“I was more than happy to live my life as a prayerful, practicing Catholic,” says Lisa. “But to talk to people about Jesus… Oh my gosh, that was a scary idea.”

Lisa is an incredible woman who faithfully goes about her work and loving her family, Although, I may be biased—she is also my wife. 

It was a Sunday night when we started arguing about the topic of witness vs. proclamation came up in our household. We were at home, watching a Catholic TV show about what was happening in the Church. Lisa loved the show, but to be honest, I was kind of irked that a show about a variety of good things in the Church kept using the term “evangelization” so loosely. 

What came out of our Sunday evening quarrel was a realization that this miscommunication might be relevant to more people than just the two of us. 

I had been confronted with the topic only a few years prior. I was already working in a full-time role in campus ministry and hosting a retreat on (you guessed it) evangelization. Up until then, I had understood lay evangelization as being essentially carried out by living good lives devoted to God, not necessarily needing to speak about Him. That was for priests, or professionals, or the highly learned. 

That was when someone pointed me back to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It refers to these two things as ways in which lay people engage in evangelization. But it notes that “testimony of life” (or witness) is not the sole element in evangelization. “The true apostle is on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers… or to the faithful.” (905)

This was the reason I felt so grated at this TV show and what I was explaining to my wife. And it challenged her, as it did me. But Lisa wondered where a lay woman, working in a secular media production company, finds the “occasions of announcing Christ by word”?

In a moment of providence, God gave her the opportunity to do so the very next day. 

While working on a home renovation show featuring a Protestant pastor and his wife, the producers were considering whether an element of the storyline would be acceptable to Christians. Knowing Lisa to be Catholic, two co-workers asked her thoughts on it. When she gave her answer, one of them said to her, “You know, I’ve never really understood Christianity...”

At this point Lisa felt like she was at a fork in the road. She could either shrug off the opening, or she could try telling her coworkers the heart of her faith—about humanity being created in God’s image by a Father who loves us, about how sin created separation and rupture in this plan, and how Jesus came to save us by giving his life on the cross. And about how God wants us to receive forgiveness and new life in relationship with him because of what Jesus did. That it’s up to every person to decide if they want to accept this free gift. 

“I probably butchered the delivery,” Lisa says, “but I tried to share the Gospel with my coworkers. And the one who asked the question sat back thinking and said, ‘I’ve never heard it put that way before.’” 

Sharing the Gospel at work put a fire in Lisa’s heart as she experienced the joy of talking about Jesus with others. It was a fire that would frustrate her as she struggled to find more openings like the one she encountered at work that day. 

She eventually found an outlet finally when we decided to run Alpha together at our parish. She was skeptical that the resource would “work.” And even with the experience of talking about faith in there workplace, she was nervous about hosting her own small group.

“I felt terrified. I felt like I didn’t want to be asked a question that I didn’t know. But I found out the beauty with Alpha is that you aren’t supposed to share all the right answers, but to facilitate a conversation and help people process their own experiences, emotions, and reactions.” 

“I was hesitant about leading Alpha. But now I say that I’ll be running Alpha until I’m 90 years old.” Lisa says. “Because this is that important.” 

Lisa wanted to do more though. She felt so passionate about it that she also co-founded an online membership to help ordinary lay people learn to share their faith with others. 

“We started U Evangelize for people like me. It’s for people who aren’t theologians and don’t work for the Church, but want to share Jesus with the people they meet in their ordinary lives.

“It’s for people who have been told to go out and evangelize, but don’t know how and have never been shown how to do so. Those people need to know that they really can do it, and be supported in doing so.” 

And I can tell you sincerely, Lisa’s passion for evangelization has kept me going on many occasions. There are nights when I was too tired or distracted to think about hosting Alpha at our parish. But my wife’s passion and commitment to the mission would remind me why we do what we do. 

“We make time for what matters,” she says. 

Amen to that.