Go and Make Disciples
Equipping Catholics To Share the Good News
In "Go and Make Disciples," A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States, the U.S. Bishops state that evangelization means bringing the Good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself. (GMD, #10)
Goal I – Conversion Within the Individual
- To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.
Goal II – Conversion to the Church Community
- To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.
Goal III – Conversion of Society
- To foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
What are the three goals of Go and Make Disciples and what do they mean?
Goal I – Conversion Within the Individual
To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.
Goal One of Go and Make Disciples concerns the ongoing conversion and reform of the individual Catholic: To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others.
The enthusiastic embrace of Catholicism is the way to grow in intimate love of Jesus Christ, to be personally converted to him, and to follow him as faithful disciples. All authentic evangelization, in fact, everything we do as Christians, flows from this personal relationship with Jesus, which is a response of a person in faith to the kerygma, the proclamation of Christ’s saving love. Everything flows from this personal turning to Jesus and the decision to pattern one’s life on him. It follows that the first objective in implementing Goal One is to foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer.
This Goal One calls Catholics to continue to hear the Good News at ever-deeper levels. The call to holiness, given to every Catholic through Baptism, consecrates each one to God and to the service of the kingdom.
The strategy of this goal is to so deepen the sense of Scripture and sacrament that Catholics will pray more fully, and, with a greater understanding of Christ’s call, live as disciples at home, at work, and in today’s many cultural settings. It seeks a greater openness to physical, mental, and cultural diversity among Catholics.
Goal One entails the following objectives:
- To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer, leading to a more active living of Catholic life.
- To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in every parish.
- To foster an appreciation of God’s Word in the lives of all Catholics.
- To make the evangelizing dimension of the Sunday Eucharist more explicit.
- To foster an appreciation of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and all of the Sacraments, the sacred signs of our Catholic life.
- To foster a greater appreciation of the power of God’s Word in our worship.
- To foster an even deeper sense of prayer among our Catholic people.
- To foster a renewed understanding of faith among Catholics.
- To foster a sense of discipleship among Catholic adults and children.
- To foster active and personal religious experience through participation in small-group and other communal experiences in which the Good News is shared, experienced, and applied to daily life.
- To foster a sense of the domestic Church within households in which families, individuals and groups reside.
- To promote and develop a spirituality for the workplace.
- To foster greater appreciation of cultural and ethnic spirituality.
Clearly, unless we continue to be evangelized ourselves, with renewed enthusiasm for our faith and our Church, we cannot evangelize others. Priority must be given to continued and renewed faith formation in faith as the basis of our deepening personal relationship with Jesus.
Goal II – Conversion to the Church Community
To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.
Catholic evangelization never considers Jesus apart from the Church. Pope Paul VI insists that there is a “profound link between Christ, the Church, and evangelization.” (On Evangelization in Modern World, #16). Catholics believe they embrace the fullness of the Incarnation when they embrace Jesus in the most intimate communion with His body, the Church. Goal Two offers the following challenge to Catholics across the country: To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so that they man come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.
Only a Church renewed in spirit can pursue so grand a purpose. The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. There is a great need to work at becoming more welcoming, less anonymous, more active in seeking new members and reconciling old ones. Welcome, acceptance, the invitation to conversion and renewal, reconciliation and peace, beginning with worship, must characterize the whole tenor of the parishes.
This Goal Two means that we are to invite effectively every person to come to know the Good News of Jesus proclaimed by the Catholic Church. It means not only that people are invited but also that an essential welcoming spirit is present in Catholic homes and in all our Catholic institutions.
The strategy behind this goal is to create a more welcoming attitude toward others in our parishes so that people feel at home, to create an attitude of sharing faith and develop greater skills to do this, and to undertake activities to invite others to know the Catholic people better.
Goal Two entails the following objectives:
- To make every Catholic institution, especially our parishes, more welcoming.
- To help every Catholic feel comfortable about sharing his or her faith and inviting people to discover Christ in our Catholic family of believers.
- To develop within families and households the capacity to share the Gospel.
- To equip and empower our active Catholic members to exercise their baptismal call to evangelize.
- To use special times in parish and family life to invite people to faith.
- To cultivate an active core of the baptized to serve as ministers of evangelization in their parishes, dioceses, neighborhoods, workplaces and homes.
- To effectively invite people to our Church.
- To design programs of outreach for those who have ceased being active in the Church.
- To design programs that reach out in particular ways to those who do not participate in a church community or who seek the fullness of faith.
- To foster the cultural diversity of the Church.
- To deepen ecumenical involvement.
Goal III – Conversion of Society
To foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Goal Three addresses evangelization’s impact on culture and society: To foster Gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Catholics must affirm what is good in American culture, not unduly emphasizing the negative. Today, the Church stands among the most ardent defenders of immigrants, refugees, the elderly, the unborn, and the poor and the marginalized in general. Evangelization aims to build on this foundation to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth.
Catholic evangelization is a counter-cultural activity that confronts disrespect for life, injustices, prejudices, divisions, loss of the sense of the transcendent, and many other ills in modern America. Nevertheless, the evangelization of culture remains a fundamental goal.
This goal follows upon the other two: The appreciation of our faith and its spread should lead to the transformation of our society. The pursuit of this goal, however, must accompany the pursuit of the other two because evangelization is not possible without powerful signs of justice and peace, as the Gospel shapes the framework of our lives.
This goal means supporting those cultural elements in our land that reflect Catholic values and challenging those that reject it. Catholics, who today are involved in every level of modern life in the United States, have to address our society as a system and also in particular situations. This goal requires the strategy of strengthening our everyday involvement with those in need, of reflecting on the workplace and media, and of encouraging Catholic involvement in areas of public policy as a way of having greater impact on society’s values.
Goal Three entails the following objectives:
- To involve parishes and local service groups in the needs of their neighborhood.
- To foster the importance of the family.
- To develop groups to explore issues of the workplace and lay spirituality.
- To encourage Catholic witness in the arts and in the American intellectual community.
- To involve every Catholic, on different levels, in areas of public policy.
- To involve the Catholic Church, on every level, in the media.
- To involve Catholics, at every level, in questions of economic systems.