Don't like evangelism? You may be doing it wrong.

Early October in the Central Texas Conference is the "Evangelism Summit". This is a one day event that our conference is hosting for all clergy and laity to come and learn about evangelism. There is not much out right now about the desired outcomes of this event, but I assume that is forthcoming so we can better understand the "big hope" for this event. If you are interested in the idea of an evangelism summit, you can see the agenda here and speaker information here. I will be in attendance and invite you to consider it as well.

From what I can see, this summit will be one where we embrace the idea that we are a people who need to share our faith. Additionally, as the number of people involved in the Church decline we need to be better at talking about our faith so to invite new people to Christ. A cynic might see this as a "sales summit", but I see this as a summit to explore the theology of evangelism. 

I do not think that we need more or better ways to talk about our faith. We have the internet in our culture and we have more information at our fingertips than every before. If we cannot share our faith very well, we can pass along information or a video of someone else who has done it masterfully and with great beauty. People have the information at their disposal and so I do not think that we need to talk about how we change people (that is the work of God).

Evangelism is less about changing others and more about allowing God and others to change us.

It is my prayer that the conversations about evangelism are rooted in this core concept that Peter Rollins puts forth:

What Rollins says is that evangelism project is about becoming aware of the harm we (unintentionally) do to others when we practice our faith. He says there are three parts to the project of evangelism:

1. Interact with another who is different from us and ask them about their beliefs
2. Ask the other about their practices
3. Ask the other what we look like to them

In this process we come to the awareness that in our efforts to be Christian we have gone astray and acted or said things that are not Christ-like. When we are aware of the harm we are doing as a Christian faith, we repent of those actions and live differently. When we repent, act differently and live more in line with Love then we embody John 13:34-35. After Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he gave them a new commandment: that we are to love one another and followers of Christ will be known by the way they love. 

Evangelism is about sharing the Good News of Christ, but we cannot teach what we do not know. Like Saul to Paul, evangelism beings with our own conversion. I am attending the Evangelism Summit in the hopes God will move in to me be more like Christ. 

Winning the hearts and minds of the enemy

I was at lunch the other day and came across this t-shirt on a man. I asked if it would be okay if I took a picture of the back of the shirt.

He asked if I was going to "use it in an NAACP lawsuit" against him. 

I said, "No, but I am a pastor at a local United Methodist church."

He nodded and said, "In that case, go ahead."  

The interesting thing in this exchange is this man thought the shirt was more challenging to the message of the NAACP than that of the Prince of Peace who said to love your enemy.

I have studied the "Just war" theories in the Christian tradition and found them logical but difficult to square with the teachings of Christ. I understand that there are other faithful Christ followers who think differently. While I work to try to better understand the position of the use of violence, I struggle with the reality that it is impossible to win the hearts and minds of our enemies if the parties are dead.

Why we cannot seem to let go of "everything happens for a reason"

Over the years (here, here, here and here.) I have written a few posts on the phrase "everything happens for a reason." What I have failed to identify in these posts is what is really behind this phrase and why we cannot let it go in our popular Christian culture. 

It all has to do with control.

Humans are under the spell that we are in much more control of things than we like to admit. We are reminded of this false sense of control daily. We set the temperature of our homes at exactly 76 degrees. We use a remote control and take birth control. We decide when to use cruise control and we talk about pest control. We believe we can control air traffic and crowds. We teach others how to be in control of emotions while looking for the newest diet to help us control our weight.

Additionally it is worth noting how deeply we resist giving up control (which may be why the great religions teach the path of surrender).

When we believe we are in control of more than we really are, we project that others must also be able to control more than they really can.

For instance we think that the President of the United States has a lot of control over the economy of the nation. Or we think that meteorologists can really predict the future. Or we think a pastor can grow a church. Or we think personal determination will inevitably lead to personal success. 

image from: http://blog.saintclairsystems.com/blog/topic/temperature-control

With all the reminders of how much we "control" we can see why "everything happens for a reason" is difficult to let go of. It is the ultimate creed of the god of control. It is the idea that someone, somewhere has to be in control because to think that things are not somehow under control is too frightening for us to imagine.

The most zealous devotees to the deity of control will even admit that we may not know right now or that we may never know what the reason is, but to trust that everything happens for a reason. This can be said because the reason is what is important but the soothing reminder that control is, well, in control.

Until we let go of control as cultural god, we will continue to hear "everything happens for a reason." The more we hold onto control the more we will miss the message of Jesus who teaches us about how to live in trust rather than in control.