wyoming evangelism

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Kathy Robinson

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Jul 22, 2009, 3:15:17 PM7/22/09
to Episcopal Evangelism
For the past two years a group of us in Wyoming have been exploring
what evangelism might look like in our diocese. The goal has been to
find concrete tools or processes that will enable us to share the Good
News with those who have never been a part of a church community. We
began with the premise that with Jesus, God’s kingdom has entered our
world and we are to work with God toward the fulfillment of his
kingdom. Our diocese was already investing a great deal of ongoing
time and money in the missional dimension of this statement through
what we called the “Mustard Seed Mission”. The question became: what
did this say to evangelism. The answer led us to a definition of
evangelism as “discovering, celebrating and sharing God’s kingdom
(family) in our world”. We are using the word “family” as
interchangeable with “kingdom” because it resonates with the rural
western culture of Wyoming.

If God’s kingdom is in fact all around us this must mean that everyone
we meet is in some way a part of this Family, and to share the Good
News we need to first begin by listening to discover where God is
already active in the other person’s context. This made sense in
theory but we soon discovered that although people in our churches
agree that God’s family is everywhere, when you ask them to name
specifically where they have experienced or seen God in the past day
or week, the conversation comes to an abrupt end. What was needed was
a way to focus people’s attention on God’s activity in all those
stories that everyone hears or experiences daily. What we came up
with was two simple reflection questions. “Who is the family in this
story?” and “What did the family do to reveal God at work?”

We have now been practicing this kind of story telling and reflection
on monthly conference calls for almost a year and what we have
discovered is that the more we do this the more excited we become
about what God is doing in our midst and the easier it is for us to
see God’s activity in all the people we know and meet. The critical
piece is to get as many people as possible to do this kind of story
telling and reflection in their churches over and over again until it
becomes as automatic.

Then when we have developed this “habit”, it will be present when we
listen to any story with the non-churched, and this awareness of God
will allow us to find those connections that we know must exist
between that person’s life and the Good News Roy Walworth, a member
of the evangelism team, gives this example of how this works.

One summer Roy spent some time doing carpentry work with another man,
Ralph. Day after day they worked together and as they became
friends. Ralph would tell Roy about all the different wood and
carpentry projects he was engaged in helping others who were not as
gifted with things like hammers, saws and nails. The more his friend
shared, the more Roy saw God at work in him. Finally one day Roy
looked at Ralph and said. “They have a name for people like you.”
“What’s that? his friend asked. “They call them Christians.” This
gave Roy the opportunity to enter into a real discussion with his
friend.

Out of this type of sharing we have developed a two hour workshop
to:
• Give people the theology and rationale behind this kind of
evangelism.
• Model and practice the tool of story telling and reflection
• Help communities brainstorm how this can become a regular practice
in their church meetings and worship in ways that it will energize
their ministries as well as helping this skill become a habit.

We are just beginning this work but already we are finding people
using the dreaded “e-word” with a sense that maybe we can actually
find a way to share the Good News that fits who we are while at the
same time honoring God’s presence in the non churched. We are not
sure where this will go, but it's a start.
Kathy Robinson



Thomas

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Jul 23, 2009, 12:46:57 PM7/23/09
to Episcopal Evangelism
The big E word

Lately I've noticed that there is quite a bit of talk in our churches
regarding the need to “evangelize the Unchurched.” In the moment that
I hear that juxtaposition of terms I usually have to suppress a laugh,
mostly because I end up imagining some of my "unchurched" friends and
their response to such a proposition. I'm not sure they're interested
in being the object of someone's efforts at "evangelizing" them! At
the same time, I can relate to what most of us mean when we refer to
the verb, "evangelize." It's just that it's a Greek term that has been
misused and abused and confused with lots of other impulses.

There is a quote that has lately come to explain what I understand as
bona fide "evangelism." It was offered by a Sri Lankan Methodist
minister who practiced a joyful understanding of what it means to
“share the good news.” Though he died nearly thirty years ago, one of
D. T. Niles’ quotes is probably as lively as the moment he first
offered it. He claimed that “Evangelism is one beggar telling another
beggar where he just found bread.” Unfortunately, that’s not how this
minister is usually quoted. What we often hear is “Evangelism is one
beggar telling another where to find bread.” Can you feel the
difference between the two?

I think the misquote is a great insight into what so many Jesus
followers think of as their duty when it comes to evangelism (no
wonder it is such an onerous task to so many!). They live out the
impulse to tell someone else about something they may not have
recently experienced. The difference between the two is that, in one
definition, the informer is telling another where bread is supposed to
be found. In the other, one person who has just had a meal is telling
another where they can satisfy their hunger, as well. The former often
tends to be dry while the latter is an act of “heart to heart”
generosity.

Here is one of the ways that this understanding has come home to me.
For four years I served on the clergy team at a homeless ministry in
Asheville NC. The members of that faith community who had no housing
of their own showed me what “DT” was really talking about. It was so
subtle that, for a long time, I didn’t “get it.” We would be walking
down Patton Avenue around lunchtime and one of the homeless men
walking with me would stop an acquaintance and offer the news that
"The Mission" further down Patton was still serving a “really good
lunch.” The response was some version of “Oh, what have they got?”
Then there was offered a quick description of the menu and the parting
exchange always included, “You think they still have some?” (For a
while I wondered about that, until I started walking everywhere and
learned to check things out before walking across town on a hunch. I
started checking the story out, too!)

What happened in that quick sidewalk exchange? The best of it is
mostly lost to this telling because body language and facial
expressions told the real story, every time. Whether or not the food
was really good, or whether or not there was really any left could be
discerned in a moment. There were no apologetics, no systematic
explanation, no verbal proof offered. It was one recently satisfied
person telling another where they had just enjoyed generous
hospitality. The recently fed didn’t have to convince the other that
their story was real – their whole demeanor told the story. It was in
the eyes, the posture, the description of the Kielbasa and the mashed
potatoes with real butter. It was real-time experience in the here and
now.

I know you can see where I’m headed with these parallels. I’ve come to
believe that “evangelism” is all about telling your story – the story
of God’s generous hospitality in your own stomach – in your own recent
experiences. It’s not about convincing or proselytizing or making
members. It’s not about reversing decline or bucking denominational
trend lines. It is about sharing the incredible story that only you
can share – the story of God’s abundant love in your own corner of the
world.


Now if that’s what you mean by evangelism, I want to hear all about
it. It seems to me that many of us want to live in faith communities
of story lending and story borrowing. On some days, I may lend you my
recent stories of the way God has been showing up and satisfying my
hunger. Tomorrow, I’ll probably be coming to you for yours. That kind
of good news sharing is constantly paying it forward. It’s robust and
it’s joyful and it shows all over. To me, that’s the kind of good news
that’s worth sharing!

Let me know what you think, OK?


With hope,


Tom

646-203-6266

Kathy Robinson

unread,
Jul 27, 2009, 5:09:41 PM7/27/09
to Episcopal Evangelism
I liked your example of the one homeless man stopping an acquaintance
to offer the “good news” of a really “good lunch”. Implicit in this
story is some kind of a relationship along with a common understanding
of what a “good lunch” means between both the person sharing the
information and the listener. Likewise for us to share the Good News,
I believe we must first take the time to listen to the other person’s
stories until we can name the places where his/her story, our story
and the story of the Good News meet. What we are talking about in
Wyoming with the use of story telling and reflection is developing a
simple and practical “tool” that will help us to do exactly this.

By itself this one “tool” will not allow us to effectively offer the
Good News to the non churched. There is also a need to develop other
simple and practical “tools” that will help congregations to discover
where their liturgy, small groups, mission, hospitality – virtually
every aspect of church life – is found in the cultural context around
them, and then to take what is learned and use it to enrich our lives
within the church community in such a way that it carefully honors and
maintains each church’s unique Episcopal identity.

But these are for a future time for us here in Wyoming. Kathy
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