No Longer A Dirty Word

I am sitting on a plane returning from a meeting I facilitated of 30 Episcopal clergy, most under 50 years old, who gathered for three days to talk about the work of evangelism. They came from around the country, from small churches to cathedrals, from church plants to re-starts. The wonderful news is that these clergy from diverse theological perspectives agreed that evangelism is gaining a fresh and powerful emphasis in all of their ministries. They talked about the ‘why we do it’ and the ‘how we do it’. They shared stories of risking new ways to help their congregations gain greater understanding of the Great Commission mandate Jesus gave us all to share the Good News. They talked about the essential spiritual work that is needed to transform their congregations to be places that truly reflect the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. To be places where people are free to share their faith stories without fear, not only with peers but with others within their faith communities. They claimed we can no longer dismiss evangelism as if it were the work of televangelists and somehow beneath our dignity as Episcopalians to be about this work. They agreed that evangelism can never be a program given lip service again. No, these clergy were expressing the need to make evangelism central to the work of their churches.
There was a lot of sharing, confessing of failures, celebrating others successes, encouraging each other to return to their faith communities and work with the most influential 20% of their congregations to understand the essential nature of this focus for their churches.

It was interesting to observe much more conversation about the need to see transformation from within than taking the church out. However, this was a huge start. By the end of three days it was apparent that there is a new found sense of urgency to be about this work and for that I praise God. There can be no more ‘decades of evangelism’ that are miserable failures. This isn’t about a short term effort that everyone is relieved to see end. This is about saturating everything our churches do with a spirit of sharing the Gospel. It is about infusing the manifest love of God through our lives, our actions, our ministries so that the world can see that we are Christians. It is about inviting others to come and see and be a part of accepting and loving communities that seek the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to change lives and bless others.

This meeting went beyond being a rah-rah session. The depth of commitment from these young and hard work Episcopal clergy of all stripes was incredibly refreshing. I truly felt that evangelism may no longer be a dirty word, at least in the hearts of these 30 clergy. Praise God. It’s a start.