Evangelization and Active Participation Among the Poor

Evangelization has been a common term used by missionaries and priests where in they usually proclaim the Word of God and make it accessible to all people. But evangelizing people doesn’t stop with just speaking the Good News of the Lord, one also has to act the Good News.             The book Fulfilling the Mandate, written by Frank Padilla, the director of the Couples For Christ, chair of the Gawad Kalinga, and member of the Pontificial Council for the Family, illustrates the seven aspects of authentic evangelization which should be done to evangelize people “according to the mind and purpose of God” (Padilla 7). Frank Padilla states that evangelizing people should be in a way that the mission of Jesus is fulfilled. The mission of Jesus, which remains vague to other people, is a mission for the poor, bringing the Good News to them. But of course, before doing so, we should know where the poor people are to be able to reach them so in order to reach all the people in the ends of the world, it should be done through rapid, massive, and global evangelization. And along with that, we can reach everyone in this world by becoming witnesses, one who testifies to Christ. We should build a community which is one in heart and mind. Now, discipling whole nations and anointing and empowerment by the spirit are the last two aspects of authentic evangelization.             The question which remains now is, “Does Gawad Kalinga bring people closer to God?” Based on the aspects Frank Padilla stated, Gawad Kalinga fulfilled the mission of evangelization and they remained faithful to those seven aspects. They definitely brought people closer to God. Gawad Kalinga fulfills their mission of evangelizing people by following the aspects of authentic evangelization. We can see that they are obeying the mission of Jesus by bringing them the Good News. They not only preach the Good News through speeches, seminars, and talks, they also perform what they preach through the different programs of Gawad Kalinga. They disprove the quote Filipinos are most associated with, “Madaming salita, pero kulang sa gawa.”             With the growing popularity and population of the GK communities, it has reached to different people around the world who personally fly to Philippines to see the action God made through men. And through this, everyone became witnesses and testified to Jesus Christ. Everyone was unified through the programs of GK, in accordance to the church teaching 136 of PCP II, which was stated earlier.             The beneficiaries strengthened their faith and participated too in evangelizing people. Furthermore, the most significant change of all, the wall which separates the rich people to the poor is being destroyed by GK through the involvement of volunteers that include people of all classes. Another church teaching that particularly tackled the bridging of the gaps between the poor and the rich is Church teaching 132 of PCP II: The “Church of the Poor” will also mean that the Church will not only evangelize the poor, but that the poor in the Church will themselves become evangelizers. Pastors and leaders will learn to be with, work with, and learn from the poor. A “Church of the Poor” will not only render preferential reliance to the poor but will practice preferential reliance on the poor in the work of evangelization (Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, No, 132)             All are working for one common goal, peace and restoration of the community of God, which in effect, brought the Good News to everybody, rich or poor. A community with one heart and mind centered to our Creator was established in each GK community.             The nations became disciples which are empowered and anointed by the Holy Spirit. All of the people involved in the project, whether Christian or Non-Christian all participated as evangelizers of God. According to the book, Revolution and the Church of the Poor by Julio X. Labayen, ocd, even the poor participated as evangelizers: The poor are the privileged carriers of the Lord, the principal heirs of the Kingdom, with a potential to evangelize all nations and the Church as a whole (n.1147)             We ask why, based on this text, the poor are considered the privileged carriers of the Lord. As stated in the book, The Power of the Poor in History, “the poor are those who believe and hope in Christ” (Gutierrez, 21). These people are the marginalized and the oppressed and if it is them who spread the good news to all the nations, “that voice will convoke the ek-klesia, the assembly of those ‘called-apart,’ in a new and different way”(Gutierrez, 22) – a real liberation.             Truly with all these church teachings and by obeying the seven aspects of authentic evangelization, Gawad Kalinga fulfilled the mission of Jesus by not only evangelizing people but also by empowering them and making them aware that we are all equal who share the same heart, mind, and soul towards God, our Creator.             For every community that GK transforms, they too involve the renewing of faith. According to Mrs. Erna Flores, GK requires the people to join the Couples for Christ (CFC). When asked if she already joined, she said that as of that time, she has not joined yet due to her religion, which was Born Again Christian. Indeed, this is a way of bringing people to God; however, the group finds that GK needs to improve in this aspect. One disadvantage of requiring people is the fact that there are chances of people being involved in deeds against their will, meaning they do not have their hearts for such. The group believes that GK will truly be considered successful in bringing people closer to God once the people whom they touched lives voluntarily come to renew their faith.

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