Church needs to reclaim its language and its power
By Rev. Matt Poole
Senior Pastor, Glen Mar UMC
Evangelism marketing is a rather recent concept in the business community that encourages word of mouth marketing about products or services and promotes customer loyalty. The idea is to get a customer to become so loyal that they convince others to buy and use the product. I find this interesting that the business world is embracing the word evangelism, which means “to share or bring good news,” at the same time the church seems to be rejecting it.
I find many Christians who like to hide behind the quote from Francis of Assisi; “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” We tend to interpret this as advice not to use our words or say anything about our faith at all. St. Francis was not only a man of action but a man of words. During the crusades while men fought against the Muslims, St. Francis went to the Sultan himself to share the good news with him. The sultan would have been converted to Christianity if it had not been for the fact he would have lost his life as a result.
St. Francis also sent out his followers two by two to share the good news as Jesus commanded. This suggests that St. Francis understood that it was “necessary” to be an evangelist in the best sense of the word. He was concerned that our actions and our words be in alignment. There are times when basic needs are to be met before someone can actually hear the good news. This is true in many places, but many people living in America today already have their basic needs met. They are longing for the life-changing message of Jesus Christ and there is simply no one sharing it with them.
St. Francis also said, “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” When Jesus invited some fishermen to become followers he encouraged them with the phrase, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” (Luke 5:10) So we find that it is necessary to share our faith with others. If we do not use our words of good news, others are unlikely to understand our good actions. They are less likely to connect our good actions to God and we personally get all the credit for the good we do instead of God.
Evangelism in its purest and simplest form is to share with others the good news. What may intimidate us or feel uncomfortable to us is thinking that evangelism is converting people to our way of thinking. I am going to go out on a theological limb here and say that God does not ask us to convert people. God is the one who does the converting, not us. As fishers of people we are simply the ones casting the net of good news into the world. Some will swim into the net of good news and some won’t. God only asks us to share our faith with others.
And why wouldn’t we share our faith if it is good news! If the message of Jesus Christ is a life giving message that helps people in this life, wouldn’t we want to share it? We share the good news of a birth, a new job, a new car, a marriage, an anniversary and many other good things happening to us. The life giving grace of Jesus Christ is something good that has happened to me and changed me for the better. I can’t think of a good reason not to share this life giving message. God can use each of us through words and good actions to help root people in the life-giving message of Jesus Christ.
I know Bishop Marcus Matthews has challenged each of us to bring one person to Christ. I once prayed that God would give me the opportunity to bring 10 people to Christ in one year. Within six months I realized I had shared the good news and prayed with 11 people. After that I stopped counting, because it really isn’t about keeping score. God needed to change me in regards to sharing my faith and not other people. When we are open to the opportunities to share the Good News we find them all around us.
How do you create a culture of evangelism?
By Rev. Kevin Baker
Lead Pastor, Oakdale Emory UMC, Olney
I remember it like it was yesterday. It has only happened once, but once was enough to make a lasting impression on me. About 13 years ago, I was in the middle of a sermon on an average Sunday morning. I can’t recall much about the sermon except that I was pressing the point that God in Jesus was inviting us home. I was talking about how it felt to be far away from home and desperate to get back. Right then, in the middle of my words, she stood up. She didn’t move, just stood straight up, and said out loud for everyone to hear, “I want to come home!”
As I looked at her, she was weeping — not merely crying — but weeping so that her nose was running and tears were pouring down her cheeks. I stopped preaching, walked over to where she was and put my arm around her. In a gentle voice, with tears still streaming, she said, “I want to come home and have a relationship with God.”
Right there, in the middle of the room, in the middle of the service, I asked everyone to join me and I led her in prayer as she spoke directly to God about where she was in life and what she needed from him. I encouraged her to trust in God’s promises and then we hugged and she sat down. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember whether or not I finished the sermon.
That is a great story, isn’t it? But it doesn’t end there. The following week, I was with some of our longtime church members, and one of the women brought up the incident from the previous weekend. I expected her to have the same joy I had experienced, but I was sorely disappointed. Her comment was, “Things like that have no place in church.” She went on to say, “I have more religion in my little finger than what she has in her whole body.”
I didn’t know how to respond. Perhaps that’s one of the problems in our churches today: we’ve given the Lord our little fingers, rather than our whole selves.
What does the culture of your local church look like regarding the condition of humanity? Does the culture of your weekly worship services and small groups invite people to “come as they are” and seek love, help and healing? Do you know how to receive broken sinners in the midst of their pain, or does the culture of your church work against people admitting their hurts and faults until they are all better? Are you a “come and get clean” kind of church,
If you have not been seeing as many “conversions” in your church as you would like, below are some cultural changes that might set the stage for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully:
1) You go first. Pastoral and leadership vulnerability is a sensitive issue, but someone has to demonstrate what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors are not. There are plenty of ways to share your own struggles appropriately as a part of your preaching and teaching ministry. This makes you more real—not less. Most people would rather hear counsel from someone who has been in the trenches of life and is finding healing and wholeness than someone who has never struggled at all. Sharing your own struggles, losses and victories helps to create a culture where people understand it is okay to be broken.
2) Have the church go second. Create a culture ripe for evangelism through the regular use of testimonies. Start listening for stories from your members that you know would be appropriate to share and that would increase a culture of evangelism. Every one of us has a story of redemption and God’s work in our lives that will touch someone who is listening.
3) Turn up the volume. Vulnerability and culture change take time, but we must start slowly. As people begin to trust you as their pastor and the church is viewed as a safe environment in which to share their stories, there will be a gradual shift from, “I used to struggle with…” to something like, “Right now, I am in the middle of…” It is always easier to share our past struggles than to open up about the current issues in our lives. But as trust grows and culture changes, people will be more and more ready to “get real” about where they are today, which means that the Lord will be able to meet them in their pain right here and right now in your church.
4) Train your leaders. Jesus said the fields were ripe with the harvest but the workers were scarce, so we should pray for workers. I agree, but workers need to be trained. Many of our church members and leaders have never been equipped to help someone go from “lost” to “found.” Take time in your staff, council and committee meetings to help your leaders find their own evangelistic voices. Keeping the process “fuzzy” helps no one.
I remember a United Methodist clergy person once saying to me that in all of her training and church experience, she had neither seen nor helped anyone to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. How many of our leaders and church members feel woefully ill prepared to meet someone wherever they are on their spiritual journey and assist them to take
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