John
Finney : Emerging evangelism
DLT 2004 AJM December 04
A thoughtful and
knowledgeable overview of the nature, need and opportunities for evangelism in
the
Introduction
Evangelism, its history and character. Importance of methods whereby we convey the gospel, content of the gospel we transmit and the shape of the church which expresses it.
1. Looking at the realities
Decline in church attendance in the West. As most people belong before believing, it follows that a decline in church attendance produces a further decline in faith.
What is evangelism? Abraham defines it as ‘that set of intentional activities which is
governed by the goal of initiating people into the
Why religion at all? For centuries the church has been seen as the expert in spirituality. Now it is seen as an organisation which has very little to do with spirituality. And yet people are expressing spiritual longing in many ways. Feng Shui website claims to prevent/solve 90% of life issues, inc ‘repetitive relationship collapse’ (!). People have mosaic approach to life; eg Bob Dylan (1997): ‘I don’t think I’m tangible to myslef. I mean, I think one thing today and I think another thing tomorrow. I change during the course of a day. I wake and I’m one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I’m somebody else. I don’t know who I am most of the time. It doesn’t even matter to me.’ It can all become a frantic search for personal happiness.
Religion is a word which has been used since C17th that it began to be used to describe particular systems of belief and ritual. Christianity is a religion, because it is collective. See Smart’s definition of a religion as a 6 dimensional organism containing doctrine, myths, ethical teachings, rituals, and social institutions, and animated by religious experiences of various kinds.
2. Not in word only..
Allport distinguishes between intrinsic faith (that which includes personal conversion) and extrinsic faith (that which is utilitarian, granting safety, social standing, solace, endorsement for chosen lifestyle). Intrinsics tend to look down on extrinsics.
NT – Paul sees conversion as an event, like his own. John sees it more as a process, or direction, moving away from darkness towards light.
Paul on his own ministry of evangelism:
• 1 Thess 1.5: message of the gospel not in word only but in power and in the HS
• 1 Cor 2.1-4: not proclaiming the mystery of God, but knowing only Jesus crucified, not in words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power
• Romans 15.18-20: by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God
Three words are used in NT to describe the process of evangelism:
1. Kerugma – the content of the gospel; to do with announcement, with the content of the message. This kind of evangelism has an educational bias. Tends to priorise teaching ministry, to demand accurate definition of faith, to externalise it in correct words rather than relationship. Depends on words. Teaches often about God as Father and Creator.
2. Evangelion – proclamation of good news. Can diminish importance of church; count heads; offer gospel as series of hoops to jump through; lead to lowest common denominator gospel (being sorry for our sins). Also depends on words. Teaches often about Jesus, expects conversion.
3. Mysterion – gospel as work of HS, matter of revelation (Eph 3.3.); as choice (Mk 4.11); as hidden in past (Col 1.26, 1 Cor 2.7); as a creed (1 Tim 3.16). Mysterion is important to Paul. It’s about relationship and wonder. But the Enlightenment curbed our sense of wonder. However, it can lead people into maze without map; produce over-fascination with the unusual; be based on experience; lose links with historical facts of life of Jesus. Teaches about work of HS; expects gifts.
Conclusion: we need elements of all three methods: God is Trinitarian.
3. What do they believe? Modernism and post-modernism
A good metaphor for post-modernism is the kaleidoscope. The church is stuck in modernism, in a world governed by the gods of reason and observation. Postmodernism demands experience and is open to revelation.
Our culture is like a bird flying with the 2 wings of modern and postmodern approaches. Moynagh – the workplace is mostly modern. Leisure is postmodern, and we become consumers seeking pleasure. Christians are no different, either in the world or in the church. In the world we share the values and reactions of our neighbours. In the church we look for exegesis of Bible or continued tradition; or demand experience of God. The decline of the church can’t be blamed on secularisation; the middle classes were the first to be secularised but the last to be afflicted by church decline. (Putnam points out that all organisations which expect attendance have seen reduced membership, whilst those that don’t have expanded. Fewer people belong to bowling clubs but more go bowling.)
Theologically there have been 2 attempts to come to terms with modernism:
• Liberalism: making faith acceptable to modern man
• Fundamentalism: formulation of doctrine, distrust of experience/emotion, rational approach to scripture – fundamentalist churches are children of the Enlightenment.
We need to grasp the possibilities of the future. The church is intellectually and institutionally a declining modern organisation in an increasingly postmodern society (Storrar).
Spirituality is a buzz word with an imprecise definition. People have a lively and enquiring spiritual awareness which is increasing. But they don’t like authority figures, they see selves as autonomous, and they have no concept of sin. Asking for repentance turns them away Christ not towards him.
The church is adjusting:
• We are becoming more aware of the emotions – counselling, inner healing etc
• We are more holistic, seeking faith for head and heart – esp charismatic movement
• We have begun to accept the feminine – ordination of women, equality of men and women
• We are less concerned for theological precision
• We are learning to engage in worship which is not addressed only at the mind
• We are giving greater significance to the sacraments, to sign and symbol
4. An overview of evangelism until the 1980s
History explains the present.
Celtic monks C5-7th. Augustine C7th. Bonface C8th.
Modern missionary movement began with the
Moravians in
Word ‘evangelism’ was in use from 1720s, but widespread only from mid C19th.
Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley: both emphasized intellectual content of gospel, both came to God through personal experience.
C19th Charles Finney invented mass evangelism – the rally with a preacher – in US. Snags – costly, danger of manipulation, glorifes preacher, most conversions turn to nothing, directed at individual.
C20 rise and fall of televangelists.
Evangelicalism – too easily adopted modernism (esp in US); adopted modern management techniques (just as these fading from fashion amongst management gurus!); have found it hard to come to terms with postmodernism.
5. The new evangelism
By 2000 evangelism had stopped meaning rallies, and started meaning small groups. Billy Graham rallies introduced nurture groups for followup, and these turned out more effective than the rallies themselves.
History of the nurture group
Can be traced back to catechism and confirmation groups which had been normal for generations. New elements:
The new groups were for adults
not young people
They accommodated enquirers
They had a Holy Spirit
dimension
They acted as initiation into a
complex and growing faith, not a teaching group
The Decade of Evangelism began with a turning away from rallies towards nurture groups, as a deliberate policy. Research showed conversion was a journey, not a decision.
The early church ran groups to prepare people for baptism (100+ meetings over 2-3 years!).
Evaluation of nurture courses
2m have attended in
Why do they work?
o Built on relationships
o Relaxed but have a goal
o Group-based but church-linked
o Do not dictate how people find God
o Blend reason and experience
o Give space for work of HS through others than just leader
o Often lay led
Negatives:
o Groups are artifical
o Only attract the curious / gregarious
o Suit the educated/articulate
o Approach is usually postmodern, but content remains modern
6. Evangelising Athens
What do people respond to? 80% do not mention the cross or forgiveness from sin. 61% say they felt no sense of guilt. So even among those who do become Christians, the message of sin and salvation isn’t where it’s at.
Paul’s sermon in
We should do the same. We should offer a
gospel for
7. A new monasticism
‘Mission-shaped church’ recommends making mission the priority, and the church will emerge. The church is often disregarded as irrelevant to people’s lives and spiritual needs. We need to get right both the shape and the personality of the church.
The structure
Do we start with the needs of the consumer (the horizontal approach) or with God (the vertical approach)?
Steven Croft: church as cinema chain, as
franchise, as factory, as mirror. All these start with the consumer.
Different models of church have different underlying theologies. But the common denominators at the moment are:
o Entrepreneurial leadership
o Imaginative worship
o Cell structure
o Teaching for adults and children
o Modern, welcoming building
o Spirituality which easily absorbed and practised
Warnings: Drane on McDonaldisation. Consumerist spiritualities won’t satisfy any more than consumerist lifestyles. We need the vertical dimension. Ramsey: ‘we have been dosing our people with religion, when what they want is not that, but a relationship with the living Lord’.
Beginning with God we find:
o Relationship
o Unity
o
o Spirituality
o Obedience
o Equality
The structure of the church tends to reflect the structure of society – feudal, democratic, competitively diverse, tribal chief etc.
He suggests 5 possible models of community:
- The spiritual community – the monastic model. He’d like to see them reach out to the world around, not just cater for refreshment of Christians
- The incarnational community – the parish model
- The network community – gathering of the likeminded
- The focussed community – eg Lee Abbey
- The evangelistic community – eg medieval Franciscans; Eden
Project; St Thomas Order of
What does/n’t help a church to grow? Not: cells, link with school, attractive building, provision for young people; eucharists; evangelistic events, well-educated congregation, church plants. Yes: visionary and persevering leadership, nurture courses, provision for elderly/parent&toddlers, welcome, consecutive Bible exposition, ethnic mix (from Christian Research 2003).
8. Leading over the hurdles
Postmodern leadership – some recommended reading.
Glass doors – how we stop people coming to church. Having the main service at 10 on Sunday excludes people who work on Sunday (30%); children of divorced parents; young people involved in competitive sport. And it makes it hard for: those for whom Sunday is a shopping day; the only day for a lie in. Weekday services are increasing.
Confronting the perception of religion
in modern culture
1. The church is seen as unsympathetic to those in need – single mothers, divorced people, gay people, working women. We need to make sure the standards we seek to maintain really are scriptural ones, not our own prejudices; and we need to learn humility.
2. Religion is having a bad press – religious conflict is rife.
3. We give too much scope for accusations of hypocrisy – paedophile priests, corrupt televangelists.
NB we tend to think people don’t like traditional services; but research suggests otherwise.
9. Ritual and relationship
By focussing on mysterion rather than sin/repentance.
150AD: ‘beauty of life causes strangers to join our ranks… we do not talk about great things; we live them’.
Relationships with Christians lead people into relationships with Christ.
Ritual – successful new ones are harvest (1843) and Christingle (1968). Ritual should include gaity, it’s not meant to be serious and ponderous. It needs to maintain contact with both wonder and reason. Common Worship – ‘an avalanche of words which buries the worshipper’.
The charismatic – a form of mysticism. It includes a sense of play; community; openess to unpredictability.
Eschatology – we live in an age fascinated by this subject
10. The emerging church
The new church will be:
- Trinitarian in its thinking, relying not only on words but on the work of the HS: mysterion.
- It will put behind it forms of evangelism which are centred on formulae and dependent on the outside expert
- It will articulate both an Antiochan and an Athenian gospel
- It will expand beyond the incarnational (parish) model into new patterns
- it will give mysterion its full place by accepting the ritualistic, charismatic and playful throughout its traditions
Much of this is already being done.
We must change 2 other things:
o
The way we learn: we must
become a non-clerical church. Ordinands are falling (4 in
o Our understanding of holiness: holiness is to do with wholeness, and our world is fragmented. Modernism was tied to specifics, but postmodernism has no boundaries and no ethics. The mission of the modern saint is, by the challenge of their example and their words, to jerk people away from the primrose path of self and unreality, to truth and the Being of God. We don’t have to be perfect: wounded healers are fine. We do havef to know the world and its degradations, and still keep hold of God.
Bosch : Christians find their true identity when they are involved in mission.
Appendix: Evangelistic addresses
Three examples:
- God as creator
- God of hospitality
- God of mystery
Links: www.sttoms.net
(order of mission); www.message.org.uk (