Interview with George Calleja

27 August 2020

What is your background as a Christian Author and how do you share the Good News?

During the years 1990 to 1996 I was a fulltime missionary with ‘The International Catholic Programme for Evangelization - ICPE’ and have evangelized in various countries, such as Albania, France, Germany, Ghana, Poland, Russia and Malta amongst others. I got married in 1997, and since then, I am an active member of the Focolare Movement in Malta. As a Volunteer within the Focolare Movement, for a number of years I was co-responsible of the Gen3 and Gen 4 boys, as well as for one of the local nucleus groups.

Since the time of being with the ICPE, evangelisation has always been in my heart, thanks to the constant message of encouragement by Saint Pope John Paul II, who at that time encouraged the youths to go out and preach the gospel. It was during this time, in the early nineties, when facing different experiences of evangelisation, the hardships it brings with it, the spiritual growth I went through, and the different encounters with race, faith and opinions, and witnessing to people accepting Jesus in their lives, that I felt the first desire inside me to write books with a Christian theme.

At that time, I never really understood what this meant, or maybe I did not take up the challenge seriously, knowing that I had never ever thought of being a writer. Maybe, I never had the time to do it! Still, over these years I kept feeling that this was something He wanted from me! Since that time, it always remained in my heart… but it was never fulfilled!

Following my experience with the ICPE, I got married and as my wife was a member of the Focolare Movement, I was introduced to the Movement through her. Gradually I started to attend meetings and started getting involved in the life of the Movement. Honestly, it was not an easy task for me to adjust to the new reality of this Movement, which was totally new to me. But the word ‘Love’ which Chiara taught, always kept me going and helped me to settle down within the Movement.

The experience I had with the ICPE, of going out to different countries and cultures and evangelising, seemed long gone by. But although the desire to go out to other countries was still in my heart, God was showing me new ways how to reach out to other people in every corner of the world. God was preparing for me a surprise.

This all started when in November 2014, after months discerning upon my new spiritual journey of how to evangelise, I started to see some light. This light from my discernment was to start writing Christian books. Through the help of technology, I started to discover how from the comfort of my home I can reach out to every corner of the world and evangelise through the means which social media presents. God was now paving the way for me after my ‘Yes’.

Since embarking on this journey of evangelising through social media, I have up to now published around 15 short Christian books, both as ebooks and paperback, available through well-known online ebooks stores. I also choose particular parts of the writings in these books and upload them on my FaceBook Profile and other different social media. It is so beautiful to see how much one can connect with people from every corner of the world; people asking to know more about Christ, asking for prayers, asking to learn to evangelise on social media and to give a word of encouragement, ‘to love your neighbour’ as Jesus taught us to do.

Besides publishing Christian Books, I also write various other spiritual articles which I also upload on my other social networks and sites. But God, continued to show me more ways how to evangelise through social media. The same articles which I write are now also being available as podcasts on Spotify, and as videos through YouTube. From my simple ‘Yes’ to God in November 2014, I have learnt that God works in mysterious ways which I would have never imagined. My latest journey in evangelising through social media, is of having two online courses on Udemy, namely ‘Living the beatitudes in your life’ and ‘How to heal your spiritual wounds’. These courses are based on two of my Christian books namely ‘The Beatitudes… the blessings from the sermon on the mount’ and ‘Heal my wounds’ respectively.

All my writings, podcasts and videos are a simple message of encouragement for life, to help humanity think about what life is all about, and to give them a challenge to live life through God's Love. My material is based on my Christian values and also the spirituality that I receive through the Focolare Movement. I try to reach out to all people in the world, whatever their faith is, as I believe that every person is able to love his neighbour. With this on my mind, I present a simple message of truth, to have a personal relationship with God and to love every person through God's love.

I thank God, that through this challenge of doing His will in my life, although it is tough and time consuming, it is also peaceful and rewarding to see other people appreciating my work and above all receiving the Good News.

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If you are interested to view more of such interviews with the Christian Author George Calleja, kindly visit the below link:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/geocalpeace