Sometimes it can be tempting to evangelize other people by going straight to morality, thinking that we will convince other people about Christianity through a long list of rules to follow.
However, in most cases that style of evangelism is never fruitful.
The more effective way to evangelize someone is by first loving them.
Love before catechism
St. Peter Claver provides a brief guide to evangelization by describing how he approached non-Christians in a letter he wrote.
Instead of trying to teach them the catechism first, he wanted to treat them with love and dignity, tending to their physical needs first:
This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.
Once a relationship was established, St. Peter Claver turned his attention to catechizing the non-Christians:
After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest.
In addition to catechizing them about the sacraments, he also spoke about Jesus and the central truths of the faith:
We asked them to make an act of contrition and to manifest their detestation of their sins. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.
St. Peter Claver would then baptize them and was known for his wide success.
His example should be a great inspiration for us, as we often go about evangelizing in the wrong way, forgetting that we need to show we are Christians by our love and actions, before any words are spoken.
