Evangelisation
46. The Church “exists in order to evangelise” that is “the carrying forth of the Good News to every sector of the human race so that by its strength it may enter into the hearts of men and renew the human race”.
The missionary mandate of Jesus to evangelise has various aspects, all of which, however, are closely connected with each other: “proclaim”, (Mk 16,15) “make disciples and teach”, “be my witnesses”, “baptise”, “do this in memory of me”, (Lk 22,19) “love one another” (Jn 15,12) Proclamation, witness, teaching, sacraments, love of neighbour: all of these aspects are the means by which the one Gospel is transmitted and they constitute the essential elements of evangelisation itself.
Indeed, they are so important that, at times, there is a tendency to identify them with the action of evangelisation. However, “no such definition can be accepted for that complex, rich and dynamic reality which is called evangelisation”. There is the risk of impoverishing it or even of distorting it. Evangelisation, on the contrary, must develop its “totality” and completely incorporate its intrinsic bipolarity: witness and proclamation, word and sacrament, interior change and social transformation. Those who evangelise have a “global vision” of evangelisation and identify with the overall mission of the Church.
The process of evangelisation
47. The Church, while ever containing in herself the fullness of the means of salvation, always operates “by slow stages”. The conciliar decree Ad Gentes clarifies well the dynamic of the process of evangelisation: Christian witness, dialogue and presence in charity, the proclamation of the Gospel and the call to conversion, the catechumenate and Christian Initiation, the formation of the Christian communities through and by means of the sacraments and their ministers. This is the dynamic for establishing and building up the Church.
48. Accordingly, in conformity with this, evangelisation must be viewed as the process by which the Church, moved by the Spirit, proclaims and spreads the Gospel throughout the entire world. Evangelisation:
– is urged by charity, impregnating and transforming the whole temporal order, appropriating and renewing all cultures;
– bears witness (115) amongst peoples of the new way of being and living which characterises Christians;
– proclaims explicitly the Gospel, through “first proclamation”, calling to conversion;
– initiates into the faith and the Christian life, by means of “catechesis” and the “sacraments of Christian initiation”, those who convert to Jesus Christ or those who take up again the path of following him, incorporating both into the Christian community;
– constantly nourishes the gift of communion amongst the faithful by means of continuous education in the faith (homilies and other forms of catechesis), the sacraments and the practice of charity;
– continuously arouses mission, sending all the disciples of Christ to proclaim the Gospel, by word and deed throughout the whole world.
49. The process of evangelisation, consequently, is structured in stages or “essential moments”: missionary activity directed toward non-believers and those who live in religious indifference; initial catechetical activity for those who choose the Gospel and for those who need to complete or modify their initiation; pastoral activity directed toward the Christian faithful of mature faith in the bosom of the Christian community. These moments, however, are not unique: they may be repeated, if necessary, as they give evangelical nourishment in proportion to the spiritual growth of each person or of the entire community.
