WYD

The countdown continues ... less than a week to the Roman Catholic World Youth Day (WYD) comes to Sydney.

To get our PBC blog off the ground I'd thought I'd do some posts on WYD. This is not meant as a 'pop' at Catholics but rather as a resource to encourage PBC folk to utilise this event for the gospel. Everyone in Sydney is talking about it. How can we turn these conversations towards Christ?

Okay, I'll start with some background. A couple of month's ago I went to a seminar at SMBC by David Shead (the Sheads used to be out in Slovenia with the Groombridges) about Roman Catholicism. Below are a mixture of his points and my musings:

• The Biggest issue for Roman Catholics = the church. You meet Christ in the church, you hear Christ speak to you from the church, there is no salvation outside of the church.

• Therefore while a Protestant might talk about what they believe, a RC will talk about the institution to which they belong.

Of course these are generalisations, but they are at least a good starting point. All of this is useful to bear in mind when talking to someone who comes from a Roman Catholic background. RC is much more of a cultural background than for us Prots. Therefore even those who no longer 'believe' will probably still identify themselves as RC. So, how should we tell them about Jesus?

• Don't over generalise - not all RCs are the same. It would really annoy you if people treated you like that!
• Don't criticise the RC church.
• Don't assume they know what 'they' believe. They may just turn up to Mass occasionally. If belonging to the institution is all that really matters then what they believe is not so important. (See above.)
• Don't just argue doctrine ... for the same reason as above.
• Introduce them to Jesus - focus on the gospels.
• Introduce them to your church ... no, really :-)
• Pray for them.
• Understand how tough it would be for them to think of themselves as anything than RC.