The Dec. 11 edition of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers. This issue features both news coverage and reflections on the Evangelism Matters conference that met in Dallas on Nov. 18 and 19.
Matthew Burdette writes:
The promise of Evangelism Matters is that it marked a step toward clarifying and enacting the Episcopal Church’s mission. Every speaker and panelist made the point that sharing the faith really is the Church’s mission, even in (gasp!) the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement. The implication, which occasionally rose to an outright allusion, was that the Episcopal Church has for too long had a culture of squeamishness about evangelistic mission.
That this conversation could be had with such honesty — conference backpacks read Episcopal Evangelist and Not an Oxymoron — was an unequivocal good. The Episcopal Church, like other mainline denominations, is rapidly shrinking, and Presiding Bishop Michael Curry made the legitimate point that evangelism is not a scheme for church growth. But it should also be acknowledged that the most obvious reason why the Episcopal Church is in decline is that we have failed to give people adequate reasons to join or remain with us.
News
- Evangelism Matters — and It’s Possible
Features
Necessary or Expedient?
- Common Prayer, Common Purpose | By Robert Hendrickson
Catholic Voices
Evangelism Matters
- Our Church Has Found its Voice | By Kevin Martin
- What Comes Next? | By Matthew Burdette
Books
- The NIV Zondervan Study Bible and The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible | Reviews by Garwood P. Anderson
Cultures
- Luther Year Begins at the Morgan | By Richard J. Mammana
Other Departments
- Cæli enarrant
- People & Places
- Sunday’s Readings
