An Emerging Practical Ecclesiology: Evangelism

Today I describe another important aspect of the Emerging Church Movement’s (ECM) practical ecclesiology: evangelism. How do we share our faith in Jesus Christ in a postmodern era?

ECM believes “traditional apologetics offer a reductionistic approach to God, ignoring Christian’s spiritual and communal way of living in favor of a cognitive approach to truth” (Gibbs and Bolger). That is, modern evangelical evangelism only emphasizes the cognitive aspects of conversion by emphasizing a set of propositions taken from the Bible that must be accepted or denied, while attempting to resolve any apparent contradictions or complaints that may arise in the process. ECM views this form of evangelism as a “win-lose argument.” Perhaps the most thorough description of ECM’s view of modern evangelism is found in Brian McLaren’s More Ready Than You Realize:

On the street, evangelism is equated with pressure. It means selling God as if God were vinyl siding, replacement windows, or a mortgage refinancing service. It means shoving your ideas down someone’s throat, threatening him with hell if he does not capitulate to your logic or Scripture-quoting. It means excluding everyone from God’s grace except those who agree with the evangelizer (a.k.a. evangelist). When preceded by the word television, the word evangelism grows even darker, more sinister - sleazy even. It means rehearsed, mechanical monologues, sales pitches, spiels, unrequested sermons or lectures, crocodile tears, uncomfortable confrontations sometimes made worse by Nutrasweet smiles and over-done eye contact and too-sincere professions of love for one’s soul and concern for one’s eternal destiny.”

Consistent with this description, Burke uses the metaphor of “warrior” for the modern evangelist. This warrior holds to several values: “I believe I have the truth and need to proclaim it to others… Because I am at odds with the world, I need to take territory for Jesus and see light triumph over darkness…(and) because time is limited, I need to hurry and help people make a decision.”

ECM practices and promotes an evangelism that is quite different. First, ECM relates the purpose of evangelism to its understanding of the kingdom of God: “Emerging churches focus on changed lives rather than changed beliefs. People do not want to be converted, but experiencing the life of the kingdom may be welcomed by many. The focus is to create cultures of the kingdom and to allow God to do the work” (Gibbs and Bolger). Because of this purpose, the methodology commonly employed is significantly different from what is described above. Again, an extended quote from More Ready Than You Realize provides an overview of typical ECM evangelism.

“Good evangelism is the process of being friendly without discrimination and influencing all of one’s friends toward better living, through good deeds and good conversations. For a Christian like myself, evangelism means engaging in these conversations in the spirit of Jesus Christ…If you know anything about Jesus at all, you probably know that he was an amazing conversationalist. Unlike the typical evangelist-caricature of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstractions and propositions, and long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself; short on condemning the irreligious, long on confronting the religious.”

Consistent with this description, Burke uses the metaphor of “gardener” for the postmodern evangelist. This gardener holds to several values: “I believe I need to live out the truth before people without forcing it on others…Because I have a lot in common with people, I can care for them and be “present” with them no matter what their worldview… Because I believe in seasons, I can be patient with people and trust God to change their hearts.” These broad descriptions of ECM evangelism can be further narrowed down into the most important aspect of evangelism, relationships.

McLaren boldly proclaims “evangelism should be about relationships (what we are calling spiritual friendships), not arguments.” This is significant in the postmodern era because ECM believes that the postmodern turn is moving from individualism to community, along with an emphasis in authenticity.”  In relating to postmoderns, Christians must have no hidden agenda, and all that they contribute to a relationship must be for the benefit of the other person rather than to enhance their own position.”  However, ECM’s emphasis on relationships is different from the modern evangelical method of friendship evangelism. “Some leaders feel that friendship evangelism denies the very gospel they seek to communicate. Chris Matthews (Linden Church, Swansea, U.K.) is concerned that friendship evangelism results in attention being focused on the potentially responsive to the exclusion of those who are indifferent or hostile to such approaches” (Gibbs and Bolger). Rather than building relationships with the goal of conversion, ECM builds relationships with the goal of both parties experiencing the kingdom of God.

This emphasis on relationships also has implications on how and when people are connected to the church. ECM’s emphasis of inclusion and eliminating the “us versus them” or “inside versus outside” mentality, ECM emphasizes the concept that “belonging must precede believing.” This is based upon the belief that experiencing the kingdom of God is a significant factor in entering the kingdom of God: “unless we let not-yet-Christians enter and participate in the Christian community, many of them won’t become Christians.”  According to McLaren, experiencing the kingdom of God motivates people toward the kingdom of God more than threats of exclusion motivate them. He would prefer postmodern churches to take on the following attitude:

“We are a community bound together and energized by faith, love, and commitment to Jesus Christ. Even though you don’t yet share that faith, love, and commitment, you are most welcome to be with us, to belong here, to experience what we’re about. Then, if you are attracted and persuaded by what you see, you’ll want to set down roots here long-term. And even if you don’t, you’ll always be a friend.”

Those who eventually do “set down roots” in the church will certainly be encouraged to participate in some form of corporate worship, another important aspect of ECM practical ecclesiology (see next post).

So what are we to think of all this?  Here are a couple of my own thoughts.

1. McLaren’s More Ready Than You Realize is one of my favorite books on evangelism, so I wholeheartedly agree with the quotes above.  Evangelism needs to be based upon authentic relationships that have the goal of seeing a person come to Christ, but remain authentic even if that doesn’t happen.
2. It doesn’t come up in the description above, but I agree with the missional church that basing our evangelism efforts on attractional forms of ministry is unproductive.  All it does is cater to consumerism and steal members from other churches.  Rather, we must be incarnational and “get out there!”  Therefore, if members of your church are “out there” living and proclaiming Christ, that is a good thing, even if 99% of those being evangelized never end up in your pews.
3. My concern with ECM evangelism relates to their understanding of the Kingdom of God.  This is evidenced above when the stated goal of evangelism is not conversion but experiencing the Kingdom of God.  I agree that we need to do some things simply because the Kingdom tells us to do them (social gospel type stuff).  But, the Kingdom of God is a redemptive kingdom.  It is great when we achieve justice and overcome poverty because that would be consistent with the Kingdom of God, but people only enter the Kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  So let’s do things to promote a Kingdom lifestyle, but at the end of the day, that is only a temporary benefit if people don’t come to Christ.  Let’s make sure we are intentional about this as we live and proclaim the Kingdom of God!!