Evangelism and the Path to Membership

 I want to publish my first of two important paths for congregations in my series on evangelism before the demands of Holy Week and Easter occupy the minds of my fellow colleagues. For the past ten years, I have pointed congregational leaders toward the creation of these important and parallel paths.

Remember that the Episcopal definition of evangelism ends with the phrase “within the fellowship of the Church.” I have pointed out the importance of this phrase in my previous blogs on this topic. We can never separate as, American evangelicals often do, the preaching of repentance and turning to Christ from the work of making disciples within the fellowship of God’s people that we commonly call “The Church.”

When working with church leaders, I call this first path The Path to Membership. It is really The Path of True Fellowship. Let me remind all of us that what we call fellowship today, the coffee hour and potluck suppers, is really a terrible use of the word “koinonia”.  One of my dear mentors, Bishop Frey, always pointed out when teaching on the life of the Church that the better translation of this Greek word is “Solidarity.” As you know, Solidarity was the name chosen by the Polish resistance and liberation movement against communism and Soviet totalitarianism and is much more powerful than the word fellowship today.

Any reading of the New Testament and especial Acts tells us that the solidarity/fellowship of the early church bonded the followers of Jesus into a community of love with one another that it even threatened the power of Rome. “The blood of the martyrs" may have been the "seeds of the Church,” but the obvious love of one another that the early Christians exemplified drew thousands into relationship with Christ and one another. Often this included slaves! 

This is why the story of Perpetua and Felicitas held such a dramatic place in the early disciples of the second and third centuries. An aristocrat willing to die for her faith was stunning to Roman leaders, but the willingness of her slave to forgo freedom and chose death because of her love of her sister in Christ confounded the order of the Roman world. In a society where as much as 80% of the empire at times were part of the slave system, no wonder the Roman Empire was threatened and persecuted the early Christians. That power of love lived out would ultimately undermine the power of pagan society and despite their efforts to destroy them, this fellowship of the Beloved ultimately won over even the Empire itself. 

Why do I so belabor this point? Because as our secular society opens the door to paganism and superstitious cults, the rediscovery of this true fellowship becomes more important with each passing day. Cults bind souls. Fellowship frees them! How do we know when so-called Christian Fellowships like the Branch Davidian have become a cult? It becomes one when it binds members not only to one another but to some sort of charismatic leader who has become the interpreter of truth.

The Path to Fellowship needs to be intentional. We cannot just welcome new “members” into the Church and hope that attendance in worship, participation in stewardship, and occasional coffee hours will build this kind of community. These activities are not wrong or bad, but they are much less than true fellowship. For example, last Sunday, I handed the reserve sacrament to a Stephen’s minister of our home Parish at the end of the Eucharist.  Afterward at coffee, she explained to me that she was taking this to a widow of the parish who was now suffering from dementia in a nursing home. She told me that she and three other woman friends had committed themselves to the support each other. When one of them was left with no family to care for her, is now surrounded by institutional care (sic), and has become lost even to herself, these three women were committed to remembering who she was and is to them and her Church. There it is. Koinonia!

I challenge clergy and lay leaders to create an intentional path to such membership/fellowship to build their local communities. Sadly, Church membership often means welcoming new people, introducing them to other members, inviting them to participation in baptism or confirmation or reception, and then hoping they will volunteer someday to serve one of the parish's ministries. How can we do this more intentionally?

One of my mentors, Lyle Schaller, used to suggest that congregations use different types and sizes of groups to accomplish needed ministries. He pointed to the 15-to-30-person group which he called a class as best for instruction. Most choirs actually fit this definition, they learn and sing. And of course, church school classes and adult education are often done best is this size. The 30-to-70-person group he called a mission group because it is often best size for such ministries as Stephen Ministries or various outreaches to the wider community. But he always underscored that the best group for discipleship was the small group of 6 to 12 people. 

“That’s what Jesus did!” He would say with a smile to underscore his point. He would then say that it doesn’t matter whether you call them Home Fellowships, Bible Studies, or Support Groups, their real importance is that given enough time together, their true purpose is Christian formation and relationships. I always marvel at the continual conversations around the church as to whether a congregation should have small groups. My response is always, “Only if you want to have a real Christian community or if you are just satisfied to have a “Parish.”

After Easter, I will finish my series on evangelism with The Path to Discipleship. This obviously overlaps with fellowship, but it is, of course, much more. For now, ask yourself and other leaders, does our community have a clear and intentional path to fellowship and can we describe it and invite all members to it? 

 

The Parish and Evangelism

 

This is the third of my series of blogs on Evangelism. In this, I want to lift up three things.

1.    How Evangelism fits today amid secularization and the end of Christendom.

2.    The Discipleship Movement.

3.    Two Programs that have enhanced the work of evangelism in congregations.

In my first blog, I shared TEC’s official definition of evangelism, its origins, and its unique emphasis on “within the fellowship of the Church.” To the credit of the Billy Graham Association, three decades ago they did research on the follow up with those who decided for Christ at one of their Crusades. What they found was that only about 25% of those who had come forward and made such a response had followed up with this decision.

This was so troubling that the organization made an important decision. Instead of just putting on these Crusades, they reached out to involve local pastors. They asked for their involvement and gave permission to pastors to pray for those who wanted to repent and receive Christ. They also gave permission to pastors to invite the new believer to their congregation for follow up if they did not already belong to a church. I even knew Episcopal clergy that did so.

In other words, the most well-known evangelistic group in North America embraced in practice the last part of our definition, “within the fellowship of the Church” because of the critical importance of giving support to the new believer. It was an important correction. According to the Association, the results were significant. New believers were given spiritual support, teaching, and fellowship on the local level. They more than doubled the number of people who followed up on their decision.

This underscores the relationship between evangelism and membership in the body of Christ. Of course, in the New Testament, the two were assumed to be the same thing. It was the decision by the emperor Constantine to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire that this changed in a dramatic way.  It was the victory of the Cross over the State that had for 300 years persecuted with various intensity believers. Unfortunately, it also gave birth to the possibility of “nominal Christians” or Christians in name or membership only. 

It made possible what we now called Christendom. And its existence comes down to us even today. It is membership without evangelism or discipleship. In the US, where we never had an official state church, The new nation’s constitution enshrined separation of Church and State, however, this did not change the many cultural benefits to being a church member in a dominant Christian nation. This changed after the second world war. With the decline of “Protestant Culture” and the rise of secularism, we have seen the erosion of the benefits of such nominal membership. However, I’ve met many Episcopalians over the years who were members in name only. This remains the reason that I believe we need to do evangelism among our members. This is especially true in all so called “mainline churches.” 

To underscore what I just said above, I want to point out that the major movement of the 1990s was without a doubt the “Discipleship Movement.” It was ecumenical and it touched many people. This was the Christian response to growing secularism and the end of Christendom. In my first 30 years of ordained ministry in TEC, I almost never heard the word disciple applied to individual church members. In my experience, the best method for moving members to disciples was Cursillo.  It was a four-day event of mostly lay teaching and witness done in an incredible environment of worship, love, and support. The summary testimony of so many participants at the end was “when I came, I knew not Christ. Now I know him and want to follow him.”

A popular program aimed at members and new people was Alpha. I had many reservations about the Alpha claim that it was basic Christianity, however it was effective where parishes followed the program. Often the Holy Spirit Weekend at the end was a powerful experience for new believers as well as long-time Church members. Unfortunately, the heavy emphasis on conservative biblical interpretation often brought in people who during the early 2000s were going to have predictable reactions against some of TEC’s decisions regarding gender. My fundamental objection was simple that I had never known a Christianity without the sacraments. Teaching baptism and the Eucharist as not “basic” to the faith already revealed the problem Anglicans and Episcopalians would have with this.

I believe the present theological state of TEC makes Alpha no longer compatible to our congregations and clergy. It also seems that Cursillo has waned for a number of reasons. This, however, does not change the need our congregations have for doing evangelism both inside our churches and between our churches and the increasingly secular society. It actually increases the need. It would be a very helpful thing to have congregations doing this kind of work share their methods for doing it. 

In my next blog post, I will be sharing what I have said to many congregations and clergy about creating two intentional paths in their communities. First, is the path toward full inclusion in the parish versus just making people members. The second path is that of discipleship. These obviously are closely related, but there is a need for both of them.

Learning to do Evangelism

After my ordination, I quickly found that my seminary training had not prepared me for leading a parish.  It had left me spiritually bereft in dealing with a troubled and difficult parish. The Good News in this was that it left me open to a moment of spiritual renewal. This motivated me to learn more about ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I attended an ecumenical conference in Tulsa, and this ended with a group of five younger Episcopal clergy having dinner with the Rev. Robert Harvey. He was an older priest who led a vital and vibrant congregation. During our meal, we asked him a number of questions about leading a renewal of a congregation. After several questions about how to do this, he stopped us and asked an important question. “How many of you have done evangelism either in your church or among non-churched people?” After a long silence, he suggested that all of us learn how to do evangelism and recommended several places where we could learn this skill. We knew he was right.

This led me to call the New England headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ. It was a hard thing to do. I knew the organization had a strong fundamentalist and evangelical core, but I was willing to sign up for their next “Disciple Making Seminar.” I arrived at the two day event not knowing what to expect. I was stunned to discover that the other participants were all college students. With my clerical collar, I stood out from the group.  I told myself that I might learn something and to just listen.

The first day was spent introducing us to their standard evangelism tool. It is called “The Four Spiritual Laws” and was intended to be used one on one.  The teacher was engaging, but I found myself put off by the simplicity of the four spiritual laws. Essentially, the four laws are (1) God created us and loves us, (2) We have sinned and rebelled against God as sinners, (3) Jesus repaired the gap between us and God by his death on a Cross. (4) We can be reconciled to God by accepting Jesus’ death for us, confessing that we are sinners, and repeating the disciples’ prayer. At the end of the day, I remember thinking “that’s it? That is evangelism?”

Of course, my mainline theological education gave me grave doubts about all this, and the next day I was not prepared for our assignment. We were divided into groups of two and told to go out to a public place and share the booklet with someone. Our approach was to ask, “Have you ever heard of the Four Spiritual Laws?” If the answer was no, we were then to offer to share them by way of the booklet with its simple illustrations.  Thank God, my paired student seemed eager, and I was glad to let him take the lead.

We ended up at a laundromat. There were just a few people and the only one alone was a young man in his middle twenties. I nodded encouragement to the student, and he smiled and said, “Since you’re a pastor, why don’t you show me how to do this.” He added that “I will be praying for you both.” I was not wearing my clericals, dressed casually, but I knew that despite my reluctance, there was no way out. 

I approached the young man, introduced myself, and said “Have you ever heard of the four spiritual laws?  He looked curious and said, “No, what are they?” I proceeded to walk through the booklet with him explaining each law. Occasionally, he would nod and look thoughtful. Finally, we reached the end, and I asked THE question. Would you like to accept Jesus and say this disciple prayer? He thought for a few moments and responded, “Yes, I would.” I could see my partner smiling. So, surprised, I said the only thing I could like of, “Why in the world would you want to do that?”

I could not believe that anyone would respond to such a basic presentation, and I genuinely wanted to know why he did. At first, he simply said, “Hey, you are the one who shared this with me!” I pulled myself together and seeing the panic on my partner’s face, I simply asked, “What made you want to say yes? I will never forget his response.

“Well, I’ve heard about Jesus, of course, even attended a few churches over the years, but no one has ever explained this before. I could understand it, and I wanted to say yes.” So, I read, and he repeated the sinner’s prayer and his commitment to follow Christ.  After I suggested that he follow up by finding a church or Christian fellowship. I gave him the booklet and he smiled and thanked me. As we left, he was reading it over carefully.

Later that day, we regrouped and shared our experience in trying to share Christ with others. A few also found a person who, after a few questions, agreed to say the prayer. Fortunately for me, the instructor had my partner share what had happened with us. He did share about my asking why my person wanted to pray, and then went on to share the young man’s response. 

I went home with a bag full of Four Spiritual Laws booklets and a lot of things to think about. I kept thinking about the young man’s honest answer to me. No one has ever explained this to me in a way that I could understand it. I realized that all my theological training and experience in the ministry had left me incapable of sharing the heart of the gospel in a clear and simple way that led to an invitation to respond to God’s gift in Christ.

I also learned the importance of intentionally in trying to share this message. I would now say that evangelism is to intentionally share the good news of Christ with another person or persons, and to invite that person to respond to that message. The role of intentionality struck me. Neither was I trying to argue with someone or to try to intellectually convince them that Christianity was true. I was intentionally trying to share the good news with another.

A lot happened after that. I found other ways to intentionally do this. And I found a more personal way that felt more congruent with me. In my next parish, I started my ministry by preaching the Gospel in such a way that I offered to my congregation a chance to personally respond to the message. To my surprise, a number of longstanding members of TEC responded and I prayed with them as they made such a decision. A mentor taught me during all this to “never assume that a church member has made a commitment to Christ unless you hear them say that they had.” Note that my mentor did not say that I should assume that someone had not made that decision and judge others. He said do not assume they had.

I later learned how to equipe members of my congregations to be able to say that they had come to Christ and to invite others to also do so. That will be my next blog. For now, remember this. Evangelism involves an intention to share. Many times, over the years, I have prayed that God would give me the opportunity to share the faith with another, but I realized that even if that happened, I would have to be prepared to do it and know what I intended.

Imagine a whole congregation praying, “Oh Lord, give me the opportunity to share my faith with others and wisdom to intentionally do this when the moment arises.” I have further learned evangelism is the Spirit’s work and that God is the great evangelist longing to win the world to God’s own self but has left the message with us to share. 

Let me close with this story. When Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection, a group of Angels gathered around him and asked, “Lord, how are you now going to win the over the world.” Jesus, responded with, “I have commissioned my disciples to do this work.” The Angels looked at each other and one finally said, “Lord, what’s your plan B? You know how humans are.”

Jesus answered, “There is no plan B.”

In my next blog, I will share how I equipped others to do this work both in my parishes and in workshops in numerous other congregations.

 

 

Turning to Christ

This is the title of Dean Urban Holmes’ book on evangelism. It is now a classic, and it is my favorite phrase for understanding evangelism. Holmes also had a great insight into a problem TEC has with evangelism. He pointed out that the Church has a linguistic problem. We all share the same vocabulary, but often we mean different things when we use terms. When it comes to the word evangelism, our problem is that all of us know and use the word, but often we mean different things by it.

When I served in Southern Ohio, the Bishop asked me to chair a new commission on Evangelism. Holmes’ point was driven home in our first meeting when I asked each member what they meant by evangelism. The answers varied greatly, and I remember two responses. One person said, “Evangelism means proselytizing other people and I am here to make sure we Episcopalians don’t do it.” A second person added, “I came from an evangelical denomination, and I joined the Episcopal Church because we don’t do it.”  This latter answer is something that I will return in a later blog when I discuss the resistance within the Church to doing evangelism. The first 5 meetings of the Commission were spent just trying to reach some agreement about the word evangelism.

I also learned the painful truth about how people use the word. After a year of discussion and planning, we went back to the bishop to suggest a strategy for evangelism in Southern Ohio. After he read it, he said to me, “That’s not what I think evangelism is.” The bishop a disillusioned former evangelical now believed evangelism meant advocacy and social change. At first, I felt let down by the bishop, but Urban Holmes’s comment helped me understand that I was naïve to take on the work without finding out first what the bishop meant.

As the Church prepared for the decade of evangelism in the 1990s, our bishops spent much time coming to a definition for TEC. They built on William Temple’s saying that “Evangelism is the presentation of Jesus Christ in such ways that men and women are led to accept him as Savior and follow him as Lord. When Temple's definition was expanded to “follow him within the fellowship of his Church,” English evangelicals led by John Stott objected to this. They stated that our job was “to proclaim” the good news of the Gospel and not to attach people to the Church. They argued that evangelism was centered on the decision and not on church membership or formation.  Of course, the baptismal service affirms the role of the Church in the formation of a new Christian. Fortunately, our bishops embraced Temple’s fuller definition and added the words “in the power of the Holy Spirit.” After all, evangelism is God’s endeavor through Christ and not based on human determination to “make” people believers.

What is evangelism according to TEC? Our official definition is “Evangelism is to present Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit so that persons are led to believe in him as Savior and follow him as Lord within the fellowship of the Church.”

What is not evangelism? It is not as one Bishop famously said, “everything the Church does.” It is not diversity, inclusion, and equality. It is not demanding social justice. It is not offering a food bank, or providing shelter for those who need it. It is not marching for someone or some group’s rights. As important as all these things are, they are not evangelism. I would add that if everything we do is evangelism then nothing is evangelism.

However, I would strongly like to repeat an observation often made by Bishop Payne. He would point out that “evangelism is the most inclusive thing the Church does.” Remember the biblical witness. In the beginning, all Jesus’ followers were Jews. Then the gospel was shared with the Greek Speaking Jews. Then it was shared with the Samaritans. Then it was carried to the gentile Cornelius and his household. And Acts tells us that the home of Paul’s missionary work was not Jerusalem but in the multicultural community of Antioch. And, of course, it was there that the followers of the way were first called Christians. This was the risen Christ’s intention, “go and make disciples of all nations (“etna” or “people groups”) baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them all I have told you.”

Clergy often say that the decade of Evangelism was a failure. That is not correct. From 1995 to 2000, TEC was the only growing mainline Church in the United States. Why was this true? It happened because with a clear definition of evangelism, we expanded the ways that we presented Jesus Christ to our own members and to the non-churched. Many congregations started offering different methods for evangelism and many dioceses sponsored them. Are there Episcopal congregations and clergy who still do evangelism? Yes, there are, but they are now seen as outliers and are few in numbers.

In this series, I intend to explore this topic more fully. In my next blog, I want to share how I learned to do evangelism and what I learned about evangelism by doing it.