Online Archives

BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

The vision of members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference is 'to be like Christ,' but participants at the recent School of Evangelism are going one step further by 'treating others like Christ.'

'Evangelism really is about invitation,' said the Rev. Christopher Gobrecht, pastor of New Covenant UMC in Cumberland and chair of the conference Board of Evangelization, which sponsored the Nov. 11 school at Calvary UMC in Annapolis. 'It?s about taking small steps, reaching out and sharing our faith.'

'It?s also about hospitality, and being able to treat each person we encounter in our churches and communities as if they were Christ,' said the Rev. Byron Brought, pastor of Cavalry, who is this year?s clergy recipient of the Denman Evangelism award.

'Evangelism is, as Emil Brunner said, just ?one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread,?' Brought added.

The theme of the school, which drew almost 100 participants, was 'Reclaiming and Sharing the Stories of Jesus.'

The Rev. Sherry L. Daniels, a pastor in Norfolk who also recently served as director of congregational development for the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference, encouraged those present to take seriously Jesus? commission to share the Christian story.

'People need to hear the word of God and they need to hear it from us,' said Daniels, who confessed to being concerned about decline in United Methodist churches.

'If we are people who say we believe in Jesus Christ, how can we reconcile that to our churches being in decline? Is that really a possibility?' she asked. 'We don?t have the luxury of not being serious about evangelism in our churches.'

Daniels encouraged those present to adopt new technologies to reach out to people and share the reality of their encounters with God. She also warned those present to not lean on old-fashioned ideas of evangelism.

'It?s not so much our words, as our living,' that draws people to church, she said. 'We need to love them in relationship.'

Daniels also urged those interested in effective evangelism to be clear about their church?s mission. It shouldn?t be something printed in a bulletin or pulled out of a file.

'Have we gotten so relaxed that people don?t understand how important it is to articulate our mission,' she asked. 'We can say, ?make disciples? all day long. But what does that mean? What, specifically do we do? Every person in our churches needs to be clear about it.'

One way to increase clarity about discipleship it to use a variety of mediums for communication, she asked. Daniels encourages churches to make the community aware of its presence and its ministries by using at least seven different communications vehicles.

'The point is to get people thinking and talking about your church. Once we get people across the threshold, we can take it from there,' Daniels said.

But for church members who need some gbwc_superuserance, Daniels recommended a seven-point plan:

? Make people aware of you;
? Give them a positive impression;
? Touch a need;
? Awaken their dreams;
? Inspire hope;
? Engender trust;
? Increase their curiosity.

'God has given us the gifts we need,' Daniels concluded. 'Be the real church wherever God has planted you.'

At the School of Evangelism, participants also heard from storyteller Ann Loar Brooks and took a number of workshops on a variety of subjects from small groups, to world religions and reaching more diverse communities.

They also honored Robert Jacoby, the lay winner of the Denman award for evangelism. A member of Wesley Freedom UMC, he reached out to youth in a 'fifth-quarter' ministry that drew young people in the community to the church following high school football games.

The Denman Evangelism Award is given annually to a clergy and lay person in each annual conference, who are doing the work of effective evangelism. The award is named for the late Harry Denman, who in 1949 founded the Foundation for Evangelism, an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship.