Why "One Soul at a Time"?

Why the newsletter has this name, and what that means for you.

In the spring of 2018 I submitted my proposal for the book that would eventually become The How-to Book of Evangelization. The working title on my book proposal was One Soul at a Time. I picked that title because I wanted to emphasize in the book that evangelization and discipleship are not programs or batch processes. Even when we carry out large-audience initiatives, the Holy Spirit is speaking to individuals.

If your ministry is enormous, soul-at-a-time thinking can help you refine your work and more effectively communicate your message, whether that be through literal words or via one of the corporal works of mercy. On the other end of the spectrum, it is very reassuring, in a world that rewards the big players, to remember that the tiniest, humblest acts are the most central to our mission as Christians.

Our Sunday Visitor decided on a more “what it says on the tin” title for the book, and I think that was a great call. I think that title better captures the nature of the book, including a lot of the teamwork that went into making the compendium as thorough as it is.

Meanwhile, One Soul at a Time beautifully captures both the focus of this newsletter and the work of so many of us whose primary vocations are not oriented towards making a big splash in the wider world but towards serving those few divinely-chosen individuals God has placed in our lives.