Two teams from our community, one from Ireland and one from the International School of Evangelization, in collaboration with the Conference of Bishops (CCBI), led five Paul courses and five methodology courses from October to December 2010. We announced Christ at the foot of the Himalayas and in the tropics of the south, bringing the fervour of New Evangelization. This was the second stage of the kerygmatic formation program which started in 2008 with 10 Philip courses and methodology courses. The participants’ enthusiasm - from the bishops, priests, nuns and lay people - increased during the courses and became concrete in the decision to evangelize and form other evangelizers!
There is a lot of work to do and the future is promising!

Here are some of the participants’ testimonies.

From Jalpaiguri (West Bengal, North-Est India):
"The Paul course gave me a new zeal, enthusiasm and clarity in the proclamation of salvation in Jesus."
"I learnt a systematic and ordered method of HOW to announce the kerygma in an effective way."
"The course has changed my life. It was a turning point for my evangelization work and I have decided to evangelize and form kerygmatic evangelizers."
"During the course I met Jesus as my Saviour and Lord in a new way."
With the kerygmatic method we can evangelize in a very simple and effective way in all of India."

From Trichi (Tamil Nadu, South India):
"During the Paul course I came to understand the clear meaning of evangelization and I learnt how to evangelize persons from different religions and cultures. I have decided to teach the lay preachers in my diocese the kerygmatic method of evangelization."
"As the diocesan director for evangelization I want to reproduce this course in my diocese, to form evangelizers, effective witnesses of Jesus, the only Saviour and Lord."
"the kerygma (Jesus) changed my mentality and my way of evangelizing "
"During the outreach of evangelization I didn’t explain about the life and miracles of Jesus as I did before. Instead I proclaimed only Jesus who was crucified and died for me and a great number of people welcomed Christ!"
"Using of kerygma is a simple and powerful method!"

From Bangalore (Karnataka, South-centre):
"This course was an extraordinary opportunity for me. Now I am a new person. I received the Holy Spirit and He is pushing me to proclaim the Good News of salvation in Jesus. I have decided to make an active contribution by forming evangelizers in my diocese."
"I am convinced that the kerygmatic dialogue works effectively. I am committed to forming formers of evangelizers for New Evangelization!"
"The course gave me a new life. I have decided to intercede for evangelization."
"I have realised the need to evangelize and to form other evangelizers. I have decided to reproduce the Philip and Paul courses in my diocese."
"I am deeply touched by what was said during the course: “NOW is the time to evangelize”, so I have decided to form 12 evangelizers in 1 year in my parish and in this way start a school of evangelization!"

It was amazing to realize that Philip course was multiplied all over India, as the fruit of our work during 3 months in 2008.

Have a look at the evangelizing activities in the most active Regions in India.

Karnataka  (9 Dioceses in the Region) - Regional Secretary: fr. Ronald Cardoza
- 50 Philip courses conducted all over the Dioceses of Karnataka
- 10 Methodology courses of the Philip course conducted for the diocesan teams
- formation of operative diocesan teams
- uncountable seminars and meetings to promote a New Evangelization.

Tamil Nadu (17 Dioceses in the Region) - Regional Secretary: fr. Michael Selvam
- various seminars and meetings to arouse the zeal for the evangelization
- several Philip courses conducted

West Bengal (8 Regions in the Diocese) -  Regional Secretary: fr. Subhash Baroi
- more than 50 Philip courses conducted all over the Bengal Dioceses
- the manual of the Philip course was translated into the local language

In the months from January to March two teams from our International School of Kerygmatic Evangelization started an evangelization program in India to form people who would be able to evangelize and people who could form others. We did 10 Philip courses and 10 Methodology courses in different regions of India. There were about 70 people at each course among which there were leaders both lay people as well as religious, who work full time towards evangelization. Everyone was very enthusiast of the course and gave witness of having met the living Jesus and to have experienced a rebirth to new life because of the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, without this experience there is no mission and without the mission there is no growth.

This is how the Lord has renewed the zeal of many in order to give witness that Jesus is the only Savior and Lord. This was very important notwithstanding the fact that the laws are not always in favor in some of the regions there and there are frequently persecutions against the Christians. Archbishops and bishops of different regions of India who came to the courses encouraged everyone to announce ’’Jesus who has died and is risen, Savior and Lord, and only this Jesus’’. They motivated everyone to continue with this formation multiplying the Philip courses and preparing programs for their pastoral activities.

The answer of the participants to the courses has been greater than our expectations. This year there will be the formation of many tenths of diocesan themes and they will reproduce hundreds of Philip courses in all of India. The Lord Jesus is calling us to be witness of His Resurrection in every time and place. Even for the team it was an experience full of enthusiasm. We were able to see the Lord at work. We saw how He touched the heart of the people. We experienced his live presence in our midst during the preaching, the activities, the prayers. We felt a new spiritual rebirth, a joy that came from the contact with the Word, a sincere love that came from the friendship in the Lord, we saw completely new people changed by the Risen Lord, and we ourselves were transformed. The Lord filled us with a passion to announce the salvation of Jesus. He has widened our vision opening our hearts to people of different languages and cultures but united in the same Spirit of Jesus, in one Church.

Here I am presenting to you this fascinating land! I am Frauke, a consecrated sister who works toward the New Evangelization at the Federal Center of our Koinonia John the Baptist Community in the Check Republic. I wish to share with you what I believe is a special gift from the Lord. I wish to share with you about our mission that just took place in India! Suddenly, after 17 years from the first time since the moment I thought the Lord was calling me to work in the world of Asia, the door for India opened through our Kerygmatic School of Evangelization. I was in fact called to be part of the international group that had the task to begin the program of Evangelization and of formation for the whole country. This is done in collaboration with the Commission of Bishops for Evangelization in India. This time this group was really ’’special’’ because it was composed of people coming from different walks of life, consecrated brothers and sisters, married couples, single people and priests almost as to show that announcing that Jesus is our Lord and Savior is everyone’s task.

This has given us the possibility to give a beautiful witness of the fact of what the Holy Spirit is calling forth in the Church as well as to give the possibility to all of the participants to be able to realize that they were being called to be evangelizers. My stay in India lasted 2 months. At a first glance the program might have seemed a repetitive experience. We had 10 Philip courses followed by a Methodology course (this means that first there is an announcement of the Gospel’s message that brings those who participate to have a personal meeting with Jesus and then to teach them how to reproduce the same experience for the others).

It was when I saw the hidden vision of what this multiplication of these simple 10 courses that I was astounded and my heart exulted and was filled with true joy. At each course I saw how the participants, priests, religious, laity and almost always, also bishops or archbishops were transformed. Their faces, their way of speaking, their way of thinking, their participation and their enthusiasm were all new. I could see a marvelous project, inspired and sustained by the Holy Spirit. During this period, I had the privilege of seeing great part of this immense land rich of particularities. Here are some details that are wrapped up in an exclamation ’’So many people! Such diversity in the colorful and beautiful clothes! So much traffic in the city! Many cars, trucks and buses,that were also very colorful. Taxis and Rickshaw of all kinds, motorcycles and bicycles, always full of people, carrying entire families! So many cows on the streets! So much food and always spicy! How tall are the peaks of the Himalaya and what a diversity of features in the faces, so much so that one can feel how close China is!!!’’ What truly fascinated me was not all this diversity as much as to experience the support of the Holy Spirit. The first day of the Philip course, we always started in the morning and I was amazed that even those who had traveled all night would manage to stay awake. Notwithstanding the good will of the participants, the experience of the team was as we were pushing a huge stone uphill. Even though everyone cooperated in the animation, in the dynamics and the many activities, it was difficult to see at the beginning if the message we wanted to give was penetrating. Then as time passed, our experience was that we reached the peak and then everything went ahead as if by itself, in an overwhelming way. It was the ’’recompense’’ for all our work that was arriving, fruit of the Spirit and the Word of God.

To increase my amazement was the response of the Bishops and Archbishops who were the first to give the example of their participation, in the animations as well as in the group dynamics. It was an unforgettable experience seeing with my own eyes the appreciation of all the participants to the course’s methodology, and particularly to see how they experienced in a personal way the effectiveness of the dynamics through the six steps of the kerygma. The apex of all of this that the participants became so enthused that they reproduced the course in the many dioceses in India so that it’s message arrived in every parish. This means a concrete number of 9,000 Philip courses in one year. This was the fruit of 2 months of work!

I enjoyed very much the work of the team, the atmosphere of friendship, the joy, the support that we gave one another and the amazement in front of what the Lord prepared each time. I am grateful to my community for thrusting in me for this mission, but I know that this step represents only the beginning. Why then couldn’t you (who read these words) also accept this challenge that the Lord gives you: ’’Go in the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature...’’? When I started my first Paul Course, where I was formed for the evangelization, I would never have thought that the Lord would have pushed me to do so much. Glory to His name for doing so! He can do this also with you, try to take with courage the first steps in this marvelous adventure.
Frauke

I am Miriam from Slovakia and I wish to share with you a beautiful experience of a few months ago. Last year I went to the Permanent School of Kerygmatic formation in Plzen for a period of three months. During this time the Lord called me to be part of a marvelous project of evangelization for India. This has been the answer of the Lord to my desire to go and give witness of the salvation in Jesus in every part of the world. I said my yes and I left for India. Even though I was a little concerned about my limited knowledge of English and not knowing if I would adjust to a new country, I saw the power of preaching the Gospel. I saw people change, released from their fears, oppressions, discouragement, sadness, despair and filled with joy, enthusiasm and zeal for evangelization. I remember a woman who shared her fear of being killed because of the Gospel, who during the Philip Course experienced the presence of the Lord who gave her a fire that no one could ever put out, not even in the most difficult circumstances.

The Lord put in my heart the urgency of giving witness that only in Jesus Christ each man/woman is able to experience the Love of God, the complete freedom from any kind of evil and receive a life full of joy. I saw the effectiveness of the methodology used by our School of Evangelization: two teams, all together 5 of us, in two months gave 10 Philip Courses, and taught those present to reproduce them so that in a year 9,000 courses were given and 450,000 were able to receive an experience of the Living Jesus. You can also experience the power of salvation that comes from Jesus and become a powerful witness of the Gospel where you live, the Lord sends you!