As someone who has been
passionately committed to Evangelism in the Episcopal Church for almost 40
years, I am very pleased with our Presiding Bishop’s emphasis on The Jesus
Movement and the need for more Evangelism in our community. Many of our leadership signing on to this
Jesus Movement idea, however, are quick to say that this is not about building
churches or adding to our membership.
For them it is about proclaiming the good news of God’s Kingdom of
Justice, equality, and inclusiveness of all people. While I understand some of these comments, I
want to underscore the important of healthy and vibrant congregations to the
Jesus Movement and the work of Evangelism.
Put the Movement First
First, let me assert that I
am 100% in agreement with the statement by Bishop Curry that we are the
Episcopal/Anglican expression of the Jesus Movement. I think it is extremely important to
acknowledge that Christianity has and always will be about Jesus and it is a
movement much more than an organization or institution. The Church is essentially the Community of
Christ, and Christianity is a transactional experience where one or more
follows of Jesus communicate through the power of the Holy Spirit who the
Resurrected Jesus is, what he has done, and what he is doing in our lives and
in our world.
As Richard Chartres the
now retired Bishop of London said recently, “Christianity is first and foremost
a way of life.” To be a Christian is not
just to hold to a set of theological positions and truths. We have truth and we have theological beliefs
– the content of the faith once received and passed on by the Apostles - but at
the heart of Christianity is the way of life that Jesus has modeled for us and given
to us by his Spirit. This is why the
Church talks about “formation” and not just teaching people. As Paul insisted, Christ is in us and the
fullness of Christ is being formed in us.
This is true both for individual Christians and for the Christian
Community which we affirm is the living body of Christ. To affirm these things is in no way to
denigrate the place and role of the Church for Christians, it is merely to put
first things first.
We Have Thought About This Before
Now the relationship
between Evangelism and the Church is something that TEC has given serious
consideration in the past. While many current leaders tend to speak negatively
about the Decade of Evangelism, It is important to remember that one
accomplishment of the emphasis on Evangelism during that time was the careful
thought given by TEC to what evangelism is and what it is not. Unfortunately, much of this work has been
forgotten. However, two things came out
of that Decade.
First was a thoughtful and
comprehensive Episcopal definition of Evangelism that is still the official
definition of our Church. Building on
Archbishop Temples’ definition, the official definition remains “Evangelism is
the presentation of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit so that others
are led to receive him as Savior and follow him as Lord within the fellowship
of His Church.” Some, especially English
Evangelicals, seriously objected to the “within the fellowship of His Church”
statement. They contended that
Evangelism is primarily about proclamation and had little to do with bringing
people to the Church. I sense that some
of our Progressive leaders have come to this same conclusion when they state
that “Evangelism is not about numbers or building churches.” For example, the Rev. Michael Hunn speaking
of current efforts toward evangelism said recently “The fundamental goal is to
spread the good news, not to bring people into the church.” While this may sound good, it really makes
little sense in practice. People do not
just hear the good news and end up formed in Christ. If it takes a village to raise a child, it no
doubt takes a community to form a new soul in Christ.
Second, during the Decade
of Evangelism, we grew and expanded TEC.
In the last five years of the Decade of Evangelism, 1995 to 2000, we
were the only mainline denomination in the United States that had increases in
the number of baptisms, attendance, and membership. It is important to recognize that this was
the result of intentional efforts at Evangelism and intentional efforts at
expanding membership in congregations.
Of course, other things have happened since then. There were difficult and controversial
decisions that divided the Church and led to losses in membership, but there
was a time when the work of Evangelism was being done and was bearing
fruit. It is still being done in 15 to
20% of our congregations and they are still bearing fruit. That fruit is new believers brought into
Christ’s Church.
And this is still being
done in congregations despite the growing secularization of our society, the
death of many out dated institutional structure of the church, and a huge
number of congregations (dare I say even Dioceses) that are focused on
institutional survival. Let me say this
even more plainly. In many of the
declining congregations that I have known and many I have tried to help, the
current membership is singularly fixed on what the current members like and do
not like. They focus on what members
want without ever asking the missional question of what the community around
them and the people in these communities need.
So, numbers for numbers sake?
Many of these declining churches would love to have more people giving
more money, but their inward focus makes getting new folks almost
impossible.
People Will Be Drawn by Our Good Works
Lastly, I need to say
something about another issue that is implied by many of our current
leadership. It goes something like
this. If our churches do right, just,
and fully inclusive things, people will be drawn to our communities. Of course, some of us remember the famous
statement by one of our Bishops that “affirming homosexual persons and agreeing
to marriage equality would lead to hundreds of thousands of new members joining
our churches.” Such hyperbole is
misleading and worse, said often enough, people who say it come to believe it.
In commenting on the
potential that we have as a church, one leader said that if the Church were to
take on human trafficking or sexual exploitation of Children that this would be
an incredible opportunity for Evangelism.
People would see our work for justice and helping the marginalized and
flock to our communities. There are two
reasons why this is mistaken.
First, churches in the
U.S. already do an incredible among of work for both justice and on behalf of
marginalized people. We do this because
it is part of that whole “following him” perspective that we carry. I have known a few folks over the years
that were attracted to Episcopal churches because of such good work, but this
has never been the primary thing that has drawn people to Christ and his
Church. What draws most people is well, how should I say this without being
offensive, something spiritual.
Second, who are all these
people who are going to flock to us because we are taking on these important
and worthwhile causes? You see for
people to want these issues corrected and are willing to labor, give, pray, and
sacrifice to have them happen would in itself take a conversion. The problem is
not that we have all these good people who want to join churches that are doing
good and just things. It is that we have
huge numbers of self-centered, self-indulgent, and indifferent sinful people
who do not care about these issues and the people caught up in them. For them to care, would take quite frankly a
transformation and conversion to another set of values. In other words, we have this formula
backwards.
Evangelism and the Converted Life
The Church’s own history
teaches us this truth. Take Francis of Assisi’s conversion from smug and
indulgent dandy, to Christ-centered revolutionary. Contrast this to the babble on TMZ and the
superficial folks they hold constantly before us. Or take John Newton’s conversion from slave
trader to evangelical preacher and reformer of English society. Take Paul’s conversion from self-righteous
persecutor of the early Christians to Apostle to the Gentiles. Take John Wesley’s conversion from
Anglican moralist to radical conversionary. Take Simon Weil’s conversion from comfortable middle class bureaucrat
to radical witness to Christian solidarity with Jews during the holocaust. The list goes on and on. In most of the Church’s history, radical
justice and good works are the fruit of conversion to Christ; they are not the
magnet that draws the indifferent human heart.
If you believe that most people are well intentioned and just looking
for a Church making a difference in our world, you are either naive or
diluted. Our world needs what Jesus has
given us, the compelling icon of self-sacrificial love and compassion.
If our community wants to
do Evangelism, it must move deeper and more closely to the Christ who is the
good news for our broken world. His
cross is both a judgement on this world and its values and the cure to heal the
human soul and society. People who have
discovered this truth have formed a Movement that has been converting,
reforming, and healing our world for 2000 years. We find these people in the Church, the Body
of Christ, the Household of God, the Fellowship of the King, and the communion
of the saints.
If you think we can do
Evangelism without such local vibrant communities, you will be sorely
disappointed. We cannot have vibrant
Churches without Evangelism, and we cannot have Evangelism without vibrant
congregations.
