Marta Alves, alvesm@att.net.