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Parish visiting with the
Would you like to become a short term volunteer?
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The Sion Community for Evangelisation which conducts parish missions round the country are often helped in their work by short term volunteers. These are people – priests, religious and lay people - who after some training come with them on mission for a week at a time to help with the parish visiting that happens in the run up to the mission week. The one-to-one evangelisation that takes place in people’s homes is one of the keys to the success of the mission and is a wonderful opportunity for would-be evangelisers to be given an opportunity to share their faith with others. Frances Martin from South Shields, who has assisted with several of these parish missions comments, “ I always feel very humbled to be able to hear about the ways in which God is working in people’s lives, or indeed, to hear about people’s struggles to find Him. The people we visit evangelise me! I always return home from a parish mission visiting week, feeling as though I’ve been on a retreat.”
For both practical and spiritual reasons the parish visitors always go out in pairs, and newcomers are teamed up with a more experienced visitor. Most of the training happens on the job but there is also a preparatory “Pass it on” training weekend, which is held twice a year at SENT the Sion Community HQ in Brentwood. This provides formation and a discernment process, which together with a reference from your parish priest, will help you decide if this is the right thing for you. Age no barrier! Visitors can be any age from 18-80 as long as they are in good health. Michael Davidson did the Pass it On course a couple of years ago and thoroughly recommends it. He comments, “We learnt how to give a three minute testimony about something great God has done in our lives or how we came to faith in Him. We also learnt the four basic truths of the core Gospel and how to share them and other tips on how to evangelise Catholics.” Afterwards he became a regular visitor with the team. He still remembers his first experience of going door to door visiting and found he really enjoyed it. “We listened to people talk about their experience of parish life, their faith and their families. The Holy Spirit seemed to pop things to say in my mind and it was the most amazing experience. At the end we offered to pray with them for something they suggested.” Were they ever turned away? “Ninety seven times out of a hundred people are glad to see us and they are so friendly that they invite us in before we have to say anything at all.” Do you feel called to share your faith with others, but find you don’t have a natural opportunity to do it? If you would like to know more please visit the Sion Community website www.sioncommunity.org.uk
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