Monday, April 30, 2007
A Letter from a Pastor on Evangelism
Dear Bob,
I bought your book, "Transformation," at a recent evangelism conference. I am already halfway through it, and am enjoying it very much. I was struck by your statement that (paraphrasing) the church should have the evangelical concern of Billy Graham, combined with the social service of Mother Theresa. Amen!
I am a pastor and church planter in a mainline denomination and struggle with our tradition's lack of emphasis on evangelism. By the way some of us talk (all about social service, none about evangelism), we might as well be volunteering for the Red Cross. On the other hand, I am always puzzled by the evangelical tradition's lack of emphasis on social concerns. At any large conference in my denomination this week, there would have been strong and sorrowful prayers, perhaps even liturgies or vigils, for the victims and families of the Virginia Tech shootings, as well as prayers for an end to war, poverty and oppression, requests for the Holy Spirit to guide us as we seek God's call to us to bring the Kingdom of God into lived reality on earth, and inspiring stories of tangible social transformation as a result of the gospel. I have experienced this week at the evangelical conference a great deal of inspiration, but also a feeling of living inside a churchy bubble that has little relation to the real sorrows of the real world.
You understand that I am not saying that our tradition is better--I believe that we are horribly handicapped because we have lost the theology (and practice) of evangelism. I just want to understand why most traditions seem to fall into one extreme or another. Aren't both evangelism and social action absolutely integral to our lives as Christians?
Thanks for writing the book, I am truly inspired by it.
Blessings on your ministry.
The Rev. Susan B. Snook
I bought your book, "Transformation," at a recent evangelism conference. I am already halfway through it, and am enjoying it very much. I was struck by your statement that (paraphrasing) the church should have the evangelical concern of Billy Graham, combined with the social service of Mother Theresa. Amen!
I am a pastor and church planter in a mainline denomination and struggle with our tradition's lack of emphasis on evangelism. By the way some of us talk (all about social service, none about evangelism), we might as well be volunteering for the Red Cross. On the other hand, I am always puzzled by the evangelical tradition's lack of emphasis on social concerns. At any large conference in my denomination this week, there would have been strong and sorrowful prayers, perhaps even liturgies or vigils, for the victims and families of the Virginia Tech shootings, as well as prayers for an end to war, poverty and oppression, requests for the Holy Spirit to guide us as we seek God's call to us to bring the Kingdom of God into lived reality on earth, and inspiring stories of tangible social transformation as a result of the gospel. I have experienced this week at the evangelical conference a great deal of inspiration, but also a feeling of living inside a churchy bubble that has little relation to the real sorrows of the real world.
You understand that I am not saying that our tradition is better--I believe that we are horribly handicapped because we have lost the theology (and practice) of evangelism. I just want to understand why most traditions seem to fall into one extreme or another. Aren't both evangelism and social action absolutely integral to our lives as Christians?
Thanks for writing the book, I am truly inspired by it.
Blessings on your ministry.
The Rev. Susan B. Snook
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