|
|
|
At an old fashioned revival in Tennessee a barber made a decision to receive Christ into his life. The preacher told him that since he was a barber and got to meet a lot of people, he could do a great work for the Lord if he would talk to them about Christ. When he asked how he could get into a conversation like that with his customers the preacher said, "Just do it casually. Talk to them about their soul, ask if their house is in order, if they are prepared to die, and so on." The first man to come in the next day wanted a shave, so the barber put a hot towel over him, and talked about the weather and what-not. After he had lathered the man up good, he figured it was time to get down to the God-part. He grabbed his razor, stropped it a few times, pointed at the man, and said bluntly, "Brother, are you prepared to die?" The man jumped up and ran out of the barbershop with the lather still on his face! Is this what it means to be a missionary or evangelist...to tell everyone we meet about Jesus? What does it mean to practice Pentecost? What does it mean for us to be witnesses of the resurrection? Should we be like the Anglican bishop who was asked to preach at a Christian conference in England? For many weeks he did not respond to the invitation. Finally, the secretary for the conference wrote this insistent note: "We must know if you are coming. We need to make our plans." The bishop wrote back that he was waiting for the guidance of the Holy Spirit on the matter, and he would let them know his decision in four weeks. An exasperated secretary fired back this letter: "Bishop, please don't bother. Cancel the invitation. We are not interested in having anyone speak at our conference who lives four weeks away from the Holy Spirit." Living out the power of Pentecost certainly means living closer to the Holy Spirit than four weeks. But let's be honest. For most of us, talking about the Holy Spirit or telling others about Christ does not come easy. Perhaps the most basic point to recall about Pentecost is that the first gift of the Holy Spirit is SPEECH. Jesus is gone. He ascended into heaven and left behind a band of shell-shocked and cowardly followers. Not only is the task before them immense, they can not even adequately articulate it among themselves. Before Pentecost the only business the disciples can manage is to choose a replacement for Judas. Then comes the rush of mighty wind and tongues of fire. Suddenly the Holy Spirit is among them and within them demanding of them just one thing...SPEECH. While the crowds are amazed at the varieties of languages, the true miracle here is the CONTENT of the words spoken to them. Suddenly the same disciples who had been little more than towers of timidity are shouting out for all to hear and understand about "God's deeds of power." For much too long God's missionary people have allowed negative images of evangelists and missionaries to be seen as the norm. We all know them. There is "POWER EVANGELISM", where the most powerful personality, not Christ's love, wins. There is "SCARED/SAVED EVANGELISM" that terrifies people into running to the church for sanctuary and hiding from the world. There is "DISMEMBERED EVANGELISM" that cuts people off from the rest of life in order to create an artificially homogenous community of faith. There is "MEET YOUR NEEDS EVANGELISM", which promises a specific cure for your specific weakness. There is even "PROSPERITY EVANGELISM", that promises economic rewards awaiting those who become full paying members. Don't you think it is time that we stop using such caricatures as an excuse not to be actively involved in evangelism! Don't you think it is time that we take the Pentecost message seriously? I suppose you could build a case that we are taking Pentecost seriously at St. John. Since 1997 our membership has grown by 16% and worship attendance has increased by 37%. The average worship attendance of the first 20 Sundays in 1998 was 297. In 1999 it was 358. In 2000 it was 426. The average worship attendance of the first 20 Sundays of this year is 490! Randy McCurdy is our conference communications coordinator. He and many of our lay leaders are helping us carry out our denomination’s first major media blitz in our history. It is called "Igniting Ministry" and will kick off this September with radio and TV ads all over our nation. I want you to know that I’m supportive of this evangelistic effort, but I’m left wondering how we will handle the new folks who will show up here. The fact is that our ministry has already ignited! In some ways the ignition is firing too fast. We raised our budget by 25%. We’re bringing Diana Hearn, our new associate pastor on staff this summer with the help of our General Board of Global Ministries. We’re planning a new building and hope to break ground next spring. And I just learned this week that our neighbor to the east is seriously considering selling her 3 acre property and she wants us to have first shot at it! Many of us are thinking of the heavy financial burden this growth is exacting on our church. Believe me, I do think about this important matter. But then I also think about Pentecost. I suspect those disciples who received the Holy Spirit were not fully prepared for all that this new growth would mean for them. You think our growth is significant. When the Holy Spirit came to those early disciples 3,000 people came to Christ that day! Can you imagine the huge administrative and financial load those leaders had to face? Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit filling us, not just with power, but with faith! From Pentecost we learn that it is God's will that the church grow. Evangelism is really not an option if we are to be faithful to God. We need to do whatever it takes to continue our mission to be a welcoming church. It’s going to take crowded worship services, buying property, building a new building, welcoming new staff, and much more. But let’s remember that it is not about increasing our numbers. It is about individuals coming to know Jesus Christ in a deep and personal way. William Pannell, professor at Fuller Seminary, tells of a disturbing conversation with a pastor a few years ago. "My host pointed out some of the sights of a Mississippi city. When we drew alongside the imposing structure of one of the city's premier churches, his voice became somber. `We had an interesting meeting in this church a while ago. They had turned some black children away from their school and we went to get an explanation. The pastor received us into his plush office and informed us that we had no right coming in there to tell him or the church how to run their affairs. We tried to help him see that the matter was more than a private issue, since we all were Christians. After some calmer discussion the pastor said, "Well, we all may be Christians, but the difference between you people and us is that you people emphasize one part of the gospel and we emphasize another." So we asked him what that was and he told us, "Well, you folks emphasize reconciliation and we emphasize evangelism."' Don't we get it? We cannot separate reconciliation from evangelism! We cannot disconnect Bible study from missions! We cannot leave evangelism to the Baptists while we do good works and develop our social conscience. They are all interrelated and interconnected with each other. What the world needs today are relational evangelists, Christians who risk being in direct relationship with others. It is only in loving people and developing relationships with them that others can be "loved into" the church. Relational evangelists are those who surprise new friends by not only inviting them over for dinner, but inviting them to church as well. A relational evangelist listens with genuine compassion to the troubles of a colleague, then offers not just sympathy but the suggestion that they pray together. Relational evangelism always involves some risks, for it means we will involve friends or co-workers in our own journey of faith. When H. M. Stanley went to Africa in 1871 to find and report on David Livingstone, he spent several months in the missionary's company, carefully observing the man and his work. Livingstone never spoke to Stanley about spiritual matters, but Livingstone's loving and patient compassion for the African people was beyond Stanley's comprehension. He could not understand how the missionary could have such love for and patience with the backward, pagan people among whom he had so long ministered. Livingstone literally spent himself in untiring service for those whom he had no reason to love except for Christ's sake. Stanley wrote in his journal, "When I saw that unwearied patience, that unflagging zeal, and those enlightened sons of Africa, I became a Christian at his side, though he never spoke to me one word." Most of us do not have a Livingstone kind of life that does not require words to witness to others. We need to share the love of Christ with both our actions and our tongues. The world needs to see the reason for our good works. If it is not clearly evident through our actions, then we need to speak the words also. The best scenario is that our acts of love will cause others to ask us why and we'll have the chance to give our witness. A story is told about a monk who found a very precious gemstone one day. He put it in his knapsack and carried it with him. One day he met a traveler in need who asked the monk to share some of his provisions with him. The monk opened his knapsack to share his food, when his fingers found the gem. So he lifted out the stone and gave it to the traveler. Overjoyed by his good fortune in the valuable stone, the traveler went on his way. A few days later, however, the traveler caught up with the monk. He begged him again, "Please give me something more precious than this stone," he said. "Please give me that which prompted you to give the stone to me." Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit changing us from the inside out. It is about Love that can make us whole and free! It is about telling and showing the world that real joy and meaning in life can be found in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. May God give us all the hunger for this kind of life. |
The St. John Web Site needs your input! Click here to leave feedback Copyright © 1998-2004 Jon S. Dawson. Last modified: February 01, 2009
|
06/03/01 - Relational Evangelism
