Course Outline

These are some of the sessions that may be included in the Basic Evangelization Training workshop, depending on the schedule and time allotted. Most groups opt to offer a workshop from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM with 45 minutes for lunch. We need at least 6 hours of teaching time to complete the workshop, and we can go up to 2 full days.

1. Session 1: Evangelization in the Modern World – Evangelization is an intimidating word! We’ll explore the mission of the Catholic Church to evangelize and how we are called to be a part of that mission today in ways that are easy, engaging, and (dare we say) fun.
2. Exercise 1: Building Trust – The first step to share your faith is to build genuine friendships and listen to another person’s story. We will break into our small groups and learn techniques to get to know new people that even introverts will feel comfortable with. We will learn how to listen, open our hearts, and learn how to have conversations that lead to conversion.
3. Session 2: The Journey of Discipleship – How does someone make a decision to become a Christian? How is the heart and mind engaged as God provides the grace for repentance and conversion? We will learn to identify where someone is in their towards becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ
4. Exercise 2: Journey of Discipleship – As evangelists in training, we will have a chance to reflect on our own relationship with Jesus and respond by giving our hearts to Him once again.
5. Session 3: Basic Etiquette for the Evangelist – There are a lot of ways to be an awkward or annoying evangelist. We will help you avoid the awkwardness as we continue to work through our 4 step model to listen, befriend, proclaim, and invite.
6. Exercise 3: Conversation Starters  – We will practice having conversations about Jesus and the Catholic faith in a large group activity.
7. Session 4: Sharing the Story of Salvation – What do you believe? Sometimes Catholics struggle sharing the story of salvation. St. Augustine had 27 steps. We have 4 steps, and we will show you how how our evangelists do it.
8. Exercise 4: Sharing the Story – Now we need to practice. Courage Christian soldiers!
9. Session 5: How to Share Your Testimony – We will go through the do’s and do not’s of sharing a personal witness.
10. Exercise 5: Sharing Your Testimony – We will practice sharing our testimony with those in our small groups.
11. Session 6: One Good Reason – Evangelization and apologetics are not the same thing. We will talk about our One Good Reason method of evangelization and how to walk with people towards God.
12. Exercise 6: One Good Reason – We will work on some real life examples that evangelists have encountered and discuss how we can respond to those examples.
13. Session 7: Prayer & The Evangelist – We will talk about practical ways to invite others into prayer and how to pray for them.
14. Exercise 7: Praying Out Loud – We will then pray for each other and those we are going to encounter when we are sent forth.
15. (Optional) Session 8: Extended Prayer Ministry – When time allows our staff will stay for extended prayer ministry with each participant who wants to receive prayer. This can be for anything, but especially for those who want more graces for the work of evangelization. 
16. Sending – We will have time throughout the day for Q&A, but now is a chance to wrap up our day and become a partner with St. Paul Evangelization
17. (Optional) Live Lab – About 50% of our workshops include a live lab where we practice on the streets for 1 hour.

Endorsements

“Recently, my office hosted Saint Paul Street Evangelization’s Basic Evangelization Training (BET) workshop. It is an event that I recommend for a diocese or parish for a number of reasons. The workshop was genuinely “basic” in the sense that it did not presume prior formation in evangelization. This made the workshop accessible to anyone who wished to attend.

The workshop also gave attendees basic evangelization knowledge and skills that are applicable to all forms of evangelization, not just street evangelization. The skills that were developed can be used in the setting of parish, school, family, and door-to-door, as well as in the street.

Finally, the content of the workshop was authentically Catholic. The BET roots everyone in an understanding of Christ-centered evangelization that proceeds from the heart of the Church. Attendees came away with a stronger sense that evangelization relies on prayer as its source of efficacy and it showed them what gifts and tools are available to us in the Church to help us evangelize. Of particular importance was the instruction in the use of sacramentals for efficacious evangelizing.

I recommend the Basic Evangelization Training as a practical and genuinely effective aid in igniting the new evangelization in a diocese or parish.”

– Meghan Cokeley, Director, Office of the New Evangelization, Archdiocese of Philadelphia [ Full Text ]

“Yesterday’s Evangelization Training was beautiful, practical and inspirational. It lifted my heart to hear someone speak so passionately about relationship with Jesus Christ! I was also lifted up going around to the small groups and listening to some of your stories. May we all be salt of the earth and light to the world as we share the Good News of the Gospels!!”

In the Church, there are many worthwhile efforts being made to further the New Evangelization heralded by Pope Saint John Paul II. Among these, I enthusiastically recommend the work of St. Paul Street Evangelization. “SPSE” helps Catholics bring the gospel of Jesus Christ from our churches into our communities, where it meets people of all walks of life who in one way or another hunger for God. Lapsed Catholics, Protestants seeking more, non-Christians starving for truth – all of these are reached by the apostolate.

– Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez, Director of Diaconal Formation [ Read Full Text ]

Over forty people gathered at a parish in the diocese of Rochester, New York to be trained by Adam Janke of St. Paul Street Evangelization. The training provided a wonderful theological and practical foundation for evangelization. Those in attendance agreed that the training gave them not only an understanding of the necessity for evangelization today, but also the tools needed to engage in evangelization. Since the evangelization training in March we have established an SPSE Chapter in Rochester with a growing group of evangelists who are joyfully spreading the Gospel at public markets, parks and the local baseball stadium. My hope is that my diocese will continue to embrace this kind of practical training and encourage more people to be trained for street evangelization. I’m grateful for St. Paul Street Evangelization for their commitment and zeal for the Gospel.

– Fr. Mike Mayer, Rochester, NY

“The live training has proven to give Christ’s followers the confidence, the knowledge, and the experience to boldly proclaim the Good News of Salvation and to take the Catholic faith into the streets. The Church has been calling forth for a New Evangelization, and St. Paul Street Evangelization has taken the Wisdom of the Church and has placed it into the hands of Her disciples. I am proud to work with my brothers and sisters in the Lord to accomplish a task so desperately needed in the world today.”

– Chris Gawel, Director of Young Adult & Campus Ministry, Archdiocese of Detroit

“I am very impressed with your training and with the work of SPSE.”

– Kyle Neilson, Director of Adult Evangelization & Discipleship, Archdiocese of Vancouver

“The Office of Evangelization has sponsored several successful training events with the SPSE. And without hesitation, I give thanks and praise to God for their presence with us and for what the Lord will continue doing through this grassroots, Catholic evangelization ministry.” [ Full Text ] – Fr. Eduardo Montemayor, SOLT, STL, Associate Director, Evangelization and Hispanic Ministry, Archdiocese of Detroit

We answered what we think, and now know, was a sincere call from that same Holy Spirit, to attend an outreach program to train us to go out and proclaim the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ through the JOYFUL proclamation of the KERYGMA. As you guys so skillfully presented to us that, as you told us what Pope John Paul II said: “The moment has come and is here NOW!”, it is on us to go out and present what we have been enlisted to do by our commitment to the new evangelization. I personally hope that I am up to the challenge to go out and do what I suspect was very hard for you to do for the very first time. THANK YOU and all who helped put on the training program at Sacred Heart Seminary.”

– BET Participant

“A boost to my soul!”

– BET Participant

“Great information. Evangelization is not as frightening a topic as I thought it would be. You made this a very comfortable, intriguing presentation.”

– BET Participant

Costs

All of our workshops are heavily subsidized by the institute. We do not have a set amount we charge (though we do provide guidelines); instead we ask that your team prays about what to give as a donation for our work. The cost of hosting a workshop is your donation + actual expenses. Expenses include transportation and accommodations for the speaker, making copies of handouts, and the return shipping on any left over items from a sales table. Workshops that include the “live lab” may have additional costs for materials to use during evangelization. Finally, you are also responsible for any hospitality or meals you offer your participants. You may recoup your costs by charging participants a fee to attend. Most groups charge $25-40 per person. We will provide online registration and deduct any money collected from your final invoice.