Last week, I posted an article on Making the Hard Decision to Care Covenantally for My Church Family. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Being mindful of the need to prove what I say by acting upon it, I ask: how am I embodying the change I wish to affect at New Life church?  

Firstly, I need to make a tangible commitment. I met with my pastor and his wife and offered to volunteer where they needed help. They suggested perhaps I could help in evangelism. YIKES! I thought that is the last thing I want to do! Honestly, I am not an evangelist. I don’t have a passion for evangelism. I can’t remember when the last time was that I lead somebody to the Lord.  If there is one opportunity at church that I would avoid like the plague it would be evangelism. Whenever our pastor preached on evangelism my wife and I would feel like crawling under our respective chairs to hide ourselves! In fact, after more than 18 years at the church, evangelism, is the only ministry (other than dance J) that I have not been involved in at New Life. 

So I am wondering what's my problem with evangelism? I am not alone. Most local churches need help with evangelism. Why is that and what does one do about it?

Perhaps the reason I get squirmy about evangelism is that I just can't see myself recruiting people to the church as it is now. Nor can I see myself trying to convince people of a message I am not sure really does justice to who Jesus is and was, especially 'The Four Spiritual Laws' version.  Finally, the traditional Evangelical and Pentecostal approaches for evangelism, I think, are a set up for failure in today's culture. Hurling truth propositions at people from a great distance; confronting them with their mortality and the possibility of eternal damnation; and then promising them power in Jesus name for healing the sick, but when the crunch comes being unable to deliver on that power because nothing changes when we pray. These approaches are all 'non starters' for your post modern pagan.

Is this really what Jesus had in mind when he said to his disciples "As the Father sent me, even so I send you."? I don't think so. (For more on that check out Rob Bell's NOOMA DVD series especially the one entitled The Bull Horn Guy.) In fact, perhaps a better evangelism strategy would be for the church to confess its sins to the world and seek forgiveness for not being more Christ-like in its approach to communicating the gospel. (See Donald Miller's book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality for more on that idea.)

So secondly, I need to talk about doing local church differently.  What is wrong with the local church? What is right? Why this crisis of confidence in church? What's up?

Let this conversation go beyond the order of service, the orientation of chairs or the worship style. Let's go deeper: What is the purpose of local church? What is the local church THERE for? Is it primarily for the benefit of members? Is it for spiritual feeding once a week? A worship extravaganza? Prayer for emotional or physician healing? Who does the church exist FOR anyway?

Archbishop William Temple once said, "the church is the only voluntary society that exists for the benefit of its NON members." (emphasis mine) Is that statement true? How does that play out for a local church? What does that look like at New Life? What are we doing for our NON members? How are members oriented towards non members? Does the word 'evangelism' describe that orientation or are there better words? How about words like 'friendship', 'generosity', 'service', or 'hospitality'.

So many questions, not many answers. Let's be careful not to presume we can figure it all out, that we can solve all the problems of the local church with one bright idea. Let's start with questions that encourage a deep dialogue with one another. Let's talk about the things that give us hope and the things that disappoint us. Let's be open, honest and frank about our expectations and what is realistic. Let's talk about the things that are really important to us, that really matter, our friendships, our families, our love for God, our heart for the poor, our concern for justice, our longing for God's presence. Let us cry out with the psalmist, "Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling!" (Psalms 43:3)

Talking assumes a third thing that needs to be done: community. This is not the kind of community that occurs at the church potluck. This is cathartic community: community where we are deeply honest with one another, where we face our short comings together, where we bring it all up onto the table, where we take off the masks and we get REALLY real: vulnerable and transparent. It is community where we see people's hearts, their pain, their tears, and their joy. We groan with each other, we weep with each other, and we so value each other that we forgive each other.

This is the kind of community that is a love shaped community. Love is the 'heart shaped' keyhole that God wants to pull us all through as a church at New Life. It is a time in which we are all pressed together so that we come out on the other side, one with another.

It is the kind of authentic community we all long for but are too afraid to risk our reputations to bring about. Well, I for one am ready to jettison my reputation so that I can get real with my church family. How about you?

Perhaps then we will win the lost because they will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Jesus said  "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34). Loving one another is not about having warm fuzzy feelings for one another. It is about making a real commitment to a real conversation so we can experience real community.