You Can Share the Faith: Reaching Out One Person at a Time

by Karen Edmisten

Many Catholics are baffled about how to share the faith, but the good news is it s not complicated. Jesus didn t have a twitter account, followers on Facebook, or a livestream app, though he would have made good use of those. He started with one person, then another, then a handful and his mission grew. Karen Edmisten s own journey from atheism to Catholicism followed a similar low-key, one-on-one model and frames her lively advice. As she moves from an initial impression Catholics are weird to her conversion, friends along the way listen, support, answer her questions and give her the space she needs. In You Can Share the Reaching Out One Person at a Time Edmisten draws out practical pointers from her own story and the stories of others to help you share your faith confidently and with compassion.

Genres: Spirituality

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2016

About the author

Author of After Miscarriage, Companion Book of Catholic Days, Deathbed Conversions, You Can Share the Faith: Reaching Out One Person at a Time, Through the Year With Mary, and The Rosary.

Reviews

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived for a long time without knowing why I was living. Now that I have claimed Christ as my core, I want what Thoreau sought: a deliberate life. I want to live with conviction, love, and purpose, the knowledge of who I am and what I believe. Since becoming a Catholic, my life is still unquestionably full of twists and turns, alarming developments, chaotic days and sometimes anguished nights, but I can say with certainty: I know who I am. I live deliberately and with mystery.

This book resonated with me from page one. I don't know how Karen Edmisten managed to write a book that sounds as if I gave her notes on what I'd write myself, but she did. Her life story is different from mine, but her Catholic way of life is precisely what I answer when people ask me "how to" be a Happy Catholic. It's easy to read, accessible, and thoroughly Catholic.

The chapter titles themselves are good bits of advice that I often bring up when deep in conversations with people who feel overwhelmed about how to live the Catholic life, reach out to friends, change the world ... in short, how to tell the Good News. We've got to think about it in small pieces, not as one gigantic project, and those chapters point the way. Here are a few:

-Do Hang Out With All Kinds of People
-Do Be Honest About Your Own Struggles
-Do Engage the Culture
-Don't Forget That Words Matter
-Don't Limit the Definition of a Personal Relationship
-Don't Pretend the Pilgrim Church is Perfect

I could go on, but you get the point. These are straight forward, practical tips for how to share your spiritual life with those around you. It's also loaded with lots of quotes that help make the point. I'm making it sound like a "how to" book but it is much more since Edmisten tells us about her life and conversion. These serve as examples of both "how to" and "how not to" (I love an honest author) as well as providing thought provoking points for our own lives.

When I first became a Christian and abandoned my old pro-choice views, Tom and I initially engaged in screaming matches over my newly adopted opinions. When I finally realized my screaming was fruitless (imagine that!), I switched to quiet discussion and witnessing. I prayed the Lord would lead Tom to the truth in another way. I wasn't surprised that, in having our own children, his heart softened. But I was surprised by his reaction to a rereading of the classic novel Brave New World. [...]

When Tom reread Brave New World for the first time since becoming the father of two beloved little girls, he was stunned by his reaction. He was stopped cold at a passage he'd read many times but that had never affected him so chillingly. He read the description of babies, mass-produced in bottles, and reduced to nothing more than utilitarian objects. [...]

Tom felt a creeping sense of horror as he saw the brave new world of reproductive freedom very differently than he ever had before.

I especially love the overarching points about fully engaging the culture and making friends everywhere. We can't hunker down and keep this goodness to ourselves. We've gotta live our normal lives out there in the world, showing through our actions that our lives now are lived deliberately.

This book will help you do that. And help you to embrace your own faith more deeply.

[Margo Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully heart filled testimony to conversion and how it happens. It is not a step-by step textbook on how to convert friends and family. Instead, using personal conversion stories, Edmisten talks about what works and what shuts people down. In short, what works is living a life that is an example of true Christen virtue, while answering questions truthfully, with compassion, and without judgement. But how do you do this? This book of essays gives enough examples that it might just convert you into looking at Catholic life in a very different, more beautiful way. I loved her compassion, her honesty, and willingness to share her own conversion story with no prettying it up.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not what I expected. I was looking for a how to guide for evangelization and it was more her conversion story along with all the Christians and Catholics along the way who were stumbling blocks. I believe her intention was for me to finish and want to share my faith authentically. However I feel more on eggshells than I ever did before. Having Christianity judged ever time I sin or make a mistake. Being watched for those foibles so someone can shout “gotcha”. This was a spiritual memoir disguised as a how to evangelize helper book.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that encourages us regular Catholics in sharing the faith in our everyday lives. Karen's approachable and entertaining style doesn't sugar coat the tough parts of sharing the faith, while at the same time emphasizes how important the little things we do and say can open the faith to others. Reading will give you a much needed confidence boost as a Catholic!