On Sunday, July 19th, I preached a sermon called: The Great Recall Virus. In light of events at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, I made the diagnosis that our church all over the country is suff ering from this deadly disease. The recall virus defi ned is an IN-ABILITY TO RECALL WHO WE BELONG TO AND WHY”¦ A virus so severe that it leads to not only to what you read in the paragraph below, but one that has the potential to lead each one of us astray.
I will never forget the moment I knew The Great Recall Virus had hit the National Episcopal Church. It came as I sat in att endance at the convention of the Diocese of Washington in the National Cathedral. The convention preacher stood up and said these words:
“We live in a pluralistic world. A world of peoples with many belief systems and values. Our Christian, especially evangelical mission no longer can be as simple ”“ as if it ever was ”“ as telling people about Jesus, so that thy may be as we are and believe as we do. Perhaps our mission, by necessity, must continue to focus on more common human, not especially Christian concerns ”“ alleviating poverty, civil rights, the ill, economic exploitation, environmental devastation”¦”
As I sat in stunned silence, I was shocked to see the preacher receive a standing ovation!
Is there a remedy? Enter a new season of our Beta Course. As you know by now, we have divided our courses here at St. Michael’s into three:
Alpha: Cultural Christian to Believer
Beta: Believer to Disciple
Gamma: Disciple to Mission Apologist
For those who may not take time to scroll through the PDF file, you can find more details about the course they will be offering on p. 14:
[blockquote]Here’s how it will work:
1) Participate will purchase a copy of the Essential Bible Guide and read the 100 passages from September 3 until
December 3rd – a daily Bible reading (with a twoâ€page comment in the book) every day except Sundays. Some
passages involve 2 or more chapters. Most are just one chapter.
2) You have the option of choosing lunch (12:00) or supper (6:00) every other Thursday where The Rev. Dr. Peter
Moore will give a “Live Talk†where he will take one of the 100 passages, explain it in depth, and show its practical
application to today. Please know that you will need to commit with choosing one or the other (lunch OR
supper) throughout the course…unlike the spring Beta!!
3) Life Groups will meet in between the “Live Talks†in order to chew over another one of the 100 passages – with a
study guide prepared especially for this course. Expect challenging questions that open up real dialogue in your
group.
4) You will even hear Sunday Sermons on still another of the 100 passages that you’ve read. This sermon series
will keep us on track with Eâ€100 as the fall progresses.
5) Life Groups will be invited to share (at the 9:20am Sunday Tool Time) what they are learning, and how these
essential Bible Scriptures are being incorporated into and enriching their lives.[/blockquote]
And that quote from a sermon at the Nat. Cathedral is oh so telling and sad. Ought to go in SF’s document the heresy thread. I wonder who said it and when?
I’d love to know more about their “Gamma” course too. Glad to see churches being creative in getting people into the Bible.
I know a church in Arizona that is using the “Lifegroup model” of Bible study and they’ve grown from something like 50 to 500 in 5 or 6 years…
Was wanting to do a bit more research on the “Essential 100” plan, and the companion book the “Essential Jesus” as it strikes me these could be good basic discipling tools here where I work in Africa too, especially if the selections focus on stories, since I work in a primarily oral culture.
There’s a blog that looks like it has some good resources: The Essential Bible Blog
http://www.essentialbibleblog.com/
Lots of good stuff to explore…
[blockquote]”Our Christian, especially evangelical mission no longer can be as simple – as if it ever was – as telling people about Jesus, so that thy may be as we are and believe as we do. Perhaps our mission, by necessity, must continue to focus on more common human, not especially Christian concerns – alleviating poverty, civil rights, the ill, economic exploitation, environmental devastation…â€[/blockquote]
Is it wrong for me to hear in these words the desire to not simply to tell people about Jesus but to work on other issues we encounter on the mission field (foreign and domestic) that effect those with whom we are sharing our faith? I think most of us would agree that a faith that only deals with a future heaven and not the here and now is at very least contradictory to what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer – that the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I am afraid I have a difficult time thinking that missions that only deal in the spiritual can be successful.
I think, for example of the orphanages I know in Mexico, sharing Christian faith, and dealing with immediate needs of those who have been abandoned by family, run by evangelical churches. I think of the Episcopal Church’s El Hogar mission in Honduras which teaches the Christian faith but also is a school for orphaned children which not only gives them an education but gives them a secondary education that focuses on a trade that breaks the cycle of poverty and trains in the best sustainable agricultural practices. History is filled with examples of missions that share the Christian faith with utter disregard for the needs of those being served.
Domestically my parish not only preaches the good news of God in Christ, but we seek to respond to the needs of the community. Right now we’re collecting school supplies for children in public schools around us for children who cannot afford them. Some 60% are on assisted or free lunch in our school district.
So I can’t see this conversation as anything but a both/and. We have to tell people about Jesus and we have to deal with needs. There are no if ands or buts about it. And I hear in the preacher’s words a desire to help people to hear us by the work we do, reminding me of the quote attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the Gospel always. Use words if necessary.”
I think my old friend Al’s anxiety level is a little high here, but hey, a heck of a sales job to parishioners for the new program.
#3, I disagree, vehemently. We are to bring people to Jesus, first and foremost. That is what God’s people are about. Social works are nice. Social works are often needful things, but our mission is proclaiming the Gospel. And I do not mean the social justice gospel.
I have learned the hard way that when people distinguish, when they hem and haw, when they fidget about evangelism, then they have no sound understanding of what being a Christian is all about.
Our duty to our Redeemer is to proclaim His Good News and to bring others to Him. There can be no equivocation about it. No Christian would seek to add or amend that statement.
Stridently yours,
#3, I’m all for preaching and humanitarian work. I do both in Africa.
I ran a child nutrition project providing supplementary feeding to thousands of malnourished kids per month for 15 years. Now I’m leading community development projects that focus on women’s literacy, remedial tutoring for school children, income-generating projects, and training community leaders…
But in the context of TEC and the espoused universalism of so many of its leaders who deny that preaching Jesus is necessary or that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and the only way to be saved, but that there are many “vehicles” to God, I think Al Zadig’s concerns are very justified.
Don’t put your own spin on what you think Dio. Washington leaders mean by the above, but look at the context of what’s been preached at the National Cathedral or written by the diocesan leaders before.
Check on the SF Document the Heresy thread:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/13902/
and particularly these comments:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/13902#285531
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/13902#346154
(and many more)
and also this thread including links to Bishop Chane’s infamous 2003 Christmas sermon:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/13894/
http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2003-12-31
Etc etc etc. Sigh.
Dear Matthew A,
sad to hear you say that it is all about eveangelism and to imply that anything ‘social’ is not gospel. The gospels and therefore Jesus (let’s just start perhaps with the parable of the good samaritan) would seem to disagree. So does the OT (read Amos before you go to bed tonight – or the Jubilee legislation, etc etc. And it seems that the epistles do not think that ‘the gospel’ can be reduced to words (evangelism) – caring for the poor and the weaker ones seems to be on Paul’s to do list (let alone the letter of James!). Neither is the opinion that mission should not include ‘justice’ or anything ‘social’ an Anglican virute either (what does the BCP say? = “not only with our lips, but in our lives”). And if our friends in the global south can be permitted a word, how about the former Archbishop of Kenya, David Gitari, who was always happy to remind the Christians in Kenya to ‘preach the gospel, but remember, empty stomachs have no ears.’ So it seems to me, Matthew A, that the Bible, the classic Anglican tradiation, and global south Anglicanism would all disagree with you…
Grant LeMarquand
#6, Rev Dr Grant LeMarquand. I think you missed the point. Good works is how we are supposed to live. They are what we are supposed to do as part of our life. Our job as laity is evangelism. I’m reacting, and possibly over-reacting, to the usual plaint of the mainstream Episcopalian.
Karen B, supra said it better. I’ve just been in the Episcopal Church so long that when I start to hear, or even think I hear, Social Gospel revisionism I get twitchy.
To recap, I very much favour support and am active in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, visiting those in prison and the like. But we do those things because that is what we are supposed to do. They are what we would like others to do for us.
Evangelism is much more than our duties to our brethren.
#6 You should think about teaching a class on the biblical basis for mission or something!
Greetings:
Speaking as a potential target for evangelism, perhaps I can add a bit of perspective here. Offhand, I agree with [b]paxetbonum[/b] [url=”http://new.kendallharmon.net/wp-content/uploads/index.php/t19/article/24748/#389505″]3[/url] that
[quote]I can’t see this conversation as anything but a both/and. We have to tell people about Jesus [i]and[/i] we have to deal with needs. There are no if ands or buts about it.[/quote]
Emphasis mine.
If you are not sharing the Gospel, whatever you are doing is not evangelism, and possibly not entirely Christian (IMVHO). That being said, if you do share the Gospel with me, why should I believe you?
If I have been raised in an entirely secular world (I have, btw), you’re just another person trying to sell me something. I might buy, though for the 10% of my gross income you’re encouraging me to give, I want something pretty good. Oh, you aren’t going to deliver until after I’m dead? Mmmm.
If I do go for the long-term insurance plan, why yours and not someone else’s? There are plenty on offer. Many of them don’t cost nearly what yours does.
See where I’m going with this?
Let me quote Anglican theologian C.B. Moss:
[quote]We accept the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as true, and the experience of the Church, including our own, confirms our acceptance. When Nathaniel doubted whether any good thing could come out of Nazareth (St. John 1:46), Philip did not try to convince him by argument. He said, “Come and see.” This is what the Church says to the doubter today: “Come and see; try it for yourself.” The witness of Christians is of supreme importance. [i]What convinces men of the truth of the Gospel of Christ is the changed lives of those who have accepted it.[/i]
But though our belief is not founded upon argument, it is buttressed by arguments. We are quite willing to argue, and we believe that reason is on our side; but we do not think that reason by itself will make any man a Christian.[/quote]
Moss, [i]The Christian Faith[/i] (London: SPCK, 1961), p. 17. Emphasis mine.
So how will you witness to me? Remember, you can’t just show me that you are serious, you need to show me that you are serious [i]and different from every other[/i] serious spiritual salesman out there and also that [i]I want what you’ve got.[/i] And while you’re at it, remember that the LDS (at least the ones I’ve known) have some of the most impressive personal rectitude of any group in the US.
Finally, remember the [url=”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew 25:31-46;&version=9;]sheep and the goats[/url]. On what basis are they divided? Number of souls saved? Doctrinal purity? Or how about good old [url=”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James 2:14-21;&version=9;”]faith v. works[/url]? Is one more important than the other?
Please don’t misunderstand me; I realize those cherrypicked passages could come across like something a social-gospel reasserter would cite. That is not my intention. I also realize that it takes a bit of brass for someone like me to cite scripture in a place like this.
If you give alms, someone may think you are generous. If you talk about Jesus, someone may think you are religious. But what is it that will make them think that [i]they want to be what you are[/i]? There’s your question.
Thank you for your indulgence, and
regards,
JPB
JPB, you claim to have been raised in a totally secular environment, but me thinks you have a much better grasp on the Gospel than many within the church.
Amen to what you shared about transformed lives. You’ve explained the linkage between faith and works quite well. Faith should be seen by the works produced in our lives. A fruitless faith is suspect. Faith without works is dead. But works without faith is the law, and Paul is unequivocal in Romans that the law is powerless to save us.
But getting back to the issue of evangelism. The matter of evangelism gets at the OBJECT of our faith, what is being preached. TEC seems to preach and proclaim the goodness of men, that we can transform our world and make it better all because we are good people.
But it is only through our union with Christ and His life in us through His Spirit that we can be transformed. Preaching works without preaching Christ who can enable us through faith in Him to do good works seems something like trying to teach a baby to run before he can even stand.
One last point, you talk about Christians needing to be able to do a better job of convincing you or “selling” you Christianity by their lives. I’d dispute that a bit. Yes, we as Christians are called to be winsome and to be a city on a hill, hopefully to have lives that shine Christ’s love and glory brightly so that others will be attracted to Him through what they see in us. (“They will know we are Christians by our love…”) But it is actually only the Holy Spirit who can convince you of who Christ is and why He is worth everything, the pearl of great price.
I’ll be praying the Holy Spirit will do such a work in your heart and life. Sometimes faith is merely as simple as asking: Jesus show me who You are? (Or confessing “I believe, help my unbelief”)
Thanks as always for your thoughtful comments, JPB. They always challenge me to think about what I believe and how to explain it.
Greetings JPB! Thanks for your candor. And while we are being candid, may I also speak plain.
Most fortnights we have a small father-son study group in our lounge, numbers varying between 5-8; membership is also interdenominational. We’ve been at this exercise for some 6 years now. We recently started Eugene Peterson’s [i]Tell it Slant[/i], with Study Guide as well (the title is from Emily Dickinson). I tell you this as it’s a great resource, focussing upon our typical use of language. Peterson takes his readers on a journey, through Jesus’ parables on the one hand and then Jesus’ prayers on the other. That is, God’s most formative words to us and ours to God. Kinda basic really. So; as you indeed “pass byâ€, please make sure it too isn’t “on the other side†– both socially [i]and[/i] spiritually. Enjoy EP! And enjoy even more listening and talking directly …
Dear JVJ – maybe I will…!