There are two basic approaches to teaching and preaching to audiences that are present among those who are called to present. The first approach I will call the Assumption Approach. The second approach I will call the Foundational Approach. It is, of course, likely that every audience has a mixture of all types of people that must be taken into account. Nonetheless, these two basic approaches generally rise to the surface.
The Assumption Approach basically views their audience as a group of people who have already experienced a profound conversion by encountering Jesus in their hearts through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Presenters assume, by virtue of their audiences’ baptism (most often received in infancy), that the audience has already encountered Christ. They see them as connected with Christ, and desire, through a love for Him, to grow ever closer to Him.
Can your audience relate to your description of having a profound love for God, like the person they love most on earth?
The Foundational Approach views their audience as needing the foundation of an encounter with Christ. They see them as having been given some information about the Catholic Faith but lacking a legitimate encounter with Jesus that is experienced in their heart. Their approach then seeks to minister to their audience from an awareness that this foundation must be in place to move them to a deeper faith.
Illustration
I was invited to speak to a group of teenagers at a Catholic High School on the subject of Chastity. Seeking to understand my audience better, I asked if there were any reasons why this particular subject. They responded with “we are having an increase of teenage pregnancy.” Probing deeper, I asked if the students were already evangelized? The response was, “not really.”
Using a ladder, I described Chastity as being the eleventh rung and encountering Jesus in their hearts as the first. Can we really expect students (or adults) to rise to the eleventh rung if they haven’t risen to the first?
As a general rule, I prefer to use the foundational approach. I would rather assume that they have not encountered Christ and use verbiage that can call those who have encountered Christ to a deeper sacrifice, while introducing those unfamiliar with conversion, to Jesus.
One simple question to ask:
Are we preaching/teaching to toward a conversion that is achievable in the lives of our audience or are we just dispensing information?
While I know there are people in relationship with God at my church, I also know there is a great chasm filled with many who are only going through the motions. A Bible Study on the gospel of Mark was offered a couple months ago, the first Bible Study we’ve had in many years so I join a group of 13 people. Since my own conversion experience at a mission with Deascon Ralph over 4 years ago, I have attended several classes through our Diocese as well as other diocese, started reading about the saints, attended speakers such as Matthew Kelly and Christopher West, all to learn more about our rich Catholic faith so that I can not only deepen my own faith but also support others in their search for happiness, which will always lead them to our Lord. All that being said, this Bible Study has been not only an opportunity to expand my own understanding of the richness contained in this gospel but an opportunity to share some very personal thoughts, feelings and experiences of my own. I believe I am being called to remove my mask and be vulnerable and the fruit of that has been a deeper sharing with one another. There are still struggles but I believe with all my heart that until we are willing to remove our masks and get real with one another all we are truly doing is going through the motions.
Blessings and prayers always over your ministry, for the fruit of one conversion starts out as a sprinkle that grows into a flood that will bathe the world in His Glory. I trust in you Jesus.✨
Hello Good Deacon brother,
I like this imagery of the ladder. Can you give your audience an example of what might be on the other steps of the ladder?
Once people have encountered Jesus, everything changes.
Ex. – First step: understanding Scripture
Second step: sitting with Jesus in Adoration
Third step: understanding/participating in Sacraments
…
Thanks Deacon for all you do through Jesus!!
God bless!!!
Hi Angie,
Thank you for your question/comment. It is absolutely vital to meet the person where they are and start from there. One would think that understanding scripture would be a vital “first step” but these days people are not even there. For example, if we look at the content of St.Paul’s epistles, we can see that when Paul was in Athens (Acts 17), he couldn’t just jump into the Gospel but needed to relate to them on some level first.
In this same way, we must ask the Holy Spirit to give us a sensitivity to the needs of the person and the eyes to see where they are. Once given that awareness, then we ask for the launching point.
For those of us who have the opportunity to travel with a church community, that awareness becomes easier to see and we can just begin with the asking for the launching point.
The key is to see what is needed for their hearts to be open to the person of God and his truth. What are the obstacles that need to be removed.
God bless,
drp