One Sunday almost eight years ago, Brian, a teenager from our congregation told a story in worship about an exercise his sociology teacher had used in class. The teacher asked, “How many of your grandparents attend worship?” Everyone in the class of 30 high school students put up their hands. “How many of your parents attend worship?” the teacher asked next. About half of the class put up their hands. The teacher continued: “And how many of you attend worship?” Two people put up their hands! Brian gave our congregation a good wake up call that day in worship; if those other 28 students were to know anything of the joy, peace, life and wholeness that comes with following Jesus, someone would need to tell them. But how would we do that?
Even in a fairly traditional place like small – town Nova Scotia, the second largest category in the census, according to religious affiliation in New Minas, is “Those having no religion.” This is what happens when we don’t tell anyone. Has the church forgotten how to tell this Good News? Could we share Good News if we knew how?
Do you know why most people say they are not active in the church? It’s not that they have a problem with a few lines of the Apostle’s Creed. It’s not because of the interpretation of scripture. It’s not even because they don’t believe in God. No, the primary reason given in surveys is: “No one ever asked me.”
Recently, I heard of a little Baptist church in Digby Neck, N.S., that was so convinced about the importance of telling Good News—evangelism—that they agreed to offer some of their pastor’s time and pay mileage for him to travel to New Minas, 90 minutes away, once a week, to tell people who are living on the streets here about Jesus. Their approach may not sound very Presbyterian, but think about it; their motivation was not to improve their own Sunday worship attendance, or to improve their congregational offerings. Instead they got it; they understood their call to tell others about Jesus.
Why are mainline Protestants, and particularly Presbyterians, so resistant to telling others about their faith? One colleague told me of the wonderfully kind folk in the Presbyterian church he served, who volunteered at a food bank, a shelter for the homeless, a soup kitchen and on various social agencies in their city, doing completely amazing things. But it would only be in their obituaries that folk in the wider community might discover “why” these devoted Presbyterians did all of this good—because they followed Jesus. They just never told anyone.
Rick Warren says a lot of North Americans are “Arctic River Christians: Cold as ice and frozen at the mouth.” “Oh, I don’t need to talk about my faith, I just live it.” I don’t think Presbyterians are cold, but they are reserved and a bit shy when it comes to putting their faith into words. Yet just as words without actions are futile, so actions without words are devoid of meaning and content. What could help us to come out of our shells?
At a recent meeting of the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces when the word “evangelism” was mentioned on the floor of the meeting, it was almost like a figurative skunk had been released in the sanctuary; the whole room drew back. One commentator has said that evangelism has fallen “among thieves” in the church, where it has been “beaten up and robbed,” by an unfortunate narrowing of its meaning to either a fundamentalist theology, a revivalistic style of preaching for soul – saving, or a congregational campaign for new members. The loss is ours.
Brian McLaren concludes in More Ready Than You Realize: The Power of Everyday Conversations: “… that word has been so bastardized that I can hardly bear to use it. It is (however) a word with a good heart, in spite of its dirty reputation.” On the street the word is equated with pressure, selling God, as if God were vinyl siding or a hot dog; shoving your ideas down someone’s throat, threatening folk with hell if they don’t give in. If the word is preceded by the word television the word evangelism grows even darker and more sinister and hypocritical. But maybe it’s not evangelism itself, but late 20th – century styles of evangelism that are the problem. Evangelism has been made to serve alien purposes. What if, as McLaren suggests, evangelism is one of the things that our world needs most?
Think about how you came to faith. How did Jesus come to you, as he came to his first disciples, calling you by name and inviting you to join him? Chances are, someone came telling you about Jesus. I was told about Jesus by Glenelg Presbyterian Church. In addition to parents who read the Bible and prayed, I was told the Good News of Jesus through people like Mary Cameron, a youthful 80 – something advocate for youth who talked to me; through Johnny MacDonald, who kept things stirred up with his dreams of how things might be; through Carrie MacLaughlin, whose broad smile and hardy laugh warmly embraced everyone; through …
Five times in the New Testament we hear Jesus calling disciples in a variety of ways to evangelism. Five times is pretty often for any one command!
And we do have a Canadian Presbyterian tradition of evangelism, too! It may have been the Irish and the Scots who brought the Presbyterian Church with them to Canada, but those they found here and those who came after them were not all devout Christians. Life on the frontier was anything but pious and devout. By the late 1800s, evangelism was one of the most hotly pursued issues at General Assemblies.
Long – term Christians often forget how hopeless and chaotic life is without God. The upward climb to comfort, luxury and status, devoid of meaning, leaves a core that is empty and lonely. In our society so many people live in isolation. For many, the complexity of the world’s problems can seem totally overwhelming. Yet we have good news: that in the risen Jesus Christ, the world is now under new management. Our mission is to grow the reign of the New Creation that starts when the lost are welcomed into community, when the marginalized find acceptance, when the hopeless find new meaning, grace and worth, when old wounds are healed with love, and there is life!
There is a power and a presence at work in the world to give newness, to break our vicious cycles of barrenness, fear, alienation and hostility.
A while ago, I was at a palliative care event put on by our local hospital for clergy and lay visitors from local churches. The palliative care physician giving most of the presentations, said: “What you do for these patients is more important than what I do!” She recalled assessing a new patient in his home. She asked if the man was part of a faith community or had a spiritual practice. A barrage of anger and negativity spewed forth, directed at one particular denomination. The doctor moved on. The next week she visited him, he said he wanted to speak to someone from the denomination about it. The doctor made a referral and a minister came. A couple of days later when the doctor was back visiting the patient she was stunned by the difference in her patient. His countenance was completely transformed. “What that visit helped to facilitate was more important than what I could have done,” the doctor said. The man’s daughter, who had grown up schooled in hating church was perplexed; yet, in a short while she too found her way into the church for the first time in her life.
If you asked around your congregation how people learned of Jesus, most would likely tell you of a special Sunday school teacher, a friend, a neighbour, a camp counsellor, a mother, a father, a grandparent or an aunt or uncle, who just did the best they could. Every Christian can speak with the honest humility that says: Here is what I have experienced. I’m not claiming that it is perfect or enough or even very good, but I believe that it has led me to a very good thing.
Over a fence, over a desk, in a coffee shop, at a construction site, a basketball court, or a podium, God intends to use you. God enjoys it when you take risks in conversations, turning them from the mundane to things that have deep meaning. What are you willing to do so that others can find Jesus? Invite them to church? Share some of your personal story? Offer a book to read? Share a meal? Pray for them? Your mission field is all around you. Don’t miss the opportunities that God is giving you! Could there be someone near you who is just a step away from God, but who needs to come into contact with someone like you? What’s holding you back? Who are you going to tell?
