Ask a Priest: How do I Bring Someone Back to Faith?

It’s a question I hear all the time, especially from parents and grandparents. The very fact that we want someone to come back to life in the Church shows that we have great love for them. To love means to will the good of the other. There is no greater good than to have life in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s so beautiful to desire this for a relative or friend.

The most important thing in my view is to live a joyful life in Jesus Christ. Joy is compelling by its very nature. When someone has it, we want it. This doesn’t mean that we’re happy all the time. Joy and happiness are two different things. Christian joy is choosing to respond to external circumstances with inner contentment and satisfaction, because we know that God will use these experiences to accomplish His work in and through our lives. People are looking for a stable way to navigate life. Truly joyful people point the way.

The next thing is friendship. If you want someone to know a life in Christ you have to earn the right to propose this by investing in them. A word of caution here – we don’t make friendships simply to make a proposal of faith. We make friends because it’s a good that is sought for its own sake. When we bond with people eventually we desire to share on a deeper level about life’s big questions: What am I here for? Where am I going? Am I loved?

Lastly, yes, pray for them. Jesus tells us to ask the Father for whatever we want. So, ask him to move this person in your life back to true worship. Then, and this is the most important part, release care of them totally to God. Look back on your life and see whether these things were part of your journey toward God. I bet they were to some degree. There’s no greater love than to lay our life down for our friends (John 15:13). The fruit of being a disciple is to make another disciple. Be joyful, make friends, and pray for them incessantly.