Eade’s Bedes
So What Do We Do About the “E” Word?
October 2009

If we stop using the “E” word (shhh… evangelism), we still need to follow Jesus’ “Great Commission” “Go into the world and baptize …” For people in this century such an idea is either seen as an absolute or must be understood and nuanced. If it is absolute, then we must cajole, compel, and even connive to ‘bring in the sheep.’ Most of us dread the knock at the door from a self-appointed evangelist or being accosted on the street by someone anxious to save our souls. Problem is, our souls do need saving, and our relationship with God is vital to our pathway to heaven. Still there are so many pathways to God, and they all claim to be exclusive and uniquely right. We don’t want to hear about it, at least publicly, and we most certainly shy away from spreading the faith ourselves.

So if we won’t use the “E” word because it makes us uncomfortable, what do we do? The first condition is to remind ourselves that Jesus is “The Truth the Way and the Life.” The second is to accept that what God does with other pathways is solely for God to judge – we need not decry the commitments and pathways of others. The third is to follow the example of Jesus. He began with relationship. He met people where they were.

People came to Jesus because they found him to be whole and holy, authentic and completely unhypocritical. He was always himself. His relationship with God was total and natural. While none of us will ever rise to his perfection, he is nonetheless the perfect example of what we strive for. When we are authentic and natural and have the peace of God within us, people notice.

The Natural Church Development program is designed to help us become more God-centered and Christ-like both as individuals and as a church community. We are developing some select programs to help us respond to those outside St. Martin’s in order to both to help us grow spiritually, and then to make it attractive for others to come to us.

And do you know why most people join a church? It’s the same answer for 2000 years. Somebody asked them.

 

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