The “E” Word- Evangelism

Just like may folks who went to seminary, I have a shelf full of books on evangelism. Sadly most of them are not very good. They are not very good because, for the most part, they treat evangelism as an add on project of the church. Evangelism is a program we place on our “to do” list and then check off when it is accomplished. Or more commonly in my experience, we let it slide to the bottom of our list and then drop off the edge of the page.

This month I read another book on evangelism for mainline Protestant churches. To be completely honest, I didn’t want to. The members of a committee I am a part of were asked to read this book. Being a good committee member I read the book, but I wasn’t expecting much from it.

It turns out, however, that a good book about evangelism does exist. Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism by Martha Grace Reece is a very good book about evangelism. There is a surprising wealth of insight, practical and spiritual, for a 200 page book.Best of all, this book does not offer a program for us to follow but rather asks us to think and pray about what evangelism is and the ways we resist it and the ways we might embrace it.  There are two main ideas I would like to highlight today, our mainline “problem” with evangelism and how we might begin to rethink what evangelism is.

 Part of what makes this a good book about evangelism is the author’s honesty about why we mainline Protestants don’t “do” evangelism. Most of us get more than a little uncomfortable talking about evangelism, in part because many of us have been on the receiving end of some aggressive and poorly done evangelism. Our other problem is we think evangelism means we have to talk about our faith in a way that risks alienating our friends or involves approaching strangers and forcing a discussion about salvation. These are real perceptions and many of us who avoid “doing” evangelism  these are our reasons why.

The book however confronts us with a deeper truth. Many of us in mainline churches haven’t thought deeply or seriously about why our faith is important. People who grew up in the church may take their faith and their church for granted. Sometimes our failure to tell others about our faith is because we don’t think we have much to offer. For some of us, we simply don’t know how to put our faith into words. We need to practice talking about our faith. We need to spend some time thinking deeply with others about our faith and our relationship with God.  For others of us, we can’t tell someone about the good news because we’re not quiet sure what it is or why it matters.

To be sure, there are many people in mainline churches who have a deep, rich faith. Sometimes they are hard to notice because they don’t draw attention to themselves. They share their faith by what they say and what they do.  They bring other people to faith in personal and quiet and life changing ways.

These are the people who understand evangelism as Martha Grace Reese defines it, “…[E]vangelism is anything you do to help another person move closer to a relationship with God, or into Christian community.” I like this definition. I can do this. I might even have done this.

Evangelism as she describes it, is not a program to follow, but a way of life. Individuals and congregations who are growing in faith naturally share it.  This sort of evangelism starts with our own life and in our own families and congregations and then moves into neighborhoods and communities. It is an organic sort of evangelism that begins with personal spiritual growth and then grows to embrace the people around us.

The thing that delighted me most about this book was Martha Grace Reese’s insistance that prayer, as individuals, in small groups, and as a congregation is essential.  In fact she advises that before “doing” anything else the people involved in church leadership and evangelism spend months in prayer together. She has practical advise on helping our churches be welcoming places for people but it is all rooted in listening and discerning God’s will in the life of the people and of the congregation.

As people and congregations pray and grow they will have an authentic faith to share and they will, guided by the Spirit, recognize appropriate and natural situations in which to share their faith.

I’d like to know what do you think?

 

 

 

What Will the Neighbors Say?

I spent the day yesterday at the Interfaith Dialogue Conference, sponsored by Grand Valley State University and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute. The link above will take you to the GVSU site, the Kaufman Institute and the conference site. Yesterday’s talks are not yet available on line (as of Friday, October 16, 2009) but the talks from 2006 are and are well worth your while.

One of the speakers, Donniel Hartman, made in interesting observation. He commented that God appears to care about what we humans think about God. We are prohibited from profaning the name of God. Hartman asked how can it be that the Creator of the Universe cares what we think? It is, he says, an absurd idea. Why should this matter to God?

It’s a question we might forget to ask. Those of us in the Abrahamic traditions have our Scriptures which we believe are God’s revelation to us. The idea that God reveals God’s self to us and that our response matters to God is part and parcel of our faith. That familiarity doesn’t mean the idea should go unexamined.

This concept that  God’s reputation matters shows up in the Bible. Here are a couple of examples, you may add your own -and please do.

Psalm 115:1-2 

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 

In Psalm 74 a defeated Israel asks, “How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? How long, Is the enemy to revile your name forever?” (v10-11).

When the people make the golden calf after the escape from Egypt, God is angry and tells Moses,

“Now let me alone,so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”  But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought our of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to the, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the starts of heaven, and al this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” (Exodus 32:10-14)

So it seems to matter to God what people think. At least Moses thinks God’s reputation is important. Otherwise why would he bring it up? And this line of reasoning works, God does not destroy the people who will become Israel.

 Why does what we think matter to God? And it’s not only what believers think but what the neighbors, the non believers think. And not only non believers think but  what the enemies think.  Why does God care what his enemies think? I don’t know.  Even though I don’t know why this is so, this does tell us something important about God. For reasons known only to God what we think, no matter who we are,  matters to God.

 Now I know for many of you this seems incredibly obvious.  We matter to God. But why is there anything about us that is even remotely interesting to God? It’s amazing. We ought to be walking abound all day stunned by this revelation.

But as is our human inclination, we take God’s interest in us as our due. Of course God cares about what we think- how could God not find us fascinating and wonderful? We’re simply the most wonderful things ever made, right?

Even if we are the most wonderful thing ever made, or one of many wonderful things God made, the reality that God desires to be in a relationship with us is still astounding.

On at least one level, the fact that God cares what we think about God implies that the relationship with humans is important to God. And of course, if it’s important to God it should be important to us.

Relationships matter to God. Our relationship with God matters.  

God cares about the relationship with Israel and with Israel’s enemies. So we should care about our relationships with our “Israel”, our families, neighbors, fellow citizens and  also with our enemies.

God cares what people think about him. I don’t think this is because God is worried that people won’t like him.  God is concerned that people know the true God, the God of Covenant faithfulness, the God who stands by Israel through thick and thin. God wants to be honestly and truthfully known. That is important for us as well. For us to be concerned about what people think about us doesn’t mean we should try to be someone we are not, but rather we should be concerned that we are known as a person of faith.  A person of faith for whom honest and caring relationships matter.

Why does God care what we think about God?  A mystery but a joyous one.

I’d like to know, what do you think?