Saturday, March 8, 2014

Importance of leafleting


Why are leaflets important?

One of the most successful Catholic evangelizers, St. Francis de Sales, converted 72,000 Calvinists, who at first rejected his preaching, through pamphlets.

St. Josemaria, called by St. John Paul the Great the modern apostle of the laity, started his work of evangelization by printing out a "folleto", translated as pamphlet or leaflet, containing 246 considerations, which will later become his most influential best-seller, The Way.

The great American evangelist Billy Graham, whose lifetime audience is estimated to have reached above 2.2. billion, declared: "Nothing surpasses a tract for sowing the seed of the Good News."

It's logical that pamphlets have such great evangelizing power. Remember that the very Word of God, the Bible, was not put together in one great volume that we presently have until centuries passed. The Word of God was written in epistles, short Gospels, letters, that were passed on by one believer to the next.

Throughout history, great revolutions which have changed the landscape of nations, whether for good or for ill, were preceded by "propaganda movements", using short and effective written materials distributed to the populace. Included here are Luther's Reformation, the French Revolution, the Philippine Revolution,  and the anti-Catholic revolution which generated the Post-Vatican Crisis, during which thousands of priests and nuns left the faith.

Recent Popes have called us to a New Evangelization, to engage people with ideas that can change the world according to Christ's values.

Below is a list of the advantages of spreading leaflets, which puts together points from a Catholic journalist and film-maker, an Evangelical writer and the US Military Psychological Operations Manual, a highly effective method of winning people psychologically:
  • Printed leaflets are an opening for giving people new ideas that can change their lives. People are stuck with their old ideas and usually read or surf for items that already interest them.
  • They respect the freedom of the person. People read it whenever they want.
  • These papers can enter people's houses, when people can't.
  • They forestall heated arguments. 
  • Printed materials tend to have more prestige and credibility than oral persuasion. 
  • Their content is permanent.
  • Leaflets can be hidden and kept in private. 
  • They can explain complicated topics with greater clarity.
  • They can be re-read and further digested.
  • Leaflets are easy to pass on to others, producing a wider multiplier effect. 
  • They are a very useful aid for one-on-one conversation, one of the best ways of evangelizing.  
A writer who always carries with him leaflets to give away passes on this tip:  If you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.
If you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.

Read more at: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/methods/tracts.html
f you want people to accept your tract from you, don't say, "Would you like this?" They will probably say, "What is it?" and then you're in trouble. Instead, say, "Did you get one of these?" That question has a two-fold effect. You stir up curiosity and make them ask "One of what?" That's when you pass it to them. That phrase also makes them feel as though they are missing out on something. And so they are.

Read more at: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/methods/tracts.html
St. Josemaria, taught: "God's truth has to reach everywhere through publications, movies, radio, TV... And this task if yours!" He also exclaimed: "Let us cover the world with printed paper!"

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Please check out the other free leaflets in this blog. Please distribute them widely. 


Foundations of the Faith (Apologetics)  

Summaries of the Faith and Key Catechetical Ideas

Encountering Jesus (in the Eucharist, the Bible, the Pope, Mary, the Poor)

Family and Chastity

You can find other free leaflets on these sites:


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