Jesus, in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19), mandated those baptised to share the Good News to all mankind. Today, two thirds of the world’s population have still not heard the Gospel message.
In October, over 65 Christian leaders from across Australia and New Zealand, gathered in Canberra for the Global 2033 Leaders’ Summit.
The summit welcomed Henry and Sabina Cappello and Fr Bernard de Terves, leaders from Global 2033, to discuss and pray for mission in Australia, and across the world. There was also an emphasis on uniting Christian leaders to work in collaboration with one another.
Global 2033 is a global initiative inviting all the faithful—individuals, organisations, dioceses and parishes, universities, etc—to share the vision that all people should have an opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ by the year 2033; 2000 since Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Henry Cappello, International Director Global 2033, said there was nothing magical or special about the date.
“The vision is not the date; the vision is that together we are inspired and equipping everyone to accomplish in 2000 years what has not yet been accomplished,” Capello said.
“To achieve this all the faithful are invited to commit, or recommit, to fulfilling the Great Commission, by being missionary disciples and raising up other missionary disciples to share the message of Christ with all people.
“Since Vatican II our Holy Fathers have been preaching and imploring the faithful to a new commitment to evangelisation in the modern world.
“Saint John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, “No believer in Christ, no institution of the church can avoid this supreme duty; to proclaim Christ to all peoples.”
Pope Francis recently warned that the church runs the risk of becoming static if it is not missionary; to be missionary is to respond to the needs in today’s broken world and share the hope and mercy offered and found in Jesus Christ.
“We cannot remain inert before the questions raised by the women and men of today, before the challenges of our time, the urgency of evangelisation and the many wounds that afflict humanity,” Pope Francis said.
Fr Bernard de Terves, General Secretary of Global 2033, encouraged the faithful to evangelise using a simple three-fold method; pray, care, and share.
Fr Bernard reminds us that the first step is prayer. It is important to come back to our first love, Jesus, and to pray for our own relationship with him from which our mission flows.
“Our own encounter with Christ is the catalyst for mission, as it says in Evangelii Nuntiandi, ‘the person who has been evangelised goes on to evangelise others,’” Fr Bernard said.
He says equally important is to pray daily for five people that we want the courage and opportunity to share the Gospel with—then to care for those five people.
“Love them so well that their heart will be open to the Gospel…and it might cost you something, because love is sacrifice and it costs us—this is Jesus’ way,” he says.
The final step is to be prepared to share our own story about what God has done in our life, and how we’re living out our baptismal call as missionary disciples.
In the Book of Isaiah, the Lord asks Isaiah, “Whom shall I send?”
May all baptised Christians be ready to respond with zeal as Isaiah did, “Here I am [Lord]. Send me!” (Is 6:8), so that every person in the world will hear of the love and mercy of Jesus Christ for them.
To learn more about the Global 2033 initiative, please follow the link.
To learn more about missionary discipleship contact the Parish Renewal Team at [email protected].