A rector tells the story of publicizing an adult forum that she called “The E-word.” She didn’t tell her class members what the E-word was, and when the day arrived, a big crowd had gathered, curious to know the answer. When she told them that the E-word was evangelism, half the people left.
There is no topic more toxic to mainline churchgoers. Bringing up the topic of evangelism is a great faux pas, impolite in the extreme. Efforts to help Episcopalians get over this phobia are to be welcomed, including a recent Living Church podcast. In it, Amber Noel has a conversation with Stephanie Spellers, who serves as Canon to Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry and spearheads Episcopal efforts on evangelism, racial reconciliation, and creation care.
Two points especially in that conversation bear emphasis. One, evangelism is fundamentally about the fact that God loves everyone. While seeming a bit simplistic, it is a foundational idea. Nothing in the Christian life and message can be seen apart from this. And because our ears can grow calloused to hearing this message, we need to hear it again and again, often in fresh ways that it might break through our layers of shell.
The second point is that God is already “there.” Wherever we go, and especially in the task of evangelism, God leads the way. It is hubris to believe that we got there first! God is already active in the lives of the people we encounter. We must follow Jesus’’ path when he says, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19, NIV). This means we pay attention to those people. We listen to their stories. We join in with what Father is already doing. It is a sure bet that Jesus will have something for us in that encounter — after all, he loves us too!
Spellers gives a definition of “Episcopal evangelism”: “a spiritual practice where we seek, name, and celebrate Jesus’’ loving presence in the stories of all people and then invite everyone to more … more as in a deeper relationship with God.” This definition has much to commend it. Spiritual practice reminds us that God is the one at work. Jesus is present with everyone. The rubber begins to really hit the road when we speak of inviting people into a deeper relationship with God.
It is in digging deeper into what “deeper relationship with God” means that we see where the trouble lies for Episcopal evangelism. There might be one word that causes more trouble for Episcopalians than the word evangelism, and that word is salvation.
If God’s love for everyone is central to evangelism, then there is no avoiding the connection Scripture makes between God’s love and Jesus’ death. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). There is no need here to hash out “theories of atonement” — the how of how does Jesus’ death and resurrection save us cannot be allowed to obscure that it does save us! He saves us because we need saving.
What happens then, when we connect God’s love and Jesus’ death with the loving presence of Jesus in the stories of everyone? Can we seek, name, and celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection in the stories of all people? Yes, we can! Down through the history of evangelism, people have discovered that as they embrace Jesus’ death and resurrection and incorporate it into their stories, they experience evermore deeply the love of God. The peace, freedom, love, joy, and forgiveness that flow from this transform lives. This kind of evangelism brings about salvation.
The podcast delves into the question of how evangelism relates to our work in the world on issues of justice and creation care. Notice how the connection between evangelism and salvation leads to a strong position on both. The God who loves everyone loves everything. The God that seeks to save us, who cares for each, cares for all together. The God who hates the sin in each, hates the injustice that afflicts all. We might say that God’s salvation in Jesus is greater than the sum of its parts!
In part two of this series, I hope to say more about the practices of evangelism, and how Episcopalians can get past their anxiety.
