When it comes to Evangelism, we in the Episcopal Church have this unfortunate knack of waiting to jump on the proverbial bandwagon long after it has been parked, put up on blocks, and has had its wheels and most of the box stripped away.
At the best, our track record of late has been spotty in regards to evangelism. Yes, we have had a so-called decade of it (if memory serves, that was back in the 1990s) and have started campaigns with names like 20/20, but with little, if any effect. Let's be honest about the problem, and that is the fact that we generally refuse to actually change the way we do things. Instead of looking at how our congregations can become beacons of change, or at least consider a few basic alterations, we talk, and talk, and talk, but then business continues as usual. We go around, proclaiming the fields are ripe, but then we refuse to go to the fields. Instead, we act like the consumer who uses services such as peapod.com, and expect the harvest to come to us. How unchristian can we get?
Christ's ministry took him on the road, even to the point of homelessness (See Matthew 8:20), and he expected no less from his disciples (see Luke 9:1-6). Sadly, most of us in the more traditional branches of Christianity have gotten into a false second rate Field of Dreams type fantasy, convincing ourselves that since we already built it, they should come to us. But this is not how evangelism works. Even our biggest and most beautiful churches, were not built on this principle. Of old, parishes were build with a vision and mission to serve a particular community that either already existed or were beginning to form within a place.
However, communities and the needs of those communities change. Sadly, we have not kept up with those changes. Instead of going out and speaking to the people, getting to know our neighbors, or possibly doing something crazy like inviting people to worship, we think that if we have hold a U2charist or two, or put out a new banner, we are going to meet the needs and expectations of "young families". (To be honest, I for one am wondering why it is always the "young families" we trying to attract, instead of casting our nets a bit wider). Instead of of becoming mission focused and looking out for the needs of the wider community, we remain program focused and look at the best ways to serve ourselves first.
As a child of the Great Plains, I was taught that hospitality is about taking into consideration of the needs and comfort of your guests first, and not about expecting them to make your life easier. No, this does not mean that we change who we are at our roots, nor does it mean that we become so flexible as to be without shape, only that we become aware and be our true selves. If we are Christians, then being true to ourselves is being like Christ - people willing to go out and proclaim a love that is beyond comparison to whatever temporal things the world might offer.
The Baptismal Covenant, as it is written in the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer, calls each of us as Christians to live into Christ's Great Commission and into the Great Commandment. If we are truly to be the Church - at least in the way that Christ has called us to the Church - then we must live into the urgency that we find in the Gospel according to Mark, in which the time to build God's Kingdom is NOW!
But before I go and leave the impression that Church is completely void of people living into our Baptismal Covenant, I want to assure you all that there are plenty of people doing exactly that in the Diocese of Long Island. Just to name a few, the good people at St. Jude's Church in Wantagh, NY, who under the rectorship of the Rev. Christopher Hofer have strived to meet the needs of their community by offering a variety of liturgies styles at different times during the week, as well as providing different opportunities for their wider community to discover what is happening in the Church today. There is also the work of our diocesan missioner in neighborhood of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, the Rev. John Mertz, who literally takes his ministry to the streets. Living into the traditional role of the parish priest, Fr. Mertz is doing whatever it takes to make himself a regular fixture in his wider community by introducing himself to the people he meets in his neighborhood, familiarizing himself with the local business people, and taking an active role in political concerns of Greenpoint by participation in the various associations effecting change in his neighborhood. These are just a couple of examples of the many who doing their best to live into the Great Commission. The ministry of St. Jude's Church and that of our diocesan missioner in Greenpoint are quite different, but they are both focused on proclaiming the Good News of Christ's love and working towards the Kingdom.
My friends, Christianity is not a passive thing, but a call to action, and Christ has called to the work of establishing the Kingdom. Therefore, go in peace to love and serve the Lord - but GO!
In Peace,
JJP+
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