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CHAPTER 16

Evangelism, Evangelization, and Catechesis: Defining Terms and Making the Case for Evangelization

John H. Westerhoff

There are as many definitions of “evangelism” as there are definers. Some of these definitions focus on evangelism’s message, some on its intended results, some on the recipients of its message, and some on the methods used to transmit that message. As might be expected, the differences between such definitions can be great.

Sometimes the word “evangelization” is used as a synonym for evangelism. For many, however, the word “evangelization” is unknown, and those who are familiar with it do not agree on its definition.

The word “catechesis” is similar to evangelization. That is, some are unfamiliar with it, and few agree on a definition. Further, the language of evangelization and catechesis is often confused. In light of this, I shall suggest definitions of “evangelism,” “evangelization,” and “catechesis” and then offer descriptions of their characteristics.

The early church understood its mission to be that of proclaiming the gospel of God’s salvation through word and example to those who did not know it or had not accepted it. The objective was to attract persons to the church with its good news concerning God’s reign. I call this “evangelism,” and it took place in the society where people lived and worked.

Persons who were attracted to the Christian community of faith and its way of life through acts of evangelism were brought to an initial commitment to Christ and incorporated into the life of the Christian community of faith. This process I term “evangelization,” and it took place within the life of the church.

Evangelization ended after a fifty-day period known as the “mystagogia,” which followed baptism. However, as soon as this process was completed, another intentional, lifelong process of learning and growth, which I call “catechesis,” began so that the faith of the newly baptized might be enhanced and enlivened and their Christ-like character more fully formed.

Accordingly, evangelization, along with prescribed rites, may be defined as a formative process of initiation through participation in and the practice of the Christian life of faith. It aims at conversion and the preparation of persons for baptism.

In the case of adults, evangelization precedes catechesis, just as in Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew: After first saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…,” Jesus adds, “… teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:16-20). For children who have been baptized, the process is a bit different. Through catechesis (which has an

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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evangelization dimension) children are led toward making a personal affirmation of faith and of commitment to the Christian way of life (understood by some as confirmation). Nevertheless, following that action, catechesis continues. Thus, catechesis is the intentional, lifelong process by which Christians are made, fashioned, and nurtured. Evangelization is a similar process engaged in by adults to prepare them for both baptism and this lifelong pilgrimage.

Historical Reflections

Christian initiation, characterized by a series of rituals and a process of evangelization to prepare adults for baptism, developed early in the church’s history. By the second century it was fully established. However, by the sixth century it was no longer practiced. With the establishment of Christendom in the fourth century, infant baptism, followed by some attempts at catechesis, became normative. As time went on, catechesis in the church was increasingly neglected. It was assumed that the society would nurture Christians. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the time of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, the language of catechesis diminished among Protestants; and the language of education, with a primary concern for the acquisition of knowledge and skills, evolved. The theological concern became doctrine, believing propositional truths. The ethical concern became moral decision- making. Both were legitimate ends for education, or perhaps for better instruction, beginning with children after their baptism.

Nineteenth-century Roman Catholic missionaries sought a return to earlier expressions of evangelism and evangelization and a new commitment to the Christian initiation of adults. At the Second Vatican Council, “The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy” established guidelines for revising initiatory practice and the restoration of an adult catechumenate. Now, as we enter what appears to be a post-Christian era, a new interest is apparent among Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Anglicans in evangelism, evangelization, and catechesis.

As this interest mounts, it is important to remember that Christianity has been a part of the fabric of Western society for so long that many, especially mainstream Protestants, have assumed Christians do not need to evangelize. Until the present, few Protestants questioned the survival and growth of Christianity in the United States. Instead, the issue was that of the survival and growth of particular denominations. As a consequence, evangelism was understood by some as church growth through the attraction of baptized Christians, faithful or lapsed, from one denomination to another. Supported by an understanding of the ecumenical movement as a blending together of various traditions, mainline Protestant denominations emphasized similarities rather than differences. The result was a loss of identity and competition for members on the basis of services offered. Somewhat embarrassed by the thought of converting adults, these denominations depended on their people having babies to baptize so as to maintain membership growth. However, their members had fewer children, and deaths soon outnumbered births. Further, insofar as

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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growth in numbers was taken more seriously than growth in faith, many members soon became inactive, giving a false picture of numerical strength. More serious was the fact that the lives of the baptized were not significantly different from the lives of those who had never been baptized. This perhaps explains why so few non-Christians were attracted to these churches.

For what was once the mainstream of Christianity in the United States, there was a familiar pattern to life. When children were born into society, typically they were taken by the family to be baptized or, as it was sometimes called, “christened.” Most often it was a private family affair, soon forgotten. Birthdays rather than the baptismal day were celebrated. It was assumed that attendance at a public school provided formation in Christian values, values synonymous with national values. Attendance at Sunday church school, typically spotty, took care of everything else necessary to be raised as Christian. Sometime during early adolescence, there was attendance at classes taught by the clergy — a sort of summary of their theological education — followed by participation in what many understood as a puberty rite, called confirmation. Following that event, youth often acted as if they had graduated from participation in the church’s life. Later they would return to be married, have children, and repeat the cycle. Evangelism was at best an uncomfortable word, and evangelization unheard of. To be sure, this is a caricature, but perhaps true enough to make a point.

New Understandings

For many years, the church was divided between those who emphasized infant baptism and those who emphasized adult believers’ baptism. Each had its defenders, and each position was defendable. Infant baptism testifies to the truths that the faith of the community comes before our faith; that God’s action always comes prior to our human response; that baptism is something we need to grow into; and that faith is a gift, a gift that comes through participation in the sacramental life of the community.

Adult believers’ baptism testifies to the truths that baptism, though a sacrament, does not give us something we do not have but makes us aware of something we already have; that God’s actions toward us require a moral response and personal acceptance; that our human response needs to be a mature one that is manifested in our lives; and that faith is necessary if we are to benefit from God’s actions. Typically, those who defended adult believers’ baptism saw no need for evangelization. Evangelism alone was satisfactory before baptism. Education could take place later. Those who defended infant baptism also believed in education after baptism but also tended to neglect evangelism and evangelization.

Increasingly in our day, adult believers’ baptism is being accepted as the norm or standard for baptism, and infant baptism is defended as a legitimate exception. In any case, baptism needs to be “lived into” through the renewal of one’s baptismal covenant at numerous times in one’s life. In the case of infant baptism, a personal renewal of the baptismal covenant entered into for the child by its parents needs to be made. Further, as we

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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become increasingly aware that society does not fully support the Christian life of faith, and that there are an increasing number of unchurched, unbaptized persons, a new emphasis on adult converts and the need for evangelization has emerged.

Since we have now arrived at a point where both adult believers’ and infant baptism are affirmed, and owing to our growing awareness that Christendom, as we have known it, has radically changed, new concern for evangelism and the evangelization for those who have never been baptized is on the rise. For those who have been baptized, there is a search for a new understanding of catechesis, confirmation, and baptismal renewal.

As Urban Holmes maintains in his Turning to Christ, there is a difference between the church’s mission (to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ), the strategy for accomplishing that mission (the renewal of the church), and the tactic to accomplish that renewal (evangelization). Through a congregation’s evangelization of adults, it can renew its own life and thereby be enabled to be faithful to its mission, which is to attract others to Christ and his church.

Aims of Evangelization and Catechesis

Christianity emerged in history as a gift. God chose to act through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to inaugurate God’s reign of justice and peace. And God called into being a community that was to be a sign and witness to that good news. It was a community with a mission: to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. This was to be accomplished by attracting persons to the church; here through evangelization, they were to be prepared for baptism and thereby enter upon a new way of life, a lifelong pilgrimage of personal formation and communal reform and renewal through catechesis until God’s mission was fulfilled.

Christianity is a way of life. Therefore, from the beginning it has been the responsibility of all baptized Christians to proclaim the gospel in word and example. The life of every Christian is to be under close scrutiny. The truth of the gospel is judged by the world according to the consistency between what the baptized profess and how they live. Faith and works cannot be separated. No dualism between being and doing, between who we are and how we live, is to be permitted.

This way of life is a consequence of faith, best understood as perception. Christian faith is a particular and peculiar way of perceiving life and our lives. It manifests itself in believing and thinking, in trusting and loving, in worshiping and obeying, but fundamentally it is a way of “seeing.”

Christian faith manifests itself in a person’s or community’s character, that is, in one’s sense of identity and behavioral dispositions. Early Christians were to have Christ’s faith and live Christlike lives (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:1-2), that is, to share in Christ’s character traits. Christian faith also makes possible a particular consciousness or the ability to be aware of God’s presence and action in human life and history and to discern the interior movement of

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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the spirits. Evangelization and catechesis are the means by which persons develop their faith,

character, and consciousness. The process of evangelization does not give faith, nor does it produce character. Faith is a gift resulting from God’s action within a community of faith and our human response. Character results from our disciplined practice, but not without God’s help. Evangelization plays an instrumental role in transmitting faith and influencing character during the period of Christian initiation that leads to baptism.

Evangelization and Catechesis

Evangelization is the participation in and practice of the Christian life of faith, an intentional process within a community of faith that influences the transformation of a person’s faith, character, and consciousness, thereby preparing him or her to be baptized and enter upon a lifelong pilgrimage of being fashioned into Christlike persons. Evangelization is the initial stage by which persons are led step by step to a first commitment to the Christian life of faith. In the case of baptized children who cannot make a commitment of their own, there is an evangelizing dimension to catechesis, that lifelong process by which persons are fashioned as Christians.

The Christian initiation of adults, which is a series of rites and stages of preparation for baptism, is the context for evangelization. Through faithful witness to the gospel — evangelism — persons are attracted to the church. They come as inquirers. They tell their stories and listen to others tell theirs. The faithful offer hospitality and tell their stories, explaining the significance of the Christian story and the community formed by that story. During this period, those initially attracted to the Christian community are guided to examine and test their motives in order that they may freely commit themselves to pursue a disciplined participation in the Christian life of faith. They are helped to understand that Christianity is a way of life learned through practice and participation in the life of the church over a lifetime, and that the way to begin is to enter upon a process of evangelization that will prepare them for baptism.

Having expressed a desire to prepare for baptism, the candidates participate in a public liturgical act that includes being signed with the cross and begins a period known as the catechumenate. This initial period of formation includes the following: attendance at Sunday worship, engagement with the Scriptures, the development of a disciplined life of prayer, participation in the congregation’s outreach programs, and other practices to be described under catechesis later in this essay. This period will continue for one or more years. To acquire a new way to perceive life and our lives; a new set of allegiances, attitudes, and values; a new identity and behavioral dispositions takes time. Personal readiness, rather than time, is the crucial factor during this period of formation and testing. While the whole community is the teacher, candidates will have sponsors to accompany them and serve as role models for the Christian life of faith.

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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When the community observes signs that the candidates have adopted a new way of life, they are ready for the rite of election that will make them candidates for baptism. They then enter upon a forty-day Lenten discipline of intense self-examination, fasting, and prayer to prepare themselves spiritually and emotionally for baptism. This is a period of purification and enlightenment, not study. Its aim is to lead the converts to a renunciation of the power of evil and the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior. It bids converts to receive the tradition of the faith and commit themselves more fully to the life of faith. It is a time for recollection and readiness. This recollection rehearses their catechumenal experience and reflects upon it so that the catechumens might begin to understand the life of faith and its requirements. This period of election culminates in the rite of initiation, or baptism, symbolizing forgiveness of sins and a new life of grace; chrismation, symbolizing being marked as Christ’s own that we might share in his royal priesthood, as well as admission into the community’s life in the Holy Spirit; and reception of Eucharistic bread and wine, symbolizing life in God’s reign of justice and peace.

Following baptism, the newly baptized enter a final period known as the mystagogia, the great fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. The newly baptized, having experienced the great mysteries of the sacraments, gain a deeper understanding of their meaning. Further, through a series of formal and informal activities, they experience the fullness of corporate life in the church as well as a deeper understanding of daily life and work as their ministry.

Now that the newly baptized have accepted their place in the life of the Christian community of faith they begin the lifelong process of living into their baptism. Once they have came to know who and whose they are and how they are called to live through continuing participation in the life of the church and the practice of the Christian way of life, they become who they already are, namely, persons who have been incorporated into the body of Christ, infused with Christ’s character, and empowered to be Christ’s presence in the world.

Certain assumptions are foundational to evangelization. For one thing, evangelization is understood as a personal journey that calls for creativity, flexibility, and adaptability. It is not an institutional program that is identical for everyone. It is a person, with a personal story and life history, who is being evangelized. Evangelization, therefore, is a process that needs to be made relevant to each person. For another thing, evangelization is a process that takes place in a community of faith, a community that is continually being renewed and reformed. A community of faith orders and organizes its life around a common story and ritual. It has a common understanding of authority that informs its life of faith. It has a common purpose beyond its own life and survival. And it has a common life that is more like a covenanted family than a contractual institution. Further, evangelization assumes that its primary concerns are faith understood as perception, character understood as identity and behavioral disposition, and consciousness understood as subjective awareness. Last, evangelization assumes that conversion is a process and not an event, which involves, over a period of time, transformations in a person’s faith, character, and consciousness, in a person’s loyalties, convictions, and commitments. Evangelization intends to aid persons to repent, that is, to

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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change the way they see things and therefore change the direction of their lives.

Catechesis

The third-century theologian Tertullian wrote, “Christians are made, not born” (Apol. xviii). Christian initiation is a process through which one goes while being transformed into a new creation and fashioned into the likeness of Christ. Christian initiation is only the beginning; it launches one on a lifelong journey of becoming the being one is made by baptism.

This process of fashioning was originally called catechesis, which means literally “to echo.” When used by the early church, it implied echoing the Word, and the Word was a person, Jesus. Catechesis was the process directed at the formation of Christlike people: In English, it was called christening. Regretfully, over time, christening became associated solely with the ritual of baptism and catechesis with the memorization and repetition of words.

It has become clear in our day, however, that the making of Christlike persons is a lifelong process. In the case of adult converts, an intense process is also needed to prepare them for Christian initiation. I have called this process evangelization. As a process, it is similar to catechesis.

Catechesis comprises three deliberate (intentional), systemic (interrelated), and sustained (lifelong) processes, which I have named formation, education, and instruction. Formation is participation in and the practice of the Christian life of faith. It is both a transforming, or converting, and a conforming, or nurturing, process aimed at fashioning the faith, character, and consciousness of persons and communities.

Education is critical reflection on our lives of faith in the light of the gospel. It is a reforming process that aims at producing ever more faithful lives and communities. It implies growth and change.

Instruction is the acquisition of knowledge, such as the contents of Scripture, and skills, such as the ability to interpret Scripture. It is an informing process that provides persons with the knowledge and skills necessary to engage in critical reflection or education.

These processes are interdependent, and all are necessary; however, it is formation that is foundational to the fashioning of Christlike persons. Both education and instruction are required for faithful formation; instruction alone is inadequate.

Ritual Participation: Rituals are repetitive, symbolic actions of word and deed that manifest and express the community’s sacred narrative. Participation in these actions, or rites, is the single most important factor in shaping one’s faith, character, and consciousness. It is for this reason that, in the history of the church, whenever the church believed that it was not being as faithful as it should, it engaged in liturgical reform. At the heart of evangelization is faithful participation in rites that are true to the gospel.

Environment: We shape our space and what we see, hear, taste, smell, or touch within it. This space, in turn, influences our lives and how we behave. For example, arrangement of

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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space can encourage communal or individualistic understandings of life. Pictures of women or men engaged in particular activities establish perceptions of appropriate behavior for each. Liturgical space that separates a nave for the laity and a sanctuary for clerical use may encourage a sacred-secular dualism. Proper evangelization will consider what catechumens see, touch, taste, feel, and smell in the church.

Ordering of Time: Our calendars and how we order a day, a week, and a year influence our understanding and behavior. What we remember and celebrate does the same. It is important that the church’s story order our lives if that story is to be manifested in our living. If it is not, some other narrative will be. The period of evangelization needs to cover at least one yearly liturgical cycle so that the whole story can be experienced.

Organization of Life: How we are encouraged and supported to spend our time, talents, and treasures influences us greatly. It is important that we live with the realization that all we have belongs to God, that we have a right to keep very little for ourselves, and that we are obliged to use all we have in God’s service for the good of all people. During evangelization, persons need to be encouraged to tithe, for the mission of the church and its ministries, their time, talents, and money.

Human Interaction: How we treat one another and how we expect persons to behave shapes our behavior. For example, do we respect the dignity of every human being, do we love others the way God loves them, and do we offer others what they need rather than what they deserve? We learn how to behave by experiencing how others behave toward us. Faithful evangelization makes certain that catechumens observe and experience the Christian life of faith.

Role Models: There are always persons whom the community establishes as role models whose lives are to be imitated. Some are living persons, such as those the community establishes as teachers. Others, such as the saints, are dead, and their lives we remember and celebrate. Evangelization requires that the church provide sponsors whose lives the catechumens can imitate.

Disciplines: Communities encourage persons to practice particular behavior, such as the making and keeping of promises, simplicity of lifestyle, caring for the natural world, regular daily prayer, and meditation on Scripture. During the period of evangelization, catechumens are to be encouraged to develop, by practicing Christlike virtues, disciplines that will shape their characters.

Language: How we talk influences how we behave. For example, when possessiveness dominates the way we speak, then we begin to believe that we can and ought to have things. How we name good and evil influences how we live. Inclusiveness of language influences how we treat each other. Thoughtful evangelization requires that we reflect on how we speak in the church so that what we say and what we do correspond to each other and are manifestations of the Christian life of faith.

Conclusions

Chilcote, P. W., & Warner, L. C. (Eds.). (2008). The study of evangelism : Exploring a missional practice of the church. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Created from amridge on 2022-10-21 03:59:40.

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To be baptized is to become a Christian; to live into that baptism is to become Christian, that is, to live a Christlike life of faith. Evangelization is the process by which a person prepares to become a Christian, and catechesis is the process by which a person shows that he or she is Christian.

If we engage in evangelization, in the Christian initiation of adults, we will need to take seriously not only evangelism — to attract persons to the Christian faith and the church — but also evangelization, to prepare them adequately for baptism.

Nevertheless, I suspect there will be obstacles to accepting evangelization that will need to be addressed. Some will say it is too impractical for our day. Some will resist it because they are unfamiliar with it and because it involves change. Others will not be comfortable with the language of formation and will insist that instruction, which is more familiar, is all that is needed. There will also be those who believe that evangelization is too difficult and too demanding to be popular. Regardless, if the church is to be faithful, it must take evangelization and catechesis seriously, for two facts cannot be doubted: (1) After almost two thousand years of proclaiming the gospel, there are still millions of people who have not accepted the gospel; and (2) after baptizing persons for the same length of time, the lives of those baptized are rarely significantly different from the lives of the unbaptized. Perhaps fact two helps to explain fact one.