Farewell to Bishop Sisk - Episcopal Diocese of New York

Evangelism
Evangelism–Not a Dirty Word! Part 1
By the Rev. Claire Woodley
In 2006 I took a sabbatical with a generous grant from the Clergy Renewal Project
of the Lily Foundation. Its focus was to retool my pastoral skill kit from conflict
intervention to re-engaging evangelism, my first love. For several months I
explored what was developing in the field of evangelism in the USA and the UK.
Now, most Episcopalians greet the word evangelism with all the glee of root
canal work. For too many, it’s just somehow not nice and smacks of cornering unwilling
victims and beating them about the head with a Bible. But if that were true the
church would have died out in the first generation. One of the profound discoveries
I made in my study is how life-giving and generative it is to share God’s creative, liberating,
sanity restoring, holy making love. We Episcopalians have some good tools.
But Cursillo, Alpha and Via Media notwithstanding, the numbers in many of our
churches show where the “we don’t DO evangelism” approach has led us—and for many
churches that place is crisis. The good news is that this is precisely where God can
get a word in edgewise. The Chinese pictogram for crisis is “dangerous opportunity.”
Crisis forces change, and evangelism puts the Holy Spirit in charge of the change.
Blessed are you when you get to the end of your rope, for there you will meet God.
Some may feel that evangelism should be more doing than talking, and that talking
somehow diminishes the doing. Not so! It is very good to do outreach and mission,
and it is also good to share the good news with others about how and where we
found the Good News and what has happened to us since then. Where did we meet
the outstretched hand that held the Kingdom of God, and how did we come to stretch
out our own hands to others? What or Who gives us the power to live in abundance,
whether the times are good or bad? These are the vital stories. They are the mysteries
of our age, the secret kept out in the open that millions are literally dying to know.
Knowing where the water is, how can we keep it from those dying of thirst?
And if we believe ourselves to be from the church of nice that doesn’t do evangelism,
that is not nice. We need to figure out, for ourselves, for the life of others, how
to live and share the good news with integrity.
So how do we blend talk and walk? For many churches this current crisis will be
a dangerous opportunity, a risky, unknown, but ultimately life-giving and joyous place.
To explore evangelism in its best form is to focus on telling the story of joy, when one
amazed and delighted Christian shares the good news—good news that meets the
deep needs of the people they love, know well or meet for the first time. It is this love
of God, lovingly shared, that is God living in real time and that gives real help.
In this issue of the ENY and the next I will share some of the insights into evangelism
practices that I observed, picked up and was smilingly handed. Fear not! Episcopalians
are—if not uniquely, then beautifully—equipped to address many of the specific
heart hungers of our time. Read, mark, inwardly digest and, hey… get going!
You need a plan
With a humble heart, ask the first, last and primary question: What does God want
to have happen here? Plans need to come from community discernment, not a lone
ranger, because people will be coming into a community. Set short term goals and
make long range plans. Be prepared for surprise and delight! Research, talk, read, surf.
If God pokes you to read something that’s out of the Episco-box take your grain of
salt and go for it. There’s lots of work being done in evangelism across the denominational
spectrum: Be wise, take what’s good and leave the rest. Don’t write something
or someone off because they come from “that” denomination or no denomination.
There is no one right way, there is only one right essential question: What
does God want to have happen here?
Do your homework
Community mission discernment includes three important areas: What is the history
of your church, what has God blessed before? What are the Founders stories?
If there are patterns of ministry growth, what are the components of the
growth cycles? What are the patterns when growth is diminished or stops? Do a
corporate parish history together. What patterns do you see?
Find out what spiritual gifts and mission passions are already present
If God wants something to happen, the entire universe will conspire together to
see it done. Each of us has a piece of the action, and the “more than us” presence
and power that God brings to communities through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
16 THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER Winter 2013 www.episcopalnewyorker.com