REDISCOVERING PENTECOST:
THE EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY OF
THE REVD DR ROB FROST
AND ITS AUTHENTICITY AS AN EXPRESSION OF
METHODIST THEOLOGY AND PRACTICE
A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Humanities
2019
DAVID A. HULL
SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES
Contents
Contents ...... 2
Abbreviations ...... 8
Abstract ...... 9
Declaration and Copyright ...... 10
Acknowledgements and Dedication ...... 11
1. Introduction ...... 12
Important Themes ...... 15
The Missio Dei & Inaugurated Eschatology ...... 15
Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People & Rediscovering Pentecost .. 17
Structure ...... 18
Chapter Two ...... 18
Chapter Three ...... 21
Chapter Four ...... 23
Chapter Five ...... 24
Chapter Six ...... 25
Chapter Seven ...... 27
Chapter Eight ...... 27
Chapter Nine ...... 28
Personal Interest and Critical Distance ...... 30
2. Christian Mission and the Methodist Church: Mission and Evangelism in
British Methodist Perspective ...... 33
2
Ecumenical Divergence and Consensus...... 33
An Emerging Policy ...... 37
The One Mission ...... 38
The One Church ...... 40
The Whole Mission ...... 41
The Whole Church ...... 43
The Global Mission ...... 44
The Local Church ...... 46
The Growing Mission ...... 48
The Declining Church ...... 48
Conclusion ...... 49
3. A Wheel of Many Spokes: The Emphases of Authentic Methodist
Missiology as Expressed in the Practice of Three Prominent Methodist
Ministers ...... 51
The One Mission ...... 52
The One Church ...... 56
The Whole Mission ...... 60
The Whole Church ...... 64
The Global Mission ...... 66
The Local Church ...... 70
The Growing Mission ...... 74
The Declining Church ...... 77
A Wheel of Many Spokes ...... 81 3
4. Doing the Work of an Evangelist and Opening a Stream of Renewal: The
Ministry of Rob Frost…………………………………………………….85
‘One of Mr Wesley’s Preachers in the finest tradition’:
A Profile of Rob Frost ...... 85
‘Do the work of an evangelist’ ...... 90
Church-based Missions ...... 91
Missionary Evangelism: Touring Evangelistic Productions ...... 98
Involvement in the Media ...... 100
Providing Training, Producing Resources and Offering Experiences of
Evangelism ...... 101
Theological Investigation and Apologetics ...... 103
‘A Stream of Renewal’...... 104
Easter People ...... 105
Pentecost Festival ...... 110
Inspirational Role Model...... 111
Mentoring Leaders ...... 112
Transitional Phases and Missiological Principles ...... 115
5. Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People and Rediscovering
Pentecost: The Missiology of Rob Frost ...... 122
A Pleasing Symmetry ...... 122
Frost’s Theology of Evangelism ...... 124
Frost’s Theology of Renewal ...... 131
Worship Renewal ...... 131
4
Christian Renewal ...... 134
Church Renewal ...... 142
Renewing Evangelism ...... 146
6. Sharing Jesus, Seeking Renewal, Sustaining Freedoms: The Legacy of
Rob Frost as an Authentic Expression of British Methodism’s Theology
and Practice ...... 158
A practical expression of the British Methodist theology of evangelism ..... 158
The One Mission ...... 158
The One Church ...... 161
The Whole Mission ...... 164
The Whole Church ...... 166
The Global Mission ...... 169
The Local Church ...... 172
The Growing Mission ...... 176
The Declining Church ...... 179
A ministry shaped by and to the Methodist Church ...... 181
An important legacy ...... 186
Sharing Jesus ...... 186
Seeking Renewal ...... 191
Sustaining Freedoms ...... 192
Conclusion ...... 194
7. Evangelism and Ecclesiology: Developments in British Methodist
Missiology ...... 195 5
Evangelists and Evangelism Enablers ...... 196
Ecclesiastical Insights ...... 198
Defining Vision and Developing Confidence ...... 201
A New Chapter … ...... 204
… for Overseas Mission...... 204
… for the One Mission ...... 205
… for Home Mission? ...... 205
Emerging Trends ...... 206
The Drift Away from Inaugurated Eschatology...... 206
The Diminishing Place of Evangelism ...... 208
The Disparity between Normative and Operant Theology ...... 211
Conclusion ...... 212
8. The Mission of God and the Kingdom of God: Developments within the
Theology of Evangelism within Methodist Scholarship ...... 213
A New Conversation ...... 215
William Abraham ...... 215
Scott Jones ...... 224
Elaine Heath ...... 230
Convergence and Divergence ...... 233
Evangelism in Three Dimensions ...... 238
The Mission of God and the Kingdom of God ...... 242
9. Conclusion: Rediscovering Pentecost ...... 247
6
Practical Implications ...... 251
Theological Implications ...... 252
Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People: Cultural Relevance ...... 253
Rediscovering Pentecost: Confidence in the Gospel ...... 256
‘Go out in God’s Name’ ...... 261
Bibliography ...... 263
General Works ...... 263
Publications of the Methodist Church in Britain...... 271
The Published Work of Rob Frost ...... 275
Items Cited from the Rob Frost Archives ...... 277
Word Count: 79, 923
7
Abbreviations
CofE Church of England
MCB The Methodist Church in Britain
RFSG The Rob Frost Steering Group
SJI Share Jesus International
UMC United Methodist Church
WMC World Methodist Council
8
Abstract
The Revd Dr Rob Frost (1950 – 2007) was the most significant British
Methodist evangelist of his generation. He exercised an influential and effective evangelistic ministry within the British Methodist Church at a time in which the denomination itself was characterised by continuous, significant decline and by an almost all-pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism. This thesis therefore seeks to identify the contribution of Frost’s theology and practice to British Methodist missiology and the wider scholarly debate in the field of evangelism. It begins by establishing the formal missiology of the British Methodist Church of Frost’s day, which formed the context for his ministry, as presented in official reports to the Annual
Conference, the British Methodist Church’s highest authority, and exemplified through the practice of three distinctive Methodist ministers: Donald Soper, John Vincent and
William (Bill) Davies. Frost’s evangelistic ministry is then analysed as a practical outworking of official policy which gives a significant insight into authentic British
Methodist evangelism. Subsequent developments within official British Methodist policy are then considered. Finally, the collective insights of the study are brought into dialogue with the scholarly debate in evangelism which, pertaining to Methodism, has largely developed in the United States of America, through consideration of the work of
William Abraham, Scott Jones and Elaine Heath. Three major elements of Frost’s legacy, and their implications for contemporary Methodism and the wider Christian church, are highlighted by way of conclusion: evangelism in the vernacular of the people, inaugurated eschatology and the rediscovery of Pentecost.
9
Declaration and Copyright
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning.
i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The
University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes.
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The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses.
10
Acknowledgements and Dedication
This research would not have been possible without the support of a considerable number of people and I am glad to take the opportunity here to record my very great thanks to them all. The Frost family, particularly Jacqui Parkinson, widow of the late Revd Dr Rob Frost and their son, Andy Frost, who succeeded his father as Director of Share Jesus International, gave me the entire archive of Rob Frost’s ministry which stimulated this project. It has been funded by research grants from the Methodist Church and St Luke’s Trust, and supported by the award of a scholarship by the Farmington Institute at Harris Manchester College, Oxford.
Throughout the course of the research, I have been supported by colleagues at Kingswood
School, Bath; the Yeovil and Blackmore Vale Methodist Circuit; King’s College, Cambridge and its school; and Shebbear College, North Devon.
In particular, I would like to record my very grateful thanks to my supervisor, the Revd
Dr Stephen Skuce. I have been most fortunate to be able to draw upon his knowledge of
Methodism and of missiology; he has guided me through this project with patience and good grace.
My parents have supported me throughout the years of my education which has culminated in this thesis and I am delighted to take this opportunity to record my immense gratitude also to them. It was my mother, Glynis who, having known Rob Frost from her student days, first introduced me to him at a critical time in my life when I was exploring a call to ministry.
Most of all, I would like to express my incalculable gratitude to my wife, Sarah and our children, Martha, Miriam and Susannah who have gracefully given me time and space to research and to write. I began this thesis before we were married; it has thus far been an ever- present part of our life together and is older than each of our children. I therefore dedicate this thesis and the work it represents:
to the glory of God and in the service, I hope, of his church,
in grateful memory of Rob Frost,
and with love to my family.
11
1. Introduction
It has been recognised for at least half a century and more that the Methodist
Church in Britain (MCB) has a problem with evangelism.1 It is a problem which is intrinsically related to its decline. Having recovered from the loss in membership brought about by the devastation of the First World War, Methodism has been in continual decline in Britain since the 1930s.2 Membership peaked at just under 850,000 in the interwar years; in 2017, it fell below 200,000 members and there are currently no indications that anything other than the present trends of decline will continue.3 Though evangelism should not be conflated with the recruitment of church members, it is at least possible to conclude that the MCB’s methods of evangelism have not enabled it to keep pace with the rate at which members have left the denomination, or have died, let alone with the rate of increase in the national population.4
The problem is further compounded by the seemingly universal agreement that there is a pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism amongst the Methodist people in
Britain. Some are unconvinced about the appropriateness of evangelism within contemporary society; many others simply feel that they do not know how to share their faith with those outside the church, or lack the courage to do so.5 Indeed, it is reported that most do not feel comfortable talking even to one another about matters of faith.6
1 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1966), pp. 275-276. 2 John J. Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, (London: Epworth Press, 1984), p. 49. 3 www.methodist.org.uk/media/8617/methodism_in_numbers_2018.pdf (accessed 1 August 2018). 4 See, for example, www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/ adhocs/004356ukpopulationestimates1851to2014/ukpopulationestimates18512014.xls (accessed 29 June 2018). 5 MCB, ‘Contemporary Methodism: a discipleship movement shaped for mission’, (2011), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf2011-pc-2-gen-sec-conference-report-0812.doc (accessed 3 April 2013), p. 16. 6 MCB, ‘Time to Talk of God’, (2005), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/co_02_timetotalkofgod_0505.doc (accessed 3 April 2013), p. 15. 12
Against such an unpromising backdrop, the evangelistic ministry of one
Methodist minister has proved to be particularly important, both in his own practice of evangelism and in his encouragement of others to participate in the task. Rob Frost
(1950-2007) was appointed Connexional Evangelist for the MCB in 1989. Through his ministry, a significant number of people came to faith, others discerned vocations to
Christian service, and hundreds of Methodists were enabled to participate in inspirational experiences of evangelism, discovering and developing gifts for the task.
Frost’s appointment to the role was not, however, uncontroversial. He continued to experience frustrations and difficulties with institutional Methodism throughout his years of service until the role was made redundant in 2000. At that point, he was released to serve in an appointment outside the control of the church as director of the newly-formed evangelistic charitable company, Share Jesus International (SJI).7
The evident effectiveness of Frost’s ministry as Connexional Evangelist against the backdrop of denominational decline and the widespread lack of confidence and competence in evangelism across the Connexion would suggest that there is much to learn from his legacy. This thesis therefore seeks to identify the way in which Frost’s theology and practice of evangelism contributes to British Methodist missiology and the wider scholarly debate.
This involves, firstly, establishing what constitutes authentic British Methodist missiology. This is achieved, first, through an analysis of official reports to the Annual
Conference, primarily the Division of Home Mission’s ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ series,8 and then a consideration of the ways in which this missiology was exemplified through the ministry of other representative and influential ministers. This latter
7 www.sharejesusinternational.com (accessed 1 August 2018). 8 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1985), pp. 486-509; MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission - Evangelism’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1986), pp. 431-445; MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1988), pp. 428-453. 13 investigation demonstrates also ways in which specialised and focussed ministries have been able to fit within the broader missiology of the MCB.
Secondly, the key features of Frost’s own approach to evangelistic ministry in practice and in theory are identified and analysed, achieved through consideration of both the archives of his practical ministry and his published work. This ministry is then considered within the context of British Methodism, given the principles previously identified, as offering a significant account of authentic British Methodist evangelism, and significant aspects of Frost’s legacy are identified.
Thirdly, consideration is given to the relationship of Frost’s ministry as an authentic British Methodist evangelist, first to subsequent developments in British
Methodism and, then to the wider scholarly debate. The developments in British
Methodism are identified as expressed in later Conference reports, primarily the 1999
Statement, ‘Called to Love and Praise’. The wider scholarly debate draws particularly upon the work of three key United Methodist Church (UMC) theologians of evangelism in the USA, William Abraham, Scott Jones and Elaine Heath.9
Finally, given the continued decline of the MCB and its urgent need to rediscover an effective approach to evangelism, implications of Frost’s legacy for the life of contemporary British Methodism, and indeed the wider church, are identified by way of conclusion. These relate particularly to the concepts of evangelism in the vernacular of the people and the rediscovery of Pentecost.
9 Whilst, in the course of this thesis, the content of Frost’s published work is compared with that of the British Methodist ministers Soper, Vincent and Davies and the American Methodist scholars, Abraham, Jones and Heath, the relative reception and impact of the works is difficult to measure. The publishers which still exist are, largely, unable to provide sales figures and similar information as they are either no longer available or considered to be commercially sensitive. 14
Important Themes
Before outlining the structure of this thesis in greater detail, it is important to identify two pairs of concepts which are threaded throughout, and which are intrinsically linked: the missio Dei & inaugurated eschatology, and evangelism in the vernacular of the people & rediscovering Pentecost.
The Missio Dei & Inaugurated Eschatology
Each of the significant developments in the theology of evangelism within the
Christian church in the West in the twentieth century has been built upon the foundational rediscovery of the pre-sixteenth century concept of the missio Dei. This holds that mission is ultimately the work of God, who initiated his mission in the act of creation and has continued it through the history of the People of Israel and, most importantly, through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Following Pentecost, God has continued his mission particularly through the church, inviting his people to participate in his missionary activity, though it is important to affirm that God is not restricted to working only in and through the church. The particular points of focus of the missio Dei are therefore rooted in the action of God: the
Father’s sending of the Son, underlining the importance of inaugurated eschatology, and the Father and Son’s sending of the Spirit, underlining the importance of the rediscovery of Pentecost. Such an understanding of mission and evangelism, which emerged out of international ecumenical conversations, has become foundational also to
British Methodism’s approach to the subject.
Inaugurated eschatology emphasises the centrality of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth within the missio Dei and its subsequent continuance primarily through the church. It concerns the way in which the kingdom of
God has been, and is being, established on earth and is contrasted with realised
15 eschatology, which holds that Jesus believed the kingdom of God had been entirely established upon earth through his life and ministry, and with apocalyptic eschatology which holds that Jesus believed the kingdom of God, currently not present within the world, would be established entirely in a future cataclysmic event which, proponents of the theory argue, he mistakenly anticipated in the immediate future. By way of contrast, inaugurated eschatology holds that the kingdom of God – the presence of his dynamic rule on earth – was inaugurated in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and yet awaits full and final consummation. In the meantime, it continues to be extended primarily through the ministry of the church which, following the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, has become the community of the kingdom in which God’s presence and reign continue to be dynamically experienced.
This model of inaugurated eschatology was first propounded by Oscar Cullmann and brought to the attention of a wider audience by George Eldon Ladd.10 Numbered amongst the most significant of its recent proponents are James Dunn, Gordon Fee, N.T.
Wright and Ben Witherington.11 As will become evident, there are points at which this theory of inaugurated eschatology appears central to Methodist understandings of mission and evangelism, in both official policy and scholarly debate. Indeed, it will be argued that these were highpoints of clarity and conviction. However, it is also possible to discern a direction of travel in both the development of British Methodist policy and the wider scholarly debates which has moved away from the centrality of inaugurated eschatology in the theology of mission and evangelism, emphasising the weak human
10 Oscar Cullman, The Christology of the New Testament, translated by Shirley C. Guthrie and Charles A.M. Hall, (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1959); George Eldon Ladd, Jesus and the Kingdom, (Waco, TX: Word, 1964). 11 See, for example, James D.G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament, (London: SCM Press, 1975); Gordon D. Fee, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996); N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God, (London: SPCK, 2003), and the more popular Tom Wright, How God became King, (London: SPCK, 2012); Ben Witherington, Jesus, Paul and the End of the World, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1992). 16 nature of the church rather than its divine origins and purpose, and the general missio
Dei rather than its specific focus in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth.
In the concluding chapter, I will argue that it may be this that is responsible for the prevailing lack of confidence in evangelism within British Methodism. Indeed, it may be that the lack of confidence in evangelism is not the root of the problem, for to lose the focus of inaugurated eschatology at the heart of the missio Dei in which the church is called to participate is to lose the focus of the gospel message, leaving confusion in its wake as to what the gospel is. The lack of confidence in evangelism, I will argue, therefore flows from a lack of confidence in the gospel itself, and in a lack of confidence in the church as the community of the kingdom Jesus came to initiate through his life, ministry, death and resurrection which are at the heart of the gospel message. Unless there is a recovery of confidence in the gospel, and subsequently in the church, I contend it will be impossible for the MCB’s lack of confidence in evangelism to be reversed and, until then, the present trends of decline will continue.
However, despite the seriousness of these problems which cut to the heart of the church’s existence, there are signs of hope, one of the most outstanding of which, it is the contention of this thesis, was the ministry of Rob Frost. Within a largely unconfident denomination, he personally fulfilled a ministry of evangelism marked by passionate conviction, and enabled hundreds of Christians to discover confidence in the gospel, the church and evangelism in his quest to rediscover Pentecost.
Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People & Rediscovering Pentecost
The theme of rediscovering Pentecost emerges from Frost’s writing. There was a symmetry to his published work in which he called, in both his first and his last
17 publications, for a rediscovery of Pentecost.12 This he linked to his emphasis on the importance of evangelism in the vernacular of the people, in which the message of the gospel is communicated in the idioms of contemporary culture. Such communication, he argued, was a mark of the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost, when the people in the crowd were able to hear the Galilean disciples
‘speaking in the native language of each’ (Acts 2:6).
However, whilst the theme emerges from Frost’s writing, it is also of vital importance, I will argue, to British Methodism if its lack of confidence in evangelism, and consequentially its decline, is to be reversed. It is Pentecost that is the linchpin between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the church. If there is a disconnection between the two within British Methodism, as is suggested in the conclusion of this thesis, it is vital that there is a rediscovery of Pentecost.
Structure
It is the contribution of Frost’s legacy, as an authentic Methodist evangelist, to denominational policy and practice and the wider scholarly debate which is the substantive concern of this thesis. The argument is built over the eight chapters which follow this first introductory one.
Chapter Two
Chapter two considers the missiology of the MCB at the time Frost began his ministry as Connexional Evangelist. Setting out first the wider context of debates within ecumenical, evangelical and Roman Catholic circles in the mid-twentieth century, it is noted that a growing consensus emerged out of a great diversity of
12 Rob Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, in Brian R. Hoare (ed.), Methodist of Mission, (London: Methodist Publishing House, 1979), pp. 32-33; Rob Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, in Rob Frost and Andy Frost, Pentecost: The Church has Left the Building, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 9-17. 18 approaches to mission and evangelism affirming: that the principle of the missio Dei as the ultimate context for all missionary activity; that evangelism is an essential aspect of mission, though only one aspect alongside the socio-political pursuit of justice; and that the primary form of evangelism is the daily witness of individuals living authentic
Christian lives.
In the light of this wider context, the understanding of evangelism within the development of the official policy of the MCB is then traced. This is done through a review of reports to the Annual Conference, the denomination’s governing body which holds final authority for interpreting doctrine and determining policy. Notwithstanding the historical roots of the denomination as a missional movement within the Church of
England (CofE), of particular concern are the denominational developments immediately preceding and throughout the ministry of Rob Frost, identified particularly through the Division of Home Mission’s series of reports to Conference, entitled
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’. It is evident from the reports that British Methodism’s understanding of evangelism is intrinsically linked to its wider understanding of mission, from which eight characteristics emerge. These can be divided into four complementary pairs of headings: there is ultimately only one mission, the mission of
God to the world, in which the church is called to participate; at best this roots the
MCB’s understanding of evangelism not only within the missio Dei but also within inaugurated eschatology. Given this ultimate context, mission is necessarily the task of the one church, resulting in calls for unity both within the denomination and across denominations. It is the whole mission to which the church is called, which consists of at least evangelism, social caring, and the political struggle for justice; each aspect is of equal importance and all are intrinsically linked, each strengthening or weakening the others. Each of these aspects of mission, not least evangelism, is the task of the whole church; regarding evangelism this means that the daily witness of individual Christians
19 is the primary form. This must be encouraged and equipped by the church, which must also seek to identify, train and release those with particular gifts and vocations to the ministry of an evangelist. The work of each denomination is always set within the context of the global mission and so churches should seek to work in partnership with, and to learn from, Christians from other cultures and countries, resisting any imperialistic notions of missionary work; additionally, the global perspective of mission brings Christians into contact with people of other faiths which is an increasingly frequent experience within Britain owing to globalisation, and so Christians should be open to working with other faith communities over matters of mutual social concern, and should seek to share their faith in appropriate ways. However, despite both this global perspective and the national structures of the denomination, mission and evangelism are ultimately the responsibility of the local church; therefore the wider structures of the church should seek to encourage and equip local churches to fulfil their responsibilities; those who work within a wider context should seek to do so as much as possible through local churches. Given that God is continually at work within the world to fulfil his purposes, the mission in which the church is called to participate is a growing mission, and so churches should keep their strategies for mission under regular review, identifying new needs and opportunities for mission and discarding programmes which are no longer effective in order to release resources for redeployment. All such missionary activity however is undertaken, within Methodism as within many western denominations, by a declining church, with diminishing resources of personnel and finance. This both highlights the need for planning to be realistic, whilst also underlining the urgency of rediscovering effective approaches to evangelism, if the decline is to be reversed and the denomination sustained into the future. A clear and compelling theology of evangelism thus emerges at the heart of British Methodism’s official policy of mission.
20
Chapter Three
Having established, from official Methodist policy documents, authentic British
Methodist missiology, chapter three explores the ways in which these emphases have been expressed in the ministry of three representative Methodist ministers. This is assessed primarily through their own published work in which they reflect upon their approaches to ministry, although additional biographical material is also used. The three ministers considered are Donald Soper, whose ministry preceded Frost’s but remained influential beyond his becoming a supernumerary minister, John Vincent and
William (Bill) Davies. Between them, they represent a breadth of Methodist conviction.
Soper possessed a distinctive commitment to a particular approach to evangelism and was active in political engagement, latterly within the House of Lords. Vincent has been committed, throughout his ministry, to radical mission alongside the poor. Davies, at one time principal of Cliff College, has been particularly committed to promoting charismatic renewal within Methodism, and to offering leadership within the movement more widely. Of particular importance in the criteria for their selection for consideration in this way has been the fact that each has been elected as President of the
Conference. It is a notable achievement and, by way of implication, indicates that the ministry of each has been endorsed and validated by the Conference, not only by virtue of their ordination and continued stationing, but also by electing them to its highest office.
It must be conceded that this selection is limited in its diversity; it is exclusively white male. Indeed, it is important to record that the contemporary worlds of British
Methodist theology and practice are far more diverse. This selection, however is reflective of the period of time under consideration, beginning at the start of Frost’s ministry when he was stationed as a probationer minister in 1975. That was only the
21 second year in which women were ordained as presbyters within British Methodism and so their influence as such was only in its infancy. There were, of course, many women who had exercised influence as members of the laity and as deaconesses,13 though documentary evidence of that influence is far less extensive than that of those selected.
There were two women elected as President of the Conference during the period,
Kathleen Richardson and Christina Le Moignan. However, they have not published written reflections on their approaches to ministry. Inderjit Bhogal has been the only person of non-British heritage to be elected as president. Within his ministry, he has emphasised reconciliation, sharing Vincent’s emphasis on radical theology and Soper’s commitment to pacifism,14 though his election to the presidency occurred much later in the period, in the year 2000, only seven years before Frost’s death. It is therefore difficult to argue that any other minister than those selected has exercised a more authenticated and influential ministry within the church throughout the period from
Frost’s first ministerial appointment in 1975 to his death in 2007, particularly regarding the popular theology and practice of mission and evangelism. Taken together, they represent a well-documented and theologically broad body of celebrated and influential
Methodist thought and praxis. One further minister in particular is, perhaps, notable by his absence. The only minister in the history of the MCB to have been elected twice to the presidency is Donald English. However, throughout much of the period under consideration, he served as General Secretary of the MCB’s Division of Home Mission.
In this role, he was largely responsible for the foundational documents which became official Methodist policy, the series, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’.15 It is therefore his
13 The Wesleyan Deaconess Order ceased recruiting members in 1978 following the opening of ordination to the presbyteral ministry to women. The order was reopened in 1986, to men as well as to women and, in 1989 was renamed the Methodist Diaconal Order at which point both male and female members were referred to as Deacons (See URL: www.methodistdiaconalorder.org.uk/index.php?page=hi story-of-the-mdo accessed 24 June 2018). 14 See URL: www.inderjitbhogal.com/full-biography/ (accessed 24 June 2018). 15 English was credited for this in his official obituary (MCB, ‘Obituaries: Donald English’ in MCB, Minutes of Conference and Directory, (London: MCB, 1999), p. 32). 22 approach to the theology and practice of mission and evangelism which undergirds a number of the significant developments considered in chapter two.
This chapter concludes that, although the MCB subscribes to a holistic understanding of mission, it does not require each of its ministers to be equally committed to each of the aspects of mission. Soper was primarily committed to a particular understanding of evangelism, and to the political struggle for justice, though clearly social caring was also an important part of his ministry. Vincent was primarily committed to social caring in the form of mission alongside the poor. Davies, at least in his published work, was primarily concerned with promoting unity in mission and the empowerment of mission found in the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Despite a diversity of emphasis, the ministry of each was affirmed by the MCB. All that is required is that each, in emphasising their own commitments within the whole mission of the church, also affirms the validity of the ministry of those with different emphases. The chapter concludes by proposing and developing the ‘missional wheel’ as a model which enables the church to encourage and enable its people, not least its ministers, to flourish in their commitment to whichever aspect of the holistic mission they are primarily called to serve, whilst affirming the value of, and remaining connected to, other expressions of ministry.
Chapter Four
The consideration of Frost’s ministry commences in chapter four, beginning with an introductory profile which briefly outlines his life and ministry. Frost’s evangelistic practice as a national evangelist is then investigated, as revealed through the extensive archives, demonstrating that there was a remarkable consistency of approach throughout his ministry. The main aspects of his work and the flagship programmes he developed are analysed: Share Jesus Missions; Seed Teams;
23 evangelistic touring productions; work with the media; providing training, producing resources, and offering experiences of evangelism; engaging in theological research and apologetics; Easter People; and Pentecost Festival. Two overarching themes emerge, forming central strands which were the consistent priorities of his ministry: doing the work of an evangelist and opening a stream of renewal. Frost’s own articulation of the principles which undergirded his practice are also considered.
The chapter concludes by identifying the key insights which emerge from
Frost’s practice as a British Methodist evangelist: a clear sense of vocation to the ministry of an evangelist; an equally clear understanding of what constitutes evangelism
(proclaiming Christ and seeking personal response); a visionary, entrepreneurial approach to evangelism; a commitment to undertaking evangelistic ministry primarily through local churches; the mobilising of Christians in evangelism, offering training primarily through experience; the development of leaders, particularly young people; the use of creative arts in evangelism; an emphasis on large-scale events; promoting renewal as intrinsically linked to the ministry of evangelism; and a pioneering ecumenical approach which sought to foster Christian unity and partnership in evangelism.
Chapter Five
Chapter five presents a comprehensive review of Frost’s published literature in order to identify the missiological principles he sought to communicate to others. The two key themes which ran throughout his practice of ministry emerge equally clearly in his writing: evangelism and renewal. From his earliest writing emerges a concept he described as ‘evangelism in the vernacular of the people’, a concern which would remain central throughout his ministry – the principle of communicating the message of the gospel in the idioms of contemporary culture. It was this commitment that was at
24 the heart of his quest for the rediscovery of Pentecost, for one of the phenomena experienced on the Day of Pentecost was the ability of the disciples to speak of the gospel in ways the gathered crowd was able to hear and understand ‘in the native language of each’ (Acts 2:6). Frost’s second theme of renewal had three aspects: the renewal of worship, individual Christian renewal, and the renewal of the church, each intrinsically linked to the others. Furthermore, renewal in each of these areas, he believed, would strengthen both enthusiasm for, and effectiveness in, evangelism. This two-fold commitment to evangelism and renewal would lead to a third theme in Frost’s writing: the renewal of evangelism itself. Through his research into the evolving nature of the vernacular of contemporary culture, Frost came to recognise that many of the models of evangelism which had hitherto characterised his ministry were no longer relevant; the vernacular of the people had largely changed. This resulted in a paradigmatic change in his own approach to evangelistic ministry and he proposed new models of mission and evangelism which were experiential and characterised by invitation and pilgrimage. This new approach, he believed, marked a rediscovery, in part, of Pentecost as the church took the life of the gospel out of its buildings and on to the streets in joyful celebration. However, behind the new vernacular lay a worldview which increasingly wishes to silence the voices of those who seek to communicate the gospel. Renewed evangelism will, therefore, involve contending for religious freedom and may lead to conflict with societal institutions.
Chapter Six
Chapter six offers an analysis of Rob Frost’s evangelistic ministry and his legacy within the context of British Methodism. The analysis demonstrates that Frost’s ministry offered a practical demonstration of British Methodist missiology. Reasons for the high degree of correlation between the two are proposed: Frost was himself shaped
25 by Methodism in the formative years of his life, he played a significant role in developing denominational policy, and he deliberately shaped his own ministry to the
MCB in which he was determined to serve. Such reflections prompt a further question which is raised and left unanswered: whether the breadth of approach required by the
MCB had the effect of compromising Frost’s effectiveness as an evangelist.
Significant aspects of Frost’s legacy are then identified under the three headings of the commitments which motivated his ministry, the latter of which emerged in the final years of his life: sharing Jesus, seeking renewal, and sustaining freedoms. He played an important role in re-establishing the ministry of evangelists within the MCB; he mobilised many Christians in evangelism who were enabled to develop an enthusiasm for and skills in evangelism, demonstrating the ongoing need for such mobilisation within the contemporary church; he promoted unity in evangelism and pioneered new ecumenical approaches to evangelistic ministry; and, by adopting an entrepreneurial, visionary approach to leadership in evangelism, he highlighted the continued need for such leadership. His own visionary, entrepreneurial approach led him to develop new methods of evangelism. He advocated church planting, developing new shapes of church, and overhauling the way people are trained for ordained ministry.
In the final years of his life, he identified a new threat to evangelism emerging within the UK: the growth of aggressive secularism which sought to silence the voices of
Christians and prevent them from sharing their faith with others. Thus Frost began himself to campaign for religious freedoms, and warned that Christian evangelism in future years must include publically contending for such freedoms. Thus, central to
Frost’s legacy as a Methodist evangelist are a number of insights which emerged in the course of his ministry: new approaches to evangelism; new shapes of church; and new challenges to sustain Christian freedoms.
26
Chapter Seven
Having identified the essence of authentic British Methodist evangelism as defined by the Division of Home Mission at the time in which Rob Frost was appointed
Connexional Evangelist and as exemplified in his ministry, chapter seven considers the ways in which this relates to subsequent developments within British Methodist missiology. These developments are identified through a consideration of later
Conference reports, primarily the 1999 Conference Statement on ecclesiology, ‘Called to Love and Praise’.
Whilst many of the characteristics of the missiology developed by the Division of Home Mission and exemplified in Frost’s ministry continued to be in evidence through developments in Connexional policy, and more recent decisions may signal the beginning of a new chapter in British Methodist evangelism, a number of concerning trends emerge. Firstly, there appears to have been a drift away from the place of inaugurated eschatology in the church’s missiology, which leads to a lack of confidence in the role of the church itself in God’s mission. Secondly, the place of evangelism within the national structures of the church has been continually diminished. Thirdly, there is a disparity between the MCB’s normative theology expressed in its official policy documents, and its operant theology, expressed in its practice, which reflects a pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism. If there is to be a new chapter in British
Methodist evangelism, it is suggested, these trends will urgently need to be reversed.
Chapter Eight
Chapter eight considers the relationship of authentic British Methodist evangelistic theology and practice to the wider scholarly debate, particularly with reference to the work of three key United Methodist theologians of evangelism in the
USA: William (Billy) Abraham, Scott Jones and Elaine Heath.
27
The pattern of a growing consensus emerging from diversity, observed in chapter one in the context of wider ecumenical developments, has been mirrored within
Methodism’s scholarly debates. Out of the wide spectrum of approaches to evangelism which has been propounded, from attractional models at one end, to those which draw upon pragmatic Church Growth theory at the other, a consensus has emerged, most significantly through the work of Abraham, Jones and Heath. They have developed an understanding of evangelism which centres on the concept of initiation into the kingdom of God. Combined with the foundational understanding of the missio Dei, on which they have built their work, the developments in this scholarly debate have consequently revolved around two points of focus: the mission of God and the kingdom of God.
The focus of the mission of God identifies the missio Dei as the ultimate context in which the church undertakes all its missionary activity in response to God’s invitation. The focus of the kingdom of God roots the understanding and practice of evangelism in inaugurated eschatology: the missio Dei comes into sharpest focus in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus who established the kingdom of God on earth, a ministry which is continued through the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
However, having reached a point of particular clarity within Abraham’s work, it is possible to discern a movement away from this emphasis in the subsequent conversation, mirroring the movement in British Methodist developments, with profound implications for the practice of evangelism.
Chapter Nine
Having identified significant aspects of the legacy of Frost’s evangelistic ministry as an authentic expression of Methodist missiology, chapter nine brings the thesis to a conclusion by considering a number of implications which arise from this
28 investigation for the contemporary MCB, and indeed for the wider Christian church.
These are both practical and theological. Practically, they suggest that the needs identified within Methodism by Frost early in his ministry are still pressing needs within the denomination today. They call for focussed leadership and responsibility for evangelism at national level within denominational structures, and for the identification and releasing for ministry of those with proven evangelistic gifts who will place the central emphasis of their work on undertaking evangelistic ministry, whilst also inspiring and enabling others to join them in evangelism. The theological implications of Frost’s legacy arise out of two key themes of his ministry: evangelism in the vernacular of the people and rediscovering Pentecost. The first recognises that simply replicating Frost’s methods of evangelism will not necessarily replicate the results he achieved. Frost himself argued that evangelism must be done in the vernacular of the people, and that the vernacular is constantly changing. Indeed, there are indications that, even in the twelve years since his death, there have been significant changes in the vernacular of contemporary culture. Therefore, new methods of evangelism will be needed. The implications of the second key theme, rediscovering Pentecost, involve the identification of concerning trends within the MCB which may have resulted in a lack of confidence in the gospel itself and a subsequent lack of confidence in the Church.
These, it is suggested, are more fundamental than, and causative of, the prevalent lack of confidence in evangelism. If that confidence is to be restored and the critical decline of the denomination reversed, it is argued, it is essential that there is a rediscovery of
Pentecost as the linchpin between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the church.
However, as vital as it is that these implications are addressed, the work of evangelism must go on. The legacy of Frost’s evangelistic ministry demonstrates that authentically
Methodist evangelism can indeed be undertaken even within unpromising denominational circumstances.
29
Personal Interest and Critical Distance
The subject of this thesis is of great personal interest to me. I am a Methodist minister who shares the significant concern over the lack of confidence and effectiveness in evangelism which is pervasive across the denomination. More importantly, Rob Frost has had a profound and formational influence upon my own
Christian discipleship and ministry. He was a mentor and confidant who supported me throughout my theological training and early years of ministry. I worked with him as part of the leadership teams of Easter People and Share Jesus missions, was researcher for his book, A Closer Look at New Age Spirituality and, following his death, was appointed first a trustee and then Chair of SJI, the interdenominational mission charity of which Frost was founding director, now led by his son, Andy Frost. The gift of the entire archive of Frost’s ministry by his family has made this research possible, and the timing of the gift at the point at which I was considering the focus of my PhD research made its subject obvious.
Whether I have been too closely associated with Frost’s ministry to be able to conduct this research with the necessary critical distance is a question with which I have grappled and sought to resolve. It is true that Frost mentored me, shaped my ministry and that, without his support amongst others, it is unlikely I would be a Methodist minister. I am glad to have the opportunity to record my immense gratitude to him here and to have been able to conduct this research in grateful memory. However, the nature of this research need not be impeded by the closeness of relationship between researcher and subject. This is a comparative study which seeks to determine degrees of correlation and to identify distinctive contributions rather than to make judgements about right and wrong. I originally set out with no case to make regarding the particular research question. As a friend of Frost’s who, like him, has experienced both great
30 blessings and great frustrations in and through the MCB, I would have been quite happy to conclude that Frost was not authentically Methodist in the way the denomination of his day defined it. I might then have been tempted to seek to argue that Frost was right and the denomination was wrong.
It might be argued therefore, that my biases are no different from those who might approach the subject not having known Frost personally, though I am able also to bring to the research the perspective of one who, to a certain extent, knew of Frost’s work in the latter years of his ministry ‘from the inside’. My interpretation of the characteristics of authentic Methodist missiology will be coloured by my own theological convictions, commitments and experience of ministry. I therefore offer these reflections as one who stands in a particular place within the MCB, a denomination which professes to value the varying perspectives of its people within a
‘broad church’ polity.16
It has been a surprise both to discover the structure of Frost’s work (given the perception of impulsivity and randomness that can accompany visionary leadership) and to discover the correlation between Frost’s ministry and Connexional policy. Indeed, I was surprised also to discover such a developed and compelling theology of mission and evangelism within official Connexional policy, which is not, it appears to me, immediately obvious in much of the denomination’s contemporary practice.
This also suggests an answer to those who would ask, not only whether I have been too close to Frost to conduct this research effectively, but also whether it is too soon to be evaluating his ministry, little more than ten years after his death. Indeed, I began this research four years after he died.
The hitherto continuing direction of travel within Connexional policy produces an urgency in such research. The developments in policy have done nothing to reverse
16 See the ‘whole church’ emphasis developed in Chapter 3. 31 the decline of the denomination or to restore confidence in evangelism amongst its members. There is a window of opportunity to learn the lessons from Frost’s ministry which makes it essential that the research is done now before the window closes.
The MCB has recently made some strategic decisions which may hint at a new commitment to evangelism at national level, including the appointment of a
Connexional Director of Evangelism and Growth, and a number of subordinate posts.17
It is to be hoped that such developments will mark a change in the direction of travel which will see a greater emphasis, with a correspondingly greater provision of resources, being placed upon evangelism within the MCB, guided by a clearer understanding of a Methodist theology of mission and evangelism, and that the findings of this research might make a contribution to that task.
17 URL: www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/news/latest-news/all-news/methodist-church-announces-new- director-of-evangelism-and-growth (accessed 28 July 2018). 32
2. Christian Mission and the Methodist Church:
Mission and Evangelism in British Methodist Perspective
Many have observed the significant difficulty of reaching a definitive understanding of evangelism owing to the great diversity of approaches to the task across the Christian church. Amongst them is John Mott who surveyed the field in preparation for the World Christian Conference to be held in India in 1938. He concluded that ‘the final impression is one of the inability to express adequately the height and depth of all that is involved in this God-given undertaking’1. In an attempt to describe the indescribable nature of the task, he reverted to words of the apostle, Paul who, reaching the end of the capacity of human language, exclaimed, ‘Thanks be to
God for his unspeakable gift’ (2 Cor. 9:15).2
Ecumenical Divergence and Consensus
The attempt by scholars and church authorities over the years to speak of the unspeakable has resulted not only in great diversity,3 but also in a growing consensus.
The developments within British Methodism, the particular interest of this chapter, were built upon the foundation of developments within wider ecumenical, evangelical and
Roman Catholic circles.4 Before proceeding with a review of British Methodist policy, it will be profitable first to trace briefly the contours of this developing landscape from
1 John R. Mott, (ed) Evangelism for the World Today, As Interpreted by Christian Leaders Throughout the World (London: Harper and Brothers, 1938), p. 4. 2 Mott, Evangelism for the World Today, p. 5; Mott’s emphasis. 3 David J. Bosch, ‘Mission and Evangelism: Clarifying the Concepts’, Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft 68:3 (1984), pp. 161-191; David B. Barrett, Evangelize! A Historical Survey of the Concept (Birmingham, AL: New Hope, 1987), pp. 51, 79; Darius Salter, American Evangelism: Its Theology and Practice (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), pp. 22-23. 4 Paul W. Chilcote & Laceye C. Warner, The Study of Evangelism: Exploring a Missional Practice of the Church, (Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans, 2008), pp. xxi-xxv. 33 which four particular convictions emerged: first, that evangelism is set within the wider, ultimate context of the missio Dei; second, that evangelism is an essential part of the mission of the church; but that mission, third, is larger than evangelism alone and, as well as the evangelistic proclamation of the gospel also includes the prophetic pursuit of justice in the social order; and, fourth, that the primary method of evangelism is the daily witness of individuals living authentic Christian lives, though for this to be effective the church needs continually to be re-evangelized.
The renewed interest in evangelism within the Christian church of the West was signalled by the celebrated World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910 in which the participants famously called for ‘the evangelization of the world in this generation’, a phrase taken from the title of Mott’s book of the same name.5 The pursuit of the vision was to be disrupted by two catastrophic world wars, but was kept alive by the continued conferences of the International Missionary Council (IMC) which had been formed at the Edinburgh conference.6 It was the IMC’s conference of
1952, held in Willingen, which would articulate an understanding of the church’s mission being set within the context of the missio Dei,7 a watershed rediscovery of the pre-sixteenth century usage of the word ‘mission’ which then referred exclusively to the activity of God – the Father’s sending of the Son into the world, and the Father and
Son’s sending of the Spirit.8
The following decade, the IMC merged with the World Council of Churches
(WCC) and, at its World Mission Conference held in Bangkok as the year turned from
5 John R. Mott, The evangelization of the world in this generation, (New York, NY: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1900) 6 Tom Stransky, ‘International Missionary Council’, in N. Lossky, J.M. Bonino, J.S. Pobee, T.F. Stransky, G. Wainwright, and P. Webb (eds.), Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement (London: Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, 1991), pp. 526-529. 7 Samuel Kobia, Keynote Speech for Edinburgh 2010, (27 April 2007). URL: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/speeches/edinburgh-2010 (Accessed: 21 March 2018). 8 David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 1. 34
1972 to 1973, emphasised the socio-political aspects of mission as being of equal importance to evangelism. Whilst that may have been controversial enough within the church of the day, the greatest controversy by far was sparked by the conference’s call for a complete moratorium on mission activity from the North to the South, motivated by concern over the perceived exploitative and colonialist overtones of world evangelization.9
Alongside the ecumenical World Council of Churches, a parallel organisation of evangelicals led by Billy Graham had emerged, having held an inaugural World
Congress on Evangelism in Berlin in 1966. In reaction to the developments within the
WCC, the group held, in 1974, an International Congress on World Evangelization in
Lausanne, a city with which the group would become synonymous, particularly through the Lausanne Covenant which the congress affirmed. Whilst acknowledging that socio- political involvement was part of the Christian duty in the world,10 it re-echoed the famous 1910 call for ‘the evangelization of the world in this generation’.11 It thus reaffirmed the necessity and urgency of world evangelization, and the priority of evangelism in the mission of the church.
With the respective ecumenical and evangelical movements polarised around an emphasis on socio-political mission on the one hand and on the evangelistic proclamation of the gospel on the other, it was the Roman Catholic Church which would adopt a conciliatory approach. Arising out of the Second Vatican Council, the apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World), asserted that evangelism has an essential place within the mission of the church. In it the then Pope called for the continual re-evangelization of the church and affirmed that
9 Kobia, Keynote Speech. 10 John Stott, The Lausanne Covenant Complete text with study guide, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009; first published 1974), p. 28. 11 Stott, The Lausanne Covenant, p. 58. 35 the primary means of evangelization is the witness of authentic Christian living by the whole people of God.12
The apostolic exhortation marked a turning of the tide and the beginning of a convergence of the Protestant movements. The conciliatory tone was taken up by the
WCC in its Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation of 1982, which committed to the place of evangelism at the heart of the wider mission of the church and called for balance between the proclamation of the gospel and the prophetic challenge for justice in the social order.13
Thus, from developments within mid-twentieth century ecumenical, evangelical and Roman Catholic circles emerged a foundational principle and three foundational documents. The principle of the missio Dei as the ultimate context in which all mission activity is undertaken has been fundamental to all significant developments within the theology of evangelism which have since followed, as have the three documents – the
Lausanne Covenant, the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, and the WCC’s
Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation. These mark both a sharp disagreement and a growing consensus over the nature of mission which affirms that evangelism is an essential part of mission alongside the socio-political pursuit of justice, and that the primary method of which is the daily witness of individual Christians living authentic Christian lives, made possible only through the continual re-evangelization of the church.
12 Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, (1975). Available: http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul- vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.pdf (accessed 28 March 2018). 13 World Council of Churches, ‘Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation’ (1982), printed in Jacques Matthey (ed.), You Are The Light of the World: Statements on Mission by the World Council of Churches 1980 – 2005, (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2005), pp. 1-38. 36
An Emerging Policy
The renewed interest in evangelism which had surfaced from the mid-twentieth century was reflected within British Methodism. Concern was expressed to the
Conference in 1966 that ‘our techniques of evangelism are not apparently adequate for the task of increasing or even sustaining our present membership’.14 Indeed, the MCB had been in continual decline, almost throughout the entirety of its existence as a united body, formed in 1932.15 At the beginning of that decade, membership numbered
841,462; at its end it had fallen by almost 50,000 to 744,815.16 This significant decline has continued to the present day, falling below 200,000 members in 2017.17
In response to the concerns expressed at the Conference of 1966, the Conference established a Commission on Evangelism within the Home Mission Department.18
Reporting to the Conference each year until the then re-named Division of Home
Mission was disbanded in the denominational restructuring of 1996, the commission did much to emphasise the centrality of evangelism within British Methodism, to identify and develop various aspects of the denomination’s approach to evangelism, and to further the practice of evangelism throughout the Connexion, not least by supporting the
World Methodist Council’s (WMC) Call to Mission and Evangelism and the ecumenical National Initiative in Evangelism, under the chairmanship of Methodist minister and twice President of the Conference, Donald English.19 In the first two decades of its work, distinctive characteristics of a Methodist approach to evangelism began to emerge, frequently stated in couplets: the MCB’s approach to evangelism is
14 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1966), pp. 275-276. 15 This union of various branches of Methodism was formalised in the ‘Deed of Union’, MCB, The Constitutional Practice, pp. 205-240. See also, Barrie Tabraham, The Making of Modern Methodism, (Peterborough: Epworth Press, 1995), pp. 83-86. 16 John Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, 17 www.methodist.org.uk/media/8617/methodism_in_numbers_2018.pdf (accessed 1 August 2018). 18 In 1973, ‘departments’ became ‘divisions’ and the Home Mission Department thus became the Division of Home Mission. It was disbanded in the denominational restructuring of 1996 when the divisional structure was abolished, giving way to a newly-formed Connexional Team. 19 See, for example, MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1972), p. 301 and MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1978), p. 159. 37 irenic, ‘helping conservative and radical to understand each other’;20 holistic, holding both the personal and the social aspects of holiness together;21 and modelled on the ministry of Jesus, undertaken with conviction and courtesy.22
Donald English, who had already been instrumental in the work of the
Commission on Evangelism, became General Secretary of the Division of Home
Mission in 1982,23 and soon took the opportunity to formulate a comprehensive statement of Methodism’s approach to mission and evangelism. The resulting report,
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’,24 draws together and expands upon the principles which had already emerged through the work of the Commission on Evangelism, outlining foundational theological convictions and a policy for the development of future strategy. English’s obituary later noted that the report proved to be so significant within
British Methodism that it became ‘a basic document for the church’.25 From it, the eight characteristics of the Methodist theology of mission and evangelism began to emerge, which can be divided into four pairs of headings: the one mission and the one church; the whole mission and the whole church; the global mission and the local church; the growing mission and the declining church.
The One Mission
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ is built upon the foundational premise that ‘there is one mission only, God’s mission to the world, and that our privilege is to join him in that one mission’.26 It is, therefore, appropriate to speak of the church’s mission only in
20 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1968), p. 188. 21 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1971), p. 146; and MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1973), p. 242. 22 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 347. 23 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 338. 24 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’. 25 MCB, ‘Obituaries: Donald English’ in MCB, Minutes of Conference and Directory, (London: MCB, 1999), p. 32. 26 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission, p. 488. 38 a derivative sense, and inappropriate to draw fundamental distinctions between the missions of different denominations, such as to distinguish between the mission of the
MCB and that, for instance, of the CofE, or any other denomination.27
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ therefore presents an understanding of evangelism which is rooted both within the missio Dei as the ultimate context for all the missional activity of the church and within inaugurated eschatology as the particular focus of that mission which is continued through the church today. This mission of God is expressed in his creation of the world, perseverance through the Fall, providential work in the history of the People of Israel, and came into particular focus in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a mission which, following the Day of Pentecost,
God continues through the church, calling his people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to share in his mission.28
The ministry of Jesus, the report argues, marked the beginning of God’s kingdom on earth, which he challenged people to enter through belief and new birth, made possible through his death and resurrection.29 It was a ministry that is continued through the church. The early disciples, following the Day of Pentecost, discovered that
‘they were able to do in the name of Jesus what Jesus himself had done’, preaching, healing, witnessing to the reign of God, rebuking evil, and suffering for the sake of the kingdom.30 The church has therefore become ‘the community of the words and work of
Jesus’,31 and whilst it is ‘not equivalent to the kingdom’, it is ‘the area of human life where we should expect to see the Kingdom most clearly and consistently revealed’.32
It is the Holy Spirit alone which enables the church to share in this mission and this poses a considerable challenge to the church ‘to reflect the same sense of the
27 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 494. 28 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 488-490. 29 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 489-490. 30 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. 31 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. 32 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 494. 39 immediacy of God’s presence by his Spirit’.33 It is the experience of the dynamic presence of God in its midst that effects the church’s evangelistic ministry.
The One Church
Since there is ultimately only one mission, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ argues, participating in that mission is the task of the one church. The report therefore calls for unity both within and across the denominations. First, seeking to promote unity within
Methodism, the report adopts an irenic tone and reflects the intention of the
Commission on Evangelism to further understanding between conservatives and radicals.34 Recognising that Methodism is a broad church with ‘a pluralism of theology and practice’,35 it seeks to develop a missional policy which is able to accommodate the diversity of the denomination, and calls Methodists to work together in mission across the theological spectrum, drawing upon the riches each brings from their varying perspectives.36
Second, the report calls for unity in mission across the denominations. It observes that, whilst divisions in the past may have helped to preserve truth, today they serve only to hinder mission by undermining the church’s message and dividing its resources.37 A greater focus on mission, it also suggests, may have a reciprocal effect of
33 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 497. 34 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1968), p. 188. 35 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 501. It is important to distinguish between the uses of the term ‘broach church’ within the CofE and the MCB. Whilst it is understood to refer to a specific, liberal theological position within the CofE, differentiated from low church evangelicalism and high church Anglo-Catholicism (Cross, 1957, p. 199), within Methodism it simply refers to the nature of the church as ‘encompassing and embracing a variety of perspectives of faith’ (MCB, Connexional Team Guidelines for the Circuit Local Preachers’ Meeting, URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/lp-connexional-team- guidelines130711.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018.), p. 1). 36 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. This is a call that is echoed in the subsequent reports in the series, considered below, MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission - Evangelism’, p. 434; and MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’, p. 450. 37 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 494. 40 promoting unity as Christians across the denominations unite in the work of the gospel.38
The Whole Mission
The holistic approach to mission which emerged out of the work of the
Commission on Evangelism is central to ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’. It is, the report argues, a necessary consequence of its emphasis on the missio Dei, because a concern for human life in every aspect flows from the love of God. Defining mission as ‘any way in which Christians are sent to share in experiencing and expressing that love’, it identifies three essential aspects of that mission: evangelism, social caring and the political struggle for justice. Through evangelism, the church seeks to help people to come to know God’s love for themselves. Through social caring, the church expresses
God’s particular concern for the poor and needy. Through the political struggle for justice, the church seeks to enable people to live at peace with one another, God’s goal for the whole of creation.39 Although not intended to be an exhaustive list of the missionary tasks of the church, these are three essential aspects which are intrinsically linked, each strengthening or weakening the others. All of them are imperative for the church, and ‘should be areas of passionate commitment’.40 Each of these aspects was expanded upon in the two subsequent reports, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’ and ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’.41
A clear understanding of the MCB’s approach to evangelism emerges from
‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’. Since evangelism is motivated by the love of
God, and the desire that others should experience it for themselves, any approach which
38 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 499. 39 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 487. 40 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 487. 41 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’; MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’. 41 is ungracious or coercive is prohibited.42 Evangelism involves speaking of the gospel, usually focussing on the great events of the life of Jesus and their meaning, and inviting personal response. The proclamation of the gospel message is at the heart of evangelism, but the task can include a variety of practices which aim at sharing, in some way, the good news.43 It necessarily involves contextualisation, because the message of the gospel needs to be understood in the context of the culture in which the events originally took place, and needs to be communicated in ways that are understandable within contemporary culture.44
Drawing on the work of Lesslie Newbigin, who distinguished between missionary dimension and intention, the report argues that the MCB has relied too much on the evangelistic dimension of its life, to the neglect of evangelistic intention, and challenges the church with the question, ‘How far do we intend to share the good news we know with those who as far as we can tell do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and
Saviour?’45 Having argued that, first and foremost, the individual witness of Christians in daily life, not only living out, but also speaking of their faith is ‘probably the most important form of evangelism’,46 the report observes that many Methodists feel they lack confidence and ability in this area and would welcome further support. It suggests ways in which this might be encouraged, and also identifies how the church at every level might strengthen its evangelistic intention through both its regular programme and special events, calling for a willingness to give up other activities in order to place greater emphasis upon evangelism.47
42 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 431. 43 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 431. 44 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, pp. 431-432. 45 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 433, original emphasis; Lesslie Newbigin, One Body, One Gospel, One World, (London: International Missionary Council, 1958), pp. 21, 43-44. 46 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 435, 47 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 440. 42
The report concludes by considering the goal of evangelism and asserts that this should neither be confused with church membership, nor exclusively determined by one’s own experience of coming to faith. Instead, it calls for a willingness to appreciate and engage with the variety of ways in which people might come to faith, and an appreciation of the connection between evangelism and discipleship which stresses that, in whatever way they came to faith, all Christians must seek to grow in Christian experience.
The Whole Church
The original ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ report demonstrates that the whole mission is the responsibility of the whole church, lay and ordained alike. It observes an overreliance on ordained ministry which prevents many lay people from exercising their gifts, and calls for the development of greater flexibility within church structures, so that these gifts can be identified and put into practice.48 This is of particular relevance to the church’s ministry of evangelism since the primary form of evangelism is the daily witness of individual Christians.49 Both the original report and the subsequent ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’ therefore call upon the church, at every level, to do everything it can to enable the participation of all Christians in its evangelistic ministry, particularly in the light of the general lack of confidence that is experienced across the denomination: ‘the more help we can give our members in this central task, the more effective our evangelism is likely to be’.50
It would have been possible, had it so desired, for the Commission on
Evangelism to add a fourth couplet to the three previously identified, that evangelism is the work of ‘both witnesses and evangelists’ for, as well as recognising the primacy of
48 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 498. 49 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 432, 435. 50 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 445. 43 everyday individual witness as a form of evangelism, the Commission also affirmed that some individuals are particularly gifted for and called to the ministry of an evangelist, and began to develop a policy of releasing such people for periods of time to serve beyond their usual local churches and Circuit. Other than the continuing evangelistic roles at Cliff College, Methodism’s lay evangelistic training college, and later initiatives to encourage the appointment of District Evangelism Enablers, the only person to be appointed to such a role was Rob Frost, who was initially released from his Circuit responsibilities for three months to undertake a national tour of his Gospel Roadshow,51 and later appointed to a national role, first in a part-time and then full-time capacity.52
The emphasis on identifying, affirming and enabling the ministry of evangelists within the MCB is continued in ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’ which notes that whilst all Christians are called to be witnesses, only some are called to be evangelists, which it acknowledges as a specific ministry within the church.53
The Global Mission
The dimensions of God’s activity in the world constitute the mission in which the church is called to share as a global mission, an emphasis that has been central to the
MCB’s Overseas Division and, more recently, its World Church Relationships office.
However, the church has also emphasised that, within Britain as much as overseas, both that Christians should seek to work in partnership with, and learn from, Christians from other cultures and countries, and also that they should be willing both to work together with, and to share their faith in dialogue with, people of other faiths.
The emphasis on working in partnership with Christians from other countries and cultures, within the work of the Commission on Evangelism, led to a parting of the
51 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 347. 52 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1983), p. 269; MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1989), p. 386. 53 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’, p. 435. 44 ways with the WMC. Having enthusiastically supported the WMC’s Call to Mission and Evangelism, the Commission reported that it looked ahead with ‘active support and encouragement’ for the WMC’s continuing programme of promoting mission and evangelism amongst the worldwide Methodist family.54 However, disagreement began to emerge between the MCB and the WMC over the WMC’s proposed ‘Programme of
World Evangelism in the 1980s’.55 At the World Methodist Conference held in
Honolulu in 1981, the British delegates expressed concerns at the perceived ‘evangelical imperialism’ of the plans, reminding the Council, ‘What the world supremely needs is the good news that the poor can bring – a message they alone can bring to many of us’.56 The way the MCB related to the WMC changed significantly from this point onwards, with the WMC becoming less central to its work, and the principle of global partnerships became firmly embedded in its approach to evangelism.
The emphasis is reflected in the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ series of reports.
Applauding the openness that can be found amongst Christians overseas to those from other cultures, because they recognise ‘the value of a Christian perspective understood within a different context from their own’, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’ laments that ‘we in this country have a long way to go before we are as open as that to the presence and contributions of Christians from overseas’.57
The second aspect of the emphasis on the global mission concerns the relationships between Christians and people of other faiths. In sharing in God’s mission, Christians should be willing both to work together with people of other faiths when addressing matters of mutual concern, and also to share their faith in dialogue
54 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1976), p. 259. 55 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 347. 56 World Methodist Council, Proceedings of the Fourteenth World Methodist Conference, (Lake Junaluska, NC: World Methodist Council, 1981), p. 159. 57 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring’, p. 435. 45 with those of other faiths. A committee was formed within the Division of Home
Mission to give particular consideration to the matter, and it brought two reports to the
Conference, the latter of 1994, ‘Evangelism and People of Other Faiths’, building upon an earlier report of 1983, ‘Relationships with People of Other Faiths’.58 It also sought to correct a misunderstanding that had developed, which held that the earlier report suggested that dialogue and evangelism were mutually exclusive and that one or the other was therefore inappropriate within the context of Christian mission. ‘Evangelism and People of Other Faiths’ therefore affirms the appropriateness of evangelism amongst people of other faiths, and argues that dialogue is the most appropriate context for such evangelism.59 Methodists are therefore encouraged to embrace the vision of a multi-ethnic society as a gift from God and as part of his loving purpose for the world, and to seek to build meaningful relationships with people of other faiths sufficiently to gain an understanding of the way in which those faiths conceive of ultimate reality. As well as speaking of their faith, the report asserts, Methodists should listen with courtesy to others speaking of their faith and, in order to be ready to take the opportunities when they arise, Christians should first practise telling their stories of faith to one another.60
The Local Church
An emphasis on the local church as the basic unit of mission emerged from the work of the Commission on Evangelism,61 observing a strong resistance across the
58 MCB, ‘Relationships with People of Other Faiths’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1983) pp. 57-58; MCB, Evangelism and People of Other Faiths’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1994), pp. 589-596. 59 MCB, ‘Evangelism and People’, p. 591. 60 MCB, ‘Evangelism and People’, pp. 591-595. 61 The term ‘basic unit of mission’ has been used within British Methodism in two different ways. The principle of the local church as the basic unit of mission, as considered here, emerged from the work of the Commission on Evangelism and was developed as foundational for ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’. However, Standing Order 500 states that ‘the Circuit is the primary unit in which Local Churches express and experience their interconnexion in the Body of Christ, for purposes of mission, mutual encouragement and help’ (MCB, The Constitutional Practice, p. 464 [S.O. 500]). A policy has more recently emerged emphasising the Circuit as the primary unit of mission as a strategic interpretation of this Standing Order (see MCB, ‘The Nature of Oversight: Leadership, Management and Governance in 46
Connexion against the ‘top-down’ imposition of any evangelistic initiative. It was a phenomenon, they reflected, which ‘opens up a useful debate in the church about the nature of leadership’,62 and led the division repeatedly to emphasise that its own purpose was to resource, rather than to replace, the evangelistic ministry of the local church.63 This led to the assertion that those who exercise evangelistic ministry more widely within the church should seek to do so through local churches as much as possible, and the Division of Home Mission, in one Conference report, defended Rob
Frost’s ministry according to such a criterion.64
The emphasis continues in ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ which affirms that mission, particularly evangelism, is ultimately the responsibility of the local church, and calls upon the church at national and regional level to encourage and enable local churches to fulfil their responsibilities. This responsibility is properly lodged at local church level, the report contends, because it is there that local needs and opportunities are most clearly known, or can be discovered, that the available resources are properly understood, and that the essential work of contextualising the church’s mission and message can most effectively and realistically be carried out.65 It further argues that
Methodism’s Connexional structure must therefore be used to the maximum benefit of encouraging, enabling and equipping local churches to take their responsibilities
the Methodist Church of Great Britain’, (2005), URL: https://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/co_05_natureofoversight_0805.doc (accessed 21 December 2018); MCB, ‘General Secretary’s Report’, (2006), URL: https://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/Conf06_Gen_Secretary's_Report.doc (accessed 21 December 2018); MCB, ‘Mapping A Way Forward: Regrouping for Mission’, Note from the General Secretary to the Methodist Council, (2006), URL: http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/coun_mapping_a_way_forward_1006.doc (accessed 21 December 2018)). It is nevertheless a contention of this thesis that the development and delivery of missional objectives as the ultimate responsibility of the local church continues to be a characteristic of British Methodist missiology, which is not incompatible with its equal conviction that the Circuit is the primary unit of mission, though the use of the same terminology to denote complementary convictions may cause confusion. 62 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1977), p. 136. 63 See, for example, MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1980), p. 189; MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 347. 64 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1983), p. 269. 65 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 503, 509. 47 seriously. The report thus seeks to develop a Connexional strategy for mission which maximises the national structure of the denomination at every level, whilst also preserving local freedom and responsibility as much as possible.66
The Growing Mission
Drawing on the example of the early Methodists who described their desire
‘barely to follow Providence, as it gradually opens’,67 ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ argues that, since God continues to be at work within the world, the mission in which the church is called to participate is a growing mission.68 Arguing that the ever- changing nature of society means that new needs and opportunities for mission will continually emerge, it calls upon the church, at every level, to keep its strategy for mission under continual review, identifying new needs and opportunities for mission and discarding programmes that are no longer effectively serving a purpose. It therefore presents a series of questions which can be used to review current work and formulate strategy.69 This approach was continued in a programme of local church appraisal developed by the Division of Home Mission, and a similar programme for Circuits.70
The Declining Church
Within the context of Methodism, as with many other historic denominations across the globe, particularly within the Western world, all this work of mission is undertaken by a declining church. It was concern over decline and the consequential observation that current methods of evangelism were evidentially ineffective, which led
66 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 500-508. 67 John Wesley, ‘Minutes of the Third Annual Conference: Monday 12 May 1746’ in A.C. Outler (ed.), John Wesley, (New York: OUP, 1964), p. 161. 68 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 487. 69 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 503-508. 70 MCB, ‘Review of Church Life’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 1993), pp. 457-469. 48 to the establishment of the Commission on Evangelism,71 and the commission remained conscious of this decline throughout its work, repeatedly underlining the urgency of evangelism in the light of it. In one report, it observed the danger of the cyclical effects of decline, resulting in the fact that ‘many ministers and leaders in our churches do not know the experience of being part of a growing missionary congregation’ and suggested that ‘such an experience, if only for a short time, might transform their morale and encourage them to see their situation in a new light’.72
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ is similarly realistic about the declining nature of the denomination, asserting that all planning for missional activities must take the diminishing nature of resources of both finance and personnel into consideration.73 It too, however, recognises that such decline adds urgency to the need for strategic decision making; arguing that, if the right decisions are not made in the right way, the present trends of decline can only continue.74
Conclusion
Since the formation of the Commission on Evangelism in 1966, an authentically
Methodist theology of evangelism has developed through reports to British
Methodism’s annual Conference. These reveal eight primary emphases: first, there is ultimately only one mission, the mission of God to the world he made, focussed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and continued through the church.
Second, this one mission is the task of the one church, which is called to pursue unity both within and across denominations. Third, it is the whole mission in which the church is called to participate, a holistic understanding of mission which consists of at least the elements of evangelism, social caring, the political struggle for justice. Fourth,
71 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1966), pp. 275-276. 72 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1980), p. 189. 73 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 500. 74 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 502. 49 this is the task of the whole church, of every Christian, and the individual witness of
Christians to their faith in daily life is one of the most effective forms of evangelism; however, the church must also identify and release for such ministry those Christians with particular gifts for, and a vocation to, the ministry of an evangelist. Fifth, the dimensions of God’s activity within the world constitute this as a global mission, so
Christians must seek to work in partnership with, and learn from, Christians from other cultures and countries, and should be willing both to work together with, and share their faith in dialogue with, people of other faiths. Sixth, mission, particularly evangelism, is ultimately the responsibility of the local church and so Connexional church structures should seek to encourage and equip local churches to fulfil their responsibilities; those who work in evangelistic ministry more widely should seek to do so primarily through local churches. Seventh, since God continues to be at work within the world, the mission in which the church is called to participate is a growing mission, and so the church at every level should keep its mission strategy under continual review, identifying new needs and opportunities for mission and discarding programmes that are no longer effectively serving a purpose. Eighth, within the context of Methodism, as with many other denominations in the West, all this work of mission is undertaken by a declining church, and so all planning for missional activities must take the diminishing nature of resources into consideration, whilst recognising that such decline highlights the urgency of the need for effective evangelism.
Thus there is, at the heart of British Methodism, a clear and compelling theology of evangelism. The next chapter considers the way in which this authentic theology and practice of evangelism has been outworked in the service of selected, representative
Methodist ministers.
50
3. A Wheel of Many Spokes:
The Emphases of Authentic Methodist Missiology
as Expressed in the Practice of Three Prominent Methodist Ministers
The previous chapter sought to identify the characteristics of British Methodist missiology, as expressed in the reports of the annual Conference of the MCB. From these emerge eight characteristics, linked as four pairs: the ‘one Mission and the one church’; ‘the whole mission and the whole church’; ‘the global mission and the local church’; ‘the growing mission and the declining church’.
To investigate whether these identified characteristics have been evident in practice within the denomination, this chapter considers how the theology of mission and evangelism has found expression in the work and writing of a representative sample of three of its ministers: Donald Soper, John Vincent and William (Bill) Davies. These prominent Methodist ministers have been selected for consideration as they are all distinctively accredited in Methodism, not only having been ordained and successively stationed by Conference, but also all, for a term, have been elected to serve as President of the Conference, Methodism’s highest office. Their work has been resourced through
Methodism; and they have all exercised national influence through their work and published writing, the main focus of this chapter’s research. Yet there is also a significant degree of diversity in their approaches to mission and evangelism through their ministries.
Donald Soper (1903-1998), President of the Conference 1953-1954, became a supernumerary minister in 1978, but the legacy of his public ministry continued to be influential into the period under consideration. Through his ministry, he sought to bring a Christian perspective to the issues of the day. His distinctive approach to evangelism led to an equally distinctive approach to the political struggle for justice, whilst not 51 neglecting local church ministry and a programme of social caring which flowed from it.
John Vincent, President of the Conference 1989-1990, throughout his ministry, stressed the importance of ‘mission alongside the poor’, seeking social justice through a particular approach to ministry ‘at the bottom’.
William (Bill) Davies, President of the Conference 1983-1984, was one time
Principal of Methodism’s lay evangelistic training institution, Cliff College. In his published work, Davies was primarily concerned with promoting charismatic renewal, working across all denominations and thereby promoting Christian unity.
This chapter, then, considers the work of these three Methodist ministers, who evidenced significantly differing approaches, in order to identify the extent to which the eight characteristics of the Methodist theology and practice of mission were reflected in the ministries of influential figures of the time, exemplifying British Methodist missiology in practice.
The One Mission
The ‘one mission’ emphasis of official Methodist missiology argues that there is only one mission: God’s mission to the world he created and which he loves. The church is firstly formed by that mission and secondly called to share in it. As there is only one mission, it would be wrong to distinguish between the mission of the MCB and that for example, of the CofE or the Baptist Church. It is the task of the church to seek to discover the ways in which God is at work within the world, and then to join in.
Soper’s conviction that God is already at work in the life of each individual was fundamental to his approach to the open-air evangelistic preaching for which he was renowned. Confronted by the competing ideologies of the day, Soper sought to present
Christianity as the complete worldview, in which could be found the answers to every
52 problem faced by the human race.1 He believed that the utopia for which all human beings long, although unrecognised, is nothing less than the kingdom of God on earth, which can be obtained not by reformation or revolution, but by the conversion of the individual to Christ. He was adamant that the cross is therefore the only hope for the world. Through God’s initiative, every individual, Soper believed, is on a journey towards the kingdom, though some have become stuck. It is the task of the Christian advocate, the evangelist, to discern the sticking-point point and help them to move on.2
Standing on a makeshift pulpit before a gathered crowd, Soper would accept any question on any subject, believing that no human concern was outside the sphere of
God’s kingdom. Beginning with the question, he sought to demonstrate how it related to the kingdom of God, how the answer could be found within the gospel. ‘The question beneath the question’, revealed the sticking-point.3
The belief that God is already at work within the people he has made in his own image and within whom he has placed a longing for his kingdom enables the Christian advocate to be bold in evangelism, confidently confronting every problem with the gospel, rather than hiding faith away as something fragile, calling the hearer into the adventure of seeking and finding the kingdom of God.4 Tower Hill, where Soper began his open-air preaching was, to him, his own Mars Hill where, like Paul the apostle, he was able to introduce the gathered crowds to their Unknown God (Acts 17:16-34).5
Vincent aligns with the ‘one mission’ emphasis, believing that the church is only faithful in mission as it continues the mission and ministry of Jesus in the world. Over the years of its history, the church, he believes has distorted that mission. He calls the church, therefore, to journey backwards to rediscover authentic mission flowing from
1 Donald Soper, Tower Hill, 12.30, (London: The Epworth Press, 1963), p. 7. 2 Douglas Thompson, Donald Soper: A Biography, (Nutfield: Denholm House Press, 1971), p. 36. 3 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 13. 4 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 6, 13-14. 5 Donald Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1961), p. 34. 53 the life and example of the radical Jesus. Jesus consciously and deliberately journeyed downwards to become incarnate amongst the underclasses of society – the poor, the outcasts, the disenfranchised, those with no hope of material change. It was to them that Jesus announced that the kingdom of God was at hand, bringing good news, liberation and healing. The gospel, Vincent contends, in line with God’s priority for the poor, should bring material change and create options for those with no options in life – not adding material gain to those already materially successful, but calling them to leave all and follow Jesus, joining him in journeying downwards, to work alongside the poor.6
Vincent argues that John Wesley had been faithful to this authentic mission: renouncing the journey upward, which had taken him through school at Charterhouse, undergraduate study, election to an Oxford fellowship and ordination; renouncing wealth, adopting a frugal lifestyle, identifying with the poor, making them the focus of his ministry and mission. He became more comfortable amongst the miners of
Kingswood than the upper classes of Oxford and London.7
The MCB, surviving Wesley’s death, subsequently deserted the poor, he contends. With the rising of the poor, amongst whom it worked in its early years, it became increasingly middle class, reproducing disciples in its own image, preserving the status quo and serving, in the end, to keep the poor down. The pattern of closing struggling churches, often in areas of poverty and supporting only churches considered to be ‘successful’, i.e. large and well-resourced congregations, has ended much of what remained of mission amongst the poor. Thus Vincent issues an urgent call to the MCB
– and to the whole Christian church – to rediscover the authentic mission of Jesus in the contemporary world, again prioritising the poor and working for material change.8
6 John J. Vincent, Radical Jesus: The heart of radical discipleship, (Basingstoke: Marshall Morgan and Scott Ltd, 1986), pp. 84-87. 7 John J. Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, (London: Epworth Press, 1984), pp. 15-21. 8 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 29-35. 54
Davies affirms the ‘one mission’ principle in developing a theology of the Holy
Spirit in the light of charismatic renewal. He seeks to show that the Holy Spirit has been at work in the world since its creation, long before the church came into being, and continues to be at work both within and outside the church. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is at work within all people, breathing the breath of life into all living beings and enlightening everyone who comes into the world (John 1:9). Whilst firmly upholding the Christian belief that God has supremely and uniquely revealed himself in Jesus
Christ, and there is no other name by which people can be saved, Davies argues that, under the general dispensation of grace in which all receive enlightenment, there is at least a measure of light in each of the great world religions which seek to know and worship God; God continues his work amongst people who do not share Christian faith as much as through those who do, and Christians should be willing to share in dialogue with those of other faiths, seeking to share their faith in Jesus, whilst also working with them for a just world. 9
To deny that the Holy Spirit is at work outside the bounds of the church would be to leave no room for the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing people to faith, Davies argues, when the Bible clearly teaches that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin, helps them to see their need of Jesus and gives them the gift of faith. Thus the Holy
Spirit, the prime worker in mission and evangelism, brings enlightenment as Christians seek to share their faith. Again, he reinforces the idea that the mission is God’s. It is
God who is at work bringing people to faith in him, and it is the privilege of the church to join in that task.10
9 William R. Davies, Spirit Without Measure: Charismatic Faith and Practice, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd, 1996), pp. 1-18. 10 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, pp. 16-18. 55
The One Church
The ‘one church’ principle of Methodist missiology calls for Christian unity in the task of mission. There is a responsibility to work for unity both within Methodism and across denominations with those of differing theological convictions, being willing to learn from one another and sharing the riches of their traditions.
Soper was an outspoken critic of disunity in the church, the prime reason, in his experience, for many rejecting the gospel. A striking example, he argued, could be found on Tower Hill alongside Soper’s own open-air meetings, where the Catholic
Evidence Guild regularly engaged in ‘unremitting conflict’ with the Protestant Truth
Society.11 Many debating with Soper on Tower Hill or Speakers’ Corner argued that, if the gospel were true, its truth would be reflected in unity in the Christian church.
The problem, Soper believed, was preoccupation with ‘precise and definite dogma as the only ground of church unity’.12 He argued that people should be free to express spiritual experience in whatever language they find fitting and that unity should be sought not in language, dogma, and definition, but in attitude,13 and, ultimately, in allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord.14
This principle of the necessity of Christian unity became foundational for the
Order of Christian Witness, established in the early years of his ministry. Beginning as a small group of members of Kingsway Hall, who joined Soper in open-air preaching, it grew to include a wider group of Methodists across London and finally into a fully ecumenical national organisation,15 with a membership pledge which included the statement, ‘Witness must be a united activity of the whole church’.16
11 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 116, 144. 12 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 144. 13 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 146; Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, pp. 105–106, 113. 14 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 146. 15 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 102-103. 16 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 105. 56
Though firm in his own theological convictions and proactive in seeking to share his insights with other Christians, Soper did, however, show little evidence of taking a conciliatory line with fellow Christians within and beyond the MCB. Rather than seeking to uncover the treasures of and learn from other theological traditions, he often appeared critically dismissive. He wrote derisively of American ‘jamborees’ visiting England, a reference to Billy Graham’s evangelistic crusades, later supported officially by the Conference, arguing that there was little evidence of lasting fruit.17 He was dismissive of evangelicals who transferred the concept of infallibility from the papacy to a book,18 employing ‘the Bible says’ theology.19 Rather than seeking to learn from a theological tradition, which differed from his own, in a spirit of openness, he made his verdict clear: ‘In generosity of spirit we must resolutely declare that Biblical infallibility is not part of the deposit of the Eternal Faith’.20
Vincent also expresses a call for Christian unity across denominations in the work of mission. Unimpressed by the moves towards greater unity between the
Methodist and Anglican Churches, however, he objected to further pursuit of formal union on the grounds that it was likely to waste time, energy and resources with little prospect of imminent success, and divert resources from mission and the radical change he longed to see in church life.21 Nevertheless Vincent’s writing reveals him to be a proponent of ecumenical cooperation. Initiatives include the Sheffield Inner City
Ecumenical Mission,22 of which the Urban Theology Unit and Ashram Community are constituent parts.23 Vincent longs for Methodism to rediscover its radical roots, leading the way for other denominations.24 Whilst exercising his ministry within the MCB, he
17 Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, p. 20. 18 Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, p. 104. 19 Donald Soper, All His Grace, (London: The Epworth Press, 1957), p. 39. 20 Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, p. 105. 21 John J. Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 52-54. 22 John J. Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1991), p. 33. 23 Vincent, Radical Jesus, pp. 105-107. 24 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 62-63. 57 seems ultimately disinterested in denominationalism, yearning for all Christians to rediscover the authentic, radical Jesus and his radical mission today.25
Whilst, like Soper, there is little evidence of Vincent promoting the official
Methodist position of achieving denominational unity through a broad church, there is no sense in which Vincent advocates divisiveness or secession, or condemns those of other theological convictions. The publication of Gospel in the 90s: A Theological
Disputation is evidence of willingness to engage in dialogue with those of other views.26 The charismatic evangelical Bill Davies, when Principal of Cliff College, acclaimed the supportive relationship with the radical Vincent, then Director of the
Urban Theology Unit.27
At points where he could have taken a more conciliatory line, however, Vincent does make a number of controversial theological statements, the divisiveness of which will surely not have escaped him.28 Soper wrote, in his preface to Vincent’s
Discipleship in the 90’s, that Vincent ‘can be clever rather than wise, provocative where he could be persuasive, and he does not always mingle fellowship with controversy’.29
It is to Vincent’s credit that he was prepared to print such a review. Possibly he believed that taking a more conciliatory line may have had the effect of diluting his message, removing much of its distinctiveness and dampening its challenge.
Davies strongly expresses a concern for unity across the theological spectrum within Methodism, as well as across denominations within the wider church. In his critique of the House Church Movement, Rocking the Boat, he expressed significant reservations about the divisive and exclusive elements he discerned within the new
25 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 73-74; Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, pp. 32-33. 26 John J. Vincent, Gospel in the 90s: A Theological Disputation, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1990). 27 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 147. 28 Vincent, Radical Jesus, pp. 35, 95; Vincent: Discipleship in the 90s, p. 3. 29 Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, p. 1. 58 movement,30 lamenting the fact that, in the advent of the House Church Movement, another denomination emerged.31
The purpose of Rocking the Boat was to identify both the dangers of the House
Church Movement and the lessons that could be learned by the historic churches, so that the charismatic movement could continue to bring renewal amongst other denominations.32 He thus calls Christians who have experienced renewal to live alongside other Christians in a truly catholic spirit.33
Davies is dubious about the House Church Movement’s claims to be non- denominational and its resistance to being defined as a denomination, which is what he believes it to be.34 In that context, he considers the place and purpose of denominations within the Christian church. God’s will is for unity within the church and, therefore, denominations, although part of his permissive will, are not part of God’s ideal will. He has allowed emerging denominations to exist serving, by grace,35 to remind the church of some forgotten theological truth, or to bring renewal, or both, as in the case with the
MCB which grew out of the Evangelical Awakening.36 He emphasises, however, that denominational division within the church is a hindrance to mission and underlines the responsibility of Christians to work towards unity and to learn from one another.37
In addition to seeking to promote unity across denominations, Davies shares the concern of Methodism’s official policies to promote unity across the theological spectrum within denominations. He writes with approval of both the lessons taught by radical theologians,38 and of conservative biblical scholarship.39 As cited above, he has
30 William Davies, Rocking The Boat: The Challenge of the House Church (Basingstoke: Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1986), pp. 22, 46-47, 43-45, 116. 31 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 152. 32 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 11-15. 33 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 43. 34 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 22-23, 117-119. 35 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 120. 36 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 120-122. 37 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 137, 139, 145-155. 38 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 138. 39 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 144-145. 59 also written of how, as Principal of the evangelical Cliff College, he enjoyed a supportive relationship with the Director of the radical Urban Theology Unit, each seeking to share their resources and particular emphases in training people for discipleship and mission.40
The Whole Mission
The ‘whole mission’ commitment of the MCB emphasises the holistic nature of the mission to which the church is called. It is more than evangelism alone, although evangelism must hold an essential place. It includes at least evangelism, social caring, the political struggle for justice, and it would be wrong to seek to prioritise those tasks; each is equally important.
Soper adopted a distinctive approach to evangelistic preaching as central to his ministry, outlined in Tower Hill 12.30 and The Advocacy of the Gospel.41 For him, evangelism meant making the intellectual case for Christianity, for which he became famous at Tower Hill and Speakers’ Corner. Every other worldview, he argued, presented a vision of a better world obtained by the gradual improvement of the human race. Soper rejected this concept, arguing that a better world was unattainable except for the radical change in human lives that conversion to Jesus Christ brings, thereby establishing the kingdom of God on earth, resulting in a just, peaceful and equitable society for all. Soper thus combined an unbending commitment to evangelism with a strongly social message.42
An advocate of the Welfare State, which he once declared in the House of Lords to be ‘quite the most Christian thing that has happened in my lifetime’, Soper was of the firm opinion that the church should have a permanent role within the nation’s provision
40 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 147. 41 Soper, Tower Hill; Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel. 42 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 106-107. 60 of social care, continuing the work of Jesus the healer, just as much as that of Jesus the preacher.43 He was industrious in developing social enterprises, at a local level, in his churches, most notably Kingsway Hall, which he served for forty-two years. Over the years, he opened thirteen new social projects, including work amongst alcoholics, the destitute, single mothers, students and the elderly.44 Such work he divided into two categories, distinguishing between ‘rescue work’, helping those incapable of helping themselves, such as the work with alcoholics, and ‘philanthropic work’, on-going support work, as provided by homes for the elderly.45 Dynamic presentation of
Christian socialism in public debate was allied with his unwavering commitment to pacifism, both when public opinion broadly supported him in the early interwar years, and when it turned strongly against him as war broke out again across the continent.
Vincent stated, when questioned on the subject in the theological disputation of his Presidential year, ‘evangelism is everywhere’. Yet it can be difficult to discern the place of evangelism in Vincent’s understanding of Christian mission. Arguably, the difficulty lies in fundamentally different philosophies of evangelism. The prevailing view of the period, represented in official Methodist documents, was that evangelism, although involving other aspects, includes a centrally important devotional and confessional commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In Vincent’s writing, explicit mention (and perhaps implicit reference) of this is almost universally absent.
Vincent does write of ‘conversion’, but this seems to be conversion to a radical lifestyle determined by Christian values, rather than confessional commitment to the source of those values.46 Vincent was very suspicious of the pre-eminence given to heart and
43 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 109. 44 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 109. 45 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 114. 46 Vincent, Britain in the 90s, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1989), p. 44-45. 61 head and argued instead that it was the response of feet and hands that should be emphasised.47
Clearly, Vincent’s enthusiasm is for the latter aspects of mission. The church, he argues, as Wesley warned, has become a middle class church, primarily concerned with mission to the middle classes. The pattern of Jesus, which Vincent believes was replicated in the ministry of John Wesley, was a ministry and mission alongside the poor, characterised by ‘the journey downwards’, embracing the concepts of common ownership of goods and speaking up for the poor. Vincent calls the church to rediscover this mission.48
Introducing the Mission Alongside the Poor Programme from the floor of
Conference, he called into question traditional understandings of Methodism, proposing a model of contextual theology and offering guidelines for churches to follow in a radical direction.49 His vision is unfolded in Britain in the 90s with radical implications both for the church and for wider society. He condemns ‘individual enterprise without regard to its usefulness or relevance to the wider society’,50 and promotes, for example, church-sponsored credit unions and interest-free loan schemes.51 His views have not been universally popular within the MCB. Perhaps his more extreme statements were needed to enable Christians to hear what he felt he needed to say, when many had, arguably, become deafened to the cries of the poor.
Davies clearly believes evangelism has a central place in the work of the
Christian church and the life of discipleship, and seeks to underline its importance: whether another person holds a different faith or none, Christians have a clear duty to
47 Vincent, Disciples in the 90s, p. 18. 48 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, pp. 20-21. 49 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, pp. 22-23. 50 Vincent, Britain in the 90s, p. 36. 51 Vincent, Britain in the 90s, p. 37. 62 share the Gospel.52 Thus he affirms the official Methodist position that evangelism has an essential place as part of the whole mission of the church.
According to biblical teaching, Davies asserts, the goal of evangelism is new birth, brought about by faith in Jesus (John 3:1-8).53 He describes the Christian pilgrimage,54 through which evangelism and discipleship move on a journey towards holiness, which Davies describes as being filled with love – Christlikeness.55 This is, he observes, a defining characteristic of Methodist doctrine.56 In Spirit without Measure, he asserts that the Holy Spirit is at work in all who strive towards a more just, fair and equitable world. He calls Christians to join with people of other faiths and none in that work.57
Davies resists the polarisation which is often made between those who believe that the gospel is all about changing people and others who believe it is all about changing society. The Holy Spirit, he argues, is equally at work within both.58 The church is called to hold both together today, as John Wesley did in his day. He is keen to observe that this is not a matter of party politics. There are committed Christians who are socialists and others who are capitalists. Either system, he suggests, could provide a just society if those who work within it continuously seek the greater good for all.59
Davies also celebrates ‘charismatic’ elements within the church’s mission, acknowledging a place for spiritual prayer for healing and exercising gifts of the Spirit,
52 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 138-140. 53 Davies, Spirit without Measure, p. 24. 54 Davies, Spirit without Measure, p. 22. 55 Davies, Rocking the Boat, pp. 14, 89. 56 Davies, Rocking the Boat, p. 84. 57 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 145-150. 58 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 110. 59 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, pp. 113-114. 63 alongside physical healing through medicine and health care provision, as an integral part of the church’s mission of social caring and the struggle for justice.60
The Whole Church
The ‘whole church’ emphasis of official Methodist missiology insists that mission is the responsibility and task of every Christian, both lay and ordained; all need to be encouraged, equipped and enabled to fulfil that responsibility, thus moving away from an over-reliance on the ordained ministry. There are, however, those with particular gifts and vocations, not least in evangelism, who should be identified, trained, commissioned and released into suitable roles, rather than being required to serve in a generalist capacity in circuit ministry.
Soper, throughout his ministry was committed to inspiring ordinary church members throughout the country to join in the task of evangelism. His model of ministry is particularly interesting, because he was both a ‘generalist’ local church minister, albeit serving in the same place for an exceptional length of time, as well as fulfilling a widely recognised specialist ministry, particularly in open-air evangelism and in political engagement.
His biographer comments that the outcome of Soper’s ministry which probably gave him the greatest satisfaction was the Order of Christian Witness, which grew out of a small group he founded during the early years at Kingsway Hall.61 Some of the young people there had been inspired by the example of Soper’s evangelistic ministry and joined him in the work.62 As the group grew into a national ecumenical organisation, over the years, its name was changed to the Order of Christian Witness.
Central to its ethos was the conviction that every member of the church ‘is ordained to
60 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, pp. 64-95. 61 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 75. 62 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 55, 75. 64 the ministry of witness’.63 Each person who joined a campaign, Soper believed, brought within them a unique ‘instrument of the Spirit, their personal experience of life and faith’.64 Such was the importance of this conviction for Soper that he described it as ‘the open secret of revival’.65
Soper was said to have shown remarkable patience in his desire to encourage those of lesser abilities than himself, providing them with opportunities to speak and carefully training them, so much so that his biographer has suggested that, in the Order of Christian Witness, he pioneered a form of in-service apprenticeship and provided a forerunner of lay training programmes which would later be developed within the
MCB.66 Through the experience of participating in the campaigns, a number were spurred on into wider mission and ministry, both lay and ordained.67
Vincent, too, shared the concern expressed in the official Methodist documents regarding the over reliance on the ordained ministry. His call was to all Christians, lay and ordained, to enter into radical discipleship, to embark on the ‘journey downwards’ and join in mission alongside the poor. He advocates the establishing of new orders of ministry, alongside the categories of ministry in local appointment and diaconal order, relatively new as he wrote, to include volunteers, non-professionals, unskilled positions, creating alternative structures, through which people can live alternative lives and take alternative action.68
Through his writing, Vincent promotes the concept of vocation which, he noted, is very different from that of a career, though the two are often combined in people’s minds, especially of the young leaving university. He offers models of projects in
Sheffield that allow people to explore and fulfil vocations in non-traditional ways. The
63 Soper’s invitation letter to the inaugural conference, cited in Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 102. 64 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 79. 65 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 103. 66 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 78. 67 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 107. 68 Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, p. 6. 65
Urban Theology Unit was designed to help people discover vocation in an alternative setting.69
Davies, in Spirit Without Measure, attests that the gift of the Spirit is given to all
Christians to empower and equip them to be witnesses for Jesus.70 Some are particularly gifted to be evangelists and they should be encouraged, equipped and enabled to exercise their gifts. Not everyone is called to be an evangelist, but each
Christian is called to be a witness and Christians should be encouraged to take this responsibility more seriously. Similarly, the Holy Spirit equips Christians for works of service as well as for speech and one should not be prioritised over the other; each should be approached with responsibility and seriousness.71
He commends the evangelistic witness of the House Church Movement in
Rocking the Boat and notes that this often takes place, not in public services when the whole church is gathered together, but in one-to-one conversations. He suggests that there are lessons the historic churches could learn from this example. He is, however, critical of the structure and authoritarian style of leadership within the House Church
Movement which, at worse, can be grossly intrusive and disempowering for church members.72
The Global Mission
The ‘global mission’, when considered within the perspective of Home Mission, affirms that Christians in Britain should seek to learn from those of other cultures. As
Christians have travelled overseas in mission, they have encountered people of other faiths. However, throughout the period under consideration, increasing migration and growing globalisation has resulted in growing numbers of people of other faiths living
69 Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, pp. 6-7, 19-20; Vincent, Radical Jesus, p. 102. 70 Davies, Rocking the Boat, p. 14. 71 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 138-140. 72 Davies, Rocking the Boat, pp. 25-34. 66 within Britain. Christians should therefore seek to learn both from Christians from other countries, and from other faiths, willing to enter into partnership to work together on matters of mutual concern.
Soper, a student of world affairs, was acutely aware of global politics.73 He became a popular and effective evangelist overseas on his travels, able to identify the shortcomings of and hindrances to the missionary work he encountered.74
Soper’s views regarding the relationship of Christianity to other faiths became clear in the views he expressed on world mission. He reported being frequently questioned during open-air preaching about the appropriateness of Christians seeking to proselytise overseas amongst people of other faiths. The practice was often perceived by non-Christians as a way merely to promote colonialism and westernisation,75 a practice Soper recognised and disowned.76 Yet he defended the responsibility of
Christians to share their faith with others, whatever the faith, or nationality, of the other person, not with arrogance, but with confidence.77 He strongly challenged the idea that all religions are equal. Although that was a popular misconception in the minds of many, he was all too aware of the danger of much religious teaching and practice around the world,78 and so recognised that, despite the failings of Christian mission in the past, there was an all too urgent need for the sharing of the gospel.79
The goal of the spread of the Christian gospel, for Soper, was the achievement, in his own gendered language, of ‘the brotherhood of man’. Two people cannot be brothers, Soper argued, unless they share the same parent. Only the Christian gospel, he maintained, with its message of the Fatherhood of God can do that.80 Soper was clear
73 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 36. 74 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 117-118. 75 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 137-138. 76 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 140, 141. 77 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 137. 78 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 136-137. 79 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 139-140. 80 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 138. 67 that, though he spoke of this aspect of mission primarily with regard to its overseas context, Christians have as much responsibility for sharing the gospel at home as abroad.81
In his own interaction with people of other faiths, Soper demonstrated great respect and called for humility in such encounters. He argued that people of other cultures should be free to develop their own culturally relevant expressions of faith, worship and discipleship. He recognised that world evangelisation would mark the end of Western superiority and he longed for a world marked by peace.82
Vincent, in his approach to mission, draws on the insights of liberation theologians,83 which he believes truly offer a method for understanding theology ‘from the bottom’. It seeks to identify where the gospel is, or could be, outworked in secular contexts.84 He is, however, reluctant to use the term ‘liberation theology’ to describe his own work, because he is not situated in the developing world and believes the term ought to be reserved for theology arising out of that particular context which cries out for liberation. He chooses the term ‘contextual theology’ for his own work and calls upon Christians within this context to adopt the same experiential, reflective method to undertake theology from the bottom.85
Vincent also adopts a particular approach to mission amongst people of other faiths. His vision is for a truly multi-cultural society, reflecting the concern of Jesus, who called a multicultural group of disciples to join him and whose mission reached beyond barriers of culture, race and religion.86 The church is thus called to work towards genuine multiculturalism within wider society, in which diversity is celebrated.
He calls the church to challenge the apathy which ignores harassment and
81 Soper, Tower Hill, p. 139. 82 Soper, Tower Hill, pp. 141-142. 83 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 67-70; Vincent, Radical Jesus, p. 117. 84 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, p. 65. 85 Vincent, OK, Let’s be Methodists, pp. 69-70; Vincent, Gospel in the 90s, p. 6. 86 John J. Vincent, Britain in the 90s, p. 53. 68 discrimination, to encourage human flourishing within each individual’s own culture, religion and lifestyle and to seek to promote cross-cultural initiatives.87
There is no reference within the writing of Vincent to the necessity of ‘naming the Name of Jesus’ in mission amongst those of other faiths, or indeed of no faith. For
Vincent, conversion is not so much a spiritual experience, as it is a radical change of lifestyle, aligning oneself with the values of the kingdom of God. Whilst the model is found in Jesus of Nazareth, it is not clear whether Vincent would regard it as necessary to leave behind confessional adherence to another faith in order to be converted.
Perhaps the most likely implication, given Vincent’s emphasis on the necessity of the feet and the hands being in the right place rather than the heart and the head, lies in alternative lifestyle that seeks to identify with and bring liberation to the poor and the outcasts; confessional faith, whether Christian or of another religion seems to be far less significant.
Davies, reflecting on the general dispensation of God’s grace, makes what is, perhaps, his most significant contribution to the field of Methodist missiology: an understanding of the nature of other faiths, which accords with the broad conception he presents of the Holy Spirit’s work in the world, and the subsequent missiological implications. With the exception of humanism or atheism which, in denying the existence of God, rejects that grace which is given by God to all,88 or those religions which explicitly embrace evil,89 Davies contends, all world religions contain truths revealed, and blessings given, by God under the general dispensation of grace.90
Davies nevertheless underlines the imperative of evangelism. Whilst viewing other faiths against the wide horizons of the work of God’s Spirit in the world,
Christians, holding to the uniqueness of the person and work of Jesus Christ, should
87 Vincent, Britain in the 90s, pp. 54-55. 88 Davies, Spirit without Measure, p. 7. 89 Davies, Spirit without Measure, p. 16. 90 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 122, 151-152. 69 desire to share the gospel with people of other faiths as much as with those of no faith.91
He proposes that the most appropriate form of evangelism amongst people of other faiths is through sensitive dialogue with openness to the truth contained within other religions.92
Central to the Christian’s claim of the uniqueness of Jesus, Davies maintains, is the scriptural teaching that salvation is found in Christ alone, by grace through faith. He therefore considers the fate of devoted members of other faiths who die without responding to the Christian gospel. Drawing on biblical illustrations,93 Davies contends that God judges all according to the light they have received, accepting all who have responded to that light in faith, an acceptance made possible through the life and death of Jesus Christ.
The Local Church
The ‘local church’ principle of official Methodist missiology emphasises that it is the local church which has the prime responsibility for mission and evangelism, and so needs to be encouraged and equipped to develop strategies which are suitable within the local context. ‘Top down’ initiatives have often been resisted within the denomination and so any Connexional initiatives must be focused primarily on local churches, enabling and equipping them in mission.
Soper was, in many ways, the epitome of this conviction. He was, first and foremost, a Methodist minister, stationed to the West London Mission as
Superintendent of the Kingsway Hall. His ministry was rooted in the life of that local church and, alongside his prolific work of open-air preaching, travelling, broadcasting and political engagement, he led the Sunday worship, the pastoral work and the
91 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 7-8. 92 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 7, 149-150. 93 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 10-11. 70 extensive social programme at the Hall.94 A preacher, he argued, needs two pulpits.95
Thus, a ‘generalist’ circuit minister, he was also enabled to fulfil a wide-ranging, specialist ministry, an ideal the Division of Home Mission would seek to encourage and enable in years to come.
Rooted in the life of a local church himself, Soper encouraged that church to be faithful in its call to mission. The Kingsway Hall kept its mission and outreach work under review through two weekly meetings: the Wednesday staff meeting,96 and the
Thursday evening Guild meeting.97 Soon after his appointment to the Kingsway Hall, the Thursday evening Guild meeting began to thrive, necessitating a move to a larger venue within the church building. Soper would begin the meeting each week by commenting upon the ‘state of the mission’ and reviewing current needs.
As a result, members were mobilised into voluntary service. Groups of preachers were sent out, both into the open-air and to local lodging houses, others engaged in social work, supporting ex-prisoners, young women on probation from the courts, rehabilitation work with alcoholics, support for single mothers, housing for the elderly, a crèche, youth clubs, sales of affordable clothing etc.98 The ministry at the
Hall was also seminal in inspiring many young adults to take up the cause of pacifism in the build up to, and throughout, the Second World War.99
Vincent held to an overriding conviction that the church’s mission can only be fulfilled within the local context. Christians, he argues, are first called to be fully rooted within a community amongst the poor. For many Christians, such a radical expression of discipleship will necessitate re-location. He places an emphasis on the local church,
94 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 51-69, 168, 175. 95 Soper, The Advocacy of the Gospel, p 83. 96 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 110. 97 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 55. 98 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 56-59, 75-79, 111-115. 99 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 63. 71 though not necessarily in an institutional form, because such radical disciples will require a radical, alternative group to sustain them in radical action.100
Vincent was himself rooted in the local church expressions of the Sheffield
Inner City Ecumenical Mission and challenged other churches to adopt the principles which guided the work there. It was a pattern of church ministry which was not dependent upon large numbers of people, but which consisted of small numbers of disciples forming groups of mutual support and undertaking radical gospel action to bring liberation to the people living in the locality.101
Vincent was critical of the pattern he believed had emerged within Methodism of closing down small churches, for such churches were often the churches of the poor, located in areas of poverty. In supporting churches only where the denomination ‘could do well’, according to the criteria it had determined, a model which was successful only
‘where “big” things and “big” people’ could function, Methodism, he argues, is now a long way from the vision of John Wesley and, ultimately, of Jesus himself. The church is no longer proclaiming a gospel of liberation for the poor, but was actively involved in keeping the poor down.102
Vincent thus sought to re-call Methodism to focus on the small and the local.103
Perhaps preparing the way for the Fresh Expressions movement, he argued for a policy of gathering small groups of people in each locality, forming a society on the model of
Wesley, which did not necessarily need a building in which to be based, which would provide their own support for one another and engage in radical, alternative action. The challenge for the institutional church was to release such groups from the expectation to conform to the present ways of doing things within the denomination, allowing them to
100 Vincent, Discipleship in the 90s, pp. 15-26. 101 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 27. 102 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, pp. 25-26. 103 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 26. 72 develop freely into ‘self-conscious Christian communities’,104 which Vincent also referred to as ‘do it yourself local congregations of the poor’.105
Davies similarly writes with concern for the local church, although his particular emphasis is on renewal, both of individual Christians and of local congregations.106 In writing of the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing renewal and equipping Christians for service, he explains that all Christians need to work together within the local church, each bringing his or her particular gifts, so that the mission of the church is both comprehensive and balanced. Local churches are called to be the body of Christ in their communities with all the parts of the body working together, reflecting their Spirit-filled nature by identifying local needs and demonstrating the compassion and love of the
Holy Spirit.107 The church is called to align contemporary society with the kingdom of
God as closely as possible, bringing justice for the oppressed and true freedom for all.108
Structures that are not in line with God’s purposes need to be challenged and changed.109 Davies thus calls on churches to search out the unmet needs of the locality, so that in practical ways it may reflect the love of Christ by serving its neighbours, with the reminder that practical service must be accompanied by verbal witness and vice versa.110
Davies’ concern for the local church is also reflected in his awareness of the detrimental effects of division, which can result when some Christians within a local church have experienced renewal. In some such cases, spiritual immaturity and pride on the one hand meeting with intransigent conservatism on the other have led to interactions all too often being characterised by a lack of love. This has led to renewed
104 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 27. 105 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 60. 106 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 13. 107 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, pp. 138-139. 108 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 109. 109 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 114. 110 Davies, Spirit Without Measure, p. 139. 73
Christians leaving the historic denominations and joining with other like-minded
Christians in forming new churches.111 Davies is particularly critical of those within the
House Church Movement who have actively encouraged other renewed Christians to leave their local churches to join the House Churches.112 Davies laments the fact that such division must have hindered the spread of renewal and he calls for greater expressions within local churches of unity and love, the ultimate sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Growing Mission
The ‘growing mission’ principle of Methodist missiology emphasises that the mission of the church should be continually growing. Therefore the church, at every level, should keep its mission strategy under regular review, seeking to identify where there are gaps in the church’s current mission activity and areas of unmet need in the local community, developing projects to fill the gaps and meet the needs, and refining the projects as experience is gained. Churches also need to be willing to bring projects to an end when they have fulfilled their purpose, thus freeing resources to be channelled into other mission opportunities.
Soper, under his direct leadership, ensured that the outreach work of Kingsway
Hall was kept under constant review and continued to grow according to the principles he developed. Each week, as previously observed, through his ‘state of the mission’ presentation at the Thursday evening Guild meeting and a weekly staff meeting, the current work was reviewed and current needs and opportunities highlighted.113 New work was developed as pressing needs were identified.114
111 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 16, 25-30. 112 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 30-33. 113 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 56. 114 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 109. 74
Soper believed that the church should not only seek to fill the gaps left by the state in social provision, but also become a permanent part of the Welfare State which developed in the post-war years, pioneering such work, rather than simply following in the wake of the State. Sometimes the State will catch up with the church and provide alternative programmes to meet a need, enabling the church to move on and pioneer work in new areas of need. At other times, the church will be working beyond the capacity of the State, in which case the church will need continually to evaluate and improve its work, seeking to ensure it continues to meet the changing needs of society.115
It was Soper’s conviction that, in the social programmes of the local church, professionals should work side-by-side with volunteers, though it was vital that the professional should have at least as much of a sense of vocation as the volunteer.116
Following these principles, an extensive programme of social outreach developed at the
Kingsway Hall, in addition to the work Soper inherited when he moved to the Hall as its minister.
Vincent, like the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ reports, looks back to the example of John Wesley and to the way in which the MCB developed, not by plan, but by pragmatism. John Wesley himself wrote of how the early Methodist work developed as its members discerned pressing needs or open opportunities for the gospel and developed strategies to fill the gap. Authentic Methodism is therefore pragmatic. In contemporary expression, Vincent argues, determining strategy begins with the existing structures and resources and asks what these things dictate must be done. To be true to the roots of Methodism, however, it is expedient to begin by looking for needs and
115 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 109.
75 opportunities and then asking what must be done in response to advance the work of the gospel.117 It was through this process, Wesley suggested, that the Methodist movement increasingly drifted away from the CofE, because of the development of alternative methods of mission, but only when it became clear that the existing structures of the church were unable to meet the needs. In adopting such a method to develop its work,
Wesley argued, Methodism was simply following the pattern of the early church.118
Vincent therefore calls both the Conference and local churches to adopt this approach.
He proposes a model for theological reflection and missional action which will lead local churches to a growing mission, because it enables churches to keep their mission strategies under continual review. This model for contextual theology begins with a social, economic and historical analysis of the setting, before turning to the Bible and church history in search of paradigms that will offer guidance in the present situation. This, he argues, will help the church to discern the will of God within their locality and then decide upon practical actions for mission. After the action has been taken, the church can assess its progress and begin the process again with a new situational analysis.119 Thus the local church, according to the model Vincent proposes, will be looking continually at its local neighbourhood to identify needs and opportunities for mission, developing ways to act accordingly and keeping its strategy under review.
Davies, seeking to promote renewal within the church, writes of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit given to equip Christians for mission. In Rocking the Boat, he evaluates the mission and growth within charismatic renewal. His critique of the House Church
Movement commends the movement’s effective evangelistic ministry which, he observes, takes place mainly within the context of one-to-one conversations, rather than
117 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 45. 118 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, pp. 45-47. 119 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 66. 76 in public gatherings.120 He notes that the House Church Movement is ‘geared for growth’ adding ‘so should other churches be’.121 He is, however, critical of teaching material which suggests that conversion is only genuine if it can be pinpointed to a particular moment,122 proposing rather a ‘Christian pilgrimage’.123
Davies stresses the need for Christians to play their part within a local church and for all to work together so that the local church may truly be the body of Christ in their locality. This leads him to support the ‘growing mission’ emphasis of Methodist missiology, for he argues that it is the task of every church to look to its local community to identify unmet needs and opportunities to share the gospel so that it can reach out in service and evangelism.124
The Declining Church
The ‘declining church’ aspect of Methodist missiology emphasises that all the
MCB’s mission has taken place against an overall backdrop of decline, at least since the
Second World War. This requires Methodists both to take seriously the threat of such decline to its future and also to be realistic about the resources available for joining in the tasks of mission, whilst also underlining the urgency of evangelism.
Soper recognised that times were changing and noted ‘the Great
Estrangement’,125 as people in the church became increasingly out of touch with those outside.126 His observations of the changing society set the context for the period of this study. Moral and social dilemmas emerged, such as drug-taking and artificial contraception, unknown to former generations, yet in an age of comfort and
120 Davies, Rocking the Boat, pp. 23-24, 151. 121 Davies, Rocking the Boat, p. 151. 122 Davies, Rocking the Boat, p. 37. 123 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 22-24. 124 Davies, Spirit without Measure, pp. 138-139. 125 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 218. 126 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 172-173, 216-219. 77 convenience larger existential questions tended to be avoided; solutions to problems were no longer sought from the church, eroding its privileged position within society.
Soper argued that a new approach to evangelism was required:
I do believe that Christianity is true, and therefore this effervescing Word must be expressed in new wine put into new bottles. The church can no longer contain the fizzy, explosive stuff that the true wine of the bottle ought to be.127
Unlike the later House Church Movement, however, Soper was calling not for
Christians to leave one type of church and start another, but for the institutional church to change its structures of mission to meet new demands.
Significant changes became expedient at Kingsway Hall during the final years of
Soper’s active ministry. Too large and therefore unsuited for worship in the present age, the Hall itself was sold. Soper saw this as a mark of pioneering Christian mission for a new age.128 The congregation moved to Hinde Street MCB, enabling resources to be released to further the extensive practical programme of the West London Mission.
Alongside overseeing radical changes at Kingsway Hall, Soper continued to create opportunities to enter public debate, primarily through broadcasting and engagement in political life, ultimately as a Labour Party Peer in the House of Lords.129
His biographer comments that, although within Methodism the success of its ministers has on occasion been judged by the size of congregations on their leaving, compared with on their arrival, the real test of success ought to be the extent to which they had adapted to the demands of a changing culture. Soper, he concludes, was more responsive than most to society’s changes, adapting and continuing to exercise effective evangelistic ministry.130
127 Cited in Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 172-173. See also pp. 217-219. 128 Thompson, Donald Soper, p. 220. 129 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 174-175, 194-205. 130 Thompson, Donald Soper, pp. 174-175. 78
Vincent documents the decline of the MCB in OK, Let’s be Methodists.
Initially, the denomination was marked by growth, rising consistently from 70,000 members in 1791 to over 841,000 in 1930, having recovered from the losses inflicted by the First World War. However, the Second World War inflicted further losses from which there was no recovery and the denomination has been characterised by decline ever since, losing one-third of its members between 1960 and 1980, falling to a membership of 450,000 in 1983. Writing the following year, Vincent forecasted that, if the present trends continued, membership would be reduced to 320,000 by the year
2000.131 As it turned out, the denomination fared only slightly better than Vincent predicted, with the triennial report of statistics brought to the Conference of 2002 indicating a membership in the year 2000 of 335,567.132 The decline continued and membership fell below Vincent’s figure of 320,000 for the first time only two years later than predicted in 2002.133
Vincent calls into question the conclusion of Jeffrey Harris in his publication
Can British Methodism Grow Again?134 which was cautiously hopeful. Harris had called upon the church to seek to extend its membership within the socio-economic groups already represented amongst its membership.135 Vincent, however, calls the predominantly middle-class members of Methodism to take the journey downwards and recover the church’s mission alongside the poor. He calls upon the denomination to move away from its preoccupation with large congregations and instead recognise and embrace what the statistics show it is: a denomination of predominantly small churches.
It must end its propensity to close or amalgamate churches with small congregations.136
131 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 49. 132 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 2002), p. 15. 133 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 2, (London: MCB, 2005), p. 445. 134 Jeffrey Harris, Can British Methodism Grow Again? (London: Methodist Home Mission Division, 1980). 135 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 50. 136 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 50-51. 79
It must take the journey backwards, leaving behind the model of church as an established institution and adopt instead a vision of church as a movement of small groups of disciples amongst those at the bottom of society.137 Methodism, he believes, is uniquely placed to lead the way in this, amongst other denominations, pioneering a paradigm for others to follow.138 To take such a journey would be to recover the vision of Wesley and, ultimately, of Jesus.139
Davies contrasts the decline of Methodism with the remarkable reported growth of the House Church Movement which, according to UK Christian Handbook, trebled in membership in the five years from 1975 to 1980, from 20,000 to 60,000 members, and trebled again in the subsequent five years, reaching 180,000.140
Offering a critical analysis of the movement, Davies deplores what he believes to be the main causes of initial growth of the House Churches: growth by transfer, where members actively sought to persuade other Christians to leave their churches and join the House Church.141 Davies asserts that this created divisions which have hindered the spread of renewal within the church.142 There are, however, positive lessons for historic churches to learn from the phenomenon, including a model of effective evangelism primarily achieved through one-to-one conversation, and worship services of celebration, where newcomers are lovingly welcomed, with lively music, a sense of spiritual power, and clear, relevant biblical exposition.143
Thorough preparation for membership, together with an expected commitment expressed through service and financial giving (tithing and free-will offerings), he observes, has led to the House Churches retaining a high proportion of members. Here,
137 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 57. 138 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 58-63. 139 Vincent, OK Let’s be Methodists, p. 56. 140 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 19. 141 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 30-33. 142 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 29. 143 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 33, 146. 80
Davies comments, they present a challenge to historic denominations where there are often low levels of expected commitment from members, ‘anything worthwhile makes its demands – and if few demands are made, the question is going to be asked as to whether what is offered is worthwhile at all’.144
The House Church Movement, like early Methodism, Davies states, is defined by its small group structure.145 A concerning aspect of House Church structure, however, is that it sometimes incorporates hierarchical leadership, to which, in the most extreme cases, unquestioning submission is required. Difficulties arise when members remain dependent upon church leaders and never grow towards ‘Christ-centred autonomy, a personal dependence on Christ’s direct guidance’.146 However, positively,
Davies contrasts the quality of pastoral care offered through this structure with that offered within the historic denominations, concluding ‘if the pastoral oversight exercised in the House Church were to be exercised in the whole church, there would soon be transformation’.147
A Wheel of Many Spokes
From this review of the writing and work of the Methodist ministers considered above – Soper, Vincent and Davies – at least two conclusions may be drawn. Firstly, there is evidently a reciprocal nature to the denomination’s theologising and policy setting. Methodism’s official Conference reports often both reflect the practice of its people and also set the standards for their ministry.148 The ministries considered here demonstrate that these eight characteristics of official Methodist missiology were broadly outworked through its ministers ‘on the ground’.
144 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 139-149. 145 Davies, Rocking The Boat, pp. 17-18. 146 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 41. 147 Davies, Rocking The Boat, p. 148. 148 See also MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 501. 81
Secondly, the review reveals that ministers of different theological positions have frequently felt themselves to be on the margins of national church life. They discovered that life within the institutional structures of the denomination could be a struggle, which Rob Frost also discovered, as will become clear in the following chapter. Each of the three ministers considered above complied, it seems, at least in some measure, to the eight characteristics of Methodist mission and evangelism identified in this research, though each had a different focus and experienced a vocation to a particular aspect of that mission.
Through this research, I have therefore developed a model of a ‘missional wheel’ as a way which might enable the variety of ministries within Methodism to flourish. The mission of the church involves many different spokes of emphasis and activity, which the MCB holds together in its broad church approach. The many spokes all come together strongly in the centre of this wheel, but here there is less movement.
Activists, with vocations in particular fields, emphasising different aspects of the church’s whole mission, find themselves on the extremities of their spokes. It is here that there is the most movement, the most action, and the most effectiveness, but it is also here that they are most distantly related to each other and most distant from the central hub. At the centre of the wheel, skilled, visionary, strategic leaders are needed to ensure the wheel runs smoothly, holding everyone together, and ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction. For a number of years, Donald English, at the helm of the Division of Home Mission, seemed to exemplify these visionary leadership skills, seeing the whole picture, acting as advocate for the whole ‘wheel’, strengthening ties, drawing and holding everyone together, helping each to learn from and value the other.
Each of the spokes is needed in the life of the church and the church needs both people who can hold together its life, and also practitioners who are specialists, activists and enthusiasts at the extremes of each spoke, who are committed to the work and
82 importance of their own spoke, although they may not necessarily attribute the same significance to the other spokes.
Methodism has traditionally seemed less comfortable with these activists at the ends of various spokes, who are passionately committed and who move at a much greater pace, though are more distantly related to the other spokes. Suspicions can abound, more strident and partisan language used and it is not always clear how their action relates to the other spokes, though if it were traced back to the centre, the context would perhaps become clearer. These activists often have an uneasy relationship with the church, and often with wider society, because they perhaps engage in controversial, uncomfortable, unsettling, unpopular aspects of the church’s ministry, sitting not only uneasily within the church, but also where the church meets the structures and institutions of the world.
All the ministers considered in this chapter, to a certain extent, were arguably near the outside of their respective spokes. Each, at times had an uneasy relationship with the institutional church. For Soper, this was clearly seen when popular opinion, within both church and state, swung away from the pacifist convictions to which he remained true. For Vincent, it was seen in his frustration with the institutional church’s apathy towards the poor. For Davies, Principal of Cliff College, it was seen in the uncertain way institutional Methodism has tended to view its relationship with its lay evangelistic training college.
As will become clear, Rob Frost also had an often uncomfortable relationship with institutional Methodism. For him, it was due to his uncompromising commitment to the often uncomfortable task of evangelism. This model of the ‘missional wheel’ may have enabled his ministry to remain within the MCB and may, ultimately, have enabled the church to benefit even more significantly and fundamentally from his evangelistic ministry. However, as will become clear in the following chapters, it often
83 seemed as if his ministry was side-lined within the denomination, culminating in the decision that it should move outside the control of the MCB into an interdenominational context.
The following chapters turn to Frost’s own theory and practice of ministry, the key characteristics of which will be identified and analysed according to the principles established in the previous chapters, in order to establish the extent to which Frost’s ministry fitted within and was authentic to the contemporary context of British
Methodism. This will be achieved through consideration first of his practice of ministry as revealed in the archival material and then of his published work.
84
4. Doing the Work of an Evangelist and Opening a Stream of Renewal:
The Ministry of Rob Frost
The missiology of the MCB, as explored in the preceding chapters, formed the context for the evangelistic ministry of Rob Frost, the most successful British Methodist evangelist of his generation. Having established that context, it is now possible to turn to a consideration of Frost’s ministry. The following three chapters investigate his contribution to a British Methodist understanding and practice of evangelism, beginning, in this chapter, with a consideration of his own evangelistic practice, as revealed in the extensive archives of his ministry. Chapters five and six then consider, respectively, the principles which emerge from his published work, and then the way in which his ministry fitted within, and was fitted to, the MCB, as well as its legacy which remains.
Here, following an introductory profile, the flagship programmes which characterised Frost’s ministry are described and analysed, after which the missiological principles which thus emerge are identified. Two interconnected, ultimate concerns were central to Frost’s ministry, giving shape to his work and thus forming the structure of this consideration of his evangelistic practice: doing the work of an evangelist and opening a stream of renewal.
‘One of Mr Wesley’s Preachers in the finest tradition’:1 A Profile of Rob Frost
Born on 27 April 1950 and, having grown up in a manse as the son of a
Methodist minister, it was clear from an early age that Rob Frost had begun to discern a
1 Martyn Atkins in SJI, A Celebration of the life of Rob Frost: Westminster Central Hall, Saturday 12 January 2008, [PAL]. Lancaster: Reelife. 85 vocation to the ministry of an evangelist.2 Although he would continue to have a life- long interest in the field, he abandoned earlier dreams of pursuing a career in the media in order to undertake a year of training as a lay evangelist in the academic year 1969 –
1970 at Cliff College, the MCB’s lay evangelism training college.3 Following in his father’s footsteps, he then embarked on what was the customary path towards ordination in the MCB. This took him first to the Deptford Methodist Mission in London for a pre-collegiate year of practical experience and then to Hartley Victoria College,
Manchester, for theological training. Throughout these years, Frost was known for his evangelistic zeal and, during this time, he led his first beach missions in Cornwall and his first evangelistic touring production, the Gospel Roadshow.4
On appointment to circuit ministry, stationed initially as a Methodist probationer minister in the Pontefract Circuit from 1975 to 1978, Frost continued his wider evangelistic endeavours – particularly beach missions and touring productions – alongside other circuit responsibilities, though he felt a continual tension between his vocation to the ministry of an evangelist and local pastoral responsibilities. During this time, he was ordained in 1977 at the Methodist Conference, meeting in Hull.
The following year, he moved to another circuit appointment in Tooting,
London, though he became increasingly convinced of a vocation to serve as an evangelist within a wider context. He was eventually permitted to move into a new role in 1983, based in the Sutton Circuit, from which he was released for eighty per cent of
2 Biographical information and personal reflections about Frost, by a variety of authors, is contained in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008). Frost’s official obituary has been published in MCB, ‘Obituaries: Robert William Frost’ in MCB, Minutes of the Annual Conference and Directory, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 2008), pp. 42-43. See also, The Times, ‘Obituary: The Rev Rob Frost’, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-rev-robert-frost- lqdzbwglctx (accessed 27 March 2018). 3 See, for example, Tony Miles, ‘Rob as a Radio DJ’, in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 19-20, and Howard Ross, ‘Rob as a TV Broadcaster’, in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), p. 31. 4 Graham Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 9-13, and Martin Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 37-38. 86 the time to undertake national evangelistic ministry under the joint oversight of the
Methodist Association of Youth Clubs and the Division of Home Mission. His national evangelistic ministry became full-time in 1989, when he was appointed as Connexional
Evangelist within the Division of Home Mission, with day to day oversight and management of his work delegated to a committee, the Rob Frost Steering Group
(RFSG), and he continued to be based in South London, initially in Cheam and, from
1989, in Raynes Park.5 These unusual moves into evangelistic roles were made possible only by the support of Donald English who had been appointed as General Secretary of the Division of Home Mission in 1982 and who, over the years, successfully argued within Connexional bodies for support of Frost’s ministry.6
His national evangelistic ministry quickly became characterised by flagship programmes which would have a significant impact upon the national life of the MCB:
Share Jesus Missions, Seed Teams, touring evangelistic productions, broadcasting and publishing, and Easter People. To these were added a particular concern for encouraging younger leaders and a global influence extending beyond Britain with appointments as European Director of the International Leadership Institute (ILI) and
Honorary President of Release International. His ministry culminated in a final initiative which he launched shortly before his death: Pentecost Festival.
Frost’s relationship with the formal denominational structures of Methodism was often far from easy. His visionary leadership often sat uncomfortably alongside institutional committees and it became difficult to see how such a ministry could be accommodated within the denomination, given its commitments and priorities at the time.7 Following restructuring in 1995, it became increasingly unclear how he ‘fitted
5 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 6 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 7 See, for example, Rob Frost, When I Can’t Pray, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1995), pp. 52-54, and Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, pp. 36, 42-43. 87 in’ to denominational structures,8 though the MCB is recorded as having expressed its determination to ‘own and support all that he was about’.9 However, through a cost cutting initiative as the new millennium approached, Methodism’s formal ‘owning and supporting’ of Frost’s ministry would not remain clear. It was decided that, rather than fitting into new structures, Frost should be stationed in an appointment outside the control of the church. The Methodist Council determined that all central funding should be withdrawn from his ministry as of 1 September 2001. His steering group acted quickly, writing to supporters to launch an appeal to raise the funds to cover his stipend.
However, following the Conference of 2000, Frost himself was able to write to his supporters stating, ‘Much to my surprise, the Methodist Conference has overruled the
Methodist Council and reinstated my stipend’.10 Clearly, Frost’s ministry had become a point of contention within the denomination. The proposals for central spending priorities did not necessarily reflect the priorities of all. Thus Frost’s stipend was reinstated and the provision of a manse continued. However, the withdrawal of the remaining support left a significant deficit in the budgets which Frost, with a new board, would need to fill and the decision that responsibility for the work should no longer remain with the MCB was upheld.
In response to the decision of the Conference that Frost should move to an appointment outside the control of the church, SJI was formed as a charitable company in 2001, with Frost as its first Director, a post he held until his death in 2007.11 This new organisation provided a wider ecumenical context for his ministry, supported by a board of denominational and parachurch organisation leaders. As documented in the following section, the period was marked by the conclusion of a number of projects
8 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 36. 9 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (March 7 1994). 10 Rob Frost, Letter to Supporters, (8 August 2000). 11 URL: www.sharejesusinternational.com (accessed 24 July 2018). 88
Frost had developed as Connexional Evangelist as he began to realise they were no longer effective as methods of evangelism within the changing culture, and he began to develop new initiatives. As will become evident in subsequent chapters, the turning of the millennium would mark a period of transition not only in terms of the structural management of Frost’s ministry, but also in his approach to evangelism itself.
Frost’s initial term as Director of SJI was due to end in 2007, with the expectation of renewal. Frost and his board began to prepare for this, looking ahead to determine the shape his ministry would take in the years leading to his retirement. All this, however, was not to be. Having been diagnosed with cancer, Frost died on
Remembrance Sunday, 11 November 2007. Following the appropriate processes, the board of SJI appointed Frost’s son, Andy Frost, to succeed his father as Director. Andy
Frost had already begun to work for SJI and, over the coming years, he continued the work of turning his father’s final visions for evangelistic projects into reality whilst developing his own ministry as an evangelist and director of an evangelistic organisation.
A congregation numbering over two thousand people gathered on 12 January
2008 in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, overflowing the Great Hall, to celebrate
Frost’s life. Persevering through spontaneous applause, Martyn Atkins, then President of the Methodist Conference, welcomed the congregation and paid tribute to Frost’s ministry:
I am here … as the President of the Methodist Conference to welcome you all to this gathering of one of Mr Wesley’s preachers, Rob Frost. It gives me a great sense of privilege … on behalf of the Methodist Church, to say that we’re glad to be here to pay tribute to his life and his ministry… Rob was, in many respects, a late twentieth/early twenty-first century version of John Wesley himself. He was a trailblazer… He preached on the streets; he changed the methods of evangelism and mission, but always with the intent of (a good Methodist phrase) ‘offering Christ’. That’s who we come to bear tribute to: one of Mr Wesley’s preachers in the finest tradition. On behalf of the Methodist Church I want to say publically that we are proud of the ministry of Rob Frost, that we honour it and 89
that we recognise the significant move of God through Rob’s ministry after all these years.12
‘Do the work of an evangelist’13
Over the years, Frost’s ministry as an evangelist was characterised by a remarkable consistency. In 1977, the year of his ordination, he wrote a paper calling for the reinstatement of the role of Connexional Evangelist within the MCB.14 Although there had been a number of notable post holders over the years, the post had been abolished by the time Frost entered the ministry. In the paper, Frost wrote of the frustrations faced by ‘those of us who feel a special calling to the work of evangelism’ when they must balance the demands of local pastoral responsibility with invitations to undertake evangelistic ministry more widely.15 The appointment of one, or more,
Connexional Evangelists (he envisaged three, working in different parts of the country) would, he argued, make available people who could exercise evangelistic ministry across the denomination, released from local responsibilities. The paper demonstrates that Frost was exercising an evangelistic ministry even before he was stationed as a
Methodist minister; he refers to mission teams and an evangelistic touring production for which he had already been responsible. It reveals him to be possessed of visionary and strategic gifts, with a remarkable ability to identify current needs and future opportunities for which the church should prepare, such as the coming ‘phenomenal’ expansion of the local radio network which would offer ‘unprecedented opportunities for sharing our own faith and witness in an exciting manner’.16
He proposed six areas of work in which Connexional Evangelists should primarily engage: 1) leading church-based missions; 2) providing training in the latest
12 SJI, A Celebration of the life of Rob Frost. 13 2 Timothy 4:5; Rob Frost, ‘Do the work of an evangelist’: A consideration of the role of Connexional Evangelists within the Methodist Church, (1977), unpublished. 14 Frost, ‘Do the work’. 15 Frost, ‘Do the work’, p. 2. 16 Frost, ‘Do the work’, p. 4. 90 methods of evangelistic outreach; 3) involvement in the media; 4) missionary evangelism, which he defined as evangelistic touring productions; 5) producing evangelistic resources; and 6) offering experiences of evangelistic ministry which would
‘encourage the gift of evangelism in others’. Each of these areas of work would become consistent features of his own ministry when he was himself appointed to the role of
Connexional Evangelist. There thus emerges from the paper an insight into Frost as possessing a strong sense of vocation to evangelism, an entrepreneurial approach to ministry, and a remarkably consistent vision.
Whilst Frost proposed that there could be three such Connexional Evangelists, he would later be appointed as the only one. In this new role, his ministry quickly became shaped by the strategy he had outlined in the 1977 paper, as he developed a number of large-scale projects which would become characteristic of his ministry.
Church-based Missions
There were two principal ways in which Frost undertook church-based missions in his national evangelistic roles. On appointment to the initial part-time role, he immediately launched a programme of annual Share Jesus Missions and, four years later, developed a new initiative, Seed Teams.
Share Jesus Missions
Even before he was ordained, Frost had begun to gather groups of young
Christians from around the country to join him for a week’s mission at various times and in various places.17 In 1984, he launched Share Jesus Missions, an annual programme of short-term outreach, bringing visiting teams of volunteers into partnership with host churches across a geographical region, often a Methodist district,
17 See, for example, Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 11. 91 to work together for a week in evangelism, mission and outreach. The structures of the teams and their principles and practices Frost explained in Sharing Jesus in a New
Millennium, considered more fully in the next chapter.18 The programme proved to be transformational in many ways, for those who volunteered to join the visiting teams, for local churches which hosted mission teams, and for those who discovered and responded to the gospel through the missions.
There was a strong emphasis on enabling the evangelistic ministry of large numbers of Christians. Frost cast the net wide in recruiting for the missions, emphasising that prior experience was not required, with the aim that team members would discover new gifts, skills and enthusiasm for evangelism throughout the mission week. People were encouraged to join the missions regardless of theological position or church denomination, though the majority of team members were Methodist. Those who had joined the mission were divided into teams and each team was assigned to a local church. Specific training in evangelism was often included as part of the programme, though primarily the programme provided the opportunity to learn about evangelism through actively participating in mission, in an environment away from home, as part of a team with a supportive leadership structure. Frost proved to be so successful in recruiting young people for the mission teams, counteracting Methodism’s aging demographic, that in 1995 the leadership team recognised the need to attract more older people to the missions in order to balance the predominance of younger people, and took steps to make the missions more attractive to an older generation through the introduction of hotel accommodation.19 In experiencing a week of focussed mission, thereby discovering and developing gifts in and a passion for evangelism, the
18 Rob Frost, Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium: A Practical Introduction to Evangelism for Christians Everywhere (Bletchley: Scripture Union, 2000). 19 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (1 November 1995). 92 programme would prove to be transformational for large numbers of Christians, particularly across the MCB.
Frost was resistant to models of evangelism which were detached from local churches, and so visiting teams always worked in partnership with host churches. Local churches applied to host a mission team. Churches of all shapes and sizes were welcome to do so, and, though the programme primarily served Methodist churches, applications were accepted regardless of denominational affiliation.20 The only requirement was a reasonable ability to sustain the work begun with the visiting team.
Local churches were expected to provide people who would work together with the visiting mission team throughout the week. The priorities for the mission were identified by the host church and the visiting team committed to working towards them.
The programme of mission activities was developed through consultation between the host church and the team leaders through meetings and ongoing correspondence prior to the week. In forming a partnership between visiting team and local church, the overriding purpose of the missions was to renew the evangelistic life of the host church and leave a legacy of ongoing outreach, with the hope that members of host churches, like visiting team members, would discover new gifts and a new enthusiasm for evangelism which they could continue to use in the ongoing outreach of the church beyond the mission week. Thus the mission weeks proved to be transformational not only for visiting team members, but also for members of the host churches and, indeed, for the host churches as a whole.21
20 See, for example, RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group, (3 October 2000); and SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 21 Feedback from host churches of Share Jesus missions indicated that, not only visiting team members, but also members of host churches discovered new gifts and enthusiasm in evangelism. In 1996, for example, three different host churches commented on the way in which the mission helped their churches by making such statements as: ‘uncovering gifts and skills’; ‘we learned we have the gifts to do mission things ourselves’, and ‘gave them confidence, made them less wary of mission’. RFSG, Share Jesus Missions: Feedback from Hosts, (1996). 93
As well as bringing additional energy and resources to local churches in the form of a visiting team of volunteer missioners, the missions also enabled churches to join in doing together what they would not have been able to do separately. Churches hosting teams were encouraged to work together with other local churches, and comments were often made in feedback regarding ways in which the mission week had helped to promote ecumenical unity within towns and villages.22 Central events were held as part of the mission week, attended by all visiting team members who invited those they encountered throughout the mission week along with members of their host churches. These larger events gave a focus to the evangelistic work being undertaken in and through local churches. They brought people together in a large gathering, providing inspirational celebration for team members and Christians from local churches, as well as an evangelistic message and challenge to respond for invited guests.
Such events, combined with the ongoing evangelistic work of the teams in partnership with host churches throughout the week, resulted in transformation for those who thus responded to the gospel message. That people did respond is evidenced in the records of the programme. Statistics demonstrate, for example, that amongst the members of the teams for the missions in the Chester and Stoke District in 1990 were thirty people who ‘testified to having been converted on a previous mission’.23
The programme of missions proved to be so successful that, over the years, international guests visited the missions both to participate in the mission work and to consider establishing the model within their own countries, most notably in the USA
22 See, for example, H. Brian Kirkpatrick, Letter to Rob Frost, (18 September 1990) who wrote of the Methodist church he served coming together with the local Roman Catholic and Free Methodist churches ‘in a surprising discovery of each other’s faith and spirituality’ and B. Coverdale, Letter to Rob Frost, (6 October 1993) who reported an Anglican congregation and a Methodist congregation had been drawn together through the mission week, so much so that they were now considering forming a Local Ecumenical Partnership. 23 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990). 94 and Australia.24 Frost supported these international developments, offering expertise without becoming responsible for the organising or financing of programmes within other countries.25
Although the models of Share Jesus Missions developed over the years in an effort to remain evangelistically effective within the context of wider cultural change,26 as the new millennium approached, Frost began to realise that the general style and format of the programme, deploying visiting teams in partnership with local churches, had served its purpose and was no longer as effective a method of evangelism as it had formerly been. He thus brought the programme to an end in 2002, with a final mission held in Sheffield.
Seed Teams
To complement the short-term Share Jesus Missions, Frost launched a longer- term form of church-based missions. The Seed Team programme, which ran from 1988 to the year 2000, offered a ‘gap year’ experience of serving alongside a local church in
Christian outreach. This voluntary missional work was undertaken whilst living in community with other team members and working in secular employment to cover the costs of living and to contribute to central expenses. The programme began with a team placed in Market Deeping in 1988 and, at its peak, saw twelve teams stationed around the country as well as overseas. Over the years of the programme, more than four hundred people took part, most of them in their early adult years, with some continuing to serve as team members for more than one year.
Frost viewed the Seed Team programme as having particular value within his ministry activities, stating, ‘out of all the projects I’m involved in, Seed Teams is the
24 RFSG, Rob Frost 1990 Prayer Diary, (1990). 25 See, for example, RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group, (3 October 2000). 26 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 98. 95 most strategic’.27 Team members were offered a unique opportunity to give a year or more of full time Christian service, working as part of a team in partnership with a local church in outreach. They were given training and practical experience in evangelism, enabled to discover and develop gifts in Christian ministry and mission, and learn through active participation. A particularly important aspect of the programme – one of its primary benefits – Frost believed, was the valuable context it offered team members for supported vocational discernment. The success of this is borne out by the programme’s statistics. In 1994, for example – halfway through the programme – a review of the Seed Teams to date revealed that seven former team members were currently training for the ministry, two had been ordained as ministers, a further thirty- five were in full time Christian work and twelve were students undertaking training in evangelism at Cliff College.28
There were also significant strategic benefits for the local churches in which the teams were based. Whilst it was originally intended that the teams should undertake pioneering church planting work – and some did, often on deprived housing estates – it was later noted that the work of many of the teams had, in reality, become a programme of church renewal and growth, and Frost’s steering group unhesitatingly affirmed the value of such work.29
As with the Share Jesus missions, partnership between the visiting team and the local church was an essential characteristic of the Seed Team programme. The local church submitted a bid to be allocated a team, with demand often outstripping supply.
Once allocated a team, the local churches were responsible for practical housing arrangements for the team, and for identifying priorities for the work. This work was undertaken by the team under the authority of the local minister who, whilst retaining
27 The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Teams: Will you take the challenge?, (1996). 28 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994). 29 RFSG, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990). 96 ultimate control, was expected to allow the team freedom to explore and experiment in missional work. Having received training in evangelism from Frost and his team, team members were expected to deliver similar training in the local church and then to partner with members of the local church in outreach. Evangelism was often undertaken within the context of social caring through serving on deprived housing estates, supporting carers, assisting with the running of neighbourhood support groups, teaching English in overseas placements,30 and on Cool Mountain in Ireland, teaching children and running a crèche to demonstrate ‘Christian love in action’ within a New
Age travelling community.31
As the programme expanded, requests for teams were received from overseas churches and so volunteers were sent beyond the shores of the UK to France, Poland,
Estonia and the USA, with further opportunities also explored, though not in the end pursued.32 As the overseas opportunities opened, Frost developed principles with his steering group to ensure that the primary focus of the programme remained within
British Methodism and that, where teams were deployed overseas, they were meeting a genuine need in an appropriate way: there should be a proportion of at least two British teams to one overseas team; the work done overseas, as in Britain, was to be in partnership with local churches, taking the local context seriously; and people with specific skills needed within the host countries were to be identified to serve on the teams, ensuring that the visitors could contribute something of value to the local community as well as learn from, and develop through, the experience of overseas mission.33
30 See, for example, RFSG, Seed Team Update, (1995). 31 RFSG, Seed Team Bases 1996/1997 as at 11 March 1996, (1996). 32 RFSG, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (5 November 1993). 33 RFSG, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (3 February 1995) and RFSG, Seed Team Bases 1996/1997 as at 11 March 1996, (1996). 97
The Seed Team programme ended in the year 2000, when changes in university tuition fees in particular seemed to make such a year-out programme less attractive to many young people and Frost’s team found it increasingly difficult to recruit sufficient numbers. It was replaced by a Vision Team of interns working alongside Rob and
Jacqui Frost based in the Share Jesus offices and the Lantern Arts Centre, which Jacqui
Frost had developed in the same building as the SJI offices in Raynes Park,34 offering opportunities for young people discerning a vocation to Christian leadership in evangelism or the arts.
Missionary Evangelism: Touring Evangelistic Productions
In his 1977 paper, Frost envisaged the ministry of a Connexional Evangelist would include missionary evangelism, defined as creative evangelistic productions which tour the country. He gave the example of a recent initiative of Youth for Christ as well as his own Gospel Roadshow with which he had previously toured the UK and
USA, and would soon take to Spain.35 On appointment to a part-time national evangelistic role in 1983, Frost quickly began to devise a new production, Daybreak, with which he embarked on a national tour later that year. This marked the beginning of a regular pattern to his ministry, in which he would launch a new production approximately every two years.
The productions gave a particular focus to an important and central aspect of
Frost’s approach to evangelism which was characteristic of his ministry throughout his life: the use of the creative arts.36 They brought together, in creative partnership,
Christian composers, script writers, choreographers, actors, dancers, musicians, mime artists, puppeteers, choirs, comedians, and volunteers who formed local casts at each of
34 Jacqui Frost, ‘Rob as a Husband’, in Andy Frost (ed.), Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 79-80. 35 See also Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 13. 36 See also Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, pp. 30-31; and Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 66. 98 the venues. The aim was to generate evangelistic productions on a large scale, which would be attractive to a broad audience, usually staged in a professional theatre and which, in addition to reaching many with an evangelistic message, would also inspire and promote renewal in local churches.
The ever present emphasis in Frost’s national ministry of partnership with local churches was again central. The productions were unfailingly staged in conjunction with local churches, without whose support they would have been unsustainable.37
Local teams often handled arrangements with venues, processed bookings, publicised the show, catered for the touring professional team and, most importantly, provided a local cast which joined with the touring professional cast in staging the show.38
Furthermore, the scripts and scores were written with both professional and amateur casts in mind to make them accessible for local production as well as the national tour.
Following the tour, they were published and made available for purchase.39
Over the years of his ministry, Frost produced eleven touring productions.40
One even resulted in a number one hit in the UK singles charts. Produced to mark the turning of the millennium, Hopes and Dreams included a setting of the Lord’s Prayer to the music of Auld Lang Syne. Cliff Richard subsequently released the song as The
Millennium Prayer, topping the charts for three weeks as the new millennium
37 See, for example, list of local coordinators for the Gospel End tour of 1992: RFSG, Gospel End: Tour Itinerary 1992 – Provisional Bookings To Date, (1991). 38 See Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 40. 39 See, for example, Rob Frost and Paul Field, Visions, (Ilkeston: Moorley’s, 1986); Rob Frost and Paul Field, Breaking Bread, (Peterborough: Foundery Press, 1988); Rob Frost, Pilgrims: Making a Pilgrimage on Your Own or in a Group, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1990); Rob Frost and Stephen Deal, Gospel End, (Sutton: Rob Frost Organisation, 1992); Rob Frost, Paul Field and Stephen Deal, Burning Questions, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1993), to accompany which a novel was also published, Rob Frost, Burning Questions, (Crowborough: Mitre, 1994); Rob Frost, Paul Field, Stephen and Polly Deal & Jacqui Frost, Hopes and Dreams, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1999), also accompanied by a novel, Rob Frost, Hopes and Dreams, (Crowborough: Monarch, 1999); Rob Frost, Paul Field, Susie Pottinger and Jacqui Frost, Dangerous Journey, (Raynes Park: Rob Frost Team, 2000); Rob Frost, Paul Field, Stephen Deal, Susie Pottinger and Jacqui Frost, Here & Now, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2002). 40 Gospel Roadshow (1975-1977, 1981); Daybreak (1983); Visions (1985, 1986); Breaking Bread (1988); Pilgrims (1990); Gospel End (1992); Burning Questions (1994); Jubilate! (1996); Hopes and Dreams (1999); Dangerous Journey (2000); Here and Now (2002). 99 approached and narrowly missing out on being the Christmas number one.41 Frost’s final production of this kind, Here and Now, a creative and evangelistic presentation of the Beatitudes, toured the country in 2002.
Involvement in the Media
Although his decision to train as an evangelist had meant abandoning earlier dreams of pursuing a career in the media, Frost remained fascinated by the media throughout his life, seeking to use forms of mass communication, especially broadcasting, to cast broadly the message of the gospel.42 One of the earliest examples of this was a partnership with a local newspaper, The Sutton and Croydon Guardian, following his move to London, for which he wrote a weekly ‘agony uncle’ column; it proved to be very popular, though was fiercely criticised by some Christians.43 Even by then he had already contributed to a number of television and radio programmes and had pitched his own proposals for programmes to broadcasting companies. Over the course of his ministry, he participated in a number of significant television programmes for the mainstream media, including a Sunday morning live broadcast for the BBC in
1993 as part of that day’s coverage of the London Marathon;44 a peace celebration, including a reading given by the Princess of Wales,45 broadcast live from Enniskillen on
Remembrance Sunday the same year, remembering the Enniskillen bombing; and three episodes of the BBC’s Songs of Praise, including the first episode of the new millennium.46 He also contributed to programmes for mainstream radio stations, including, for example, Morning Worship on Radio 4.47
41 Number One in the UK Singles Charts 4-18 December 1999; (see David Roberts, British Hit Singles and Albums,19th Edition, (London: Guinness World Records Ltd, 2006), pp. 640-641.) 42 Miles, ‘Rob as a Radio DJ’, pp. 20-21. See Matthew 13:1-23. 43 www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk (accessed 16 April 2018). 44 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (April 1993). See also Ross, ‘Rob as a TV Broadcaster’, p. 30. 45 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (January 1994). 46 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (January 1999, September 1999, and January 2002). 47 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (August 1994). 100
Frost’s most significant engagement with the media, however, was through two
Christian channels, God TV and Premier Christian Radio; the latter he helped to establish.48 For God TV, Frost hosted a number of panel chat shows with leading public, academic and church figures addressing contemporary issues from a Christian perspective.49 Having supported the launch of Premier Christian Radio,50 he initially hosted a Sunday evening show,51 but moved to the Sunday morning slot in January
1997, hosting ‘Frost on Sunday’ with an initial audience of 100,000 listeners.52 The show became the station’s ‘flagship’ programme, which Frost continued to host until his death.53
Providing Training, Producing Resources and Offering Experiences of Evangelism
Frost fulfilled the remaining aspects of the programme of work he outlined for
Connexional Evangelists in his 1977 paper principally through the major initiatives described above. Whilst he offered training in evangelism as part of the programmes of
Share Jesus Missions and Seed Teams, he ran occasional seminars for local churches and national conferences, and lectured on evangelism in theological colleges, he firmly believed that the best form of training in evangelism by far was that which could only be gained through experience by actively participating in mission. Both the Share Jesus
Missions and Seed Teams provided a safe and supported context, away from home, in which people could step out in faith and experiment in evangelism under the guidance of experienced leaders.54
48 www.god.tv (accessed 16 April 2018); www.premierchristianradio.com (accessed 16 April 2018). See Miles, ‘Rob as a Radio DJ’, p. 22-23, and Ross, ‘Rob as a TV Broadcaster’, p. 32. 49 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (January 2002). 50 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (June 1995). 51 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (October 1995). 52 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (January 1997). See also Miles, ‘Rob as a Radio DJ’, pp. 22-23. 53 The Sunday following Frost’s death, the whole programme was devoted to remembering him. (URL: https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Archived-Shows/Rob-Frost-Tribute-Show (accessed 16 April 2018)). 54 Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 17. 101
Frost produced evangelistic resources in two primary ways. The scripts and scores of the touring evangelistic productions, written with a view to being suitable for local performance and made available for sale after the tours, provided unique resources to local churches, enabling them to undertake evangelism in creative, attractive and less common ways. Additionally, his published writing, considered more fully in the following chapter, provided further evangelistic resources for Christians and local churches, most notably Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium, which presented a vision and strategy for evangelism both through the local church and through personal relationships. The publishing of resources culminated in his ground breaking evangelistic course, Essence, and its companion, Kids@Essence which offered a new way of helping people in a postmodern culture engage with the gospel.
The final aspect of Frost’s approach to the role of Connexional Evangelist, as outlined in his 1977 paper, was the offering of experiences of evangelism which would
‘encourage the gift of evangelism in others’.55 Frost was aware that, within the context of a declining denomination, experiences of enthusiastic and effective evangelism could be few and far between. This he was able to counteract, particularly through Share
Jesus Missions, but also, for a smaller number of people, through Seed Teams, and on a wider geographic scale through the touring productions. Within a declining denomination, Frost was thus able to form a network of individuals across the
Connexion who, through participating in the evangelistic experiences he offered, were able to develop enthusiasm for evangelism, discover and grow in evangelistic gifts, and then offer their enthusiasm and gifts in the service of the local church of which they were a member.56
55 Frost, ‘Do the work’. 56 See Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 17. 102
Theological Investigation and Apologetics
Frost’s 1977 paper itself demonstrates a grappling with the missiological principles which informed his approach to evangelistic ministry. This he would continue to explore in his published work, considered in the next chapter, but would also be manifested throughout his ministry in other ways, overlapping with his practice of evangelism. Whilst he was primarily a practitioner, he was also committed to theological research, which undergirds the practice of evangelism, and to the task of apologetics. He stated, for example, in 1996: ‘Part of our task in the work of mission is to win the mind as well as the heart,’ adding, ‘We have neglected this in recent years – and the work of apologetics is more urgent than ever’.57
He was awarded a PhD in 1995 by King’s College, London for his research into contemporary mission, investigating contemporary society, Methodist history and
Church Growth strategies.58 In congratulating Frost on his achievement, Donald
English wrote that he hoped others would follow Frost’s example of commitment to theological enquiry.59 Frost published a popular version of his thesis in Which Way for the Church? demonstrating that his research into evangelism also informed his commitment to renewal, the second overarching priority of his ministry, considered below. On completing the research, he received an increasing number of invitations to lecture on evangelism at theological colleges.
He continued to be committed to the intellectual aspects of evangelistic ministry.
In 1995 and again in 1997, he worked with Methodist minister and Astrophysicist,
David Wilkinson, in The Truth About Science, an apologetics tour seen by over six thousand people.60 Ten years later, in The Agenda tour of 2006, accompanied by the
57 Rob Frost, Overseas Prayer Letter, (September 1996). 58 Robert William Frost, The response of the Methodist Church Home Mission Division to the British New Town Movement from 1960 to 1980 with special reference to its attempts to plant new churches in Skelmersdale and Milton Keynes, (PhD dissertation, King’s College, London, 1995). 59 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (September 1995). 60 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (September 1996). 103 book Freedom Fighters: Defending Christian Freedoms in a Politically Correct Age which he edited,61 Frost addressed issues surrounding political freedom for Christians in the face of the government’s proposed religious hatred legislation, encouraging
Christians to challenge the proposals to safeguard their freedom in pastoral ministry and evangelism.62 He additionally highlighted these issues through a national conference,
Evangelism Today, which he hosted during the same period, and was also instrumental in devising the material for the Hope for Planet Earth tour, which explored Christian responses to the effects of climate change.63
‘A Stream of Renewal’64
In a development perhaps not anticipated in his 1977 paper, within five years,
Frost would begin to identify an additional, pressing need within the church which would become a second passionate commitment for him, alongside that of evangelism: a fervent commitment to promoting renewal. This emphasis on renewal emerged during his 1982 tour of the Gospel Roadshow. Interviewed for a magazine the following year, he stated that he had been haunted by a comment made by a group of young people following one of the performances: ‘We’re into Jesus; we’re into the gospel; but church services are a switch-off’.65
For Frost, the comment expressed a frustration which many young people seemed to share. They felt churches were not interested in them, did not share their musical tastes, and did not invite or welcome their creative contributions to worship.
61 Rob Frost (ed.), Freedom Fighters: Defending Christian Freedoms in a Politically Correct Age, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2005). 62 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (May 2005). 63 See, for example, SJI, Share Jesus International Trustees’ Meeting, (4 June 2007), and SJI, Concept for a National Motivational Tour on the Global Warming Theme, (2007). See also, www.atyourservice.arocha.org/en/hope-for-planet-earth-a-rocha-2009-environment-resource-pack/ (accessed 16 April 2018). Following Frost’s death, the tour was undertaken in his place by his son, Andy Frost, in 2008. 64 The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People publicity leaflet, (1990). 65 ‘Rob Frost: The Worship Icebreaker’ in Today (June 1983), p. 24. 104
With the endorsement of the Methodist Association of Youth Clubs, his next touring production addressed these concerns directly. Aimed at bringing renewal to church worship, Daybreak sought to engage local churches and young people throughout the country. Addressing criticisms of his modernising tendencies, Frost stated, ‘Young people respond to a message which is spoken in their language of records, pop music, and television. I believe we must take the cultural forms of our day and age and offer them to God for his use.’66
This commitment to promoting renewal was, therefore, intrinsically linked to his concern for evangelism and had at its heart a desire that the church should be enabled to communicate the gospel with enthusiasm and in relevant ways.
Easter People
Frost primarily undertook this pursuit of renewal through Easter People which he launched in 1988, and which would become an annual feature of the MCB for twenty years. Frost had identified a need for an annual gathering for Methodists for whom the only alternative festival was the similar, though larger, annual conference, Spring
Harvest, on the stages of which Methodist speakers were rarely featured.67 A Christian holiday in the week immediately following Easter, Easter People would grow to bring together thousands of people, attracting in the region of twelve thousand at its height, offering inspirational worship and teaching, and an opportunity for Christians, lay and ordained alike, to participate in leadership and ministry in a setting different from the usual context of Methodism.
Frost hoped that Easter People would become a ‘stream of renewal’ within the denomination, flowing out to bring renewal to local churches.68 An important element
66 ‘Rob Frost: The Worship Icebreaker’ in Today (June 1983), p. 25. 67 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 40. 68 The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People publicity leaflet, (1990). 105 of the vision for the gathering was ‘the concept of coming together in church groups, and meeting to decide how to implement change and renewal in the local situation with other members of their church.’ Easter People would thus, Frost hoped, become ‘part of the ongoing mission of the local church and circuit’.69 He believed that, as Christians experienced renewal, they would discover also a new passion for evangelism, and that renewed churches would be more attractive to those currently outside the life of the church, thus further enabling evangelistic ministry and church growth.
A central aspect of Frost’s commitment to promoting renewal was his concern for the renewal of worship and he was determined that this commitment should be reflected in the themes of the gatherings.70 Linked to this was a further emphasis on promoting charismatic theology and practice in a spirit of irenicism. Reflecting on the initial event, he wrote appreciatively of the way in which it enabled ‘those of
Charismatic experience and emphasis’ to be ‘recognised as having an important contribution to make’ at the centre of proceedings, rather than meeting separately.71 He longed to see charismatic perspectives become part of Methodism’s ‘mainstream’,72 whilst also promoting unity through maintaining breadth in the approach to worship at
Easter People. He sought to combine the traditional with the contemporary, bringing
‘together a wide cross-section of people from different worship cultures and theological emphases … [uniting] them in harmony – without any group excluded or made to feel inferior’.73
This irenic approach extended to the selection of the main speakers. As he looked ahead to the second year of the event, Frost acknowledged that it was unlikely
69 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988). 70 Frost wrote, for example, in 1988, ‘I personally feel that the aim of Worship Renewal was not pre- eminent this year, and I would advocate that we make this the target area’ moving forward. RFSG, ‘Possible Alterations for 1989: Concepts’ (1988). 71 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988); see also RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Prayer and Counselling, (1988). 72 RFSG Possible Alterations for 1989: Prayer and Counselling, (1988). 73 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988). 106 they would be able to find a speaker to lead the Bible studies who was of the same calibre as Donald English, the first year’s speaker. He therefore proposed an alternative approach of inviting four Methodist ministers from different theological perspectives to lead one morning each, exploring the same theme from their different perspectives, such as biblical scholarship, church history, social responsibility and charismatic theology.74
These efforts to represent Methodism’s breadth within Easter People did create tensions. A review of Easter People in 1995 revealed that the main difficulties continued to be issues between conservative and charismatic evangelicals, and also between what had become ‘mainstream’ Methodists and evangelicals.75 Such tensions were to an extent, however, a symptom of the success of this emphasis on breadth and unity. The tensions surfaced because people were together at the event, which was itself an expression of unity. It provided an opportunity for tensions to be explored and perhaps even resolved in the context of developing relationships, enabling people to grow to know, understand and appreciate one another through worshipping and working together.
In addition to unity across the breadth of Methodism, there was a further emphasis on ecumenical cooperation. Frost held that welcoming those from other denominations to Easter People would be enriching for all concerned and hoped that such a vibrant gathering of Methodists would counter the perception across other denominations of Methodism’s declining vitality.76
The emphasis on renewal was further supported by a particular focus on encouraging both ordained ministry and lay leadership. Frost wrote of wanting ‘to honour the ministers, and allow Easter People to be a time where their ministry is recognised, supported, and encouraged to develop’,77 believing that offering care and
74 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Speakers, (1988). 75 RFSG, Notes of the Rob Frost Support Group, (14 June 1995). 76 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988). 77 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Leadership Team, (1988). 107 support to ordained minsters who were participating in the event was another way the event ‘could have long term effects in the local church’.78 Yet there was also a clear aim to enable lay people in leadership, evident from the proportions of people on the leadership teams who were lay, with some leadership roles the explicit preserve of lay people.79
In his commitment to encouraging and enabling the ministry of others, Frost was resistant to expending a large proportion of resources attracting visiting professional artists to Easter People, at least in the early years. Rather, he sought to identify and use the talents of those who came to the event from within Methodism.80 Referring to the large evening celebrations, he wrote, ‘the more participation there is … the more we will be practising what we preach!’81 He was, however, criticised in later years for drifting towards a greater degree of ‘professionalism’, featuring well-known Christian speakers and performers, and thus limiting the participation of those who did not already have a high profile within Methodism or the wider church.82 Those who did participate, he encouraged to take the opportunity to develop new resources which could then be used to enrich the ministry of local churches, and he hoped that those committed to various forms of ministry within the local church might be inspired by what they saw and experienced at the event.83 Easter People thus offered to many Methodists, lay and ordained alike, an opportunity to participate in ministry in the context of large, inspirational gatherings, often very different from the contexts of their usual service within Methodism, proving formative for many and instrumental in encouraging a
78 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Ministerial Leaders, (1988). 79 The list of members of the leadership team of Easter People 1989, for example, shows that twenty- seven out of the thirty-nine leaders were lay people. RFSG, Easter People Executive, (1988). See also RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Pastors, (1988), which specifically states that the discussions groups were to be led by lay people. 80 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Fringe Activities, (1988). 81 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Evening Celebrations, (1988). 82 Martin Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 83 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Children’s Work, (1988). 108 number who were becoming disillusioned with denominational life to remain within the
MCB.84
A central aspect of promoting renewal within the church, for Frost, was his emphasis on encouraging the leadership of younger people. Proposing the future shape of the leadership team of Easter People as the decision was taken to continue beyond the first year, Frost argued that at least a third of the leaders should be ‘training for the ministry, in probationary ministry, or under thirty years of age’.85 It would continue to be a focus, particularly evidenced in his launching of Destiny, which offered a leadership role in Easter People for eighty young Christians between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, preceded by four training weekends, and enabled three young, emerging preachers to speak alongside the speakers leading the main Bible teaching at each of the three venues in 2004.86
Alongside the central focus on renewal, Frost’s ever present concern for evangelism was not neglected. Originally held in holiday camps, a move to seaside town centres in 1990 enabled an additional emphasis on evangelism amongst local residents and holiday makers.87 There was also a wider emphasis on other aspects of mission. Frost was known to galvanise Easter People attendees to participate in social caring through providing practical help to meet immediate needs, particularly when international tragedy filled the news. This occurred most notably when fourteen tons of aid supplies were donated through collections in response to Frost’s appeal at Easter
People 1999 and were subsequently transported to Southern Albania to support
Kosovan refugees, displaced as a result of the Kosovo War.88 There were also attempts to contribute to the political struggle for justice through Easter People, with regular
84 See, for example, Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 40-41. 85 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Leadership Team, (1988). 86 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (July 2003). 87 RFSG, Easter People 1990 Publicity Leaflet, (1989). 88 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 121. 109 events in the programme which addressed contemporary issues and, over the years, a number of Christian parliamentarians featured amongst the speakers.
Easter People ran for twenty years, with the final event held in 2007. Frost had taken the decision in the early years of the new millennium that the twentieth Easter
People should be the last, and persisted with the decision despite the fact that many of the leaders of the event disagreed. The event itself was still very popular, attracting over ten thousand people each year, but Frost had recognised the aging demographic of attenders, realising it was no longer attracting as many young people as it once had, and he saw the voluntary laying down of a successful project as a prophetic act, demonstrating to the wider church that it can be right to bring to an end projects which are no longer most effectively meeting a need. Such laying down would release resources and make way for new projects to emerge which are better fitted to the present age.89 The final gathering was held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in 2007, celebrating the history and legacy of the event. Unbeknown to anyone at the time, Frost would die later that year and so would not have lived to see a twenty-first event.
Pentecost Festival
Easter People was succeeded by a new event, Pentecost Festival, Frost’s final initiative. Designed to be more relevant in the context of wider cultural developments, this new festival sought to unite Christians of all denominations in a creative display of the church’s life and unity, bringing the church together across denominations and organisations to leave their buildings and go out onto the streets of London in celebration of the gospel.
89 SJI, Easter People Leadership Team Meeting Papers, (26 May 2005). 110
Frost described the vision behind the festival in Pentecost: The Church has left the Building, published posthumously.90 He envisaged a new style of evangelistic event that was characterised not by ‘“evangelism”, with preachers shouting condemnation down loudspeaker horns’, but by a party atmosphere of joyful celebration as ‘all the
Christians in all the towns came together, just once, just for a day … and took to the streets to celebrate their God’.91
Describing the initial stages of turning vision into reality – and not knowing what would lie ahead – he commented, ‘Since all this happened I’ve had a scary tryst with cancer which took my eye off the project for months.’92 In the end, that tryst with cancer meant that he would not see the vision he launched reach fulfilment in the first
Pentecost Festival the following year, under the leadership of his son, Andy Frost.
Inspirational Role Model
A further aspect of Frost’s work in promoting church renewal worthy of consideration is his role as an inspirational role model within the MCB. He circulated a prayer letter three times a year; one report of the distribution figures suggested that these were received by eighteen and a half thousand people, which may not have been the peak of the mailing list.93 These letters were inspirational in their tone, regularly containing testimonies of people exploring and coming to faith, and of large numbers participating in events. He enthusiastically described new ventures, with opportunities for readers to participate. Thousands upon thousands of Methodists were therefore regularly receiving these prayer letters and reading of the example of his inspirational evangelistic ministry. Frost’s enthusiastic commitment to evangelism shines through the letters. It may well be that this was itself a catalyst for renewal within Methodism,
90 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, pp. 9-17. 91 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 14. 92 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 16. 93 RFSG, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (1 November 1995). 111 inspiring readers in their own evangelistic activities. The prayer letters presented him as an effective and influential role model for evangelism and for the dynamic, daily reality of living faith.
Mentoring Leaders
Also central to Frost’s determination to promote renewal was his commitment to mentoring leaders. From the earliest days of his national ministry when he worked in conjunction with the Methodist Association of Youth Clubs, there emerged a particular commitment to developing the leadership of younger people which would remain throughout his ministry.94 He wrote, for example, in 1996: ‘If we could only see it: God is giving the church an abundant new supply of dynamic young Christians who need to be valued, empowered, and released into Christian service’.95 Such leadership development was an intrinsic aspect of the leadership structures of Share Jesus Missions and Easter People, which were designed to enable the identification of people with potential for leadership and to offer them opportunities to lead aspects of the work with appropriate guidance and support, gradually being entrusted with greater responsibilities.
It was a commitment, however, which would come to the fore at two particular points in Frost’s ministry: in the approach to the new millennium as his work took on an additional global emphasis with his appointment as the European Director of the ILI, 96 and later as, looking ahead to the anticipated final stage of his ministry before retirement, he sought to ‘pass on the baton’ to the rising generation.
94 Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 17. 95 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (September 1996). 96 iliteam.org [accessed 24 July 2018]. 112
The International Leadership Institute
Frost assisted in the development and expansion of ILI, which originated under the oversight of Wes Griffin, a United MCB minister in the USA and, in 1998, was appointed as its first European Director.97 Having contributed to the development of the institute’s curriculum, he is particularly recognised within the institute as having developed the ‘mobilisation’ section of the course, teaching leaders how to mobilise others in mission and ministry.98 In this role, he was able to train and mentor hundreds of Christian leaders and potential leaders throughout the world. He also developed
Christian leadership conferences in Hungary, Romania, Estonia and the Czech
Republic. The model of the training programme enabled native leaders, having attended a centrally organised conference, to use the free resources developed by a global team of Christians in senior leadership positions, to deliver the training themselves within their own churches and networks.99 Additionally, Frost worked discretely in other countries, delivering the ILI syllabus to leaders within persecuted churches,100 and further supported Christians suffering persecution in a subsequent appointment as
President of Release International.101
Within ILI, Frost encouraged and supported the development of History Makers, leadership training based on the ILI syllabus, tailored towards younger leaders. He appointed and oversaw a project manager who developed the curriculum and organised conferences in the UK, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Kenya, Sudan, Zambia, Central
Europe, Romania, Ghana, and Paraguay.102
97 Wes Griffin, ‘Rob as a Leader’, in Andy Frost (ed.), Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), p. 4. 98 Griffin, ‘Rob as a Leader’, p. 9. 99 SJI, International Leadership Institute, (2006). 100 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposals 2007 – 2015, (2006). 101 www.releaseinternational.org (accessed 24 July 2018); Frost, Freedom Fighters, p. xvi. See also The Times, ‘Obituary: The Rev Rob Frost’, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-rev-robert-frost-lqdzbwglctx (accessed 27 March 2018). 102 SJI, History Makers, (2006) and SJI, History Makers, (2007). 113
Passing on the Baton
Following the turn of the millennium, Frost increasingly sought to ‘pass on the baton’ to the next generation. This he did by organising an increasing number of events which aimed to train and equip younger people in ministry and leadership, including two evangelistic preaching conferences for young preachers, organised jointly with
Youth for Christ and the Anglican organisation, Springboard, and a training conference in discipleship for those in their teens and twenties, Walk on Water.
He also appointed younger leaders within his own organisation, increasingly entrusting responsibility to them, whilst continuing to support them as they grew in experience.103 Frost’s son, Andy Frost, was appointed to the staff of SJI.104 With a number of his peers, and with his father’s encouragement and support, Andy Frost began to redesign the existing mission programme with a new format of carnival missions.105 He also developed new programmes which would become annual events: annual beach missions known as Dawn Patrol, and skiing missions called Peak Patrol, as well as a national tour aimed at a younger audience, Re-Solution, themed around extreme sports, and an annual multi-media new year event, Eternal Echo.106 In 2006,
Andy Frost launched Thirst for Life, a national campaign through a chain of cinemas, aimed at confronting the widespread culture of binge drinking through challenging people from all backgrounds to give up alcohol for Lent.107
103 See Emma Morrice, ‘Rob as a Pioneering Visionary’, in Andy Frost, Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), p. 47. 104 Rob Frost, Prayer Letter, (January 2004). 105 See, for example, SJI, Carnival Leeds, publicity leaflet (2004). 106 See, for example, SJI, Dawn Patrol 2003: Pushing the boundaries of innovative mission, publicity leaflet (2003). 107 Morrice, ‘Rob as a Pioneering Visionary’, p. 47. 114
Transitional Phases and Missiological Principles
Frost faced four transitional phases in his ministry. Each of these provided an opportunity for him to reflect upon and articulate his own missiological principles in consultation with his steering group and, latterly, the board of SJI. The first has been considered above: sensing a tension between the local pastoral responsibilities of circuit ministry and his vocation to wider evangelistic work, Frost sought to make a case for reinstating the role of Connexional Evangelist within the MCB. In this paper he outlined the strategy which would consistently shape his ministry when he was himself appointed to the role, as observed above. From this strategy emerges a clear vocation to the ministry of an evangelist, a visionary and entrepreneurial approach to evangelism, a commitment to undertaking evangelism through, and providing resources for, local churches, a desire to use the creative arts in evangelism, and mobilising Christians for evangelism, equipping them for the task, primarily learning through experience. It is also worth noting, though not explicit in the strategy paper, a recognition of the value of large-scale projects in evangelism: bringing large numbers of Christians together in enthusiastic experiences of mission and local churches together in large, inspirational evangelistic events. As Frost embarked on national evangelistic ministry, there soon developed, alongside his commitment to evangelism, an equal commitment to promoting renewal, believing the two to be intrinsically linked.
The second transitional phase was brought about as the result of significant restructuring at national level within the MCB. Frost originally served within the
Division of Home Mission when appointed to a national evangelistic role, initially in partnership with the Methodist Association of Youth Clubs when serving in a part-time capacity, and then solely within the Division of Home Mission when appointed as full- time Connexional Evangelist. As preparations were made for the discontinuance of the divisional structure in 1995, the place of Frost’s ministry within the denomination was
115 brought into question. The ensuing discussions and proposals proved to be somewhat chaotic, until it was finally decided that Frost’s work would be placed within the Church and Society Unit.108
There emerge from the records of these conversations two key principles which were identified as being particularly distinctive of Frost’s ministry. The first was his visionary and entrepreneurial approach to evangelism which was, it was suggested, the cause of the difficulties in discerning the place of his ministry within the new denominational structures. A memorandum of discussions at the time records, ‘his visionary gifts were very difficult to structure, but … it was important for Methodism to own and support all that he was about’. 109 The second prominent characteristic of
Frost’s ministry to be identified was his commitment to fulfil a national evangelistic ministry primarily through local churches, with one document reviewing Frost’s ministry to date stating, ‘each project has a direct interface with the local church and is a response to felt needs in the local situation’.110
The third transitional phase came only a few years later, when a cost-cutting initiative led to the announcement that the post of Connexional Evangelist would be made redundant. It was agreed that Frost would be granted permission to serve as a
Methodist minister in an appointment outside the control of the MCB, as Director of
SJI. In the conversations about Frost’s ministry during this time, his gifts as an entrepreneurial evangelist were again identified as one of the most distinctive features of his ministry.111 It was this that was again identified as the reason for the difficulties in determining how Frost’s ministry should fit within the institutional structures of the church and the resulting decision that he should be freed from such constraints, though
108 See, for example, RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (June 14 1994); RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994); and Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 109 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (March 7 1994). 110 RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996). 111 RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 116 with the provision of fewer resources. His commitment to mobilising others in the ministry of evangelism was identified as an important element of his visionary and entrepreneurial approach: ‘Rob functions as an entrepreneur in mission, dreaming new dreams and developing new concepts. Most of his work is advanced by involving others in the ministry and by empowering them to participate in front-line creative forms of mission’.112 Three overarching aims for all of his work were listed:
All the work is designed to fulfil three aims: To proclaim Christ and to seek personal response; To empower Christians for mission and to equip them for the task; To renew the church and to develop young leaders.113
Thus, at this key moment of transition, Frost still had a clear sense of vocation to the ministry of an evangelist and had an equally clear understanding of what it is that constitutes evangelism: proclaiming Christ and seeking personal response. His evangelistic ministry was further characterised by the intention of empowering and equipping other Christians to join in the task, and there was an important church- focussed element of promoting renewal and developing young leaders.
This transition out of the institutional structures of the MCB also brought about a change in the nomenclature by which Frost’s ministry was identified. Those who had worked alongside Frost had formerly been known simply as The Rob Frost Team.
During consultation within the MCB, concern had been expressed over the close association of the work with Frost’s own name. 114 Frost himself had expressed discomfort at the work being so closely associated with his name, though he did at times argue for retaining this as a way of resisting a tightening of central committee control and recognising that those who gave prayerful and financial support to the ministry did so because they identified personally with him. He willingly agreed to adopt the name
112 RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 113 RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 114 See, for example, Kathleen Richardson, Letter to David Deeks, (1998). 117 of SJI when the new charitable company was formed. The central focus of Frost’s ministry was clear: nothing less than and nothing more than sharing Jesus.
The adoption of a new name also added an explicit emphasis on the intended global nature of Frost’s ministry. The new trustees explained that they envisaged the work would be undertaken within ‘a number of concentric circles with the Raynes Park office at the centre’, expanding out through London, the UK and, finally, ‘the whole world’.115
This transition to a ministry outside the control of the MCB also brought a new ecumenical nature to Frost’s work. Whilst committed to remaining a Methodist minister and continuing to serve the MCB, he also used the opportunity to pioneer a new format of evangelistic work marked by ecumenical cooperation. A new board was created to oversee the work, formed by representatives of major protestant denominations and parachurch organisations.116 The statement of faith of Churches
Together in England was adopted as the mission statement for SJI as it was considered to be ‘broad enough that it would enable us to work in the diversity of churches and constituencies represented by the board’,117 and the commitment was made that all subsequent projects ‘shall be fully interdenominational and in full relationship with the bodies represented on the board’.118
Frost went to significant lengths in his attempts to cement the relationships between the various representatives of the new board, demonstrating his commitment to
115 SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 116 The Nominating Boards were: MCB, Baptist Union, Youth for Christ, Icthus Christian Fellowship, Deo Gloria, CofE Board of Mission, Premier Radio, Scripture Union, New Creations, Elim Pentecostal Church, Churches Department for Care Trust, Black Church Network, Salvation Army, Evangelical Alliance, Churches Together in England, Assemblies of God. SJI, Memorandum and Articles of Association of Share Jesus, (2001). 117 SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 118 The Rob Frost Support Group, New Board of the Rob Frost Team, (16 February 2000). See, for example, the project papers for Pentecost Festival and the Hope for Planet Earth tour for ways in which this commitment was outworked in practice. 118 ecumenical unity and cooperation. He hosted, for example, a residential meeting of the new board in July 2001 and, under a section in the agenda entitled, ‘Partners or
Competitors’ set out questions for discussion, including,
Why as organisations are we so protective of our territory? … How as mission agencies and denominations can we begin to view ourselves as fellow-travellers on the same journey? … Are there specific ways in which we can do things together rather than competitively?119
His covering letter to the agenda demonstrated both his commitment to and his recognition of the difficulties of the task he had set himself, stating,
Some of it may seem rather radical – or even risky! … Can I ask you to come with an open heart and spirit? I believe that God will do great things among us during our time together!120
The fourth and final period of transition in Frost’s ministry, though anticipated, did not in the end occur, as it coincided with his death. He had been appointed as
Director of SJI in 2001 for an initial period until 2007. As that year began to appear on the horizon, not knowing that a diagnosis of cancer would lead to his untimely death,
Frost began to look towards the future with his trustees to consider the shape his ministry would take from that point until 2015, the anticipated year of his retirement.
Documents from the time reveal that, as he reflected on his previous ministry, he recognised that his increasing age and corresponding decreasing levels of energy resulted in him finding less fulfilment in some of the most characteristic aspects of his ministry to date. He wrote of no longer enjoying managing a large office team, running
Easter People with its administrative and financial burdens, organising large scale musical theatre productions, leading missions involving hundreds of people, hosting youth events, and the heavy weight of administration the pattern of his ministry had necessitated. As well as realising he no longer had the same reserves of energy, he
119 SJI, Agenda: Share Jesus International Residential Board Meeting, (10 July 2001). 120 Rob Frost, Letter to Board Members, (29 June 2001). 119 stated, he was also conscious of an increasing cultural gap between the younger generations and his own.
There is, however, no loss of vision within the papers. Looking to the future, he committed to three key areas of ministry: firstly, ‘to work toward the development of evangelistic projects which will bring men and women to faith in Jesus Christ’; secondly, ‘to work toward the renewal of the church and the development of different
“shapes of church” through lecture, conference, writing and events’; and thirdly, ‘to have a special concern for … the mentoring of young leaders’. His characteristic entrepreneurial approach to evangelism is still in evidence. Though it would turn out to be the year before his death, it was also noted that, even at this stage of his ministry, he was ‘pursuing three new visions’ relating to church renewal.121
The new strategy he outlined for his future work suggested a desire to focus his energy on aspects of mission about which he now felt most passionate: continuing work in the media, though seeking to branch out from Christian platforms into secular ones; lecturing and teaching through the development of a missiological conference centre; creating drama productions which would be staged locally and then made available as resources to the wider church, though not now preceded by national tours of professional casts; developing a local base for his preaching ministry, whilst continuing to accept some wider invitations; retreating for longer periods of time to his home in
Devon to focus on writing novels, meditations, Bible studies and theological books, where he would also support his wife, Jacqui, in developing a Centre for Art and
Christian Spirituality; continuing to teach on leadership through the International
Leadership Institute with a limited amount of international travel in this regard. Central to his plans for this period was to be the appointment of a successor who would initially work alongside him and then take over on his retirement.
121 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015, (2006). 120
Thus, from these transitional phases emerge a number of missiological principles to which Frost was committed in his evangelistic practice throughout his ministry. He had a clear sense of vocation to the ministry of an evangelist and an equally clear understanding of what constitutes evangelism: proclaiming Christ – sharing Jesus – and seeking personal response. He adopted a visionary, entrepreneurial approach to evangelism which was difficult to accommodate within the institutional structures of the MCB. He was committed to undertaking evangelism primarily through local churches. Central to his vocation as an evangelist was the mobilising of Christians in evangelism, offering training primarily through participation, and the development of leaders, particularly younger leaders. He sought to use the creative arts in evangelism.
There was an emphasis on large-scale events. He was committed to promoting renewal as intrinsically linked to his ministry of evangelism, and he adopted a pioneering ecumenical approach, seeking to foster Christian unity and partnership in evangelism.
As he anticipated the future shape of his ministry, which in the end he would not live to see, many of these elements continued to be central to his vision. The core commitments to entrepreneurial evangelism and the use of the creative arts, promoting renewal, and the mentoring of young leaders remained central. However, he envisaged that the practical outworking of these commitments would be subject to change, owing to his increasing age and decreasing energy levels. In these later years, there was also a discernible awareness of a growing generational gap and the introduction of an emphasis on Christian spirituality. The significance of these two emerging elements will be considered in the following chapter which turns to consider the missiological principles which arise from Frost’s published work.
121
5. Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People
and Rediscovering Pentecost:
The Missiology of Rob Frost
Whilst Rob Frost was primarily a practitioner, there was nevertheless a carefully considered, if often pragmatic, missiology which undergirded and guided his evangelistic ministry, and which clearly developed over the years from the first missions he ran to his later initiatives. Having considered his practice of evangelism, this chapter turns to his published work in order to trace that missiological development and to consider its causes, particularly with reference to a principle which Frost himself developed, not least through his published writing: evangelism in the vernacular of the people.
A Pleasing Symmetry
A review of Frost's published work reveals a pleasing symmetry. In 1979, the book Methods of Mission was published, to which Frost had contributed a chapter entitled, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’.1 In this chapter, he develops the concept of evangelism ‘in the vernacular of the people’, concluding with a reflection on the theme of Pentecost. In the year following his death, Pentecost: The Church has Left the
Building, was published. This also contains a chapter contributed by Frost, entitled
‘Sleepless Nights’.2 In it, Frost explores the concept which would become Pentecost
Festival – an innovative and inspirational form of outreach that would enable the church to come together and take the life of the gospel out of the buildings and onto the streets in celebration. Thus Frost returned to the theme of Pentecost at the end of his
1 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, pp. 26-33. 2 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, pp. 9-17. 122 publishing career. It is clear, however, that the methods of this latter evangelistic event were very different from the models he first developed in his 1979 chapter.
Frost developed the concept of mission in the vernacular of the people through his early piece, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’. Published in 1979, Frost's task in the chapter was to present methods for effective and relevant communication of the Gospel within the culture of the late 1970s. He reflects on how to communicate, how to get an audience, how to make people want to listen. He explains that every evangelist needs what Sir Charles Curran, a former television chief, described for his own industry as ‘an ability to convince the audience of their own wish to expose themselves to what we want to say’.3
Frost describes the time in which he was writing as the days of ‘pop culture’.
Things had moved on, he suggests, since the days when the most effective forms of evangelism seemed to be gospel rallies, travelling preachers and evangelistic tracts, arguing that, to be effective within pop culture, evangelists must use modern media:
‘The language of film, music, drama and dance is the vernacular of the new generation, and we must learn to speak it.’4 The use of such media creates a platform, draws an audience and complements the preaching of the gospel.
Suggesting that the church has not always kept up with society in this regard,
Frost makes five proposals as to how the gospel can be communicated in the contemporary vernacular. Street theatre, modern evangelistic films (often with
‘superstar’ names, such as Billy Graham or Cliff Richard) and the use of contemporary music all have the capacity, he suggests, to draw crowds, promote open-mindedness in the audience and communicate effectively the message of the gospel. He also writes of his own 1975 Gospel Roadshow tour, encouraging churches to draw together groups of
3 Charles Curran, quoted in Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 26. 4 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 26. 123
‘Christians talented in music, drama, dance and comedy ...’ in order to stage similar productions and, finally, describes the opportunities presented to local churches and individual Christians to communicate the gospel through engaging with hospital radio and promoting news stories in local newspapers and on television.5
Having considered various methods for mission, Frost is clear that ultimately,
‘only the Holy Spirit produces lasting results’.6 Thus his conclusion leads him towards the theme of Pentecost, the gift of the Spirit, suggesting that perhaps the Spirit was given to the church precisely to enable disciples to speak of the gospel in the vernacular of the people, in language that everyone, regardless of where they were from, would understand.7 After all, the crowd that gathered when the gift was given were ‘amazed and astonished’ and asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?’ (Acts 2:7). Frost therefore calls for ‘the start of another Pentecost’ within the church.8
Frost’s Theology of Evangelism
Over the years, Frost developed his theology of evangelism in subsequent publications. Two further themes emerge from this initial chapter which would continue to be characteristic of much of his later published work. The first is his advocacy for the use of the creative arts in evangelism, not to replace, but to complement the preaching of the gospel.9 The other theme which would become a characteristic is, as already noted, reliance upon the work of the Holy Spirit.10
Frost’s concern for the use of creative arts in evangelism is also reflected in the chapter he contributed with Steve Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’ to For such a time
5 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 31. 6 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 32. 7 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 32. 8 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, pp. 32-33. 9 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, pp. 26, 30. 10 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, p. 33. 124 as this: Perspectives on evangelicalism, past, present and future.11 In his section of the chapter, entitled ‘Drama in outreach: speaking the gospel in the vernacular today’, Frost contrasts the dramatic presentation of the gospel made possible by the use of the creative arts with the often unintelligible and soporific preaching he witnessed in many churches.12 Again he proposes dramatic presentations as complementary to, rather than a replacement of, evangelistic preaching.13 Defending the place of creative arts in presenting the gospel message, he traces the history of the use of drama in church liturgy from the tenth century and refers particularly to the dramatic techniques used in preaching by George Whitfield and John Wesley in the early Methodist revival.14
Arguing that drama ‘can be one of the most powerful and effective means of communication’ available to Christians, 15 he challenges churches to invest greater resources in, and improve the standard of, drama in worship in the ‘televisual age’ in which it is much more difficult to hold the attention of the audience than in previous centuries.16
Frost presented a systematic treatment of his approach to evangelism in Sharing
Jesus in a New Millennium, proposing a model which is at once Trinitarian, relational and church-based. The Trinitarian formula holds that evangelism should be Jesus- centred in its message: ‘the yardstick for true Christian evangelism is simply this: Are we telling others about our Saviour? Are we really sharing Jesus?’17 It should be
Spirit-anointed in its methods, for evangelism is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit, impossible without his empowering.18 It should be God-focussed in its motivation, for
11 Rob Frost and Steve Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’ in S. Brady and H. Rowdon (eds), For such a time as this: Perspectives on evangelicalism, past, present and future, (Milton Keynes: Scripture Union, 1996), pp. 216-228 12 Frost and Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’, pp. 223-224. 13 Frost and Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’, p. 227. 14 Frost and Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’, pp. 222-226 15 Frost and Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’, p. 225. 16 Frost and Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’, pp 226-227. 17 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 10. 18 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 20-32. 125 to undertake evangelism is to enter into partnership with God, who is already at work within the world, drawing people to himself.19
From this Trinitarian formula, important emphases emerge on the timeless relevance of the message of Jesus which evangelists must demonstrate within the culture of the day, as well as on the uniqueness of Jesus which Frost recognised was under threat within contemporary British society and which he sought to defend.
Secondly, there was a central emphasis on the importance of prayer, without which
‘evangelism is a waste of time. This is God’s work and it would be presumptuous and futile to imagine we can do it without him’.20 The latter conviction expressed in the quotation reveals also an emphasis upon the missio Dei: Frost affirmed that mission is ultimately God’s work and he calls Christians to participate in that work with him.
Evangelists must therefore continually seek to discern the ways in which God is at work in the world and how best to join in.
In addition to the Trinitarian framework, Frost emphasised that the most effective evangelism is relational, ‘person-to-person’, friendship evangelism.21 To assist Christians in sharing their faith with their friends, Frost offers a structure for communicating the gospel message which demonstrates that central to his own theology is the framework of belief in God creating a perfect world which has subsequently fallen, the separation of human beings from God by sin, their redemption through Jesus
Christ’s death on the cross, and their call to grow in relationship with him.22
The final emphasis in Frost’s systematic presentation of his approach to evangelistic ministry is on the importance of evangelism being church-based, for ‘the local church is the God-ordained unit for mission’.23 His own understanding of this
19 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 33-43. 20 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 32 21 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 44-57. 22 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 51-57. 23 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 76-77. 126 developed through the years following the early beach missions he led, and he came to understand the importance of evangelism being rooted in the local church. He therefore calls local churches to put evangelism at the top of their agendas as their essential activity, to begin planning for growth rather than anticipating decline, and to move from the mind-set of maintenance to that of mission.24 Set within the context of the local church, evangelism becomes team work, and a natural link develops between the daily witness of Christians, the corporate outreach of the church, and the work of nurture in discipleship.25
The principles Frost outlines to guide churches in their engagement with evangelism reveal important insights into his own approach to ministry. Evangelism, he argues, should be ‘incarnational’, rooted in the church’s regular engagement within its local community. Churches should consider, in their evangelistic activities, how to
‘reach the unreached’ people currently beyond the fringes of any church community.
Evangelism should be ‘culturally relevant’, using language which is understandable and appealing, and ‘spiritual’, engaging with the widespread interest in spirituality within contemporary culture. Frost argues for the importance of preaching in evangelism which he observes is often neglected within the church. He calls, finally, for evangelism which relates to gender, taking seriously the differences between men and women, and which is sensitive to personality, recognising that different forms of outreach will appeal to different personality types.26 The book is intended to be a practical manual and, in presenting his model of, and principles for, evangelism, Frost offers a number of resources to assist churches in their evangelistic planning and activity.
24 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 61. 25 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 77. 26 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 61-75. 127
In addition to encouraging greater engagement in evangelistic ministry at the level of the local church, Frost also highlights challenges faced by the wider Church in evangelism. He explores the need for concerted effort to reach unreached people groups which are currently beyond the influence of any Christian community, and the necessity of the task of apologetics in making the intellectual case for faith within an increasingly sceptical society. Acknowledging the growth of non-Christian religions in the UK, he calls Christians to engage in dialogue with people of other faiths through building open, genuine relationships. He warns that ‘some Christians are so committed to welcoming and affirming these other faith communities, they practically suspend the call to share
Jesus Christ with them’.27 Instead, he argues, in building such relationships ‘we must take every opportunity to say what we believe and why we believe it. Personal testimony in such situations is important’.28 He identifies a pervasive interest in New
Age spirituality within society, creating both hindrances to, and opportunities for evangelism, which it is incumbent upon the church to address. Finally he calls for
‘community-based evangelism’ through engaging in community development, ‘a way not of providing things for people but of working with them so that they can help themselves’,29 arguing that this is ‘one of the most effective ways of reaching a whole community’ with the message of the gospel.30
It will become clear that there are other characteristic emphases of Frost’s approach to evangelism, and more generally to the Christian life, which emerge from other publications. Two of these can be found in Sharing Jesus: emphases on spiritual warfare and the cost of discipleship. Although each reference is only brief, the theme of spiritual warfare appears in publications which span the years of his ministry, from
Breaking Bread (1988) to Destiny (2004) and include When I Can’t Pray (1995) in
27 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 113-114. 28 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 114. 29 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 117-118. 30 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 119. 128 addition to Sharing Jesus. In each, Frost depicts activities of Christian discipleship – evangelism, preaching, prayer – as being carried out within the context of spiritual warfare.31 Though only passing references, both their consistency and the brevity suggest that Frost sought to alert readers to the reality of this spiritual battle whilst also seeking to avoid being alarmist or extremist, perhaps hoping to avoid the excesses which were discernible within some developments across the wider Christian church.
In Sharing Jesus, spiritual warfare is linked to reliance on the Holy Spirit through prayer: ‘Evangelism is essentially a spiritual task: this is why we need others to pray for us so that we will be protected and empowered for the task’.32
The second emphasis, on the cost of discipleship in faithful evangelism, concludes Frost’s call for the wider church to develop a strategy for evangelism.
Reflecting on the exponential growth of Christianity worldwide, he observes, ‘Sadly, many Christians in the West have seemingly lost their confidence in the gospel’, and so choose comfort over the cost of faithfulness. He therefore calls for evangelists who are willing to accept the ‘cup of suffering’, the ‘towel of service’, and ‘yoke of obedience’.33 It is a challenge that becomes intensely personal, also characteristic of
Frost’s writing, as he challenges each individual to be faithful in evangelistic ministry:
‘The big question is, will you be a part of this strategy? Will you share in the greatest work we can ever do on earth – leading others to the Saviour, Jesus Christ?’34
Frost’s emphasis on the importance of apologetics in contemporary evangelism is reflected in the earlier, Thinking Clearly About God and Science, which he co-
31 Rob Frost, Breaking Bread: Worship and Renewal in your church, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1988), p. 74; Rob Frost, When I Can’t Pray, p. 177; Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 110; Rob Frost, Ronald Frost, Andy Frost and Chris Frost, Destiny: A Journey Across the Generations, (Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2004), p. 102. 32 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 110. 33 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 119-122. 34 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 122. 129 authored with the Methodist minister, astrophysicist and theologian, David Wilkinson.35
Considering in his contributions questions of creation, the purpose of life, evidence of grand design, the phenomena of transcendental life experiences, the unique place of human beings, and the human quest for the transcendent, Frost argues that, though science can neither prove nor disprove God, the questions raised by science can lead to faith in God.36 Such faith, he contends, is able to inform the many ‘grey areas’ of the ethical debates surrounding scientific endeavour, and he calls upon Christians to bring their perspective to these ‘delicate issues’ of research.37 He advocates ‘developing a
Christian mind’ guided by biblical principles, the teaching of Jesus Christ and the promptings of conscience directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit, applying the insights to ethical scientific debate.38 Ever the evangelist, he concludes with a challenge:
‘Perhaps the time has come for you, the reader, to test the experiment of faith for yourself and to discover that you can, indeed, be a scientist and a Christian’.39
That Frost was firmly committed to the place of preaching in evangelistic ministry is evident not only from Sharing Jesus, but also from the chapter, ‘The
Preacher as Communicator’, he later contributed to Pulpit Journeys.40 Introduced as ‘a storytelling preacher with an unwavering and enthusiastic commitment to evangelistic preaching’, Frost presents ‘a challenge to recover confidence in the act of preaching and the art of oratory, and in Jesus Christ as the subject, object and inspiration of our preaching’.41 Arguing that a secular version of ‘preaching’ is making a comeback, evinced in the popularity of motivational business speakers and stand-up comedians, he
35 Rob Frost and David Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly About God and Science, (Crowborough: Monarch, 1996). 36 Frost and Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly, p. 18. 37 Frost and Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly, p. 87. 38 Frost and Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly, p. 99-101. 39 Frost and Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly, p. 209. 40 Rob Frost, ‘The Preacher as Communicator’ in Geoffrey Stevenson (ed.), Pulpit Journeys, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2006), pp. 111-121. 41 Frost, ‘The Preacher’, p. 111. 130 pleads for a recovery of preaching within the church. Though often dismissed as irrelevant and outdated, Frost argues it is ‘the greatest means of communication God ever gave the church’.42 There is, he contends, a pressing need for preachers who proclaim Jesus as the Son of God, the non-negotiable tenet of faith at the heart of
Christianity, in a culture in which his identity is under greater threat than it has been for many centuries.43 Frost defines good preaching as the ‘ability to talk easily about Jesus in ways that make others want to know him for themselves’,44 and argues strongly for the use of storytelling as the means through which preaching becomes captivating and engaging.45
Frost’s Theology of Renewal
As revealed in the previous chapter, Frost’s commitment to evangelism was intrinsically linked to a second defining characteristic of his ministry: a commitment to promoting renewal. This was also characteristic of his published work, from which three points of focus emerge: the renewal of worship, individual Christian renewal and the renewal of the church. It is clear that Frost saw these two preeminent themes of his ministry as intrinsically linked, believing that renewal in each of these areas would result in greater effectiveness in, and enthusiasm for, evangelism.
Worship Renewal
Though the first aspect of renewal, the renewal of worship, may have appeared only to a lesser extent within his published work, Frost did nevertheless devote an entire volume to the subject, Breaking Bread.46 Written to accompany a touring production of
42 Frost, ‘The Preacher’, p. 120. 43 Frost, ‘The Preacher’, p. 113. 44 Frost, ‘The Preacher’, p. 112. 45 Frost, ‘The Preacher’, p. 116. 46 Frost, Breaking Bread. 131 the same name, production and book together were designed to inspire and promote new initiatives in worship, at the heart of which lies broken bread and poured out wine.47
Frost explains, as noted in the previous chapter, that he became committed to promoting the renewal of worship during his Gospel Roadshow tour, throughout which young people repeatedly commented, ‘We’re really into Jesus, but worship is a bore’.48
Deeply troubled by such remarks, he was determined in his next production, Daybreak,
‘to produce something which would enable young people to celebrate their faith in contemporary style’.49 Large numbers of teenagers were able to participate and many afterwards said, ‘I’ve never been able to use my gifts for the Lord before’.50 Frost explained that, through such experiences, he discovered that ‘when young people participate, they learn’,51 and there grew within him a commitment to promoting the renewal of worship through the participative arts.52
Recognising that some Christians were critical of the use of creative arts, Frost outlines biblical and historical precedents and makes the case for the use of the creative arts in worship: ‘creative worship honours our Creator God’.53 Offering much practical advice and concluding each chapter with material for use in local church workshops, he calls for the blending of traditional and contemporary styles in worship and presents a vision of worship which arises both from the gifts and personalities of the people present, and from the strength of their unity despite differences of approach. Such
47 Resources from the production were published, following the initial tour, for local churches to draw upon in their own acts of worship: Frost and Field, Breaking Bread. 48 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 146. 49 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 146. 50 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 147. 51 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 148. 52 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 153. 53 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 155. 132 change, he argues, must be undergirded by prayer and can be brought about effectively only by ‘long-term investment in a local church or congregation’.54
Further insights emerge alongside Frost’s evident commitment to promoting the renewal of worship. First, Frost’s own theological commitments are revealed in his description of himself as a charismatic, even if a ‘reluctant charismatic’ who shares reservations about some of the more overt manifestations of charismatic renewal in worship.55 He explains he longs ‘to see charismatic worship given a rightful place in denominational church life’.56 This is linked to an emphasis on church unity, reflected not only in his encouragement to blend traditional and contemporary styles in worship and to strengthening church fellowship in the pursuit of renewal in worship, but also in his observations that, if the traditional denominations had been more flexible in their approaches to worship, charismatic Christians may not have left. He explains that he too had thought of leaving Methodism at times for the same reason, and also expresses the hurt caused by those who have left to those who have remained.57 He therefore presents a consideration of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit which aims to be irenic and to lead all Christians to pray for the Holy Spirit’s renewal of worship.58
Second, Frost again emphasises the central place of preaching, here not within evangelism but within worship. Recognising that preaching seems to have many detractors within the contemporary church, Frost calls for a rediscovery of confidence in preaching and for a recovery of its lost art.59 This may necessitate separating the role of preacher from that of worship leader,60 and will involve preachers learning to use engaging storytelling in their preaching.61 In his consideration of the role of preaching
54 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 125, 55 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 111. 56 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 140. 57 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 104. 58 Frost, Breaking Bread, pp. 105-115. 59 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 76. 60 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 74. 61 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 77. 133 in worship, there is a further allusion to the theme of spiritual warfare which emerges, as previously noted: ‘Preaching is sometimes like spiritual warfare and prayer support is a very great encouragement’.62
Christian Renewal
The second aspect of Frost’s commitment to promoting renewal to emerge from his writing is that of personal Christian renewal. Throughout his ministry, Frost sought to help individual Christians to seek the spiritual renewal of their own faith. It is an emphasis which is closely linked to his own experience of charismatic renewal and led him to devote a significant amount of his writing to various themes of discipleship.63
Frost wrote his first published consideration of discipleship, Break me, Shape me: Working out Commitment in the real world, from the perspective of an evangelist who, having led people to faith, asks the question, ‘What next?’64 Drawing on
Jeremiah’s image of the potter and the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, the book functions on three levels. First, it provides an introduction to discipleship for those new to
Christian faith. Second, it offers reflections for those seeking to nurture new disciples.
Third, it encourages all Christians to seek renewal in their own discipleship. Writing of his own experience of coming to the realisation that some areas of his life were not fully yielded to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and that he ‘had grown more in love with the work of Christ than with Christ himself’,65 Frost presents an understanding of Christian renewal which is found in the repeated offering of life to the Lord and in an ever deepening relationship with Jesus Christ.66 A familiar theme emerges from Frost’s
62 Frost, Breaking Bread, p. 74. 63 For an autobiographical description of Frost’s own experience of charismatic renewal, see Frost, Breaking Bread, pp. 111-113. 64 Rob Frost, Break me, Shape me: Working out Commitment in the real world, (London: Marshall Pickering, 1986), p. 7. 65 Frost, Break me, p. 89. 66 Frost, Break me, pp. 32-33, 68-69. 134 reflections upon discipleship, namely the cost of commitment to Christian faith.
Mourning how cheap Christian commitment can seem in the UK, references to the cost of discipleship pervade the book.67
Frost’s second book exploring themes connected to Christian renewal and discipleship was Pilgrims: Making a Pilgrimage on Your Own or in a Group, written to accompany the Pilgrims project with which he toured the country, leading pilgrimages for local churches. In it, he encourages readers to rediscover the value of pilgrimage and to undertake one, either as an individual or as part of a group, and explains that even the housebound can go on a ‘spiritual’ pilgrimage without leaving the confines of their homes.68 Three important themes emerge: the importance of prayer, the quest for authentic spirituality and the cost of discipleship. The value of pilgrimage, he explains, lies in its capacity to enable Christians to enter into deeper experiences of prayer and meditation in order then to ‘practice the presence of Christ’ continually throughout life.69 This aim reveals his quest for authentic spirituality, a concern to which he would return at the turn of the millennium, and here it is possible to discern an early interest in ancient Celtic practices as a means to enabling spiritual authenticity, which he would further develop later.70 The physical pilgrimage which Frost encourages people to make should include, he suggests, a piece of rough scrubland, an overgrown area or a path that is steep and difficult to walk, to illustrate the difficulties of life and provide opportunity to reflect upon the cost of discipleship.71
The importance of prayer is the central concern of When I Can’t Pray, in which
Frost considers the difficulties of the practice and provides twenty-eight daily reflections, offering much practical advice and encouragement from personal examples.
67 See, for example, Frost, Break me, pp. 73-74. 68 Frost, Pilgrims, pp. 9-10. 69 Frost, Pilgrims, pp. 12-15, 29. 70 Frost, Pilgrims, pp. 29-30. 71 Frost, Pilgrims, pp. 63-76. 135
Here, too, the quest for authentic spirituality emerges as Frost challenges the hypocrisy he perceives within the church which leaves many feeling guilty about the quality of their prayer lives. Similarly, he addresses the cost of discipleship realistically, writing about his own sense of failure in the Christian life. There are also emphases on spiritual renewal: ‘the Holy Spirit should be a never-ending stream welling up within each of us’,72 and on spiritual warfare: ‘the older I get, the more I am convinced that there is an active power of evil in the world’.73 As with all his writing, the subject is viewed from the perspective of an evangelist and here he highlights the connection between prayer and evangelism: ‘I am convinced that where there is faithful prayer the harvest follows’, adding, ‘much of the work of evangelism is done in prayer, and unless the ground is drenched with the prayers of the faithful it will remain hard and barren.’74
As well as promoting the role of prayer in deepening discipleship, Frost also sought to encourage Christians to grow through Bible study. Over the years, he published a number of such studies, for both individual and group use. The first three formed part of the Bible Society’s ‘Beginnings’ series designed particularly for use with groups of young teenagers.75 Many of his later volumes grew out of work connected with other projects. In Jesus in the Third Millennium: Advent Reflections on Jesus the
Son of God, he adapted material he had previously presented at Easter People exploring facets of Christ’s divinity.76 Here and Now: Living the Beatitudes in Today’s World accompanied the touring production of the same name.77 In A Journey Through Advent,
Frost follows ‘the journeys of some of the key Advent characters: Isaiah, John, Mary
72 Frost, When I Can’t Pray, p. 82. 73 Frost, When I Can’t Pray, p. 177. 74 Frost, When I Can’t Pray, p. 161. 75 Rob Frost, Beginnings: Conversation Starters, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1983); Rob Frost, Beginnings: Big Questions, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1983); Rob Frost, Beginnings: Go for Growth, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1986). 76 Rob Frost, Jesus in the Third Millennium: Advent Reflections on Jesus the Son of God, (Oxford: Bible Reading Fellowship, 2000). 77 Rob Frost, Here and Now: Living the Beatitudes in Today’s World, (Farnham: CWR, 2002). 136 and Jesus’.78 The Way of the Cross, a series of reflections on the central themes of the
Easter narratives,79 and The Prodigal Son: Amazing Grace, which looks afresh at the parable, exploring ‘the rich and complex subject of grace’ and ‘the depths of love in the
Father heart of God’,80 are also both themes which had previously been explored at
Easter People.
In promoting Christian renewal and growth in discipleship, Frost sought also to equip Christians to live out their discipleship within the world. This he did by writing about significant contemporary issues. In A New Start? – Hopes and Dreams for the new Millennium, which he co-authored with David Wilkinson, he looks ahead to issues
Christians were likely to face entering the new millennium.81 He seeks to help
Christians understand and respond to such issues in the light of the Christian faith, thus stimulating both thinking and action. Confronting the seemingly pervasive attitude of despair with a message of hope, he challenges Christians to be forward-looking and to shape the future with the power God has given.82 Again, themes of creativity and the quest for authentic spirituality come to the fore. He argues for the central place of the arts in public communication and calls upon Christian artists to assume the roles of prophet, dreamer, mystic, storyteller, evangelist and healer in order to shape wider culture.83 He reviews the growing hunger for authentic spirituality within society which, as explored below, was becoming a central aspect of his ministry, and calls for an experiential, rather than cerebral, evangelistic presentation of Christian faith which is
‘holistic’, ‘alternative’, ‘contemplative’, and ‘mentored’ and which is marked by a
78 Rob Frost, A Journey Through Advent, (Farnham: CWR, 2004), back cover. 79 Rob Frost, The Way of the Cross, (Farnham: CWR, 2005). 80 Rob Frost, The Prodigal Son: Amazing Grace, (Farnham: CWR, 2006), back cover. 81 Rob Frost, and David Wilkinson, A New Start? – Hopes and Dreams for the new Millennium, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1999). 82 Frost and Wilkinson, A New Start, pp. 15-17. 83 Frost and Wilkinson, A New Start, pp. 131-141. 137 return to the ancient roots of the faith, understood ultimately in terms of pilgrimage.84
In such a way, he predicts, revival will follow in the new millennium.85
Frost similarly calls upon Christians to be active in their discipleship in Freedom
Fighters: Defending Christian Freedoms in a Politically Correct Age.86 Here, as in
Doing the Right Thing: 10 issues on which Christians have to take a stand,87 published three years later, it is possible to discern a strong, and much more explicit, call to
Christians to engage in political matters, seeking to change society through democratic process as well as through social engagement. In the chapter he contributed to Freedom
Fighters, Frost examines Christian freedom in the UK from the perspective of an evangelist. He describes ‘the sea of political correctness’ in which Christian groups can easily find themselves excluded under the guise of religious tolerance.88 Explaining how the erosion of Christian freedom in the UK has curbed interfaith dialogue, chaplaincy, evangelism and Christian work within schools, he challenges Christians, who are now in the minority, to be salt and light in society by becoming more outspoken, challenging unbiblical and dangerous ideas and trends, and claiming the rights which are theirs. In doing so, he argues, Christians will also safeguard freedom for other religious minorities.89
Doing the Right Thing, published posthumously, grew out of The Frost Debate, a series of television programmes presented by Frost for GodTV.90 In the book, Frost writes passionately about ten ethical issues which had challenged his own Christian faith, and seeks to present similar challenges to his readers rather than presenting a
84 Frost and Wilkinson, A New Start, pp. 162-175. 85 Frost and Wilkinson, A New Start, pp. 175-176. 86 Frost, Freedom Fighters. 87 Rob Frost, Doing the Right Thing: 10 issues on which Christians have to take a stand, (Oxford: Monarch, 2008). 88 Rob Frost, ‘The Evangelist’, in Frost, Freedom Fighters, p. 5. 89 Frost, ‘The Evangelist’, p. 19. 90 www.god.tv (accessed 16 April 2018). 138
‘well-balanced “for and against” argument’.91 He calls for active discipleship which is distinctive from, but engaged compassionately in, the world around. He challenges
Christians to participate in contemporary debates, bringing a biblical worldview to bear, whilst safeguarding their own quest for personal holiness.92 Frost’s characteristic emphasis on the cost of discipleship emerges in his recognition that Christians must be prepared to pay the price for faithfulness within a ‘politically correct’ society.93 The call to engage in the structures of society is clearly sounded in his challenge to Christians to enter into the worlds of politics, business, health, law and defence, bringing their unique contribution and standing for biblical values.94 The note of authenticity is heard in his plea for Christians to ‘do the right thing’ in their own personal lives, living with integrity.95
Frost perhaps demonstrated a missional perspective to bringing biblical values to bear on contemporary issues in People at Work: Thinking about Social and Moral
Issues, offering a curriculum for group work within schools to help older students prepare for the wider world of work.96 Covering a range of relevant issues, it is striking that Frost makes no overt reference to faith; the subject matter is purely ethical.
However, the book might perhaps be considered an example of ‘pre-evangelism’ in which Frost, as a Christian, seeks to witness to his faith by being ‘salt and light’ through promoting biblical values in everyday matters.
Themes of renewal in discipleship are predominant in Destiny: A Journey
Across the Generations,97 which Frost co-wrote with his father, Ronald, and sons, Andy
91 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, p. 7. 92 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, p. 117. 93 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, pp. 137-141. 94 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, pp. 205-218. 95 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, pp. 219-221. 96 Rob Frost, People at Work: Thinking about Social and Moral Issues, (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1988). 97 Frost, Destiny. 139 and Chris, and in Five Things I Wish They’d Told Me When I Became a Christian.98
Destiny is written in an innovative format, as an email conversation between three generations of the same family and concludes with a letter from Frost’s wife, Jacqui. In his contributions, Frost expresses the hope that the book will model unity across the generations in a society in which such relationships are increasingly marked by fragmentation and discord.99 There is much autobiographical material and from it familiar themes emerge again: the difficulties of life and the cost of discipleship;100 spiritual warfare;101 the quest for authentic spirituality and the riches of ancient
Christian practices;102 the Holy Spirit and renewal;103 the metaphor of pilgrimage and the mark of Christian maturity as a deepening relationship with the Lord;104 and the use of the creative arts,105 all frequently related to the task of evangelism,106 and he refers again to the concept of evangelism in the vernacular of the people, this time the need of the church to speak the language of the rising generation.107 There are illuminating insights into Frost’s understanding of his own theological perspective, describing himself here as ‘a committed “conservative-evangelical”’108 and, in the context of his more reserved approach to outward expression in worship, ‘a bit of a closet charismatic’.109 The strength of his vocational commitment to the ministry of an evangelist is clearly evident.110
98 Rob Frost, Five Things I Wish They’d Told Me When I Became a Christian, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2006). 99 Frost, Destiny, pp. 189-190. 100 Frost, Destiny, pp. 43-44. 101 Frost, Destiny, p. 45. 102 Frost, Destiny, pp. 46, 143-144, 148. 103 Frost, Destiny, pp. 64-77. 104 Frost, Destiny, pp. 147, 170. 105 Frost, Destiny, pp. 79-82. 106 See, for example, Frost, Destiny, pp. 65, 78-82. 107 Frost, Destiny, p. 82. 108 Frost, Destiny, p. 44. 109 Frost, Destiny, p. 76. 110 Frost, Destiny, p. 102. 140
Frost wrote Five Things from the perspective of having turned fifty years of age, looking back over his Christian life thus far.111 He writes with regret of the lessons he has had to learn since coming to faith, wishing he had been helped to understand the issues at the time of conversion. He expresses the hope that new disciples will be able to gain a stronger foundation for discipleship and that older Christians will be able to learn lessons that they too may have missed. At the root of his regrets is his desire to have been taught more, earlier in his faith, about a number of aspects of Christian discipleship: authentic spirituality which is ‘less about doing and more about being’ rather than the discipline-focussed and guilt ridden devotion in which he was trained;112 the nature of the church, for which he has great love but in which he has also experienced great frustration;113 the place of suffering in the Christian faith and the cost of discipleship.114 In the concluding epilogue, however, he explores James Fowler’s theory of the ‘Stages of Faith’,115 which charts the psychology of human development and the quest for meaning.116 Frost explains, ‘Maturity as a Christian is about being able to hold in tension the simplicity and complexity of faith’ and wonders, therefore, whether the book should have been entitled, ‘five things I wasn’t ready to hear when I first became a Christian’, or ‘five things I was told but never heard when I first became a Christian’.117 Perhaps, he reflects, he has at last reached Fowler’s fifth stage of faith, with a greater understanding of the mystery of God, but also of his judgement, and he ends with a prayer for greater revelation.118
111 Frost, Five Things, pp. vii-viii. 112 Frost, Five Things, pp. 65-102. 113 Frost, Five Things, pp. 103-136. 114 Frost, Five Things, pp. 1-64, 137-174. 115 James W. Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development, (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1995). 116 Frost, Five Things, pp. 175-177. 117 Frost, Five Things, pp. 176, 177. 118 Frost, Five Things, p. 182. 141
Church Renewal
It is Frost’s frustrations with Methodism as an institution which, with his affection for the denomination, lie at the heart of the third aspect of his central theme of renewal, the renewal of the church. He longed and laboured for such renewal, believing it to be the only way in which its continuingly desperate state of decline could be reversed. He tackled the issue in two touring productions, which were each accompanied by a novel. Gospel End tells the story of a young Methodist minister, stationed for his first appointment in Yorkshire, who gradually sees renewal come to the traditional congregation to which he had been sent.119 The story moves to London in
Broken Cross, where renewal comes to another church and individual lives are transformed.120 In the setting of both novels, there are evident geographical allusions to
Frost’s own ministerial appointments.
Church renewal and growth were the central concerns of his PhD thesis, analysing church planting initiatives in which the MCB engaged over two decades in response to the growth of New Towns across Britain within an increasingly secularised society. This he contrasted with Methodism’s experiences of exponential growth in the eighteenth century, a period in which the societal change within the nation was similarly dramatic.121 Then, it was institutional Anglicanism which had been unable to respond appropriately.122 By the second half of the twentieth century, Frost observed, the now institutional MCB seemed equally unable to respond to societal change, adopting a
‘cumbersome and institutional approach to mission’ with a lack of strategic planning and management.123 He therefore makes proposals to guide future church planting
119 Rob Frost, Gospel End, (Eastbourne: Minstrel, 1991). 120 Rob Frost, Broken Cross, (Tunbridge Wells: Monarch Publications, 1992). 121 Frost, The response, p. 294. 122 Frost, The response, pp. 47-111. 123 Frost, The response, p. 3. 142 initiatives, drawing on contemporary best practice within business leadership and management theory.
These proposals Frost makes in the light of Methodism’s dramatic decline, which has continued despite significant increase in the national population.124 He suggests reasons why recent church plants have not resulted in growth and proposes developments for more effective work in the future. His research reveals that
Methodism’s church planting initiatives in new towns lacked, almost entirely, strategic leadership informed by action research and he argues that this must be a prominent feature of future initiatives if church planting is to be successful.125
Frost calls also for visionary leadership, again almost universally absent in the earlier initiatives.126 Recognising that this has been a significant contributing factor to the growth of new independent churches,127 Frost challenges institutional churches to look actively ‘for individuals with “visionary” or “entrepreneurial” skills if they wish to make the most of the opportunities in new town situations’.128 This offers important insights into his understanding of his own ministry which was often recognised as
‘visionary’ and ‘entrepreneurial’.
Observing that tensions between ‘old town residents’ and ‘incomers’ were often manifested within church plants, hindering growth,129 Frost calls for cultural relevance in church planting which will grow out of the motivation of lay people to assume positions of leadership, a further characteristic of new independent church growth.130
Though in the twentieth century Methodism seems to have viewed the leadership of new churches as ‘the prerogative of paid professionals’,131 Frost argues that John
124 Frost, The response, pp. 295-296. 125 Frost, The response, pp. 297-306. 126 Frost, The response, pp. 313-324. 127 Frost, The response, pp. 322-323. 128 Frost, The response, p. 324. 129 Frost, The response, pp. 327-336. 130 Frost, The response, pp. 349-350. 131 Frost, The response, pp. 342-343. 143
Wesley’s success, which led to the early growth of Methodism, lay in his ability ‘to motivate a vast army of lay-workers who began the new churches from “class meetings” held in their homes’ which were consequently rooted in local culture.132 ‘Christian mission,’ Frost concludes, ‘is something expressed most effectively by those who are incarnate within a situation rather than representing an outside institution’, and he expresses the hope that his research will be used to inform future church planting initiatives within British Methodism.133
The findings of Frost’s doctoral research became the content of Which Way for the Church?, in which he gave the subject more practical consideration.134 He writes with deep affection for Methodism, the denomination in which he came to faith, but also with great concern for its approach to church life which has resulted in continual decline. He therefore seeks to highlight causes of decline and to formulate proposals which will promote growth.135 Arguing that the denomination has become a
‘preservation society’ in which ‘pioneers are condemned, revolutionaries are despised and prophets are ignored’,136 he calls for a rediscovery of the biblical intentions for the church, enabling it to move from preservation to pilgrimage, able to respond ‘to the changing demands of the journey’ and ‘always on the lookout for God to show them the way ahead’.137 A preoccupation with statistics has caused the church to turn in on itself,138 resulting in the development of a large cultural gap between it and wider society, so much so that the church can largely no longer speak with relevance in an increasingly secular and postmodern context,139 and suffers instead from missional
132 Frost, The response, p. 349. 133 Frost, The response, pp. 353-354. 134 Rob Frost, Which Way for the Church? (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1997). 135 Frost, Which Way, p. 11 136 Frost, Which Way, p. 14. 137 Frost, Which Way, p. 29. 138 Frost, Which Way, pp. 33-34. 139 Frost, Which Way, pp. 34-44. 144 paralysis.140 Frost diagnoses further problems: the common practice of management by consensus within the church has prevented the emergence of visionary leadership,141 and strategic planning has been largely absent.142 He therefore calls upon local churches to examine their strategy for mission regularly, an exercise that should be mirrored at all levels within the denomination.143 Drawing on the work of Church
Growth theorists Donald McGavran and George Hunter, he proposes that future mission through the creation of homogenous units and cell groups should become central to the life of the church,144 and that visionary and entrepreneurial leadership becomes the predominant model within the church, with ministerial training reshaped to that end. He argues that evangelism should be prioritised, rooted in renewed worship which is centred on biblical preaching and draws upon ancient heritage and the creative arts, in deep relationships, and in distinctive values, whilst also being culturally relevant. He ends with a call to action: ‘Let us dream a dream, create a strategy and roll up our sleeves’.145
Frost’s struggles with institutional Methodism and his longing for the renewal of the church in order to reverse decline is reflected in many of his books already considered above.146 He further explores the challenge to reshape ministerial training in
The Call and the Commission: The challenge of how the Church equips a new generation of leaders for a different world, which he co-edited, and which was published posthumously.147 Frost completed his contribution, the first chapter, just a
140 Frost, Which Way, p. 51. 141 Frost, Which Way, pp. 53-55. 142 Frost, Which Way, p. 60. 143 Frost, Which Way, p. 62. 144 Frost, Which Way, pp. 80-93; Donald A. McGavaran ‘Church Growth Strategy Continued’, International Review of Missions, vol. 57 (July 1968), pp. 335-343; George G. Hunter, The Contagious Congregation, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1979); George G. Hunter, To Spread the Power, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1987). 145 Frost, Which Way, pp. 98-138. 146 See, for example, Rob Frost, Breaking Bread, pp. 104-105; Rob Frost, Destiny, pp. 42, 102-105; Rob Frost, Five Things, pp. 103-136. 147 Rob Frost, David Wilkinson and Joanne Cox, The Call and the Commission: The challenge of how the Church equips a new generation of leaders for a different world, (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2009) 145 few weeks before his death.148 Clear that he writes as a practitioner rather than theological educator, he issues an impassioned plea to denominational leaders and theological educators to take ‘urgent and radical steps’ to overhaul the ways in which young people are able to test their vocations and train for ministry within the church.149
He discerns a great disconnection between the types of leaders the church is attracting and training, and the vocations discerned by younger people whom God seems to be calling into ministry. The passion, with which he writes, flows from his experience of working throughout his ministry with hundreds of young adults, often at a significant stage in their lives for exploring vocation. He expresses frustration that such pathways and training have remained largely unchanged for many years,150 causing vast numbers of young people to become disillusioned, either turning away from the institutional church – leading to a ‘tragic haemorrhaging of new talent’ – or suffering spiritual hurt at the hands of the church.151 Frost argues that the church, in the present age, must prioritise evangelism and church planting,152 developing more fluid and flexible pathways of training which are tailored to the student, and which enable visionary leaders with ‘entrepreneurial flair’ to emerge who, ‘if given free reign, will open boundless new opportunities for local Christian mission and service’.153
Renewing Evangelism
Pentecost: The Church has Left the Building, was published shortly after Frost’s death. The first chapter was written by Frost himself, describing the vision behind his
148 Rob Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, in Rob Frost, David Wilkinson and Joanne Cox, The Call and the Commission: The challenge of how the Church equips a new generation of leaders for a different world, (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2009), pp. 1-19. 149 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, p. 2. 150 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, p. 2. 151 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, p. 3. 152 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, pp. 5-8. 153 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’, p. 16. 146 final initiative, Pentecost Festival.154 It is followed by a poignant ‘Postscript’, written by Andy Frost, his son, who carried the vision forward, establishing the first festival in
2008. In the first chapter, ‘Sleepless Nights’, Frost describes an experience in which he felt God speak to him during a jet-lagged, sleepless night: ‘Why not organize an event that I would like to come to?’155 He explains that, having led the annual, interdenominational Christian conference, Easter People for twenty years he, with his board of trustees, had made the decision that the twentieth conference would be the last.
Flying to the USA, he had reflected on that decision and pondered, ‘Would anything ever replace Easter People, and if so, did I have a part to play in launching it?’156 It was in the light of those questions that he believed he heard God speak. He explains that his mind started to fill with thoughts about what an event that Jesus would want to come to would look like. Initially, he could only imagine what it would not look like, but soon other thoughts came:
Everywhere I went the streets were full of life and colour and action and sound. And whatever I saw expressed something of the wonder and the power and the majesty of the Lord. It was more diverse than the Edinburgh Festival, culturally richer than Notting Hill Carnival, more cerebral than Malvern literature week, louder than Reading and more spiritual than Glastonbury. The sheer scale of it overwhelmed me.157
158 This was the sleeping giant of the church slowly waking. It was a vision of a festival on an unprecedented scale: ‘If all the Christians in all the towns came together, just once, just for a day … and took to the streets to celebrate their God, what a difference they could make’.159
154 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, pp. 9-17. 155 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 9. 156 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 11. 157 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 14. 158 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 14. 159 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 14. 147
Frost was captivated by its significance: ‘In my heart I was seeing another
Pentecost’.160 Describing the initial stages of turning vision into reality – and not knowing what would lie ahead – he comments, ‘Since all this happened I’ve had a scary
161 tryst with cancer which took my eye off the project for months’. He was, however, determined to launch a new style of Christian mission:
This is not ‘evangelism’, with preachers shouting condemnation down loudspeaker horns. No, this is celebration! Let the party begin … and whoever wants to come is invited. Let’s rediscover Pentecost.162
Frost thus returned to the theme of Pentecost at the end of his publishing career.
Communicating the gospel was clearly still absolutely central to what he was seeking to do: evangelism in the vernacular of the people. There were, however, fundamental differences in his approach to such mission and in the methods and methodology he employed. Creating a platform for the preacher who would issue a gospel challenge, as characterised the approach he advocated in his 1979 chapter, had given way to a much more experiential message, calling the audience to join in celebration and participate in a journey of discovery.
This striking change in Frost’s missiology occurred at the turn of the millennium when his work took a new direction, as he explained in three further publications. In A
Closer Look at New Age Spirituality, he considers how the Christian faith could be effectively communicated to those within the New Age movement.163 Unbeknown to him as he began his research, the work would lead to a radical change in the way he approached his ministry and, in the book, he describes his journey towards a greater understanding of Christian spirituality and a new understanding of contemporary evangelism. He explains that he began to write in order to condemn the movement, but
160 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 15. 161 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 16. 162 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, p. 15. 163 Rob Frost, A Closer Look at New Age Spirituality, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2001). 148 in the process of research came to ask the questions, ‘What can I learn from the emerging New Age spirituality? What can it teach me? How can it help me?’164 He therefore calls upon Christians to join in the same journey and challenges the church to embrace the missional opportunities presented by the growing spiritual hunger in wider society, evinced in the New Age movement.
The book is not uncritical of the movement, but even Frost himself explains that he was surprised to find how sympathetic it would turn out to be. Frost seeks to demonstrate that ‘New Age influence is affecting our society on every level including cinema, psychology, education, politics, business and medicine’.165 The accompanying spiritual hunger that pervades society presents the church with unprecedented opportunities for mission and evangelism, but the church must itself first rediscover authentic Christian spirituality, prayer and meditation. A growing interest in ecology has created an audience receptive to the Christian theology of Creation, if only the church would faithfully communicate it. Similarly, a new fascination with spiritual healing and an emphasis on holistic treatment presents a challenge to the church to rediscover the ministry of healing prayer. He thus calls the disciples of today to become
‘New Age Christians’. Frost depicts pilgrimage as a paradigm for the New Age
Christian life, in which the disciple is on a journey, rather than having already reached the destination, drawing on the riches of the past whilst journeying on. He writes of the importance of mentors and spiritual directors in the life of discipleship and, characteristically, concludes by considering evangelism in the New Age context of contemporary society. It is a challenge to share Christian faith in a culture in which truth is viewed as relative and, therefore, all worldviews accepted as being equally
164 Frost, A Closer Look, p. 9. 165 Frost, A Closer Look, p. 103. 149 valid. Yet the hunger within society for authentic spirituality ‘which works’ presents an unprecedented opportunity for mission which the church must seize with enthusiasm.
The chapter ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’, which Frost contributed to
Evangelism in a Spiritual Age describes at greater depth this significant change within his own ministry and understanding of missiology.166 He explains that he was
‘schooled in traditional ways of “doing evangelism”’: ‘the subtle art of door-to-door witness’; ‘how to get the “four spiritual laws” and “the ABC of salvation” into everyday conversation about the weather’; how to ‘“get people in” using a movie starring Billy
Graham and Cliff Richard and how to organise a church coffee morning with an
167 evangelistic spin!’ These were precisely the methods he promoted in his 1979 chapter. Yet now, he writes:
Many of these evangelistic formats seem singularly inappropriate today … The culture has moved on – and what worked yesterday is no longer effective in the ceaseless task of sharing the Good News about 168 Jesus Christ.
Exploring the context in which Christians must seek to share their faith today, he observes a ‘deep suspicion about any attempt by Christians to proselytise’, tolerance being the ultimate rule for a culture in which all truth is held to be relative and equally valid.169 Dated though traditional methods of evangelism may be, however, all is not lost. He discerns ‘the beginnings of a quiet revolution in the field of evangelism’ and, in the early days of this revolution,
Many of these pioneer evangelists have discovered that, whilst many spiritual seekers shun any invitation to explore biblical ‘truth’, they 170 are often wide open to explore the Christian ‘experience’.
166 Rob Frost, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’ in S. Croft, R. Frost, M. Ireland, A. Richards, Y. Richmond, and N. Spencer, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age: Communicating faith in a changing culture, (London: Church House Publishing, 2005). 167 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 98. 168 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 98. 169 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 98. 170 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 99. 150
Such an openness within society, Frost notes, ‘gives the church an unparalleled
171 opportunity’ for its work of mission and evangelism. Frost then charts the development of his own understanding and approach to evangelism within this changing context:
My own work as an evangelist over the last five years has been dominated by the challenge of this changing context … for me personally, it has meant a painful examination of my own evangelistic ministry, and a recognition that my own failure to introduce people to a dynamic faith in Christ has partly been due to an adherence to 172 methods that are long past their sell by date.
He recalls that, several years before writing this chapter, he presented a lecture,
‘in which I encouraged my audience to consider the New Age as devilish, demonic, dangerous and damaging’. Writing this chapter, whilst he still remains suspicious of much of the New Age movement, his outlook has changed in at least one respect:
I have come to understand that Christian mission has never evangelised a culture by avoiding it … Mission is only effective when we become involved and engaged, and discover ways to incarnate the 173 gospel so that it is approachable and understandable.
So he writes,
I have largely abandoned those evangelistic methods which look for quick ‘door-knock’ style response. I have turned away from styles of mission that condemn the ‘truth’ of those I am trying to reach. Instead, I prefer to invite people to explore Christian spirituality with me, and to discover what difference a personal experience of Christ 174 could mean for them.
He proceeds to explore the understanding of life and human nature that is central to the New Age world view and concludes:
We are facing one of the greatest missiological opportunities of recent times, yet many of us continue to minister, mission and evangelise as 175 though it isn’t really happening!
171 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 100. 172 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 101. 173 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 103. 174 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 104. 175 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 107. 151
He proposes a radical new approach to mission which: emphasises an invitation to journey into Christian experience, rather than the ‘black and white’ proclamation of biblical truth; places a new emphasis on Christian eco-spirituality attractive to those with a concern for ecology; takes the ministry of healing beyond the walls of the church, thus reaching out to those looking for ‘alternative’ treatments and a holistic understanding of health; and seeks to create ‘sacred spaces’ into which people who have a hunger for authentic spirituality can withdraw and experience Christian spirituality in a participatory way. Finally, he explains the way in which he began to compile and develop the Essence course, seeking to provide a resource for churches who wished to undertake evangelism in this way.176 It is a course six weeks long, emphasising themes of journey, community, personal and corporate creative expression, deep sharing and a sense of belonging, ultimately seeking a sense of the presence of God. It is Christian mission that is characterised by ‘discovery’ and follows a process of first ‘belonging’, then ‘believing’ and finally, ‘behaving’.177 Following the successful launch of the course, there were calls from churches and children’s workers for a similar course for
178 children and so Kids@Essence was developed along the same lines.
Frost concludes, ‘Since embarking on this new style of evangelism, I have been greatly encouraged to see just how many others are seeing the same vision and following the same dream’ and ends with a characteristic challenge: ‘You may not be
179 able to do it all, but even where you are, you can surely do something!’
Frost thus identified the change in his own ministry and approaches to evangelism, suggesting a significant disconnection between his methods at the time of writing and that which went before, almost a rejection of the previous methods and an
176 Rob Frost, Essence, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2002). 177 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, p. 123. 178 Rob Frost, Kids@Essence, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2004). 179 Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Spiritual Age’, pp. 124-125. 152 embracing of something entirely new. It would appear, however, that the change was not in Frost’s missiology, which continued throughout his life to be characterised by the concept of evangelism in the vernacular of the people. Rather, the change was in the vernacular of the people itself.
Frost was amongst those missiologists and missional practitioners who discerned and observed these sociological and cultural changes two decades ago, revealing a dramatic move away from a ‘modern’ to a ‘postmodern’ worldview. Research in these fields has continued since Frost’s death, confirming and developing his and others’ earlier research, arguably justifying his pioneering and, perhaps, radical attempts to develop methods for mission in the new vernacular.180
Frost observed the paradox: whilst increasing numbers of people declare themselves to be of ‘no-religion’, live within a culture that has rejected traditional
Christian ethical norms and are suspicious of institutional religion, there was a widespread and growing interest in ‘spirituality’. Scholars have coined phrases such as
‘fuzzy fidelity’ and ‘banal religion’ to describe this form of spirituality that is divorced from institutional religion, spread through modern media and highly individualistic, constructed in a ‘pick and mix’ way, holding a relative view of truth, in which all truth is believed to be equally valid.181 If that is indeed the case, Frost argued, then surely the church would have much to offer in this context, if it was prepared to rediscover authentic Christian spirituality. It was this quest for authentic spirituality and his
180 Among others working in this area were Graham Cray, Paul Valley and John Drane. See, for example, Graham Cray, From Here to Where? The Culture of the Nineties, (Board of Mission Occasional Paper, 1992); Paul Valley, ‘Evangelism in a Post-Religious Society’, in CofE, Setting the Agenda: The 1999 Church of England Conference on Evangelism, (Board of Mission Occasional Paper, 1999), pp. 30-43; and John Drane, The McDonaldization of the Church: Spirituality, Creativity and the Future of the Church, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2000). See also Elaine A. Heath, The Mystic Way of Evangelism: A Contemplative Vision for Christian Outreach, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), considered in chapter eight. 181 See, for example, C. Brown and G. Lynch, ‘Cultural Perspectives’ in L. Woodhead and R. Catto, Religion and Change in Modern Britain, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012), p. 344. 153 continued determination to communicate the gospel in this new vernacular that motivated Frost’s ministry in the last decade of his life.
Frost himself acknowledged that he was not without his detractors in developing this new approach to mission and evangelism and it is clear that the hostile response from some, both friends and respected Christian leaders, caused him personal distress:
‘This has not been an easy journey for me, and I have a file of “hate mail” to prove
182 it!’ Such a response demonstrates the importance of the well-established principle of understanding theological developments within their context. One way to gain such an understanding of context is to ask, ‘What “battles” were being fought; what were the challenges and issues of the day in the face of which attempts to restate the gospel were made; what questions were they seeking to answer?’
Frost understood that, with this new vernacular and within this new worldview, people were asking new questions, different questions than people with the old worldview had asked, and therefore they demanded new answers from the Christian evangelist and apologist. It was these new answers to new questions that Frost was seeking to provide. He was not particularly suggesting that there was anything wrong with the old answers to the old questions, or even seeking to offer new answers to old questions. What he did recognise was that new and different questions of life and meaning and spirituality were being asked, questions for which Christians should make every effort to provide answers that are credible and understandable. Context is key; it would be impossible to understand the developments and changes in Frost's missiology without first understanding the changing culture in which he worked and to which he spoke. Frost himself believed, not unreasonably it would seem, that many of his detractors had failed to understand what he was seeking to achieve and it would also
182 Frost, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’, p. 104. 154 seem not unreasonable to suggest that they had done so primarily because they had failed to identify the questions Frost was seeking to answer.
Frost had become acutely aware that culture had changed and the church had hardly noticed, with the result that the vast majority of the population now viewed the church’s answers as utterly irrelevant to the questions they were asking. Yet, all was not lost. A new evangelistic approach was emerging and Frost was only one among a number of people who were seeking to provide new answers to the new questions and to communicate the gospel effectively in the new vernacular. The church, he believed, consequently faced an unprecedented missional opportunity. Thus, amongst all the declining figures of church attendance, the spreading ‘de-Christianisation’ of the culture, and the growing suspicion of institutional religion, Frost had discovered great reason for hope: it was still possible for Christians to communicate effectively authentic
Christian faith in the contemporary vernacular of the people. He had, in a way, reached the same conclusion as another Methodist minister of an older generation and different theological tradition, Fred Pratt Green:
The Church of Christ, in every age beset by change but Spirit-led, must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead.183
Frost set out his settled missiological position in one of the last pieces he wrote about evangelism, an article for the Epworth Review entitled, ‘The Future of
Evangelism: A Personal Perspective.’184 In it, he presents in summary form his new approach to evangelistic ministry, which he had expounded in the two publications considered above, and concludes with a consideration of a further development in
183 The Methodist Conference, Hymns and Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1983), number 804. 184 Rob Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism: A Personal Perspective’ in Epworth Review, vol. 34, no 2, (April 2007), pp. 48-56. 155 contemporary culture which he had observed and which greatly alarmed him, thus returning to themes he had previously explored in Freedom Fighters. He describes a well-intentioned, but dangerous ‘rising tide of political correctness’ which is increasingly limiting Christian freedoms ‘to share our faith, to nominate “doctrinally sound” leaders to Christian organizations and to employ Christians in key roles in the life of the church.’185 It contradicts a basic principle enshrined, he believed, in British heritage as well as in Article 9 of the European Convention, of the ‘freedom of worship, of belief, and to evangelize’.186 Noting research which suggests that the Judeo-
Christian worldview of British culture has increasingly been displaced by ‘modern relativism, pluralism, materialism and what is called postmodernity’ in a way which uses the human rights movement to threaten orthodox Christian faith community, he asks:
Are we entering an era in which I must be guarded in speaking of my faith in general everyday contact? … Doesn’t this development take something away from my freedom of speech and my right to explain my beliefs to others?187
The case he makes suggests that, behind the new vernacular lies a worldview that threatens to silence the voices which seek to communicate the gospel. This renewed approach to evangelism, fitted to the contemporary context, will therefore necessarily include contending for religious freedom within society. He concludes:
If we are to treasure evangelistic mission as part of our Methodist heritage we may need to become more outspoken. We must challenge those ideas and popular trends which are unbiblical and dangerous. This may lead us into direct conflict with political institutions, societal structures and legal authorities; and some of us may find this a personally costly activity.188
185 Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’, p. 54. 186 Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’, pp. 54-55. 187 Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’, p. 55. 188 Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’, p. 56. 156
In his quest to rediscover Pentecost in the contemporary world, Frost was thus able to foresee that, just as it did for the first Christian evangelists, a renewed evangelism may well lead to conflict and, indeed, to persecution.
157
6. Sharing Jesus, Seeking Renewal, Sustaining Freedoms:
The Legacy of Rob Frost’s Evangelistic Ministry as an
Authentic Expression of British Methodism’s Theology and Practice
As has become evident in the previous chapters, Frost exercised a unique ministry as an evangelist within the MCB, working at a national level, first as
Connexional Evangelist and then as Director of SJI. This chapter considers the ways in which that ministry was shaped by – and shaped to – the MCB, thus offering an effective and authentic demonstration of the Methodist theology of evangelism in practice, before turning to identify Frost’s legacy. First, it is necessary to analyse
Frost’s evangelistic ministry according to the eight characteristics of British Methodist missiology identified earlier in this thesis.
A practical expression of the British Methodist theology of evangelism
The One Mission
The first, overarching characteristic of Methodist missiology, ‘the one mission’, holds that there is ultimately only one mission, God’s mission to the world. The way in which this mission is believed to be particularly focussed in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as inaugurating the kingdom of God firmly roots such an understanding of mission within a paradigm of inaugurated eschatology. It is the task and privilege of Christians today to seek to share in that mission, empowered by the Spirit, of continuing the ministry of Jesus on earth. Since this is, ultimately, the mission of God, it would be inappropriate to refer in absolute, rather than derivative, terms to the church’s mission. Equally, it would be inappropriate to seek to make fundamental distinctions between the mission of different denominations, referring, again in absolute terms, to the mission of the MCB, for instance, as distinct from the 158 mission of the CofE or the Baptist Church. There is, ultimately, only one mission, the mission of God to the world, in which Christians are invited to share.
This conviction leads to a number of implications, developed within British
Methodism through the seven further characteristics which flow from the first.
Similarly, Frost’s commitment to this first, fundamental characteristic of British
Methodist missiology can be seen in his commitment to the derivative characteristics, as explored below. Nevertheless, it is important to observe at this point that Frost’s theology and practice of evangelism can unequivocally be categorised within the inaugurated eschatological paradigm set out earlier in this thesis. This he expounded in
Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium, arguing that evangelism must be ‘Jesus-centred’, for it is in him that the kingdom is inaugurated, ‘Spirit-filled’, for it is only the Holy
Spirit who empowers Christians to continue the ministry of Jesus on earth, and ‘God- guided’, for it is ultimately God’s mission and must be undertaken at his direction.1
Frost thus argued that at the heart of the evangelist’s message must be the concrete events in history of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Highlighting the increasingly pluralistic context in which Christians in Britain undertake their evangelistic mission, he sought to safeguard the uniqueness of Jesus as the Son of God, both human and divine, who was uniquely qualified to inaugurate the kingdom of God on earth.2
Within this understanding of inaugurated eschatology, it is the empowering of the Holy Spirit which alone makes it possible for Christians to share in continuing the ministry of Jesus, extending the kingdom of God on earth through evangelism. Frost argued that effective evangelism is impossible without the empowering of the Holy
Spirit, because evangelism is ultimately God’s work.3 Thus evangelists become
1 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 9-43. 2 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 10-11. 3 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 32. 159 partners with God in that work only as they seek to follow the guidance of God, who is already at work within the world.4 The practical outworking of his commitment to the role of the Holy Spirit within the eschatological realities of mission and evangelism can be seen in the consistent emphasis he placed upon promoting renewal within the church throughout his ministry following his appointment to a Connexional role. Such renewal he saw as the only antidote to church decline and ineffective evangelism and so, through
Easter People especially, but also through touring productions and other projects,5 he sought to enable Christians to enter into a richer understanding and experience of the inaugurated kingdom and thereby into a greater understanding of the responsibilities of mission and evangelism which life within the kingdom entails. In moments of transition within his ministry, these twin commitments to Jesus Christ as the focal point of the evangelistic message and to the renewal of the church were clearly identified as central to Frost’s work.6
Frost was committed not only to this specific understanding of the eschatological context of mission, but also to the general conviction of British
Methodism’s ‘one mission’ principle, that mission is ultimately God’s work. According to this principle, Christians who seek to share in mission must be responsive to God’s leading, seeking to discern where God is at work within the world in order to participate in that work. This too is discernible in the practical outworking of Frost’s ministry, perhaps most explicitly in the new approaches to evangelism he adopted at the turn of the millennium as a result of his research into the New Age movement. Despite initially setting out to condemn the movement, he came to discover that God was at work within it, already reaching out to draw people towards himself.7 This enabled Frost to
4 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 42-43. 5 See, for example, Rob Frost, When I Can’t Pray, p. 161. 6 See, for example, RFSG, Draft Future Concepts (1998), and SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015 (2006). 7 Rob Frost, A Closer Look, p. 9, and Frost, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’, pp. 101-104. 160 recognise unprecedented opportunities for mission and evangelism.8 This led him to make significant changes in his approach to evangelism, moving from a model characterised by the proclamation of truth to an invitational model of journeying into
Christian experience.9 The discovery ultimately culminated in Pentecost Festival as a new style of Christian missional celebration.
Thus, the evidence of Frost’s ministry suggests that he was fully committed to the ‘one mission’ characteristic of Methodist missiology. The principles of inaugurated eschatology contained in the Conference report, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, were reflected in his own writing and he was committed to their outworking in practice. This led to an emphasis on church renewal through which he sought to lead Christians into a greater experience of the life of the inaugurated kingdom into which they had been initiated, and also resulted in a flexible, responsive approach to his own ministry as he himself sought to share in the mission of God who is at work in the world.
The One Church
The second characteristic of Methodist missiology is the conviction that the one mission, in which Christians are called to share, is the task of the one church. This has led the MCB to call for and promote unity within the denomination, across the theological spectrum of a ‘broad church’, and also across the denominations, in order to fulfil this missional vocation more effectively and faithfully.
Frost was clearly committed to promoting Christian unity throughout his ministry, both within and across denominations.10 Both aspects of unity were a particular hallmark of his work and fostering such unity was a clear priority for Frost.11
8 Frost, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’, p. 100; see also Frost, Five Things, pp. 69-74. 9 Frost, Essence, and Frost, Kids@Essence. 10 See, for example, Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 25-26. 11 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988). 161
Whilst this ran through many aspects of his ministry, it was particularly evident in
Easter People and Share Jesus missions, and came to the fore in the formation of SJI.
Within Easter People, an important element of this concern for unity within the
MCB was Frost’s emphasis on promoting charismatic theology and practice as part of
Methodism’s ‘mainstream’,12 neither replacing nor invalidating, but existing alongside other approaches.13 However, it was not only charismatic theology and practice which he promoted. Seeking also to achieve a theological balance at Easter People, he invited speakers from a range of theological perspectives to contribute to the main events.14
Tensions did emerge over the years. Following a particularly controversial, though unexpectedly well attended meeting hosted by a Methodist minister in a personal capacity seeking to address concerns over a Conference report about human sexuality, guidelines to preserve and promote unity were identified and agreed by
Frost’s Steering Group.15 These stated that, whilst there should not be an avoidance of controversial issues, there should always be a proper balance of views to reflect the whole of Methodism, that unofficial meetings would not be permitted on Easter People premises, and that, after the programme had been finalised twenty-eight days in advance of the event, there would be no further additions.16
In many respects, Easter People was a victim of its own success. Issues of unity continued to be at the forefront of the difficulties faced by the event’s leaders, precisely because people from across Methodism’s theological spectrum came together year by year for the annual celebrations. Thus Easter People itself became an expression of
12 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Prayer and Counselling, (1988). 13 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988); see also RFSG Possible Alterations for 1989: Prayer and Counselling, (1988). 14 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Speakers, (1988). 15 RFSG, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (7 May 1993); see also Paul Smith, Letter to Rob Frost, (27 April 1993). 16 RFSG, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (7 May 1993). 162
Methodism’s unity. Whilst tensions were experienced, it also provided a context in which such tensions could be explored and, to an extent, resolved.17
The ecumenical dimension of Methodism’s ‘one church’ emphasis is discernible within the programme of Share Jesus missions. People from all denominations were welcome to join teams and teams were allocated to churches regardless of denominational affiliation, though as the primary focus of the missions was Methodist districts, the majority of churches which applied were inevitably Methodist. However, host churches were encouraged to work ecumenically with other local churches as much as possible through the missions.18 The effect of such ecumenical work was often notable. One minister, for example, following the Share Jesus mission of 1990 wrote in a letter to Frost,
Since coming here two years ago it has seemed impossible to bring the local churches together for any worthwhile venture but in this mission even the RCs and the Free Methodists came together in a surprising discovery of each other’s faith and spirituality.19
Three years later, another minister wrote following another mission,
This was an ecumenical mission and required a team which would be sensitive to local needs. This the team, especially the leader, did superbly. The experience of working together with the mission team has drawn the Anglican and Methodist congregations in the village much closer – they are now considering setting up an LEP20 as a consequence.21
Following the formation of SJI as an independent, interdenominational organisation, the ecumenical nature of Frost’s work became even more explicit. This was particularly clear from the variety of denominations and parachurch organisations
17 On the ongoing tensions both between conservative evangelicals and charismatics and between evangelicals and ‘mainstream’ Methodists, see RFSG, Notes of the Rob Frost Support Group, (14 June 1995). 18 See, for example, RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group, (3 October 2000); and SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 19 H. Brian Kirkpatrick, Letter to Rob Frost, (18 September 1990). 20 Local Ecumenical Partnership 21 B. Coverdale, Letter to Rob Frost, (6 October 1993). 163 represented on the new board and Frost was committed to working fully interdenominationally in future projects.22 It was in order to enable evangelistic work to be undertaken across the broadest diversity of denominations possible that the statement of faith of Churches Together in England was adopted as the mission statement for SJI.23 Thus, the quest for Christian unity within and across the denominations was a feature of Frost’s ministry from the earliest days of his
Connexional role and would continue to characterise his ministry throughout the rest of his life.24
The Whole Mission
The third characteristic of Methodist missiology, the emphasis on the whole mission, promotes a holistic understanding of mission that includes at least evangelism, social justice and the political struggle for justice. It is an approach seeking to bring together the different aspects of mission which people at varying places on the theological spectrum have tended to emphasise. Within this holistic understanding of mission, Methodism has embraced a holistic understanding of evangelism itself, holding it to include a variety of practices which aim to share, in some way, the good news.
Frost clearly believed himself to have a vocation to the ministry of an evangelist within the MCB and was consequently committed primarily to that aspect of the church’s mission. Such a vocation clearly emerges from his earliest extant paper, in
22 The Rob Frost Support Group, New Board of the Rob Frost Team, (16 February 2000). 23 SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, 12 February 2001. 24 See, for example, the comment on the ILI National Conference in the Czech Republic, organised by Frost in 2006: ‘Many strategic participants were present on this conference representing several denominations (Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Brethren, Pentecostal and Free Evangelical)’, SJI, ILI Board Reports, (February 2007). 164 which he wrote of ‘those of us who feel a special calling to the work of evangelism’25 and it is evident that this sense of vocation remained with him throughout his ministry.26
It is also clear that Frost had a holistic understanding of evangelism. Whilst he held to the importance of evangelistic preaching, calling for decision, and was recognised to be very effective in that ministry,27 he understood that such preaching is most effective when it is one activity amongst many, even if it is a primary activity.28
As demonstrated particularly in his touring productions, Frost was committed to the use of creative arts in evangelism.29 Seed Teams trained local people in the use of creative arts in evangelism,30 and Share Jesus mission teams engaged in a variety of activities as part of their evangelistic work.31
Though Frost was committed primarily to the ministry of an evangelist, it is clear that he saw this vocation to be within Methodism’s broader understanding of mission. Social caring and the political struggle for justice also featured within his ministry. The former is evinced, for example, in Frost’s appeal at Easter People in 1999 for practical expressions of aid to support Kosovan refugees in Southern Albania,32 as well as in the more sustained work of Seed Teams in their various locations.33
Similarly, the political struggle for justice was a feature of Frost’s ministry. He regularly engaged with Members of Parliament through his broadcasting, debating issues of political justice, ethical concerns, and social need,34 and often included
25 Frost, ‘Do the work’. 26 See, for example, RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996); SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001); SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015 (2006). 27 See, for example, Graham Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 14. 28 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 69-71. 29 See also Frost, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’, pp. 30-31; and Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 66. 30 See, for example, RFSG, Estonia – Seed Team Programme – Evangelism Eastern Europe, (1993). 31 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 109-122 and pp. 155-160. 32 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 121. 33 See, for example, RFSG, Seed Team Update, (1995), and RFSG, Seed Team Bases 1996/1997 as at 11 March 1996, (1996). 34 See, for example, SJI, God TV Series – ‘The Frost Debate’, (2007). 165
Christian MPs as guest speakers at Easter People.35 His work in these realms of political justice was, however, most notable in two aspects. Firstly, through The Agenda tour, accompanied by the publication of Freedom Fighters: Defending Christian
Freedoms in a Politically Correct Age,36 Frost sought to raise awareness of the dangers he perceived in the government’s proposed religious hatred legislation and its potential effects on Christian pastoral ministry and evangelism, encouraging Christians to challenge legislation through democratic process.37 Secondly, Frost demonstrated his willingness to engage politically through the remarkable support he gave to a Kosovan family who had sought asylum in the UK. He personally challenged the government’s decision to deport them, enlisting the support of his local MP, threatening a judicial review, gaining coverage in the national media and leading a ‘passport-burning’ protest in the local community. The government subsequently reversed its decision, allowing the family to return and to settle in the UK.38
Frost was therefore committed to a holistic understanding of mission and resisted the notion of making a false dichotomy between the various aspects of the whole mission. Just as evangelists, such as himself, had a responsibility to be engaged in social caring, and the political struggle for justice, so too, he maintained, should those concerned chiefly with the latter aspects be engaged in the work of evangelism.
The Whole Church
The fourth characteristic of authentic Methodist missiology is the conviction that mission, particularly evangelism, is the task of the whole church. All Christians are called to witness to their faith in daily living and should be encouraged and equipped to
35 See, for example, the invitation to David Alton MP to lead a seminar reported in RFSG, Easter People 1991, (1990). 36 Frost, Freedom Fighters. 37 Frost, Freedom Fighters, pp. 18-19. 38 Griffin, ‘Rob as a Leader’, pp. 7-8. 166 fulfil that responsibility. Whilst an over-reliance on the ordained ministry is to be resisted, it is recognised additionally that some Christians receive a particular vocation to the ministry of an evangelist. The church has a responsibility to identify, train and release such people in this ministry, who are expected then to become a focus of the ministry of evangelism entrusted to all God’s people.
Frost was clearly committed to the principle that mission and evangelism is the task of the whole church and of every individual Christian, and that it was the responsibility of those called to a ministry of evangelism to encourage, enable and equip all Christians to participate in evangelistic outreach, both through daily witness and in working together for periods of focussed mission through a local church. He maintained that, notwithstanding the impact and effect of planned events, the most effective form of evangelism is person to person/friendship evangelism.39 Although he was recognised as a gifted evangelist,40 motivating and equipping others to share in evangelistic ministry became the foundational model of his evangelistic ministry.41
This principle lay at the heart of the Share Jesus missions and Seed Team programmes most explicitly, but was also a central emphasis of the touring productions, of Easter People, and of Frost’s published writing in which he sought to equip and encourage Christians to witness to their faith by being salt and light within society and by speaking of their faith when appropriate. 42 Training local people in evangelism was intended to be an important part of the work of each Seed Team43 and feedback from host churches of Share Jesus missions indicated that, not only visiting team members, but also members of host churches discovered new gifts and enthusiasm in evangelism.44
39 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 44-58. 40 Horsley, ‘Rob as an evangelist’, p. 14. 41 See, for example, RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 42 See, for example, Frost, Freedom Fighters, pp. 18-99, and Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp.51-56. 43 RFSG, Estonia – Seed Team Programme – Evangelism Eastern Europe, (1993). 44 RFSG, Share Jesus Missions: Feedback from Hosts, (1996). 167
As part of the whole church emphasis of its missiology, ‘Sharing in God’s
Mission’ encouraged the whole denomination to resist the pervasive over-reliance on the ordained ministry and to place greater emphasis on enabling lay ministry.45 This, too, is evident in Frost’s work. The lists of members of leadership teams for the various projects all reveal a significant proportion of lay people.46 Ultimately, however, Frost was committed to encouraging the ministry of others, lay and ordained alike and sought to enable and encourage both, particularly through Share Jesus missions and through
Easter People.47
In addition to recognising that the primary form of evangelism is the personal witness of Christians in daily life, which should be encouraged through the provision of further training, the whole church emphasis of Methodist missiology also includes the recognition that some Christians are particularly gifted in and called to the ministry of an evangelist and that such people should therefore be identified and enabled to serve in appropriate roles. This denominational policy was, of course, greatly significant for
Frost’s own ministry, enabling him ultimately to serve firstly as Connexional
Evangelist, and then as Director of SJI. He had himself argued for the reinstatement of one or more national evangelistic roles early in his ministry as a Circuit minister when they had been abolished,48 demonstrating his own support of the principle which subsequently became Connexional policy. Throughout his ministry, Frost sought to encourage those who were discerning their own vocation to evangelistic ministry,49 and
45 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 498. 46 Twenty-seven out of thirty-nine leaders of Easter People 1989, for example, and eleven out of the twenty-three sector leaders for Seed Teams in 1996 were lay. See, for example, RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group Meeting, (1 November 1988), and RFSG, List of Seed Team Sector Leaders 1996/1997 (as at 2 October 1996), (1996). 47 See, for example, RFSG, Easter People Executive, (1988), RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Children’s Work, (1988), RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Pastors, (1988), Martin Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41, RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Fringe Activities, (1988), and RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Evening Celebrations, (1988). 48 Frost, ‘Do the work’ 49 See, for example, Matt Bird, ‘Rob as a Preacher’, in Andy Frost (ed.), Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 53-54, 57. 168 to do so within the structures of the MCB. The Seed Teams programme was intended to be a year of vocational discernment and through it many discerned a call to Christian ministry. It had been designed to meet a number of perceived needs within the MCB, most notably church planting, church renewal, and vocational discernment. Through the Seed Team programme in particular, a significant number of people discerned a vocation to Christian ministry and to the ministry of an evangelist and were enabled to take the next step in pursuing that vocation.50
Thus, Frost was evidently committed to the ‘whole church’ emphasis of British
Methodist missiology. He held that the primary form of evangelism is the personal witness of Christians in the normal course of daily life, which he sought to encourage and enable, in addition to providing opportunities for Christians to participate in specific periods of focussed mission. Through his various projects, he sought to enable and encourage the ministry of all, lay and ordained alike. He also recognised that some are called specifically to the ministry of an evangelist within the church. He discerned this as his own vocation, which he sought to pursue through the MCB, and enabled others to discern a similar vocation, supporting them in their vocational development.
The Global Mission
The fifth characteristic of authentic British Methodist missiology is an emphasis on the global nature of the church’s mission. Whilst there has been a long tradition of sending people as missionaries overseas, through the wider controversies of the mid- twentieth century, the MCB came to affirm that the imposition of Western models of
Christian faith and practice upon Christians from other cultures is to be resisted.
50 See, for example, RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994). 169
Instead, Christians from the West should seek to work in equal partnership with, and to learn from, those of other cultures, drawing on the gifts and insights of each other.
The principle of global mission has also brought Christians from the West into contact with those of other faiths, necessitating reflection upon the appropriateness of evangelism within those contexts. Increasing globalisation throughout the period brought such issues closer to home for many British Christians, who began more frequently to encounter people of other faiths within their own communities, bringing issues of interfaith engagement to the fore. Thus reports were brought to the
Conference seeking to offer guidelines for such engagement in the context of mission.
The global emphasis of Frost’s work became explicit at the turn of the millennium when SJI was chosen as the name for the new charitable company formed to support his ministry and was central to the intention that Frost’s ministry would expand outwards in concentric circles from the local office base in Raynes Park,
London, ultimately to the wider world.51 Such a global emphasis had, however, been implicit throughout much of his previous ministry. The Gospel Roadshow, which he had begun to tour even before taking up a national role, went to France and the USA.
Large numbers of international guests visited the Share Jesus missions over the years, both to participate in the mission work and to consider establishing the model within their own countries, most notably in the USA and Australia.52 In encouraging such initiatives, Frost adopted the MCB’s model of partnership, offering support and expertise, whilst the partner organisations in the respective countries retained ultimate freedom along with responsibility for the organisational and financial aspects of the programmes.53 His desire to encourage an openness to learn from Christians from other cultural backgrounds and nationalities is evident in the programmes of Easter People,
51 SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 52 RFSG, Rob Frost 1990 Prayer Diary, (1990). 53 See, for example, RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group, (3 October 2000). 170 which regularly included international guests and contributions from the MCB’s
Overseas Department.54
Frost sought more actively to engage in mission work overseas, in partnership with local churches, through the Seed Team programme, sending teams to France and
Estonia, and exploring opportunities to form partnerships for the same in the USA and
Singapore, though in the end these were not pursued.55
With the global emphasis of his work becoming more prominent in the rebranding of his ministry as SJI, Frost assisted with the global expansion of the ILI,56 and was appointed as its European Director. In this role, he developed a number of leadership conferences for national Christian leaders, particularly in Eastern Europe,57 and globally for younger leaders,58 as well as discretely in countries where Christians faced persecution.59 The principle of mutuality within the global church guided the ILI, and Frost’s work within it, with the course materials written by a global team and then made freely available for local delivery.60
The second aspect of the MCB’s ‘global mission’ emphasis is the importance of evangelism amongst people of other faiths. This too was discernible within Frost’s ministry. He recognised the importance of evangelism amongst people of other faiths.61 He encouraged Christians to campaign to preserve the right to evangelise appropriately within an increasingly multi-cultural and ‘politically-correct’ society when he perceived such rights were being eroded within the UK,62 and he was active in personal evangelism amongst people of other faiths himself.63
54 See, for example, RFSG, Easter People 1991, (1990); RFSG, Easter People 1992 Torquay Exec, (1992), and, most notably, Easter People, Programme: Global Vision, (2002). 55 RFSG, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (5 November 1993). 56 Griffin, ‘Rob as a Leader’, p. 4. 57 SJI, International Leadership Institute, (2006). 58 SJI, History Makers, (2006) 59 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposals 2007 – 2015, (2006). 60 SJI, International Leadership Institute, (2006). 61 See, for example, RFSG, Seed Team Syllabus, (1991). 62 Frost, Freedom Fighters, pp. 11-13. 63 Griffin, ‘Rob as a Leader’, pp. 61-106. 171
Thus Frost sought to exercise global influence through his ministry. He undertook such evangelistic ministry overseas, in liaison with the appropriate denominational bodies and in partnership with local churches, and he sought to encourage British Christians to seek to learn from Christians from other cultures. He promoted the importance of evangelism amongst people of other faiths, offered training in the subject for mission teams when appropriate and sought to lead by example.
The Local Church
The sixth, local church, emphasis of Methodist missiology holds that the primary responsibility for mission belongs to the local church. ‘Top down’ programmes from national level have, the Commission on Evangelism observed, tended to be resisted within British Methodism.64 This of course had important implications both for the Division of Home Mission and for those, such as Frost, who exercised a national ministry. Any Connexional work, according to this principle, must therefore be done in partnership with the local church and never by way of imposition. Thus, the
Conference reports of the time encouraged the local church to take its responsibility for mission seriously and sought to provide resources by which local churches could develop mission strategy, reviewing existing work and local opportunities, beginning new work and bringing to an end older work which had fulfilled its purpose and was no longer meeting a need, thus freeing resources for redeployment.
Working through, and in partnership with, local churches was a guiding principle in Frost’s ministry. From the early beach missions, he came to understand the importance of evangelism being rooted in the local church, where mission could be continued, sustained and nurtured over a longer period of time. He called local
64 See, for example, the Commission on Evangelism’s report on responses to the proposed National Initiative on Evangelism: MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1977), p. 136. 172 churches to put church-based evangelism at the top of their agendas, beginning to plan for growth, rather than anticipating decline, thus moving from maintenance to mission.65 This was the central emphasis of many of his publications. In Which Way for the Church? he urged local churches to develop a strategy for mission,66 and, in
Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium, offered guidelines for churches to use in preparing for periods of focused evangelistic mission within their local communities.67
The vision of each of Frost’s projects – Share Jesus missions, touring productions, Seed Teams and Easter People – was ultimately to encourage and enable evangelistic effectiveness within and through local churches, particularly (though not exclusively) within Methodism. Share Jesus missions fulfilled this mandate in two ways. Firstly, the mission work was only undertaken through local churches; the larger events were simply a way of bringing local churches together and providing a focus for the evangelistic work being undertaken in and through local churches. Each visiting team partnered with a local church and the mission programme in each local situation was developed, through consultation between local church and visiting team representatives, to fulfil the aims for the mission identified by the local church. The local church provided a team of people to work in partnership throughout the mission with the members of the visiting team and were expected to sustain the work beyond the mission week. It was thus hoped that the mission would inspire within each host church a new enthusiasm for evangelism and that, throughout the week, members of the host churches would discover new gifts, abilities and ideas for evangelism which they could continue to use in the mission of the church beyond the mission week.68
Through providing opportunities for people to come together from across the country to experience enthusiastic and effective forms of evangelism, discover new gifts
65 Frost. Sharing Jesus, pp. 61-106. 66 Frost, Which Way, pp. 51-68. 67 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 109-122. 68 See, for example, RFSG, Share Jesus Mission: Prospectus 1996, (1995). 173 and methods, the missions further impacted local churches as team members returned to their own local churches to share the enthusiasm and insights thus gained. They were sustained in their commitment to evangelism in local situations because, although their enthusiasm was not necessarily shared or supported locally, the ongoing nature of the
Share Jesus mission programme which would soon provide another opportunity to participate in focussed evangelistic mission with like-minded people.69 The other events organised by Frost, particularly Easter People, provided additional opportunities for such mutual encouragement.
Equally, touring productions, whilst perhaps appearing to be national projects without roots in the local church were, in fact, ultimately intended to be an evangelistic resource for local churches in a number of ways. The scripts and scores were written to enable local productions, after the national tour, supporting the evangelistic outreach of local churches, and the national tour itself was staged in partnership with local churches around the country.70
Seed Teams were more clearly rooted in the local churches with which the teams partnered in pioneering outreach. The partnership was always initiated by local churches, who applied to host a team and teams were much in demand, often with applications far exceeding the numbers of teams available. Where it was possible to place a team, authority over its work remained with the local church, overseen by the minister.71 Easter People was another national initiative which, like the touring productions, was not so obviously rooted in the local church. However, promoting the renewal and evangelistic agendas of local churches was central to Frost’s vision for the event throughout the years of its existence. It was intended that members of local churches would travel to the event together each year, and then return to support each
69 See, for example, RFSG, Share Jesus Mission: September 5th – 12th 1992 publicity leaflet, (1991). 70 RFSG, Gospel End: Tour Itinerary 1992 – Provisional Bookings To Date, (1991). 71 See, for example, RFSG, Seed Team 1992 - 1993 publicity material, (1991). 174 other in working for change. Thus Easter People, Frost hoped, would be a catalyst for renewal and participating in the event would become part of the mission work of the local church.72 Additionally, providing an inspiring and encouraging context for ministers to gather and share in leadership would also enable them to return to churches they served with fresh energy.73 It was Frost’s intention that Easter People should provide resources for local churches and those involved in leading the annual gatherings were encouraged to take the opportunity to develop new resources which could then be used to enrich ministry elsewhere.74
The Division of Home Mission was itself concerned about the impression that might be gained across the denomination that Frost’s work was detached from the local church and repeatedly defended Frost against such claims in its annual reports to the
Conference,75 on one occasion stating:
The Division gives priority to those forms of evangelism which will include building up the local Christian community as the main evangelistic agency. However, it recognises the role of those who have a wider brief than the local church, if the result of such a national or international ministry is to enable local congregations to perceive and develop their own evangelistic resources. The ministry of Rob Frost, though still in an experimental phase, has given encouragement and vision to many whose particular concern is for young people.76
Similarly, the priority of evangelism as the essential and ultimate responsibility of the local church, continued to be a central emphasis of Frost’s own understanding of and approach to his national evangelistic ministry, throughout his life.77
72 RFSG, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988). 73 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Ministerial Leaders, (1988). 74 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Children’s Work, (1988). 75 See, for example, MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1983), p. 269. 76 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1984), p. 328. 77 RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996). 175
The Growing Mission
The penultimate characteristic of Methodist missiology emphasises that God’s mission, in which the church is called to share, is a growing mission. Therefore, the church at every level is urged to keep its strategy for mission under regular review.
This should involve identifying both new needs and opportunities for mission that have emerged as well as existing programmes that can be brought to an end because they have either fulfilled their purpose or are no longer meeting a need most effectively, freeing resources for redeployment. The mission activity of the church should therefore be continually changing and developing in response to the emerging opportunities of the context in which it is set.
Whilst there was a remarkably consistent pattern of activity that came to shape
Frost’s ministry over the years, consisting of the annual Share Jesus missions, Easter
People and Seed Teams, and the biennial touring productions, there was within this pattern a flexibility and responsiveness to new opportunities. Even the major recurring projects developed and ended according to the perceived needs of the church and society.
One of Frost’s most significant gifts was the visionary entrepreneurship he brought to evangelistic ministry. His flair for this emerged even in the paper he wrote early in his ministry, calling for the reinstatement of the role of Connexional
Evangelists within the MCB. In outlining the work such a person would be able to undertake, freed from the responsibilities of circuit ministry, he was able accurately to recognise, for instance, the opportunities for evangelistic ministry which would soon develop within the expansion of local radio networks.78 Throughout his ministry, particularly at points of transition within Connexional structures which prompted reviews of his own ministry, Frost’s gifts as an entrepreneurial evangelist were
78 Frost, ‘Do the work’. 176 identified as one of the most distinctive features of his ministry, as well as being the reason his ministry was difficult to structure within the institutional life of the denomination.79 This visionary approach to evangelistic ministry would continue to be a characteristic of Frost’s work throughout his life.80
Frost sought continually to review and develop even the regular events of his ministry to ensure they continued to be effective in fulfilling their aims. He argued, for example, that there should be regular changes within the leadership team of Easter
People to keep the event ‘fresh’,81 and the theme changed every year. The touring productions focused on contemporary needs and opportunities within both church and society. Over the years, the models of Share Jesus missions developed from those which relied upon significant amounts of ‘cold call door-knocking’ and completing surveys culminating with evangelistic questions, to celebratory carnival formats.82
Frost maintained that each project, whether regular or ad-hoc, was developed in
‘response to felt needs in the local situation’ as he sought to contribute to the growing mission.83 Such adaptation was, of course, most clearly evidenced in his engagements with New Age and Christian spirituality, through which he recognised new opportunities for evangelism in a changing society and, in response, changed his own approach to evangelism and developed new resources to support the evangelistic work of others.84 Frost urged local churches to take a similar approach in keeping their missional activity under review, reviewing their current forms of evangelistic ministry,85 and developing strategies for mission.86
79 RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 80 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007-15 (2006). 81 RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: The Leadership Team, (1988). 82 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 98. 83 RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996). 84 Frost, A Closer Look; Frost, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age, and Frost, Essence. 85 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 151-152. 86 Frost, Which Way, pp. 62-64. 177
Frost’s determination to undertake evangelism in the vernacular of the people meant that his own vision of mission and evangelism was constantly growing, evolving new forms of expression. Recognising that each initiative was of its time and subject to the natural ebb and flow of contemporary culture, he realised that it was right to draw some methods of outreach to a natural conclusion in order for new initiatives to flourish and be fully resourced and energised. Thus, his pursuit of new evangelistic projects to fit new opportunities was mirrored by his willingness to bring projects to an end when they were no longer meeting a need. The Seed Team programme ended when it became increasingly difficult to recruit volunteers for ‘gap year’ programmes owing to changes in government funding for higher education, and Vision Teams took their place.87 The
Share Jesus missions ceased when Frost discerned that they were no longer the most effective form of mission, and new, more innovative forms of mission emerged.
Most notable was Frost’s decision to end Easter People. He took the decision in the early years of the millennium that the twentieth Easter People, in 2007, should be the last, and persisted with the decision, despite the fact that many of the leaders of the event disagreed. The event itself was still very popular, attracting over ten thousand people every year, but Frost had recognised the aging demographic of the attenders, realised that it was no longer as attractive to younger people as it once was, and saw the voluntary laying down of a successful project as a prophetic act, demonstrating to the wider church that it can be right to bring to an end projects which are no longer most effectively meeting a need in order to release resources and make way for new projects to emerge which are better fitted to the present age.88 Throughout his ministry he had been committed to the ‘growing mission’ principle of Methodist missiology through pursing a ministry of entrepreneurial evangelism, envisioning new projects to meet new
87 RFSG, Rob Frost Support Group, 3 October 2000. 88 SJI, Easter People Leadership Team Meeting Papers, (26 May 2005). 178 opportunities and ending older projects that were no longer as effective as they once had been.
The Declining Church
The eighth and final characteristic of Methodist missiology is demonstrated in all the denominational statistics of the period: the MCB is a declining church.89 Thus, all its mission work has been undertaken against a backdrop of decline, with diminishing resources of people and finance. Effective mission strategy must therefore take the implications of decline seriously whilst recognising that the answer to decline lies not in resignation to its inevitable continuance, but in renewed enthusiasm for mission, particularly evangelism, and thereby for renewal and growth.
Throughout his ministry, Frost was clearly committed to promoting renewal within the MCB and seeking to reverse its decline. Firstly, he took the statistics seriously and was realistic about the decline of the denomination, though he warned against an over-emphasis on such statistics, which had the potential to create an inward- looking rather than an outward-looking church, focussing on what was happening within its own institution rather than the needs of the world outside.90 He expressed deep concern that the once pioneering movement of Methodism had become a preservation society and called for churches to plan for growth rather than anticipate decline; to become a ‘pilgrim people’ rather than a ‘preserving people’; to move ‘from maintenance to mission’. He advocated a re-ordering of priorities; a freedom from bureaucracy; an opportunity for every church to develop a strategy for mission in the expectation of growth.91 He examined churches which were experiencing growth,
89 www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/statistics-for-mission/overview/ (accessed 24 July 2018). 90 Frost, Which Way, pp. 33-34. 91 Frost, Which Way, pp. 14-30. 179 seeking to identify the characteristics which could lead to strategies for successful outreach. He called for a re-envisaging of the church for the future.92
Secondly, Frost sought to reverse decline by promoting the renewal of worship within Methodism throughout his ministry. This was evident in his touring productions of Gospel Roadshow, Daybreak and Breaking Bread and was a predominant purpose of
Easter People.93 The commitment to promoting renewal within Methodism, evident in
Frost’s earliest projects, remained a concern throughout his ministry.94
Thirdly, in pursuit of church renewal and growth, Frost offered to large numbers of people short-term experiences of effective evangelism and church growth with the hope that those who had participated would return to their home churches to work for renewal and growth with renewed commitment and insight. This he did primarily through Share Jesus missions and the Seed Team programme.95
Fourthly, Frost’s ministry clearly did contribute to church growth and renewal, even if it did not reverse the decline of the denomination. Statistics of Share Jesus missions demonstrated, for example, that amongst the members of the teams for the missions were those who had been converted on a previous mission.96 Through the
Share Jesus missions, people were coming to committed faith; through the Seed Team programme a number of people discerned a vocation to full-time Christian ministry.97
Seed Teams became a programme of church renewal and growth.98 The Share Jesus
92 Frost, Which Way, pp. 72-76. 93 See, for example, RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996), RFSG, Easter People publicity leaflet, (1990), and RFSG, ‘Reasons for Continuing with Easter People’ (1988). 94 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007-15 (2006). 95 See, for example, RFSG, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996). 96 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990). 97 See, for example, RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994). 98 RFSG, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990). 180 missions also seemed to counteract the increasingly aging demographic of Methodism.99
Throughout his ministry, Frost sought to encourage the leadership of younger people.100
Thus, Frost’s ministry was fitted to the context of a denomination in decline.
Ultimately, financial challenges within the declining church led to the cost-cutting drive which resulted in Frost being stationed in an appointment outside the control of the church, with reduced central funding, inevitably adding an additional burden of fundraising to his own ministry. Like the policy makers, Frost took the statistics of decline seriously. However, he also warned against a pre-occupation with such statistics and instead urged each local church to develop a strategy for mission. In a denomination which provided few such opportunities, he offered Christians from all backgrounds experiences of church growth and effective evangelism. Whilst he was not able on his own to reverse the statistics of decline, he did contribute to church growth by bringing people to faith through his ministry and encouraging others to pursue their own vocations to ministry within Methodism, particularly younger people.101 A concern for church renewal was central throughout his ministry, convinced that it alone could reverse the denomination’s decline.
A ministry shaped by and to the Methodist Church
It is therefore possible to conclude that each of the characteristics of the MCB’s theology of mission and evangelism was reflected in Frost’s own approach to his ministry as an evangelist and that his ministry provides a clear and authentic expression of British Methodism’s missiology in practice. Indeed, Frost’s ministry was both shaped by and shaped to the MCB.
99 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (1 November 1995). 100 See, for example, RFSG, Possible Alterations for 1989: Leadership Team, (1988) and SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015 (2006). 101 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 181
From an early age, Frost was shaped by Methodism. He had grown up within the MCB as the son of a Methodist minister and the denomination had been formative for him. Donald English did not invent the eight characteristics of Methodist missiology when he wrote the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ reports for the Conference.102
Rather, they had emerged from the years of the MCB’s engagement with evangelism as it sought to draw upon its Wesleyan heritage, faithful to the Great Commission, to serve the present age. These principles had become increasingly prominent through the work of the Commission on Evangelism, which was shaping the local work of Methodism throughout Frost’s formative adolescent years. It was perhaps a natural consequence that, when these principles were codified, there was a close correspondence with the personal understanding and commitment of one whose approach to the Christian life had been formed within Methodism.
Driven by a strong sense of vocation, Frost was determined to serve within
Methodism. He was deeply committed to the MCB. He believed he had a vocation to serve the denomination and to be a Methodist evangelist. When it was initially not possible to serve in a predominantly evangelistic role, he nevertheless continued in his commitment to ministry within the MCB, serving as a Circuit minister. When it did become possible to move into a national evangelistic role, he fitted his evangelistic ministry to the MCB. Whilst he was not necessarily committed to every aspect of
Methodist missiology with equal passion, owing to his ultimate commitment to a ministry of evangelism, he was nevertheless sufficiently committed to fulfilling that vocation within the MCB authentically that his ministry was clearly characterised by each of the emphases of Methodist missiology.
102 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’; MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission - Evangelism’; MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’. 182
It would also seem possible to conclude that Frost himself was influential in shaping the MCB’s theology and practice of evangelism. Most of the principles of
Methodist missiology considered within this thesis were codified under the leadership of Donald English as General Secretary of the Division of Home Mission and have proved to be foundational in later developments. Frost and English worked closely together; English was responsible for making it possible for Frost to be set apart in a national evangelistic role; both were committed to evangelism and there was a mutuality to their relationship which meant that each was influenced in thinking and practice by the other. It might have been expected that there would therefore be a correspondence between the principles developed by the one and the practice developed by the other. Indeed, Frost may have been more influential in defining British
Methodist missiology than he, or anyone else, realised.
Indeed, it might also be concluded from the brief study of the three ministers in chapter three, that Frost was, perhaps, more intentional about unambiguously shaping his ministry to and within the totality of the MCB’s missiology than the others herein studied. Although primarily concerned with evangelism, Frost did demonstrate a commitment to social caring and to the political struggle for justice, as to each of the other characteristics of Methodist missiology. Donald Soper, however, seemed to do little to promote the ‘one church’ emphasis across the theological spectrum and could be very scathing of those with whom he disagreed theologically. John Vincent seems to have been so committed to his conviction concerning ministry ‘at the bottom’, alongside the poor in a very particular way, that his writing might suggest he sees it as almost the only valid form of mission. Bill Davies has devoted his written work to promoting renewal and church unity within the church and has not therefore given significant attention to addressing the other emphases of Methodist missiology. This can, however, only be an observation based on a brief study of the ministries of those concerned and
183 would require a much more detailed investigation to confirm or deny the impression.
What is beyond doubt is Frost’s commitment to a ministry shaped by and to the MCB.
Such a commitment did not necessarily mean that his ministry fitted seamlessly into the institutional structures of the MCB. Frost found it difficult, at least at times, to relate to institutional Methodism and, similarly, institutional Methodism found it difficult to relate to him.103 As documented in chapter four, Frost’s gifts for visionary leadership proved to be extraordinarily difficult to accommodate within denominational structures. He sometimes felt that committee decisions had blocked the development of projects for which he felt enthusiasm, and there was a sense that committees believed they had a role of ensuring a visionary leader remained realistic and considered the full implications of his proposals. 104
This is, however, the nature of organisational leadership. Both visionaries and realists are required. There will inevitably be tensions. Productive teamwork necessitates finding a way to promote harmony as much as possible within the relationships. The tensions may at times have led to mutual frustration and suspicion between Frost and the committees of Methodism. Yet there was also a clear desire to promote a healthy relationship both on Frost’s part, who longed to serve as an evangelist within Methodism, and on the part of the MCB, which repeatedly affirmed its desire to preserve Frost’s freedom as a visionary leader for the benefit of the whole denomination.
The ‘missional wheel’ proposed in chapter three suggests a model which enables the church to encourage and enable its people, particularly visionary leaders, to flourish in their commitment to whichever aspect of the holistic mission they are primarily called to serve. This study has demonstrated that Methodism has not required its
103 See, for example, Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, pp. 36, 42-43. 104 See, for example, Frost, When I Can’t Pray, pp. 52-54. 184 ministers to be equally committed to every aspect of its mission. Ministers who have, more or less, affirmed the value of the ministry of those committed to other aspects of mission, have been free to devote themselves to the aspect to which they are most committed. All that is required is that they are committed to at least one aspect of mission, that (to a greater or lesser extent) they affirm the value of the other aspects, and that they remain connected to Methodism’s ‘hub’ and thereby to one another. It is a model that may have enabled the MCB to fulfil more fully its desire to ‘own’ Frost’s ministry, without unnecessarily restricting his entrepreneurial freedom as an evangelist.105
That leads to one final question of whether the breadth of ministry required by the MCB, compromised Frost’s effectiveness as an evangelist. Methodism had formed him, and Methodist was what he was determined to be, although this may have introduced a limiting factor into his ministry. Was Frost’s effectiveness as an evangelist compromised, for example, by Methodism’s ‘one church’ emphasis which encouraged him to work across the breadth of Methodism, even with those who were uncommitted to evangelism, or who strongly disagreed with his approach? What effect did the diversion of energy into interdenominational dialogue, not to mention the denominational bureaucracy of Methodism, have upon the evangelistic effectiveness of his ministry? Such questions concerning the limitations and the limiting effects of
British Methodism’s missiology are beyond the realms of this research. Whilst noting the importance of such questions, it is sufficient here to conclude that Frost’s ministry constituted a unique and authentic practical expression of the MCB’s theology of evangelism.
105 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (March 7 1994). 185
An important legacy
Throughout his national ministry, Frost’s work was driven by a commitment to two priorities: sharing Jesus and seeking renewal. As identified in the previous chapter and considered further below, a third priority began to emerge towards the end of his life: sustaining freedoms – the rights of Christians and other religious minorities to practice and represent their faith in public. Having recognised that Frost, through his ministry, gave practical expression to the British Methodist theology of evangelism, the legacy of that ministry may now be identified according to each of those priorities.
Sharing Jesus
The first aspect of Frost’s legacy concerns evangelism, what he often defined as
‘proclaiming Christ and seeking personal response’ and, more simply, as sharing Jesus.
Of course ultimately, through Frost’s evangelistic ministry, people came to faith. The significance of this aspect of his legacy must not be overlooked. Though not unique to
Frost, the declining nature of the MCB and its observed reticence towards evangelism would suggest that a ministry of bringing people to faith may not have been as common as would have been hoped. Such a legacy, though, might legitimately be expected of an evangelistic ministry.
There are, however, other aspects of Frost’s legacy which are more distinctive.
Perhaps his greatest legacy in the understanding of evangelism was the concept he introduced of ‘evangelism in the vernacular of the people’, demanding cultural relevance in Christian outreach. This emphasis, and its implications for the contemporary church, is considered further in the concluding chapter. Four further aspects of Frost’s legacy are worthy of note here.
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Re-establishing the ministry of evangelists
Frost himself possessed a clear sense of vocation to the ministry of an evangelist within the MCB, beyond the local level. Even before entering training for the ordained ministry, he exercised an evangelistic ministry. From the earliest days of his formal ministry within the MCB, when serving as a circuit minister, he argued for the reinstatement of the role of Connexional Evangelist which had been discontinued.
When he was himself appointed to the role, he played a central role in making the role of evangelists more prominent within the MCB. Through his ministry, others gained enthusiasm for and confidence in evangelism, and some discerned their own vocation to a ministry of evangelism. Thus, through the example of his ministry and through his writing, Frost helped significantly to re-establish the role of evangelists as a distinctive ministry within the collective consciousness of British Methodism, as considered further in the next chapter.
Mobilising in evangelism
Frost was both an evangelist in his own right and an enabler of others in evangelism. Indeed, he understood the enabling of others in evangelism to be central to his own evangelistic ministry. He offered experiences of effective and enthusiastic evangelism which were not readily available in a declining denomination, recruiting widely and encouraging those with no previous experience in such evangelism, from across the theological and denominational spectrum of the church, to participate. He thus inspired, mobilised and trained others in evangelistic ministry, primarily through supported participation and experience, often away from home, giving people the opportunity to experiment in the work of mission within a less pressured environment.106 Whilst he was himself a gifted and effective evangelistic preacher, and
106 Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 17. 187 reserved a central place for such gospel proclamation within his understanding of evangelism,107 he encouraged Christians to recognise evangelistic opportunities in many different activities and in the course of everyday life, believing that friendship evangelism is the most effective form, as observed in the previous chapter.108
In addition to the experiences of evangelism he offered, there remains his large corpus of published work which sought to encourage Christians in evangelism and
Christian discipleship. There thus remains a legacy of Frost’s ministry within those who discovered enthusiasm and skills in evangelism through his work who continue in ministry to this day. Whilst he recognised that the main projects he developed to facilitate this aspect of his ministry – Share Jesus Missions and Seed Teams – had outlived their cultural usefulness, the principles of mobilising, inspiring and training people in evangelism on a large scale nevertheless remain and seem to be an important element of Frost’s legacy for the contemporary church to recover.
Unity in evangelism
Though Frost was committed primarily to undertaking evangelism through local churches, as noted above, he was nevertheless committed to unity in evangelism, in two ways. Firstly, he encouraged and enabled local churches to work together, achieving together more than they could have done alone. This was particularly evidenced in the central events that were held as part of the mission weeks, providing a focus for the local evangelistic work and bringing local churches together in celebration, as well as in the large-scale professional theatre tours, bringing local churches together in various locations across the country in creative gospel presentations. Frost thus demonstrated the value of large scale events in evangelism which can be uniquely attractive and
107 See, for example, RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998) and SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015, (2006). 108 See, for example, Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 44-58 and 155-160. 188 inspirational to those outside the church, and provide an effective context for the proclamation of the gospel and the challenge to respond.109 In an age in which even gathered events within Methodism can decline in size and become increasingly lacklustre, this is an important aspect of his legacy.
Secondly, Frost pioneered ecumenical approaches to evangelism. His commitment to ecumenical unity was in evidence throughout the Share Jesus Missions programmes, for which Frost recruited across denominations and in which he encouraged churches hosting teams to work in partnership with other local churches throughout the mission week.110 Frost’s pioneering approach to ecumenical cooperation in evangelism came to the fore, however, in the formation of SJI with the commitment that each new project would be ecumenical in character and with all the work overseen by an ecumenical board.111 It is an organisation that continues to this day, still working cross-denominationally in evangelism. Frost thus demonstrated that it was possible to exercise a distinctively Methodist evangelistic ministry – as defined above – within an ecumenical context and, indeed, that Methodist evangelists have a distinctive contribution to make to wider Christian mission and evangelism.
Entrepreneurial in evangelism
From the earliest days of his ministry, Frost demonstrated particular gifts in visionary leadership.112 These he put to good effect in initiating evangelistic projects and mobilising others to join in them. As well as the flagship programmes which characterised his ministry, his entrepreneurial approach to evangelism was reflected in his desire to make good use of the creative arts in Christian outreach and in his
109 See Horsley, ‘Rob as an Evangelist’, p. 16. 110 See, for example, RFSG, Mission: East Midlands publicity leaflet, (1989), and RFSG, Share Jesus Mission: Prospectus 1996, (1995). 111 RFSG, New Board of the Rob Frost Team, (16 February 2000). 112 Frost, ‘Do the work’. 189 broadcasting ministry, seeking to make the most of every opportunity to cast broadly the message of the gospel. Although the majority of his broadcasting was through
Christian channels and stations, he did make some significant contributions to the mainstream, secular media and, towards the end of his life, was determined increasingly to move from Christian to secular platforms.113 Whilst there have been other British
Methodist ministers who have exercised a ministry in broadcasting, none, since Frost, has equalled his contribution to the field.
Frost’s entrepreneurial approach to evangelism can most clearly be seen in the way in which he introduced a new approach to evangelism and changed the methods of evangelism, as the then President of the Conference noted at his memorial service.114
This was a reference to his work in the field of New Age spirituality which led him to develop Essence and [email protected] The way in which the work was received demonstrates that such visionary leadership will not be universally popular and will necessarily involve conflict and difficult, as Frost discovered throughout his ministry.
Through his PhD research, Frost identified that visionary leadership had been singularly lacking in the Methodist church planting initiatives of the 1960s and, in later publications, wrote about the need to rediscover such visionary leadership within the contemporary church and to release those with the necessary gifts to exercise such a ministry without unnecessary constraints.116 Although it was his own gifts of visionary leadership and his accompanying entrepreneurial approach to evangelism that were identified as the chief cause of the difficulty in accommodating his ministry within the denominational structures, Frost nevertheless demonstrated the necessity of visionary leadership in mobilising Christians in evangelism.117 As discussed above, the model of
113 SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015, (2006). 114 SJI, A Celebration of the life of Rob Frost. 115 Frost, Essence, and Frost, Kids@Essence. 116 Frost, The response; Frost, Which Way, and Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’. 117 RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (March 7 1994); RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998). 190 the missional wheel offers a proposal for a way in which visionary leadership might be enabled more amicably in the future; the need for such a development is surely an important lesson of Frost’s legacy. Ways in which this has since been attempted, though arguably with limited success, through pioneer ministry within the MCB are considered in the next chapter.
Seeking Renewal
Frost’s commitment to evangelism – sharing Jesus – was accompanied by the interconnected commitment to seeking renewal. Central to this concern was his call for a rediscovery of Pentecost, the implications of which for the contemporary church, like those of evangelism in the vernacular of the people, will be addressed in the concluding chapter.
This commitment to renewal would also leave a significant legacy. Seed Teams became a programme of local church renewal.118 Easter People was envisaged to be a
‘stream of renewal’ which would flow throughout Methodism.119 Indeed, both were effective to this end. Although both programmes came to an end in the later years of
Frost’s ministry, through them significant numbers of people discerned a vocation to ministry and proceeded to formal training, many of whom are still serving in Christian ministry to this day.120 Indeed, it has been noted that a number people who had grown disillusioned with the denomination were persuaded to stay within the MCB primarily through the inspiration they experienced at Easter People year on year.121
Through both his PhD thesis and subsequent publications, Frost became a strong advocate not only of prioritising evangelism within the local church, but also of church
118 RFSG, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990). 119 RFSG, Easter People publicity leaflet, (1990). 120 See, for example, RFSG, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994). 121 Turner, ‘Rob as a Methodist’, p. 41. 191 planting and of creating new shapes of church, fitted to the new culture of contemporary society.122 These convictions anticipated the Fresh Expressions movement which subsequently led to new initiatives within the MCB, as considered in the following chapter, and some of which continue to the present day. Though the specific programmes may be subject to change, it might well be that the new era of church planting and new shapes of church, envisaged by Frost, is only just beginning. If that is so, through his writing he still has a contribution to make.
As part of his concern for seeking renewal, Frost was enthusiastically committed to training and mentoring younger leaders. This was evidenced through initiatives with
Easter People as well as in his work with the ILI. The ILI curriculum contained modules not only on mobilisation, which Frost himself is credited with writing, but also on vision and on authentic spirituality, all passionate areas of concern for Frost. His twin commitments to mentoring younger leaders and developing new shapes of church led him to call for the processes of vocational discernment and theological training within the MCB to be overhauled. This call he made shortly before his death, and it is a call that is yet to be heeded.123
Sustaining Freedoms
In his systematic treatment of evangelism, Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium, published in the year 2000, Frost observed that Christian beliefs in the uniqueness of
Jesus – and, more particularly, the rights of Christians to articulate such beliefs publically – were increasingly under threat within the contemporary multi-cultural and multi-faith society.124
122 Frost, The response; Frost, Which Way, and Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’. 123 Frost, ‘The Great Disconnection’ 124 Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 11. 192
It was a theme which would become increasingly prominent, both in his writing and in his practice of ministry. Foreseeing the increasing threat to Christian freedoms emerging from the government’s proposed religious hatred legislation in 2005, he raised further concerns through editing Freedom Fighters and the accompanying tour the following year, The Agenda.125 He argued that the increasing emphasis on political correctness within wider society was leading to the exclusion of Christians from public debate in the name of religious tolerance. Highlighting the conflicts with rights to religious freedom, he challenged Christians to speak out, safeguarding not only their own rights, but also those of other religious minorities.126
The strength of this call to political engagement in order to preserve Christian rights is mirrored in his 2008 publication, Doing the Right Thing. Here, Frost emphasised the likely costliness of such a stand.127
In one of the final pieces he wrote, Frost recognised not only that these concerns for sustaining Christian freedoms had been taking an increasingly prominent place within his own ministry, but would also need to become increasingly prominent within contemporary evangelism more generally.128 Having identified the new opportunities for mission brought about by the growing interest in spirituality within wider society, he also discerned a serious threat within a further development: the ‘rising tide’ of political correctness which was continuing to emerge as the post-modern worldview of relativism, pluralism and secularism increasingly drove out the Judeo-Christian worldview from contemporary British culture. Thus, whilst Christians must continue to speak of the gospel in the vernacular of the people, they must also recognise that the new vernacular of contemporary society is one which seeks to silence their voices.
Evangelism which seeks to speak in the vernacular of the people will therefore
125 Frost, Freedom Fighters. 126 Frost, ‘The Evangelist’, pp. 5, 19. 127 Frost, Doing the Right Thing, pp. 137-141. 128 Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’, pp. 48-56. 193 necessarily include contending for religious freedoms within the political arena and thus lead to greater conflict and greater cost.
Conclusion
Frost’s ministry was clearly shaped by, and shaped to, the MCB. He offered a practical demonstration of Methodist missiology in action. It was a unique ministry which not only made a significant contribution to the life of the MCB, but also has much to offer to the wider Christian understanding of evangelism.
Developments within Frost’s own approach to evangelistic ministry meant that new insights were emerging even in the final years of his ministry, from which there is still much to learn: new methods of evangelism, seeking more effectively to reach those influenced by postmodern culture and New Age spirituality; new shapes of church, which, Frost believed, must be central to the quest for renewal and effective evangelism within contemporary culture; and new challenges to sustain Christian freedoms in an age in which the new openness to spirituality within wider society is accompanied by an aggressive secularism which seeks to silence the voices of Christian evangelists.
Having identified noteworthy aspects of Frost’s legacy here, two of the most important implications of his ministry for the contemporary church will be considered more fully in the concluding chapter. First, however, the contribution Frost offers within the ongoing developments of British Methodism is considered in the following chapter and within the wider scholarly debate in chapter eight.
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7. Evangelism and Ecclesiology:
Developments in British Methodist Missiology
Under the leadership of Donald English, the Home Mission Division developed a clear and compelling understanding of the theology of evangelism, presenting a policy of strategic development for implementation across the Connexion. As a result of the
Division’s proposals and English’s lobbying of the appropriate Connexional committees, Rob Frost was appointed Connexional Evangelist. Through his ministry,
Frost authentically exemplified and contributed to the development of this official missiology of the MCB. The present chapter now turns to consider the relationship of this authentic British Methodist evangelistic theology and practice to subsequent developments in British Methodist theology as expressed in Conference reports, primarily the 1999 Statement, ‘Called to Love and Praise’.
The Division of Home Mission was disbanded as part of the discontinuance of the divisional structure resulting from the denominational restructuring of 1996.
Responsibility for the oversight of evangelism was entrusted to the Church and Society
Unit within the new Connexional Team. The protocol for reporting to the Conference on work at national level was changed in the restructuring process, resulting in the new units presenting much briefer reports on their areas of responsibility. Consequently, the subject of evangelism was much less frequently a part of the Conference’s business, though it did feature within later reports. Whilst explicit reference to the previous
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ series was almost entirely absent from these later reports, the eight emphases they identified would remain foundational to the subsequent developments in the theology of evangelism, although it is possible also to discern a drift away from one of its most fundamental convictions, that of inaugurated eschatology, as well as a number of additional concerning trends. 195
Evangelists and Evangelism Enablers
The policy of identifying those with particular gifts in evangelism and releasing them from other responsibilities in order to exercise a wider evangelistic ministry continued to find expression within the denomination in a separate series of reports. In
1993, the Conference had encouraged every District ‘to consider appointing a District
Evangelist/Mission Enabler/Team to encourage and assist churches in their evangelistic task’.1 A subsequent report, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, brought to the Conference of 1995,2 encouraged the continuance of the policy, noting that in the past Methodism had encouraged a generalist view of ministry, promoting pastoral ministry over evangelistic ministry, which had resulted in evangelists seeking employment elsewhere.3 In describing the precedent for such roles in biblical teaching and denominational history, it emphasises John Wesley’s insistence that those appointed as itinerant preachers within early Methodism must have proven evangelistic gifts.4 It observes that the emphasis in contemporary evangelistic appointments, however, has been not on proven evangelistic effectiveness, but on enabling the evangelistic ministry of others, and expresses the hope that there will be a growing number of appointments of evangelists in the immediate future.5
Five years later, ‘The Role and Recognition of Evangelists within the Methodist
Church’ was brought to the Conference of 2000, marking the end of the Decade of
Evangelism by considering the progress made in establishing the role of evangelists
1 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 1995), p. 295. 2 MCB, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 1995), pp. 293-300. 3 MCB, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, p. 295. 4 Wesley, ‘Minutes of the Third Annual Conference’ p. 161; MCB, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, p. 294. 5 MCB, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, p. 298. 196 within the denomination.6 A revised report, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists in the
Methodist Church’ was brought to the Conference of 2002.7 It observes a continued and widespread lack of confidence in evangelism across the Connexion and argues, therefore, that ‘confidence building’ will be an important aspect of the evangelist’s or evangelism enabler’s role, noting that the continued decline of the denomination and the changing context for the church in its ministry makes the role of evangelist all the more urgent.8 The report proposed criteria for identifying evangelists,9 and calls for official recognition of the role within the denomination.10 Returning to the question raised in the 1995 report as to whether the emphasis in such roles should be upon evangelist or enabler, this report concludes that all such roles should be understood within a spectrum between the two emphases. Appointment exclusively at either end should be resisted; an evangelist should not be a ‘lone ranger’, nor should enablers seek to train others to do what they cannot or will not do themselves.11
It is curious that the 2000 and 2002 reports make no mention whatsoever of Rob
Frost’s ministry as Connexional Evangelist. The only person to emerge as a result of the Division of Home Mission’s earlier policy of identifying those with particular gifts in evangelism and releasing them for wider ministry, he had already demonstrated evangelistic effectiveness prior to that appointment, illustrating what the 1995 report stated should be a prerequisite for appointment to an evangelistic role in the life of the church. Throughout his ministry, he had exemplified the balance, for which the 2002 report called, between the ministry of an evangelist and that of an enabler. A gifted evangelist, he was committed equally to using those gifts in bringing others to faith and
6 MCB, ‘The Role and Recognition of Evangelists in the Methodist Church’, (2000), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-role-of-evangelists-2000.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018). 7 MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists in the Methodist Church’, (2002), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-evangelism-and-evangelists-2002.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018). 8 MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists’, pp. 2-3. 9 MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists’, p. 5. 10 MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists’, p. 7. 11 MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists’, p. 6. 197 to equipping and enabling other Christians in the work of evangelism. Indeed, it was a central aspect of his evangelistic ministry to empower others to participate. He was neither a ‘lone-ranger’, nor someone who sought to enable others to do what he was unable or unwilling to do himself. Instead, he led by example, inspiring in others a confidence in evangelism, contrary to the prevailing trend in British Methodism and which the reports note as an urgently needed focus for evangelistic work within the denomination. The surprising absence of the Connexional Evangelist’s exemplification of the very contributions the reports sought to make is, perhaps, revealing of a lack of coherent strategic approach to evangelism at the highest level within the MCB.
Ecclesiastical Insights
The most significant item to be brought to the Conference in the years immediately following the denominational restructuring was the Statement, ‘Called to
Love and Praise’, a foundational document on ecclesiology which developed British
Methodism’s self-understanding as a denomination within the universal church of
Christ.12 It contains significant sections on mission, evangelism and related topics, and these reveal the ongoing influence of the principles developed in ‘Sharing in God’s
Mission’. Emphasising the ‘one mission’, ‘Called to Love and Praise’ affirms the missio Dei as the ultimate context for the missional activity of the church, which it observes is ‘closely linked to … the theme of God’s kingdom’, the resurrection of Jesus providing ‘the decisive evidence that God reigns’.13 This reign of God is, in turn, closely linked to the role of the contemporary church which anticipates, in its life and ministry, the fullness of the coming kingdom.14 Indeed, it is this continuity of mission and ministry with that of the first disciples, and consequently with that of Jesus himself,
12 MCB, ‘Called to Love and Praise’, (1999), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/down loads/conf-called-to- love-and-praise-1999.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018). 13 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, pp. 5-6. 14 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, pp. 6-7. 198 which constitutes the church as ‘apostolic’, one of the four ‘notes’ of the church identified by the Nicene Creed.15
Emphasising the ‘one church’, ‘Called to Love and Praise’ observes that ‘the church is one because God is one’ and so is called to pursue unity as it participates in
God’s mission, which is itself concerned with unity, ‘seeking to reconcile and to bring the world itself into a unity in Christ’.16 Celebrating the diversity within the church, which is a mark of its unity, the statement draws upon recent biblical scholarship which demonstrates that the unity of the New Testament church was itself characterised by considerable diversity and argues that ‘the New Testament offers a variety of perspectives’ on ways in which Christians might participate in God’s mission.17 The diversity of the early church, it suggests, also has implications for contemporary ecumenical conversations, and the statement expresses concern over the way in which continued division hinders the mission of the church.18
The ‘whole mission’ emphasis finds expression in ‘Called to Love and Praise’ through its recognition that the tasks of making more disciples, ministering alongside the poor, and struggling for a more just society all belong together. To the three aspects of mission originally identified by ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, ‘Called to Love and
Praise’ adds a fourth, of ecological concern in the light of ‘the growing threat to the natural environment’.19 This mirrors the development of Frost’s ministry, in which a commitment to matters of ecology emerged from his research into New Age spirituality at the turn of the millennium and became an important aspect of his work, culminating in the Hope for Planet Earth tour.
15 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 12. 16 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, pp. 15-16. 17 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 9. 18 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, pp. 11, 13, 29. 19 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 16. 199
There is a brief reference to the ‘whole church’ emphasis in the statement’s affirmation of the strong commitment to lay ministry within much of Methodism’s history and its acknowledgement that some of the past divisions within the movement occurred over the struggle for the laity to gain a larger share in the governance of the church.20 Similarly, the ‘global mission’ emphasis is briefly affirmed as ‘Called to
Love and Praise’ notes both the role of British Methodist missionaries in founding overseas Methodist Churches, and the more recent policy of encouraging its Overseas
Districts to become autonomous.21 It further notes that Methodism’s commitment to partnership in mission and to the interdependence of churches is embodied in its
Connexional principle, expressed at the international level through British participation in the World Methodist Council.22
The ‘local church’ emphasis is reflected in the statement stressing both the responsibilities and the interdependence of local churches. Within the Connexional structure, in which interdependence is expressed, local churches are given ‘the greatest possible degree of autonomy’.23 The statement identifies that ‘the principle of subsidiarity operates: the more local the issue, problem or opportunity, the more local the jurisdiction which applies to it’.24
Finally, the ‘growing mission’ is emphasised in the recognition, in ‘Called to
Love and Praise’, that according to Methodism’s early history, mission should be seen as prior to church order, allowing a pragmatic and flexible response to opportunities for mission and in its insistence that ‘the church should be structured for mission’.25 It too
20 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 19. 21 The later report, ‘Future Mission Together’, considered below, marks the completion of this process of establishing the autonomy of each of British Methodism’s Overseas Districts. MCB, ‘Future Mission Together’ (2012), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf2012-pc-25-future-mission-together.doc (accessed 2 April 2018). 22 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 30. 23 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 28. 24 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 29. 25 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 29. 200 recognises the ‘declining church’ emphasis and suggests that the denomination’s development from a responsive movement to a ‘ponderous and inflexible’ institution may be responsible for such decline.26
Defining Vision and Developing Confidence
As the new millennium approached, there was a renewed attempt at national level within British Methodism to identify a common vision and priorities for the work of the Connexion and its Team. ‘Our Calling’, adopted by the Conference in 2000,27 presented ‘a shared vision of what the church is for’ in Methodist understanding, highlighting the central place of service and evangelism within the life and purpose of the church, and providing a shared definition of evangelism for British Methodism:
‘making more followers of Jesus’.28
The clarity and simplicity of this new official definition of evangelism mirrored that of Frost’s overarching definition: ‘sharing Jesus’. There is, however, a fundamental difference at heart between the two. Frost’s definition identifies faithful communication as the essence of evangelism – an evangelist is someone who shares the message of
Jesus with others. The definition adopted by ‘Our Calling’ prioritises effective communication – evangelism occurs when more followers of Jesus are made. Both definitions leave open the question: has evangelism taken place even if no one has responded to the message? There is, of course, significant overlap between the two approaches and, as noted in the following chapter, the debate over how evangelism is to be defined continues.
26 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 30. 27 MCB, ‘Our Calling’, (2000), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-our-calling-2000.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018). 28 MCB, ‘Our Calling’, p. 1. 201
‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, adopted four years later,29 identifies similar trends to those which had previously been observed by other reports. Resolving that the MCB would work ‘in partnership with others as much as possible’ (a ‘one church’ emphasis), it commits the church, as part of its overarching priority, to renewing ‘confidence in God’s presence and action in the world and in the church’.30
Recognising a significant lack of confidence in evangelism across the Connexion, it calls upon the church to prioritise a commitment to ‘developing confidence in evangelism’.31 An earlier emphasis on church planting, as a means to effective evangelism,32 also re-emerges in the further commitment to ‘encouraging fresh ways of being church’.33 This, too, mirrors the developments in Frost’s ministry. He had similarly identified, through his PhD research and subsequent publication, Which Way for the Church?, a need for fresh approaches to church planting and presented a number of proposals for ways in which such a policy could be implemented.34
A number of initiatives were launched in response to ‘Priorities for the
Methodist Church’, most notably in the area of evangelism, ‘Time to Talk of God’ and
‘Fresh Expressions’.35 Whilst ‘Time to Talk of God’ seeks to develop the confidence of
Methodists in talking about their faith to one another as a means to deepening discipleship, it recognises that this could have an effect of increasing confidence also in talking of matters of faith with those outside the church.36
29 MCB, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, (2004), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf- priorities-for-the-MC-2004.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018). 30 MCB, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, pp. 1, 7. 31 MCB, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, pp. 1, 9. 32 See, for example, ‘Church Planting: A Way to Growth’, in MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 1992), pp. 245-248, which considers British Methodism’s response to the international DAWN initiative and encourages every Circuit within the BMC to establish a new congregation by 2000 (p. 247). 33 MCB, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, pp. 1, 9. 34 Frost, The response; Frost, Which Way. 35 MCB, ‘Time to Talk’; and, for example, MCB, ‘Fresh Expressions’, (2007), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf07_19_Fresh_Expression s_pc.doc (accessed 2 April 2018). 36 MCB, ‘Time to Talk’, pp. 17-18. 202
In 2004, the MCB became a partner with the CofE in the Fresh Expressions initiative. As part of this initiative the Venture FX scheme was formed within
Methodism in 2008, with the aim of appointing twenty pioneers, lay and ordained, to establish twenty new fresh expressions of church reaching young adults with little or no
Christian heritage.37 Perhaps antecedents of this new initiative can be seen in Frost’s programme of Seed Teams, though the emphasis in Frost’s initiative was on pioneering work in teams in partnership with local churches rather than on the work of individual pioneers.
‘Our Calling’ and ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’ set the direction of travel for the denomination at national level until 2011. The Conference of that year received an extended report from the then General Secretary entitled, ‘Contemporary
Methodism: a discipleship movement shaped for mission’.38 The report’s subtitle is proposed as a statement of the vision for the direction of travel of the MCB: ‘a discipleship movement shaped for mission’, and the implications of this ‘ecclesial theme’ for mission and evangelism are expanded upon. Drawing on Church Growth theory to identify the widespread lack of confidence within the denomination as its
‘weakest health indicator’, the report calls for a disproportionate allocation of resources to evangelism.39
37 MCB, ‘Fresh Ways Working Group’, (2009), URL: http://www.methodist.org. uk/downloads/conf09- 16-fwow-gp-2009-201109.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018), p. 102. Alongside this experimental scheme, building on the insights of Venture FX, Methodist Pioneering Pathways was also initiated in 2014 as a means of affirming, supporting and resourcing pioneer ministry across the Connexion (MCB, ‘Methodist Council Report’, (2014), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-2014-32-methodist-council.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018), pp. 15-18; see also URL: www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in- britain/pioneer-ministry/methodist-pioneering-pathways/about-methodist-pioneering-pathways/ (accessed 28 June 2018). 38 MCB, ‘Contemporary Methodism’. There have only been two people to serve the MCB in the post of General Secretary. The post was established in 2003 when David Deeks was appointed to the role (URL: www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/news/latest-news/all-news/methodist-churchs-first-general-secretary-is- nominated/ (accessed 28 July 2018)). He retired in 2008, at which point Martyn Atkins was appointed. He stepped down in 2015 and the role was subsequently abolished (URL: www.methodist.org.uk/about- us/news/latest-news/all-news/methodist-general-secretary-to-step-down-in-2015/ (accessed 28 July 2018)). 39 MCB, ‘Contemporary Methodism’, p. 17. 203
This ‘ecclesiastical theme’ of ‘a discipleship movement shaped for mission’ does not seem, however, to have taken root within the denomination. Instead, in
January 2018, the Methodist Council reaffirmed ‘Our Calling’ as ‘the primary strategic driver for the whole Church’, recognising that a lack of experience and confidence in evangelism continues to be one of the most significant challenges facing contemporary
British Methodism.40 It therefore again established the making of more followers of
Jesus Christ through mission and evangelism as the first priority of denominational work in the coming years.41
A New Chapter …
The final report of significance to note in this review of British Methodism’s theology of evangelism is ‘Future Mission Together’, brought to the Conference of
2012,42 having emerged out of a consultation held in 2010 to mark the centenary of the
World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh.
… for Overseas Mission
It is a report which marks the end of ‘an important chapter’ for British
Methodism, and ‘seeks to identify the nature of the new paradigm for sharing in God’s mission’ as the church ‘embarks on a new chapter in the story of God’s mission to the world’.43 Celebrating the culmination of the church’s policy of encouraging its
Overseas Districts to become autonomous with the formation of the Gambia District as an independent church, it recognises that new structures are needed for new ways of
40 MCB, ‘Reaffirming Our Calling: Strategic Developments’, Report to the Methodist Council, (January 2018), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/media/5888/counc_mc18-1_reaffirming_our_-calling_jan_2018.pdf (accessed 28 June 2018). 41 MCB, ‘Reaffirming Our Calling’, p. 3. 42 MCB, Future Mission. 43 MCB, ‘Future Mission’, p. 3. 204 engaging in mission across the world.44 The report therefore makes the necessary constitutional provisions for the closing of the Methodist Missionary Society, which it recognises is no longer necessary as a separate society, and outlines principles to guide the church’s future missional activity across the world.45 It will, the report argues, continue to be a holistic mission, which holds evangelism to be an essential aspect of a wider understanding of mission; a mission for the ‘whole church’, with every Methodist contributing wherever they are; a united mission of the ‘one church’ engaging in partnership; and it will continue to be global in its dimensions.46
… for the One Mission
The primary emphasis of the report, however, is the principle that all mission is fundamentally the same, whether undertaken at home or overseas: there is only one mission, and all Methodists are called to participate in it, wherever they are.47 Thus, the developments in the Methodist theology of evangelism have turned full circle and returned to the initial, fundamental conviction of British Methodist missiology, though with added nuance: there is, ultimately, only one mission, the mission of God to the world, in which the church is called to participate and, wherever it does so, whether at home or overseas, that missional activity is fundamentally one and the same.
… for Home Mission?
It may be that this turning full circle in the developments of the theology of evangelism also marks the beginning of a new chapter for evangelism within British
Methodism itself. Strategic decisions have recently been made, leading to the appointment of a Connexional Director of Evangelism and Growth, who will have
44 MCB, ‘Future Mission’, p. 3. 45 MCB, ‘Future Mission’, pp. 9-11. 46 MCB, ‘Future Mission’, pp. 5-6. 47 MCB, ‘Future Mission’, p. 2. 205 oversight of a number of other new, related posts.48 It may be that this appointment signals a new prioritising of evangelism at national level within the MCB, which will enable strategic leadership to be exercised in a way that has not been apparent since the denominational restructuring of 1996.49 If this is to be the case, and such leadership is to be effective, this review of the Connexional approach to evangelism over the past fifty years and more suggests that some significant trends will need to be addressed.
Emerging Trends
The Drift Away from Inaugurated Eschatology
Inaugurated eschatology reached a point of particular clarity and conviction in
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’. However, although the basic elements of that eschatology are present in ‘Called to Love and Praise’, they do not constitute the organising principle of the report. On the contrary, there seems to be resistance within the report to the very concept of an organising principle, other than a general understanding of the gracious action of God in the world through the missio Dei. It consistently qualifies any perceived consensus within the New Testament record with an emphasis on its diversity. Whilst, for example, the report recognises that ‘the mission of the church is to live and proclaim God’s kingdom and God’s love as they were revealed in Jesus’, it qualifies that recognition with an emphasis on diversity: ‘but the New Testament offers a variety of perspectives on this fundamental task’, offering as examples the emphasis in John’s Gospel on the mission of the Father and Son, and the corresponding mission of the church; the emphasis in Luke and Acts on the place of the marginalised; and in
48 www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/news/latest-news/all-news/methodist-church-announces-new-director- of-evangelism-and-growth/ (accessed 3 July 2019). 49 A new draft strategy was published in July 2019, after the research for this thesis was completed: MCB, God for All: An Emerging Connexional Strategy for Evangelism and Growth – Draft Strategic Foundations Paper, (July 2019), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/media/12498/god-for-all-connexional- eg.pdf (accessed 25 November 2019). 206
Galatians on the inclusion of the Gentiles followed by subsequent tensions with
Judaism.50
This seems to have the effect of moving unhelpfully in the direction of diversifying the unity of the biblical record. Whilst there is indeed an important emphasis on the diversity of the life of the early church within the New Testament which legitimises a corresponding irenicism within the contemporary church, what validated that diversity was the universal conviction that, following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the reign of God, inaugurated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, continued to be experienced in and through the church.51 That was the fundamental category, the organising principle which connected the diverse ways in which the reign of God was experienced including the aforementioned invitation to the marginalised and to the Gentiles to be included.
One of the effects of this loss of focus is a diminishing of the role of the church within the missio Dei. The report seems to downplay the fundamental role of Pentecost within the outworking of God’s mission in the world.52 Not to give a privileged place to
Pentecost as uniquely effecting continuity between the mission of Jesus and the mission of the church is to risk the danger of fundamentally misunderstanding the nature and purpose of the church and its mission in the contemporary world. This is, perhaps, reflected in a tendency within the report to ‘accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive’ elements of the history of the church since the New Testament period.53 It tells only of the church’s failings and of its continued vocation in spite of them, which is part of the positive story, but does not tell of the profound ways in which that vocation
50 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 9. 51 See, for example, James Dunn who holds unity and diversity in the New Testament together with a strong emphasis on inaugurated eschatology (James D.G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, (London: SCM Press, 1977)). 52 See, for example, MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 6: ‘It is not possible to pinpoint the exact moment when the Church came into being …’ 53 See, for example, MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 31: ‘The Church has always been an unworthy bearer of such good news …’ 207 has been fulfilled as faithfully as humanly possible, empowered by the Holy Spirit, throughout its history. Given the general lack of confidence found within the church, this might suggest that it is a lack of confidence reflected also in, possibly even fuelled by, an official Conference report.
In the final chapter, I will suggest that this loss of focus on inaugurated eschatology within the theology of evangelism results in a lack of confidence in the gospel and a subsequent lack of confidence in the church, which are both more fundamental than, and causative of, the prevalent lack of confidence in evangelism. If this is so, it may well be impossible to restore confidence in evangelism across British
Methodism and reverse its decline without first restoring confidence in the gospel, and subsequently in the church, rooted in a proper understanding of inaugurated eschatology.
The Diminishing Place of Evangelism
In may be that the recent appointment of a Connexional Director of Evangelism and Growth signals a reversal of this second trend. However, it is not evident that the repeated calls to prioritise evangelism have been consistently applied to Connexional policy. The last report to Conference on the role of District Evangelism Enablers was brought in 2006 and, since then, the number of such appointments has reduced. The place of evangelism at Connexional level has significantly diminished over the last quarter of a century. Under the divisional structure, evangelism was a central responsibility of the Division of Home Mission, informed since 1966 by the work of its
Commission on Evangelism. Its relative importance was reflected in the division’s annual report to Conference which consistently included matters concerning the work of evangelism across the Connexion. In 1996, with the discontinuance of the divisional structure, responsibility for evangelism past to the Church and Society Unit within the
208 new Connexional Team, which also assumed responsibility for all the other functions of the Home Mission and Social Responsibility divisions. Given additional changes in the protocol for reporting on Connexional work, evangelism, which had been a subject of annual reports, was now formally before the Conference on a far less frequent basis.
It is notable that the Church and Society Unit’s brief section, in the first report of the Connexional Team under the new structure, records its decision to adopt the phrase
‘engaging with society’ in preference to distinguishing between evangelism, mission and social responsibility. Whilst it may appear to be a commendable motivation to prevent energy being ‘diverted into endless attempts within the Christian community to define what words mean, when that energy is needed for discipleship focussed on the world’,54 it resulted in a less explicit focus upon evangelism and a further diminishing of its place at Connexional level.
In fact, this development continued a trend observed by Rupert Davies, whom
Frost quoted in Which Way for the Church?: ‘the Methodist Church as a whole in the last three decades has swung from a policy of evangelism conceived as a self-justifying and self-contained activity, to one of including it in its total mission’.55 Frost argued that the effects of such policies on evangelism have ‘led to a downgrading of its importance, and … periods in the last thirty years in which evangelistic activity has been marginalised, discredited and even ridiculed’.56 The future implications of the policies seemed ominous.
Subsequent restructuring has continued the trend of diminishing the place of evangelism at Connexional level. In 2008, the unit structure gave way to five clusters, each overseen by a manager and, ultimately, by three Connexional Team Secretaries. In
2012, the post of Connexional Team Secretary was abolished, the managers became
54 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 2, (London: MCB, 1997), p. 530. 55 Rupert Davies, ‘Methodism’, in Rupert Davies (ed.), ‘The Testing of the Churches 1932-1982, (London: Epworth Press, 1982), p. 55. 56 Frost, Which Way, p. 121. 209 heads of clusters, the ‘Christian Communication, Evangelism and Advocacy’ cluster became ‘Mission and Advocacy’ and responsibility for evangelism passed to the
Discipleship and Ministries cluster. The Minutes of Conference and Directory 2017 shows the Discipleship and Development Coordinator to be the main contact for matters of evangelism.57 The coordinator serves within the Discipleship and Ministries
Learning Network in the Discipleship and Ministries cluster. Evangelism is therefore one element amongst the many responsibilities of the Discipleship Development Team, which states on its page on the MCB’s website,
Amongst other areas of focus we help coordinate work relating to spiritual disciplines and faith development, the promotion of biblical literacy, small group development, and vocational exploration.58
This leaves open the question of the place of evangelism within Connexional priorities.
It therefore seems clear that the place of evangelism within the denominational structures at Connexion level has been repeatedly diminished since 1996, leading to a loss of strategic leadership and a lack of intentional development of evangelistic policy and practice at national level. Whilst there continued to be a lack of confidence in evangelism across the Connexion, and the decline was not reversed, under the previous divisional structure, there were promising indications that a compelling theology of, and strategy for, evangelism were being developed. That momentum was soon lost following restructuring. This would seem to suggest that the prioritising of evangelism and the enabling of strategic leadership at Connexional level will be key to restoring confidence in evangelism and reversing decline if it is to occur in the future.
57 MCB, Minutes of Conference and Directory 2017, (London: MCB, 2017), p. 80. 58 www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/learning/specialism-teams/discipleship-development-team (accessed 11 April 2018). 210
The Disparity between Normative and Operant Theology
Almost throughout the entire period of more than fifty years considered in this thesis, Conference reports have repeatedly identified a pervasive, unrelenting lack of confidence in evangelism across the Connexion. This has been expressed, the reports have suggested, in a reticence about evangelism, questioning its appropriateness within contemporary society,59 and an unwillingness to talk about matters of faith with others.60
Although this is an example of normative documents seeking to describe operant practice, thus blurring the boundaries between these two theological ‘voices’, it would nevertheless seem to highlight a significant disparity between the church’s normative and operant theology.61 Despite the denomination’s clear and compelling normative theology of evangelism, its operant theology has embodied nervousness, reticence, and perhaps even opposition to, the practice of evangelism.
This trend was countered by its Connexional Evangelist whose ministry enabled to develop across the Connexion a network of people who had cultivated a confidence in evangelism through participating in the projects he led. The decision to move the primary focus of his work out of the denomination seems likely only to have contributed to the general weakening of confidence in evangelism throughout the church. It is axiomatic that future strategic leadership in evangelism at national level within the MCB will need to address afresh this hitherto unyielding discrepancy between its normative and operant theology.
59 MCB, ‘Contemporary Methodism’, p. 16. 60 MCB, ‘Time to Talk’, p. 14-15. 61 As defined in Helen Cameron, Deborah Bhatti, Catherine Duce, James Sweeney and Clare Watkins Talking about God in Practice: Theological Action Research and Practical Theology (London: SCM Press, 2010), pp. 53-56. 211
Conclusion
These subsequent developments in British Methodist missiology demonstrate that many of the characteristics of the clear and compelling theology of evangelism, developed previously through the work of the Division of Home Mission and expressed in the practice of its Connexional Evangelist, continued to be in evidence in
Connexional policy. It is, however, possible to discern a drift away from foundational principles. It is not always evident that many Methodists are aware that there is such a
Connexional understanding of evangelism, and it has often not been reflected either in denominational developments or in popular practice. There has been a loss of clarity in the theological convictions at the heart of its missiology, particular in regard to the understanding of inaugurated eschatology; evangelism has occupied a continually diminishing place at Connexional level within the denominational structures; and despite the determined efforts of the Division of Home Mission and the Connexional
Evangelist to reverse it, a significant disparity between theology and practice has continued to exist, manifested in an almost all-pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism. Whilst more recent strategic decisions may point to the beginning of a new chapter in British Methodist evangelism at Connexional level, these developments highlight trends which will need to be reversed if, as considered more fully in the concluding chapter, the denomination is to recover confidence in evangelism and halt its hitherto continual and dramatic decline.
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8. The Mission of God and the Kingdom of God:
Developments in the Theology of Evangelism
within Methodist Scholarship
The renewed interest in evangelism, considered in chapter two, which had surfaced particularly within Europe during the mid-twentieth century, has been reflected within the Methodist scholarship of the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Encouraged principally by the Foundation for Evangelism and its policy of endowing chairs of evangelism within UMC seminaries,1 the scholarly debate around Methodist approaches to evangelism has developed principally within the USA, although contributions have also been made from continental Europe and Britain.2
Perhaps mirroring the developments on the international scene, there has been both a significant diversity in the understandings of evangelism articulated and also an emerging consensus. Since Albert Outler stimulated an interest in recasting the evangelistic approach of John Wesley within the contemporary context in his
Evangelism in the Wesleyan Spirit,3 a diverse spectrum of views has emerged with some scholars arguing at one end for an ‘attractional’ model of evangelism – in which the church evangelises through the quality of its communal life shaped by gospel values,
1 Chilcote and Warner, The Study of Evangelism, p. xxiv. 2 Walter Klaiber, Call and Response: Biblical Foundations of a Theology of Evangelism, English Translation (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1997); originally published as Ruf und Antwort: Biblische Grundlagen einer Theolgie der Evangelisation, (Stuttgart, Germany: Christliches Verlagshaus GmbH and Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany: Neukirchener Verlag, 1990); Philip R. Meadows, ‘Entering the Divine Embrace: Towards an Ancient-Future Wesleyan Theology of Evangelism’, Wesley and Methodist Studies 3 (2011) , pp. 3-30; Philip R. Meadows, ‘The Journey of Evangelism’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies, (Oxford: OUP, 2009), pp. 413-430. 3 Albert Outler, Evangelism in the Wesleyan Spirit, (Nashville, TN: Tidings, 1971). In beginning to trace developments from Albert Outler’s Evangelism in the Wesleyan Spirit, I am following Mark Teasdale who identifies this as the point at which ‘a sustained conversation about evangelism began taking form and shape among United Methodist scholars’. See the extended version of his 2013 article http://markteasdale.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Long-Version-of-UM-Mission-Article.pdf (accessed 22 March 2018). 213 attracting others to it, rather than going out in mission4 – to others, at the opposite end, adopting a pragmatic Church Growth model, with an emphasis on proven methods which lead to the numerical growth of the church.5 Between them lie those who have adopted practical approaches to equipping local churches in their evangelistic ministry, emphasising, for example, the relational aspects of Wesley’s approach,6 or offering models of theological reflection to stimulate authentic evangelism;7 and those who have emphasised the implications of the initiative of God in the process of evangelism, who is already present and at work in the lives of those the church seeks to evangelise.8
There has also been an emphasis on the rediscovery of holiness as the aim of Wesley’s evangelism, gained by achieving union with God through an extended process of spiritual direction,9 and of his method of seeking a range of responses from awakening, through justification, to sanctification achieved through the repeated proclamation of the gospel in arenas which became increasingly personal, from field preaching, through society and class meetings, to home visitation.10 Many have explicitly affirmed the vital nature of the theological task of informing the practice of evangelism, and some have argued for a greater emphasis on evangelism within every element of theological education in seminaries.11
4 Mortimer Arias, ‘Centripetal Mission or Evangelization by Hospitality’, Missiology 10:1 (1982), pp. 69- 81; Brian P. Stone, Evangelism after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Christian Witness, (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2007). 5 George G. Hunter III, Go: The Church’s Main Purpose, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2017). 6 Henry H. Knight III and F. Douglas Powe Jr, Transforming Evangelism: The Wesleyan Way of Sharing Faith, (Nashville, TN: Discipleship Resources, 2006). 7 Mark R. Teasdale, Go! How to become a Great Commission Church, (Nashville, TN: Wesley’s Foundery Books, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, UMC, 2017); Mark R. Teasdale, Evangelism for Non-Evangelists: Sharing the Gospel Authentically, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2016). 8 Leonard Sweet, Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010). 9 Meadows, ‘Entering the Divine Embrace’ and Meadows, ‘The Journey of Evangelism’. 10 Jack Jackson, Offering Christ: John Wesley’s Evangelistic Vision, (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, Abingdon Press, 2017). 11 Mark R. Teasdale, Evangelism for Non-Evangelists: Sharing the Gospel Authentically, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2016). 214
A New Conversation
Amongst the diversity, however, there has emerged a growing consensus, predominantly through the work of three scholars in particular. Perhaps it is not coincidental that they were the three successive McCreless Professors of Evangelism at
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas at the time each published their contribution.12
William Abraham
The first was William (Billy) Abraham who, in The Logic of Evangelism (1989), lamented a perceived dearth of scholarly debate in the field of evangelism and sought to stimulate a new conversation.13 Reviewing the prevailing models of evangelism within the church, he concluded that each was insufficient because each emphasised only one aspect of the multi-faceted task. He proposed a new definition of evangelism as ‘that set of intentional activities which is governed by the goal of initiating people into the kingdom of God for the first time’.14 It is a definition which highlights three important aspects of evangelism: first, evangelism, in this understanding, consists of a number of activities rather than only the one activity of verbally proclaiming the gospel, though he reserves a central place for such proclamation; second, the evangelistic nature of the activities is determined by the intention with which it is carried out, not by the activity itself, or the results of the activity; third, the goal of evangelism is initiation into the kingdom of God, not simply conversion, nor church growth; conversion must be followed by initiation as part of the evangelistic task. Abraham omitted the final
12 www.smu.edu/Perkins (accessed 28 October 2019). 13 William J. Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism: A significant contribution to the theory and practice of evangelism, (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989), pp. 1-2. See also, William J. Abraham, ‘The Theology of Evangelism: The Heart of the Matter’ in Union Seminary Review, vol. 48, issue 2, (April 1994), pp. 117-130. The conversation has most recently been continued with the publication of Michael J. Gehring, Andrew D. Kinsey and Vaughan W. Baker (eds.), The Logic of Evangelism: Revisited, (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019). 14 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 95. 215 phrase, ‘for the first time’, from each subsequent repetition of the definition, an omission Scott Jones would observe and with which he would concur, as noted below.
A number of other principles follow from Abraham’s definition which are also important. First, he aims at being irenic, articulating an understanding of evangelism which encapsulates the various aspects of the task emphasised by the prevailing models, and which he hopes will appeal across the theological traditions and denominations.
Second, his emphasis on the kingdom of God stresses the conviction that evangelism is initiated by God and that, therefore, all anthropocentric distortions of evangelism should be resisted. Third, given the necessary place of a local church within the processes of initiation, he places responsibility for evangelism ultimately with the local church as a task in which all Christians are called to share. Fourth, he asserts that since God has taken the initiative, evangelism must be sustained and shaped by worship. Fifth, he underlines the importance of contextualisation in the work of evangelism. Sixth, and finally, he endorses the appropriateness of evangelism amongst people of other faiths.
Abraham’s definition of evangelism gains particular dynamism in the light of the way in which he understands the kingdom of God as the dynamic rule of God on earth. Adopting a form of inaugurated eschatology he argues that the kingdom of God was the essential core of the ministry of Jesus and the mission of his disciples.15 For them, this was rooted firmly within the worldview of the Hebrew scriptures which held that the God who had created the world had also persevered through its fall, working through the People of Israel for the blessing of the whole world, to re-establish his dynamic rule upon earth. The disciples believed they had experienced the inauguration of that dynamic rule of God through Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection. Even more remarkably, perhaps, they believed they continued to experience that same dynamic rule of God within their new, Spirit-filled community as the signs and wonders
15 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 23; Ladd, Jesus and the Kingdom, pp. 23-25. 216 that had characterised the ministry of Jesus were continued amongst them. It was this ultimate reality of the dynamic rule of God on earth in this group of people, Abraham contends, that provoked the curiosity of others and which empowered the apostles to declare the words and works of God that had been manifested in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.16 This continued experience of the dynamic rule of God in their midst sustained them in their mission in the face of opposition. Indeed, such opposition, they believed, validated their claim that the reign of God was manifested on earth within their community. At the heart of their message, which was rooted in recent events they were convinced had actually happened and they had witnessed, was the belief that the dynamic rule of God had been inaugurated on earth, was continued in their community and was within reach of all people because of those same events, even as they longed for that rule to be established in all its fullness. This, therefore, becomes the paradigmatic model for evangelism today.17
In the light of this understanding of the kingdom of God and of evangelism’s relationship to it, each of the prevailing models of evangelism within the contemporary church, Abraham argues, falls short. The ‘proclamation’ model, the most prominent model in the Western church, emphasises the verbal proclamation of the gospel in evangelism, the success of which is determined by the extent to which the gospel has been faithfully proclaimed, rather than by the response of the hearers to that message.
Whilst this model correctly affirms the central place of verbal proclamation within evangelism, without which evangelism can all too easily become meaningless, and corresponds with the etymology of the word ‘evangelism’ itself which means ‘to announce good news’, it nevertheless falls short as a comprehensive understanding of evangelism.
16 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 38. 17 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, pp. 38-39. 217
The portrayal of evangelism in the New Testament suggests more than the proclamation of the gospel alone. The Great Commission, for example, refers to making disciples, baptising and teaching (Matthew 28:19-20); the ministry of Philip, one of the first evangelists in the early church, was characterised not only by the proclamation of the gospel, but also by healing and other miracles, instruction and baptism (Acts 8:5-38). Additionally, in the proceeding history of the church, both within the patristic period, as demonstrated in a reference to evangelists in the work of
Eusebius18 and, much later, by the ministry of John Wesley, evangelism has been conceived as much more than only the proclamation of the gospel, involving also the establishing and nurturing of new Christians in the faith.
The predominance of the proclamation model within the contemporary church has resulted in the prevalence of the view of evangelists as itinerant preachers and of evangelism, therefore, being isolated from the regular life of the local church. At a deeper level, this approach to evangelism, Abraham argues, has been deeply affected by the individualism, anthropocentrism and the quest for autonomy of the age, which has meant that it has been shaped more by soteriology than eschatology, focussing on individual salvation in response to the message of the cross, rather than a message concerned with the present rule of God, inaugurated in Jesus Christ and continued in the community of the kingdom, the church, into which individuals are invited to enter.
The second prevailing model of evangelism, the Church Growth model, adopts a pragmatic approach which seeks to identify the factors which most effectively lead to the numerical growth of the church and to prioritise these in evangelism, the success of which is determined by the extent to which the church grows numerically.19 Whilst
18 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book 3, in Paul L. Maier (tr.), Eusebius: The Church History, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1999), pp. 82-113 [3.37.2; 110-111]. 19 For his analysis of the Church Growth movement, Abraham draws on the work of Donald McGavran, an early pioneer of this approach to evangelism. See, for example, Donald McGavran, Understanding Church Growth, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980) and, for an overview of McGavran’s work and that of those associated with him, see Charles Edward Van Engen, The Growth of the True Church, Amsterdam: 218
Church Growth theorists distinguish church growth from evangelism, the two have become synonymous in the minds of many of the theory’s advocates. Although the theory rightly emphasises that church growth ought to be a natural consequence of effective evangelism and, Abraham affirms, the concern for the pursuit of the facts and the resultant emphasis on pioneer mission is commendable, this too falls short as a comprehensive understanding of evangelism. Its relentless pragmatism can produce a ubiquitous utilitarian hidden agenda in the life of the church. Having discovered, for example, that the majority of people come to faith through the witness of a Christian friend, programmes of friendship evangelism have been developed. Whilst these may have much to commend them, there is a danger that friendship ceases to be genuine and is only viewed as a means to an end.
Such pragmatism can also lead to shallowness in theological engagement, with theological concerns relegated to secondary importance, and can result in the adoption of practices which are contrary to the gospel, a danger illustrated by the emergence of an emphasis on homogenous groups. Consisting of people of similar race or other background, these groups have also been discovered to be effective in church growth; however, without great care, these can lead to racial or other forms of segregation that is contrary to the gospel. Finally, like the proclamation model, the Church Growth model, since it is concerned only with church membership, pays little regard to the eschatological content and context of the gospel which invites all people to enter into the reign of God through the community of the kingdom.
For the sake of completeness, Abraham reviews three additional models of evangelism which can also be found within the contemporary church. ‘Soul-winning’ models emphasise the conversion of a person to Christian faith. ‘Witnessing’
Rudopi, 1981), pp. 518-537. See also C. Peter Wagner, Strategies for Church Growth, (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1987). 219 emphasises one-to-one faith sharing, particularly through testimony. ‘Discipling’, found predominantly amongst parachurch organisations, emphasises not only bringing people to Christian faith, but also the entirety of teaching them to be disciples, a model which has left Christians without roots in a local church. Abraham concludes, from his review of all these approaches to evangelism, that each emphasises one particular aspect of the multi-faceted practice of evangelism to which the church is called and that, therefore, each understanding has adopted a reductionist approach.
It is in this context that Abraham proposes his own definition of evangelism which roots its practice in his eschatological vision of the coming kingdom of God outlined above.20 He is careful to distinguish the initiation into the kingdom he advocates both from occultish, secretive forms with which initiation is often associated in popular thought, and from Christian initiation as it is widely understood within the church, consisting of rites of passage which lead to formal membership of the institutional church. Initiation into the kingdom of God, he argues, will necessarily be unique in its form, and consists of six aspects. However, these cannot be reduced to a merely utilitarian process. By its very essence, this initiation must be rooted in a deep sense of the imminence of God’s presence, interacting with history past and present, drawing the initiate into the reality of God’s reign on earth. Within that numinous reality, initiation into the kingdom of God consists of six aspects: conversion in which the initiates come to understand themselves to have been brought into the rule of God as willing citizens, forgiven of sins and living a new life; baptism, the only way by which it is possible to enter the community of the kingdom; morality, the acceptance of the inescapable moral character of life in the kingdom, summarised by the great commandments of love for God with all one’s being, and love for neighbour as oneself; the creed, as a codification of the intellectual commitments, the particular set of beliefs,
20 See also Abraham, ‘A Theology of Evangelism’, pp. 125-126. 220 that the kingdom necessitates;21 spiritual gifts, which sustain and equip the church, as it continues the works of the kingdom, in fulfilment of God’s promises to ancient Israel; and finally, spiritual disciplines, the means of grace, such as the Eucharist, prayer and fasting, by which alone life in the kingdom can be sustained.
To facilitate the implementation of his vision of evangelism as initiation into the kingdom, Abraham calls for the reinstatement of an institutional catechumenate within the church, with responsibility to oversee the formation of initiates through such a process. It is not the chronological order of the process that is important, he asserts, but that it is complete and balanced across the six aspects. He adds that there must be a necessary demarcation between initiation and continued growth and nurture. Initiation aims not at the complete mastery of each aspect, but at the grounding and establishing of the initiate in each of the elements as foundational to life in the kingdom.
In exploring the implications of his understanding of evangelism for the life of the church, Abraham asserts first that, given its relationship to the kingdom of God, evangelism is necessarily rooted in the church’s worship. It is in worship that the church, within a deep experience of the presence of God, expresses and responds to his rule within its life. The quality of the church’s worship will determine the quality of its evangelism; it is not coincidental that the widespread failure in evangelism across the church is matched by an equally widespread weakness in worship. As Abraham contends, ‘if God is not allowed to be Lord in the church, then it is unlikely that the church will be very effective in introducing people into the rule of God’.22 Conversely, when the church is authentic in its worship, it is reminded that God is already at work within the world and through the church to draw people to him, and so is set free from impossible pressure simply to be the manifestation of his rule on earth.
21 Abraham’s preference is for the Nicene Creed, given its early date of composition and its wide acceptance across the denominations (Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 147). 22 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 168. 221
Second, Abraham underlines the vital nature of understanding the context in which the church seeks to evangelise, though he also notes a tension. Whilst those who undertake evangelism should seek to gain a good understanding of the context of those they are seeking to reach, namely their convictions and sensibilities, so that they can communicate the gospel in a meaningful way, the evangelist is not free to change the message of the gospel. There is, however, no need, he argues, for the Christian to be intimidated by the surrounding culture. Throughout the history of the church, evangelism has always met with hostility from the prevailing culture, and yet has been undertaken with enthusiasm. He underlines the importance of apologetics in evangelism, yet argues that even this has its limitations, for conversion in the end, is brought about not through rational debate, but through ‘a deep personal encounter with the living God’.23 There is, within evangelism, an inevitable clash of cultures, and the
Christian gospel ultimately depends upon is own internal logic, rather than upon careful contextual analysis.
Third, Abraham considers the appropriateness of evangelism amongst people of other faiths. He dismisses the two popular contemporary approaches of either holding that Christianity allows for many ways to God, or of minimising the place of proclamation in preference for witness through service and the pursuit of justice, allowing the actions to speak for themselves. Rather, the high Christology that
Abraham proposes demands, on the one hand, an openness to those of other faiths and to God’s work within them, because Christ is the one who enlightens everyone who comes into the world (John 1:9). On the other hand, this high Christology also mandates evangelism. Thus, whilst he endorses the popular conception of dialogue with people of other faiths, Abraham contends that this is not the same as evangelism,
23 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 206. 222 and he argues strongly for the appropriateness of evangelistic ministry amongst people of other faiths, always marked by tolerance and freedom.
Throughout the book, Abraham considers a number of anticipated objections to his proposals. Though he answers more general concerns over the complicated nature of this approach to evangelism, he does not, however, address questions over the complexity of the model he articulates compared with the generally spontaneous practice of the first Christians. Whilst the need for the elements of initiation Abraham proposes were identified relatively early in the history of the church, clearly the ministry of the first generation of Christians, which Abraham argues is paradigmatic for the church of today, did not have such a detailed, systematised process of initiation. It is evident, for example in his comments on spiritual gifts, that Abraham himself recognises this. Writing of this aspect of initiation in the early church, he states,
those brought under the rule of God would have picked this up as a natural element in their experience, and they would have operated as if this was an obvious ingredient in their service of God.24
However, perhaps a detailed analysis and codification of what was once instinctual practice, such as Abraham offers, is necessary given the intervening years of history. Over those years, much of the widespread sense of the immediate, dynamic presence of God within the church often appears to have been lost, and the church itself has become institutionalised. As Abraham observes, the initiation of many church members is incomplete and those who have been left half-evangelised need to have the process completed if the church is going to rediscover an authentic approach to evangelism in the contemporary world. Abraham recognises that his proposals are ‘a counsel of perfection’ seeking to address ‘our present difficulties and crises’.25 Given
24 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 153. 25 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 106. 223 the catastrophic nature of those difficulties and crises, such a detailed roadmap is arguably necessary to chart the course back to an authentic practice of evangelism.
Thus Abraham sought to begin a scholarly conversation by proposing a definition which understands evangelism to consist of a range of activities, limited only by the intention with which they are undertaken. It is an irenic definition which suggests that evangelism must be rooted in a local church and is the responsibility of all
Christians. Its roots in the kingdom of God emphasise that God is the prime agent in evangelism and that anthropocentric distortions should therefore be resisted. It also follows that evangelism must be rooted in worship as Christians celebrate God’s reign together. It emphasises the importance of contextualization whilst safeguarding the integrity of the gospel message and endorses the appropriateness of evangelism amongst people of other faiths as it does amongst all people. Arguably, the strongest aspect of
Abraham’s approach to understanding evangelism is the way in which he roots it in an inaugurated eschatological vision of the kingdom of God, from which his definition flows. It is this to which I will return below, but first it is necessary to trace the way in which this conversation, initiated by Abraham, developed.
Scott Jones
Scott Jones (2003) consciously sought to continue the conversation.26 He largely endorses, but also seeks to refine and develop, Abraham’s definition of evangelism, proposing the following revision: ‘that set of loving, intentional activities governed by the goal of initiating people into Christian discipleship in response to the reign of God’.27 There are thus three additional emphases he introduces. First,
26 Scott J. Jones, The Evangelistic Love of God & Neighbour: A Theology of Witness and Discipleship, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2003). Jones has also written briefly about evangelism in Scott J. Jones, United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002), pp. 79-80 and 280-295, and in Scott J. Jones, The Wesleyan Way: A Faith that Matters, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2013), pp. 85-94. 27 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 18. 224 influenced by the New Testament scholar and German UMC bishop, Walter Klaiber, who drew attention to the primacy of God’s love in the New Testament as fundamental to all Christian activity,28 Jones argues that, since the love of God is prior to the kingdom of God, evangelism must be characterised ultimately by that love, thus excluding any practices that are less than loving. Additionally, the motivation of love makes evangelism a necessary task – the most loving thing to do for a person is to help them to experience the love of God for themselves. It also leads to evangelism being set within a holistic context, for love will also prompt Christians to do what they can to meet the needs of others and pursue justice in the world.
Second, Jones clarifies the relationship between Christian discipleship and the kingdom of God. His criticism of Abraham is that defining evangelism so closely in relationship with the kingdom of God suggests that God is restricted to working only through the church. Wishing to preserve the conviction that God can and does work outside the church, he defines the goal of evangelism as being to initiate people into
Christian discipleship. This is done in response to the initiative of God in establishing his kingdom. The emphasis on discipleship also frees the evangelist from making judgements about the individual’s salvation. All that is necessary is to determine whether or not the individual is moving in the direction of deepening discipleship. If not, the most loving thing to do is to seek to evangelise them. In elucidating the process of initiation, Jones adds a seventh aspect to Abraham’s six aspects of initiation, that of faith-sharing, for those new to faith should be encouraged and enabled to share their faith with others. In referring to the kingdom of God, Jones prefers the term ‘reign’ to
‘kingdom’ because it suggests God’s active involvement in the world and avoids unhelpful geographic, imperialistic and patriarchal connotations that might be suggested
28 Klaiber, Call and Response. 225 by ‘kingdom’.29 Like Abraham, in associating evangelism so closely with processes of initiation, Jones highlights both the necessity of evangelism being undertaken in close relationship with a local church and the responsibility of every Christian, the whole church, in the tasks of evangelism.
Third, as noted above, Jones observes Abraham’s omission of the final phrase of his definition, ‘for the first time’ after its initial use and endorses that omission.30 He argues that people who have been evangelised and, therefore initiated into Christian discipleship, may cease to be disciples, in which case it will be appropriate for
Christians to seek to evangelise them again.
Thus Jones identifies two points of contention with Abraham. The first is over the starting point for engaging theologically with the task of evangelism. Abraham identifies the kingdom of God as the heart of the gospel message and the ‘fundamental theological horizon’ for developing an understanding of evangelism.31 Jones, however, argues that there is a wider horizon which is even more fundamental, the love of God.
This is prior to the kingdom of God because God’s kingdom is an expression of his love. That ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8) is the central message of scripture, as has been asserted, he argues, by the Wesleyan tradition.32
Such an understanding leads to a central emphasis on evangelism because, Jones contends, obedience is the appropriate human response to God’s reign, particularly of the two great commandments to love God with everything one has and to love one’s neighbour as oneself. Love of God is expressed in worship. Love of neighbour is
29 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 18. 30 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 114. 31 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 17; Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 29. 32 See, for example, John Wesley, ‘This little sentence brought St. John more sweetness, even in the time he was writing it, than the whole world can bring. God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as he is said to be love; intimating that this is his darling, his reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amazing glory on all his other perfections.’ (John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament, (London: William Bowyer, 1755), 1 John 4:8, available: http://wesley.nnu.edu/?id=717 (accessed 27 March 2018)). 226 expressed in witness. The strength of this understanding of evangelism is, in Jones’ view, both its faithfulness to Jesus’ command to witness (Acts 1:8) and its holistic nature as it will be driven by a love which will seek to meet all the needs of a person as well as possible, including the need to know God’s love, thus combining words and actions, by far the most potent form of witness. To worship and witness, Jones adds the task of formation as a third, intermediary step. In order for Christians to love their neighbours as themselves, spiritual formation is necessary so that they themselves can become all that God intends them to be. Thus, the first point of contention Jones identifies with Abraham is his own assertion that thinking about evangelism should begin with the love of God rather than the kingdom of God. It flows from this that evangelistic practice must always be motivated and characterised by love.
The second point of contention, and Jones’ main criticism of Abraham’s argument, is over the way in which Jones understands Abraham’s definition of evangelism to restrict God to working only in and through the church. Abraham’s argument that evangelism seeks to initiate people into the kingdom implies, Jones contends, that this is therefore the only way one can enter the kingdom, and because the initiation Abraham envisages necessitates the involvement of the church, God’s sovereignty is limited. According to this definition, God can bring people into his kingdom only with the cooperation of the church. He is not free to work outside the bounds of the church to bring people into his kingdom through other means. The reign of God, according to this definition, in Jones’ view, is no ‘larger that the visible church.
Where there is no church, there can be no reign of God’.33
Jones argues that this problem is resolved if it is into discipleship (and thereby the kingdom) rather than the kingdom of God directly that the initiation aims. Indeed,
33 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, pp. 69-70. 227 he argues that this is implicit in a later essay of Abraham’s which should be taken as a revision of his earlier dismissal of the ‘discipling’ model of evangelism.34
Finally, for the purposes of this chapter, Jones considers the role of denominational and parachurch bodies in evangelism, given the emphasis on the responsibility of the local church which he strongly endorses.35 These wider bodies are necessary because local churches have not been true to their vocation to evangelism and so need external input. However, this work must be understood by all to be
‘supplementing or supporting the work congregations ought to be doing themselves’.36
Arguably, Jones’ strongest points are in making explicit what is implicit in
Abraham’s proposals, rather than in construing them as points of contention, and in some of the practical applications he offers of this emerging definition of evangelism, not least in his appendix, ‘A Systematic Approach to Congregational Evangelism’.37
Jones, perhaps, overstates the flaws of Abraham’s definition, and the differences between that definition and his own. His own emphasis on God’s love is implicit in
Abraham’s work. Whilst it is worth making it, and its implications for evangelism, explicit, Jones’ work would seem to have the effect of moving from the particular to the general, as I will consider more fully towards the end of this chapter, and in so doing is in danger of losing the dynamism of Abraham’s approach.
Jones’ assertion that Abraham’s later essay should be taken as a revision of his earlier dismissal of the ‘discipling’ model of evangelism is not at all clear from the essay itself. Rather, in the essay Abraham is committed to a reconsideration of the interplay between the church and the kingdom, between ecclesiology and eschatology, not with the relationship between evangelism and discipleship. His rejection of
‘discipling’ was of a specific model of evangelism, often carried out within parachurch
34 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, pp. 71-72. 35 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, pp. 76, 139-140. 36 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 71. 37 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, pp. 185-205. 228 organisations detached from local churches. Indeed, Jones himself concurs with
Abraham’s genuine rejection of this model when he writes:
Sometimes parachurch organisations presume that new converts only need to belong to their organisation, thereby suggesting that their organisation is all the church the person needs.38
Abraham’s rejection of that model in no way precludes Jones’ approach to discipleship. In fact, as considered further below, Abraham’s essay could be taken as an argument against Jones’ attempt to draw a more significant distinction between the church and the kingdom. Arguably, in over-emphasising the fact of God’s rule outside the church, Jones diminishes the importance of the church (as a divine, rather than human, institution) within the purposes of God.
The point of contention which Jones suggests is most substantial in his claim that Abraham limits God’s reign to be no more extensive than the visible church is, again, perhaps overstated and based upon a false premise. Abraham does not require
‘the presence of the church for the existence of the reign of God’ as Jones suggests.39
Abraham’s high Christology, which allows for people to have been enlightened, and even saved, by Christ without knowing him, as emerges from his discussion concerning the appropriateness of evangelism amongst people of other faiths, contradicts Jones’ claim.40 It may be, therefore, that Jones’ extensive argument for initiation being into
Christian discipleship rather than the kingdom concerns little more than semantics, whilst also, unintentionally, is in danger of losing the potency of the inaugurated eschatology that Abraham’s definition emphasises, as explored below.
38 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 76. 39 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 72. 40 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, pp. 219-220. 229
Elaine Heath
The third theologian to develop explicitly this scholarly conversation is Elaine
Heath (2008) who, acknowledging her indebtedness to Abraham and Jones, adopts a form of their definition, adding her own additional emphasis: ‘the holistic initiation of the people of God into the reign of God as revealed in Jesus Christ’.41 Her particular contribution is not the explicit reference to Jesus Christ being the focal point of God’s self-revelation which is axiomatic in the work of Abraham and Jones, though it is arguably beneficial to make it explicit. Rather, it is her emphasis on, and particular understanding of, the holistic nature of this initiation. This she does by drawing upon the insights of the ancient tradition of Christian mysticism, particularly the threefold way of purgation, illumination and union.42
Heath notes the incongruence of the absence of reference to Christian mysticism within the debates surrounding evangelism in the presence of the spiritual hunger of contemporary postmodern culture.43 She argues that evangelism is intrinsically connected to holiness, for the initiation which is the aim of evangelism is into a holy life, ‘given to God and God’s mission in the world’. Thus, she contends, the Christian mystics, ‘the great exemplars of holiness, … are without exception the first and best teachers of the theory and practice of evangelism’.44 They enlighten both ‘the meaning of the good news, as well as the spirit in which we are to share it’.45
Drawing on imagery first used by St John of the Cross, Heath identifies the current experience of the decline within the church as a corporate dark night of the soul.
41 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 13. See also, Elaine A. Heath and Scott T. Kisker, Longing for Spring: A New Vision for a Wesleyan Community, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2010), pp. 40-41, and Elaine A. Heath and Larry Duggins, Missional, Monastic. Mainline: A Guide to Starting Missional Micro- communities in Historically Mainline Traditions, (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014), pp. 23-31. 42 See also, Elaine A. Heath ‘The Quest for Holiness’, in William J. Abraham & James E. Kirby (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies, (Oxford: OUP, 2009), pp. 398-412. 43 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 12. 44 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 14. 45 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 21. 230
The wisdom of the mystics would suggest that this is a gracious gift of God, initiated by him to enable the church, through purgation, the first stage on the threefold path, to be freed from its disordered and idolatrous attachments which have, not least, led it to adopt ‘pragmatic and market-driven’ approaches to evangelism which have proven to be ineffective.46 The church must learn to see this dark night to be full of promise and hope, since it presages the dawning of a day of ‘new and vibrant life’.47
Thus freed from its disordered attachments, the church will be able to rediscover contemplative Christian spirituality, informed by the tradition of mysticism, leading to a new, authentic, fruitful form of evangelism which will appeal to the spiritual hunger of postmodernity. This is the illumination which follows the purgation of the threefold path. It will involve the discovery of evangelism which flows from ‘living in union with God in day to day life’.48 It will be defined by love; deeply rooted in personal holiness and marked by self-emptying; empowered by the discovery of personal identity in the profound experience of ‘coming home to [God’s] love’, primarily gained through contemplative prayer.49 It will flow out of a church which has received healing of its threefold wound of ‘sexism, racism, and classism’; and will strive for the redemption of the whole of creation.50
Finally, Heath explores the implications of such an approach to evangelism for the life of the church when it attains the final stage of ‘union’ in the threefold path.51 It means that the starting point for every evangelistic encounter will be the recognition of the other person as already loved, known and called by God with a corresponding therapeutic, non-punitive understanding of redemption which looks upon sin ‘with pity
46 In this context, Heath defines purgation as having a ‘cleansing aspect’ as ‘a process the church must go through to be revitalized and to reclaim its prophetic, healing, evangelistic presence in the world’ (Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 17, 20). 47 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 20. 48 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 20. 49 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 81-83. 50 Heath, The Mystic Way, p. 100. 51 See also, Heath, ‘The Quest’, p. 410. 231 and not with blame’.52 A self-emptying culture within the church will be embodied by bi-vocational pastors, as a permanent model of leadership rather than a temporary arrangement pending adequate funding, pastors who will earn their living in secular employment, enabling them to pour themselves out in ministry in and through the church, necessarily working in teams.53 It will be evangelistic ministry rooted in the security discovered and nurtured through contemplative prayer. It will be a church which has been resurrected by a new Pentecost, from which will emerge a
Pentecostalism, she suggests within her own national context, very different from the
‘hedonistic theology of much of contemporary American Pentecostalism’, a
‘Pentecostalism of the Lamb’ which will enable Christians to live a kenotic, ‘self- emptying’ life and bring healing of the divisions and abuses within the church, forming it into a truly egalitarian community.54 It will witness to God’s goodness and love in the care of creation through a proper theology of stewardship which is concerned with the care of creation rather than the giving of money, the responsible and environmentally friendly use of its own resources, and adopting a prophetic stance against consumerism.55
Whilst the more radical aspects of Heath’s proposals, not least the interpretation of current decline as a divinely-sent dark night, the nature of atonement, and the vision of an all-pervasive rediscovery of Christian mysticism, will undoubtedly be called into question by some and will not find universal acceptance within either the academy or the church, she does nevertheless establish at least three further important emphases in the developing understanding of evangelism within Methodism. First, her emphasis on the holistic nature of evangelism both demands authentic Christian living of those who
52 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 42-44, 125. 53 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 133-135; see also, Heath and Duggins, Missional. Monastic. Mainline., pp. 50-51. 54 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 161-162. 55 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 170-171; see also, Heath and Kisker, Longing for Spring, p. 40. 232 seek to be faithful in evangelism, sustained by the depth of their spirituality. It also requires them to view those they are seeking to reach as whole persons, the various aspects of whose lives are interlinked. This means that evangelism will necessitate the meeting of physical needs as well as communication of the message of the gospel.
Second, like Abraham and Jones before her, she highlights the importance of understanding the context in which evangelism takes place, ensuring that the gospel is communicated in ways which make sense within it. Her particular interest is in the postmodern aspects of contemporary culture, marked by spiritual hunger and interest in spirituality that is often disassociated with organised religion, which presents both fresh opportunities and fresh challenges to the church. These can only be addressed, she contends, through a rediscovery of Christian spirituality, drawing on the riches of the past. Third, true to her Wesleyan roots, she highlights the fundamental role of prevenient grace in evangelism, the necessity for evangelism to be shaped by the conviction that God is already at work within the lives of those who have yet to respond to the message of the gospel, and that he calls all, Christian and non-Christian alike, into an ever deeper relationship with him.
Convergence and Divergence
The scholarly conversation intentionally catalysed by Abraham and continued by Jones has culminated, for the time being, in the work of Heath. Taken together, these scholars have offered a number of insights into the theology of evangelism.
According to their approach, evangelism seeks to initiate people into God’s reign and aims at a seamless transition from proclamation of and response to the gospel message through to establishing in Christian discipleship. Any number of activities may therefore be evangelistic by nature if undertaken with that intention. Such activities must be motivated, and are mandated, by love. Evangelism is therefore necessarily
233 holistic, seeking to meet immediate needs and to pursue justice, as well as to share the gospel message in such a way as to inspire response. This understanding of evangelism is set within the context of God’s wider work within the world, beyond and apart from the church and emphasises God’s initiative, who is already at work in the life of every human being through his prevenient grace. In addition to that ultimate context, the scholars argue, evangelists must also pay attention to the particular context in which they seek to evangelise. Neither changing the content of their message, nor intimidated by the contextual differences, they should seek to initiate people into God’s reign in understandable and accessible ways. For Heath, this involves engaging with postmodern culture through a rediscovery of Christian mysticism and authentic
Christian spirituality.
It is the arrival of the scholarly conversation at this destination of postmodern cultural relevance which reveals the most striking correspondence with developments in
Rob Frost’s theology and practice of evangelism. In noting the absence of reference to
Christian mysticism within the debates surrounding evangelism in the postmodern age,
Heath neglected the work of Frost who had covered this ground almost a decade earlier.
Though they differ in the way in which they draw upon the resources, Frost had already claimed that the spirituality of the ancient Christian mystics had much to offer to the spiritual hunger of the contemporary age, providing within postmodern culture an appealing way of encountering the gospel.56 Both Heath and Frost found that their engagement with the Christian mystics strengthened their concern for authentic spirituality and led them to forms of evangelism which are holistic and which, amongst other concerns, emphasise the care of creation.
56 Rob Frost, A Closer Look; Frost, Essence; Frost, Kids@Essence; Frost, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’; Frost, ‘The Future of Evangelism’. 234
In a remarkable parallel with Frost’s work, Heath’s grappling with the ancient tradition of Christian mysticism led her to call for a rediscovery of Pentecost and for a new Pentecostalism. However, the way they conceived of this new Pentecost differs.
For Heath, it would be marked by a new quality within the internal life of the church, marked by self-emptying and true equality.57 For Frost, it had an outward focus, empowering the church to leave its buildings and pour onto the streets in creative celebration of the gospel, inviting others to join the journey of discovery towards encountering the living God.58
There are clearly many points at which the theology of evangelism emerging from this scholarly conversation converges with British Methodist missiology and its practical expression through Frost’s ministry. The missio Dei forms the ultimate context for all evangelistic thinking and activity in both. Each emphasises a holistic approach to evangelism, which seeks to meet life-diminishing needs through social caring and the political struggle for justice in addition to making more disciples of
Jesus. Each sees evangelism as, ultimately, the responsibility of the local church and as a task in which all Christians are called to share. It would seem implicit in the scholarly conversation that evangelism is an ongoing task for Christians, especially within the local church, which accords with the British Methodist explicit emphasis on the growing nature of its mission.
There are, however, points at which the scholarly conversation diverges from
British Methodist understandings. Firstly, whilst there is agreement that evangelism amongst people of other faiths is appropriate and, indeed, essential to the Christian vocation, there is little evidence in the scholarly debate of a desire to learn from
Christians of other cultures, which is the other aspect of British Methodism’s emphasis
57 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 161-162. 58 Frost, ‘Sleepless Nights’, pp. 9-17. 235 on the global nature of the church’s mission.59 It was disagreement over these issues which led to a parting of the ways between the World Methodist Council (WMC) and
British Methodism’s Commission on Evangelism in the early 1980s – the British delegates detecting a sense of ‘evangelical imperialism’ in the plans for the WMC’s proposed ‘Programme for World Evangelism’, as noted in chapter two.60 Perhaps the legacy of the different approaches adopted then is reflected in the different weighting given to global insights in the subsequent British and US approaches.61
Secondly, the declining nature of the denominations finds less emphasis in the
UMC scholarly conversation than it does in the British Methodist Conference documents. Although the UMC was in continual decline throughout the period of the scholarly conversation, perhaps the denomination’s much larger scale meant that the decline was not felt to be such a pressing concern.62
Thirdly, and perhaps the most striking point not only of divergence but also, to an extent, of convergence concerns the definition of evangelism itself. Each subsequent scholar has adopted, as the foundation of their own definition, Abraham’s concept of evangelism as initiation. He, and Heath after him, understood this as initiation into the kingdom/reign of God; for Scott, it was initiation into Christian discipleship. It is an understanding of evangelism which would seem to accord well with British
Methodism’s later definition of evangelism as ‘making more followers of Jesus
Christ’.63 Abraham arrived at the definition having surveyed alternative models of evangelism, particularly the two prevailing models of the day, proclamation and Church
Growth, concluding that each fall short of a fully comprehensive understanding of
59 See, for example, MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring’, p. 435. 60 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: MCB, 1981), p. 347. 61 It should be noted that the work of the International Leadership Institute, based in Atlanta, Georgia, offers a strong example of an approach much more in line with the British emphases. 62 See, for example, Mark Tooley, ‘Fifty Years Since Methodism Grew in America’, (2015), URL: www. https://juicyecumenism.com/2015/01/28/fifty-years-since-methodism-grew-in-america/ (accessed 31 March 2018). 63 MCB, ‘Our Calling’. 236 evangelism because each emphasises only one aspect of the multifaceted task of evangelism.
Notwithstanding Abraham’s claims of its inadequacy, Frost’s own model of evangelism was arguably most closely aligned with the proclamation model. Certainly, at the centre of his ministry was both the proclamation of the good news, seeking personal response, and also the enabling of others to share in evangelistic outreach.64
The framework he offered in Sharing Jesus, as a guide to those seeking to share the gospel with others, shows that proclamation of the gospel message was at the heart of the model he sought to pass on to others.65
Frost’s ministry did itself, however, counteract many of the shortcomings of the proclamation model identified by Abraham. Whilst Frost summarised his own model of evangelism as proclaiming Christ and seeking personal response, like Abraham, he recognised that evangelism consists not only of the verbal proclamation of the gospel, but of a range of activities. This was evidenced most clearly in the variety of activities in which he himself engaged: creative productions, broadcasting political debates, amongst others, as well as in the various tasks in which mission teams engaged under his leadership. To be evangelistic, however, Frost was clear that such activities must intend towards the sharing of the gospel message, though not necessarily on the first encounter with an individual.66-
Frost saw evangelism as being intrinsically related to discipleship and he himself sought to strengthen the connection, through both his writing and his practice. This is most clearly seen in his authorship of Break me, Shape me, which sought to explore discipleship from the perspective of an evangelist asking the question, ‘What next?’ and is further evidenced in his determination that missions should be conducted in
64 RFSG, Draft Future Concepts, (1998) and SJI, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015, (2006). 65 Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 51-57. 66 See, for example, Frost, Sharing Jesus, p. 47. 237 partnership with local churches which were able to demonstrate their ability to follow up the evangelistic work in an appropriate and sustainable way.67
Frost’s commitment to encouraging growth in discipleship was further connected to his concern for promoting renewal, both corporate and individual, believing that effective evangelism would naturally flow out of a spiritual encounter with the living God, and as such needed to be sustained by authentic worship.68 Like the United Methodist scholars, Frost understood evangelism, at its heart, to be team work, as he explained in Sharing Jesus, and was committed to the principle of the local church as the ‘God-ordained unit’ of mission, undertaking much of his own evangelistic ministry in partnership with local churches.69 One reason for this commitment was to ensure the strongest possibility of sustaining the evangelistic work he had undertaken and of supporting the growth in discipleship of those who responded to the message of the gospel. Therefore, whilst Abraham’s ‘counsel of perfection’ may have been for a greater seamlessness in the transition between evangelism and the early stages of discipleship,70 the concerns he sought to address through his proposed understanding of evangelism were shared and addressed similarly by Frost and mirrored in the British
Methodist Conference reports.
Evangelism in Three Dimensions
There are two further ways in which the scholarly conversation diverges from the British Methodist theology contained in the Conference reports and expressed in
Frost’s ministry: church cooperation, particularly ecumenically, and the ministry of evangelists. The three scholars exemplify through their writing a passionate concern for the restoration of ultimate responsibility for evangelism within the local church. The
67 Frost, Break me. 68 See, for example, Frost, Which Way, pp. 121-133. 69 Rob Frost, Sharing Jesus, pp. 76-77. 70 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 106. 238
British Methodist Conference documents concur that such a restoration is urgently needed and Frost himself demonstrated his own commitment to the local church as the primary unit of mission.71 However, in focussing so exclusively on the local church’s prime responsibility for evangelism, the scholars have arguably developed what could be termed a one dimensional understanding of evangelism, even if it is conceded that their focus has been on the primary dimension and that they have significant contributions to make to that aspect of evangelism. The British Methodist Conference documents, by way of contrast, present a three dimensional approach to evangelism and
Rob Frost, as its Connexional Evangelist, demonstrated possibilities opened up by such an approach.
In addition to the primary dimension of the local church, the second dimension of evangelism to emerge from the British Methodist documents is the church-to-church dimension, in which individual churches are encouraged actively to cooperate with other churches in evangelistic outreach, both within and across denominations. It is a dimension to evangelistic ministry which emerges from the ‘one church’ emphasis of the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ reports, calling for unity in the work of mission, both with those of differing theological convictions and with those of other denominations, arguing that disunity in the Christian church undermines its mission.72 This second dimension of mission was further endorsed by the later ‘Priorities’ document which, as noted in the previous chapter, committed the MCB to fulfilling its mission ‘in partnership with others wherever possible’.73
Throughout his ministry, Frost demonstrated that significant possibilities can open up through commitment to this dimension of evangelism. He encouraged local churches to work together in mission and encouraged mission teams to work
71 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, pp. 503, 509; Frost. Sharing Jesus, pp. 61-106. 72 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490-497. 73 MCB, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’. 239 ecumenically through Share Jesus Missions and Seed Teams. Through his touring productions and the central events of each Share Jesus Mission, he enabled local churches to achieve together what they could not have done alone. He drew together large numbers of local church members from across the country at the annual Easter
People gatherings, giving people an opportunity to celebrate and to serve in a context that was not possible to achieve at a local level and invited other denominations to contribute to the programmes. The strength of his commitment to this ecumenical dimension of mission was epitomised, however, in his vision for SJI as an interdenominational mission agency. Overseen by a board representing each of the mainline protestant denominations (though finding a Roman Catholic representative proved more challenging, despite Frost’s approaches to denominational leaders), Frost was determined that each new project should have an ecumenical basis as far as possible.74 He therefore demonstrated in practice that it was possible to maintain an identity as a Methodist minister and evangelist, informed by a distinctively Methodist understanding of mission, whilst pioneering ecumenical approaches to evangelism at a national level.
If the church-to-church dimension adds width to the local church’s ministry of evangelism, the third dimension might be said to add height. It is the dimension of the ministry of the evangelist who works beyond and ‘above’ the local church in evangelistic outreach, leading by example, encouraging and enabling local churches to fulfil faithfully their ultimate responsibility for evangelism and creating opportunities for churches to work together on a larger scale.
There is, within the scholarly conversation, little emphasis on the vocation of individuals to the ministry of an evangelist. Rather, the emphasis is on all Christians
74 See, for example, The Rob Frost Support Group, New Board of the Rob Frost Team, (16 February 2000). 240 working together in the context of a local church in a process which transitions seamlessly from evangelism to discipleship. When Abraham writes of evangelists, he tends to raise concerns over the disconnection of their work from the ongoing process of initiation, often resulting in what he terms ‘spiritual miscarriages’.75 Jones does recognise a place for such ministry, though he does so as a concession. It is the failure of local churches to undertake evangelism properly which makes wider ministry necessary.76 This does, however, leave in question the way in which a ministry such as
Frost’s could be accommodated within the approach to evangelism developed through the scholarly conversation. Is the ministry of evangelists beyond the local church simply to be permitted as a concession to a less than adequate ministry of evangelism in the local church, or should the ministry of an evangelist have a permanent place within the wider church beyond the local level?
Frost possessed a clear sense of vocation to the ministry of an evangelist within the MCB. It seems implicit, in both his own writing as well as the Conference reports, that the ministry of the evangelist, working beyond the bounds of the local church, is understood to be a permanent feature of the Christian church. Whilst the emphasis was always on undertaking evangelism primarily through and in partnership with the local church, the evangelist’s role was nevertheless understood to be wider. Such an approach to evangelism was endorsed not only by Frost’s appointment as Connexional
Evangelist, but also by his appointment as Director of SJI, with its accompanying rationale of concentric circles of work, radiating from the local office base (in Raynes
Park), throughout London and the UK and, finally, to the wider world.77 Whilst equipping local churches to exercise their evangelistic responsibilities more faithfully was seen as an integral aspect of such a ministry, it was never suggested that such a
75 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 140 76 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 71. 77 SJI, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001). 241 ministry might one day be made redundant by local churches properly undertaking evangelism. Rather, according to Conference reports, it was incumbent upon the church, at every level, to identify those with gifts in, and a vocation to, the ministry of an evangelist in order to release them for wider ministry.78 Frost demonstrated through his ministry that, without contradicting the UMC scholars’ emphasis on the local church, there was a role for evangelists working beyond the local church, offering visionary and entrepreneurial leadership in evangelism, mobilising and equipping others to join in evangelistic outreach and creating resources. An important part of such evangelistic leadership was the enabling of local churches in larger-scale activities which could only be achieved through working together in partnership. In Frost’s understanding of the role, central to his ministry as an evangelist was the promotion of renewal across churches, resourcing the church for evangelism, and keeping local churches mindful of their evangelistic responsibilities.
The Mission of God and the Kingdom of God
One of the most significant points of divergence has been within the scholarly debate itself, mirroring a similar development within British Methodist theology. This review of Methodist scholarship, particularly the work of Abraham, Jones and Heath, suggests that the central developments have revolved around two points of focus: the mission of God and the kingdom of God. Affirming the basic premise of the missio Dei which arose out of the wider international conferences reviewed in chapter two, the principle aspect of this scholarly debate concerned the nature of the kingdom of God.
Intentionally seeking to initiate a scholarly conversation about evangelism, Abraham proposed a holistic definition that relied upon an inaugurated understanding of
78 MCB, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: MCB, 1995), p. 295; MCB, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’; MCB, ‘The Role and Recognition’; MCB, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists’. 242 eschatology. Rejecting the contradictory claims of both apocalyptic eschatology, on the one hand, which claims that Jesus falsely believed that the kingdom of God would come almost immediately in a cataclysmic event, and also realised eschatology on the other, claiming that the kingdom of God had already come in its entirety in Jesus’ life and ministry, Abraham argues for inaugurated eschatology – that Jesus both believed that the kingdom of God was inaugurated in his life and ministry, and also anticipated its full and final manifestation at the end of history.79 Furthermore, Abraham argues that
Jesus’ disciples, rooted in an ancient Hebrew worldview, believed that they experienced in Jesus the long-awaited dynamic rule of God which was being inaugurated in his life, ministry, death and resurrection. Even more remarkably perhaps, following Jesus’ ascension and the fulfilment of the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of
Pentecost, they believed that they continued to experience the same dynamic rule of
God on earth in their Spirit-filled new community. Jesus’ ministry in the world was thus continued in and through them. It was this absolute conviction in God’s action in recent historical events and their continued experience of his dynamic rule which became the driving-force of their evangelism. The long-awaited kingdom of God had begun, they believed, into which people of every nation were invited to enter.80
It is this inaugurated eschatology that animates Abraham’s own definition of evangelism. Galvanised by the confident belief that God has acted in history in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to inaugurate his kingdom and, by their continued experience of God’s rule in their midst, Christians seek, through evangelism, to initiate others into that kingdom. Such is the genesis and genius of Abraham’s approach.
It is an approach which Jones seeks to develop. However, he argues that the kingdom of God is not sufficient as a starting point for evangelism because there is a yet
79 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, pp.21-23. 80 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, pp. 38-39. 243 more fundamental concept within the New Testament, the conviction that God is love.
The kingdom of God is, therefore, an expression of the far more fundamental love of
God and so thinking about evangelism, he argues, should begin with God’s love.81
This, however, is to move from the particular to the general. Thus, if the MCB’s statement ‘Called to Love and Praise’ moves unhelpfully in the direction of diversifying the unity of the biblical record, as suggested in the previous chapter,82 Jones seems to move, equally unhelpfully, in the direction of generalising the particular. The very essence of inaugurated eschatology, on which Abraham has built the definition, is the conviction that the God who is love has established his reign on earth in the particular, concrete events in history of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and continues to do so through the church, the community of the kingdom. To detract in any way from that particularity of the inauguration of the kingdom, as Jones does in his refined definition, is arguably to move in the direction of impotence in evangelism, for it results in the loss of that which animated the early Christian mission.
Jones exemplifies the dangers of adopting this direction of travel in the way he summarises his argument as he moves to introduce the elements of Christian discipleship:
God is sovereign, and God is graciously reigning on earth in partial ways now. Further, God is bringing about the fulfilment of God’s reign in the future. Human beings who encounter God’s activity consciously and faithfully commit themselves to it.83
Whilst in other places the omission is corrected, here, quite apart from any reference to his central conviction that God is love, he omits entirely two vital links in the eschatological framework upon which Abraham’s definition depends: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, in which God’s reign was inaugurated, and the outpouring of
81 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 29. 82 MCB, ‘Called to Love’, p. 9. 83 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 72. 244 the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost which was fundamental to its continuance in and through the church.
This latter point may be indicative of a further implication of Jones’ generalizing of the particular. He is so keen to distinguish between the church and God’s reign, in order to preserve God’s freedom to work outside the church,84 that he is in danger of minimising the central role of the church in this inaugurated eschatology. Whilst God has always been free to act outside its bounds – the role given to Cyrus being the archetypal example in the Old Testament and the message given to Cornelius in the
New – ‘the kingdom brings with it,’ as Abraham argues, ‘the Israel of God, that community in which God rules’.85 It is, again, the eschatological reality that, through evangelism, the church initiates people into this reign that gives evangelism its potency.
Such an understanding does not negate God’s freedom to work outside the church, nor is the understanding itself negated by the failures of the church to be more faithfully the
Israel of God. The answer to the latter is to recover the eschatology, not to diminish the church’s role within it.
One of the results of those failures of the church is a loss of the sense of the numinous presence of God that flows from his dynamic reign on earth in its midst, on which effective evangelism depends, as Abraham repeatedly asserts.86 It is this sense of authenticity and spiritual reality which Heath seeks to recover within the life of the church with her proposals for a return to Christian mysticism and particularly to the practice of contemplative prayer.87 Perhaps contemplative prayer is indeed one way in which to recover at least a personal sense of the numinous presence of God. However, in making her revisions to the definition of evangelism, she continues the direction of travel set by Jones, further detaching Christian spirituality from the concrete events in
84 Jones, The Evangelistic Love, p. 18. 85 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, p. 102. 86 See, for example, Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, pp. 23-39. 87 Heath, The Mystic Way, pp. 81-83. 245 history of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus through which the reign of God was inaugurated upon earth, now continued in the church.
Whilst there is much to commend the work of Jones and Heath, the great strength of Abraham’s definition is that it firmly roots evangelism in an inaugurated understanding of eschatology – the gospel of the kingdom – from which all else flows.
In this regard at least, the definition he first proposed has not been improved upon by subsequent revisions. The direction of travel in this scholarly conversation, mirrored within missiological developments within British Methodist Conference reports, as observed in the previous chapter, has profound implications for the future of Methodist evangelism. It is to these, as well as to the counterbalance presented through Frost’s ministry and legacy, that I turn in the following, concluding chapter.
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9. Conclusion:
Rediscovering Pentecost
This thesis has sought to identify and examine the legacy of Rob Frost’s ministry as an authentic expression of a British Methodist theology and practice of evangelism. This has involved reviewing the official policy of the MCB, primarily through the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ series of Conference reports, celebrated and validated expressions of Methodist ministry within Britain, subsequent developments in
MCB policy, and scholarly literature in the field of evangelism in Wesleyan perspective, predominantly arising from the UMC in the USA.
Eight characteristics of British Methodist missiology have been identified, arising principally out of the seminal ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ reports: the one mission (there is ultimately only one mission, the mission of God to the world he made, focussed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and continued through the church); the one church (as there is only one mission, participation in it is the task of the one church, thus calling for unity within and across denominations); the whole mission (mission is holistic and consists of at least the elements of evangelism, social caring, and the political struggle for justice); the whole church (mission, particularly evangelism, is the task of every Christian; the individual witness of Christians to their faith in daily life is one of the most effective forms of evangelism and this must be encouraged and equipped; however, some Christians with particular gifts have a vocation to the ministry of an evangelist and these must be identified and released for such service); the global mission (Christians must seek to work in partnership with, and learn from, Christians from other cultures and countries, and should be willing both to work together with, and share their faith in dialogue with, people of other faiths); the local church (mission, particularly evangelism, is ultimately the responsibility of the 247 local church and so national church structures should seek to encourage and equip local churches to fulfil their responsibilities; those who work in evangelistic ministry more widely should seek to do so primarily through local churches); the growing mission
(since God continues to be at work within the world, the church at every level should keep its mission strategy under continual review, identifying new needs and opportunities for mission and discarding programmes that are no longer effectively serving a purpose); the declining church (within the context of British Methodism, as with many other denominations in the West, all this work of mission is undertaken by a church which is in decline, and so all planning for missional activities must take the diminishing nature of resources into consideration, whilst recognising that such decline highlights the urgency of effective evangelism).
Important themes and trends have emerged. The concept of the missio Dei as the ultimate context for the church’s missional activity, which was identified by the ecumenical conferences of the mid-twentieth century, has been affirmed by both official
Methodist policy and the scholarly debates. There have also been points in both where there has been particular conviction and clarity about the role of inaugurated eschatology in providing the focus of the missio Dei in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who inaugurated the kingdom of God on earth and who continues his ministry through the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
There has, however, also been a trend of moving away from this particular focus, both within official Methodist policy, which has emphasised the diversity of the
New Testament over the unity of its witness, and within the scholarly debate which has emphasised the general missio Dei over the particular inaugurated eschatology. Both have the effect of diminishing the understanding of the nature and purpose of the church. There has been a further, related trend of an almost all pervasive and
248 unrelenting lack of confidence in evangelism throughout British Methodism.
Implications of these trends are considered below by way of conclusion.
The model of a ‘missional wheel’ has been proposed as a way of promoting both unity and missional effectiveness within British Methodism. Visionary leaders and passionate activists have often found themselves isolated within the denomination, despite Methodism’s affirmation that it wishes to affirm and support their ministries.
The proposed model seeks to enable the church to encourage and enable people to flourish in their commitment to whichever aspect of its holistic mission they are primarily called to serve whilst affirming the value of, and remaining connected to, other expressions of ministry.
The characteristics of Frost’s own practice and theology of evangelism have been identified through reviews of his archival material and published literature. These have been evaluated according to the eight characteristics of missiology identified as the criteria of authentic Methodist theology and practice, and have led to the conclusion that
Frost’s evangelistic ministry was an authentic expression of Methodist approaches to evangelism, offering a practical demonstration of its missiology. Reasons for such close correlation with Methodism’s official missiology have been considered, recognising that Frost was himself shaped within Methodism in the formative years of his childhood and adolescence, that he was himself influential in shaping denominational policy, and that he deliberately fitted his ministry to the MCB in which he was committed to serve. This has led to a further, unanswered question, as to whether Frost’s determination to exercise his ministry in an authentically Methodist way compromised his effectiveness as an evangelist.
Important aspects of Frost’s legacy have been identified. Driven by his twin commitments to sharing Jesus and seeking renewal, he played a significant role in re- establishing the ministry of evangelists within the MCB; he demonstrated the
249 importance of mobilising, inspiring and training Christians in evangelism on a large scale; he encouraged unity in evangelism and developed a pioneering approach to ecumenical cooperation whilst preserving Methodist identity and offering a distinctively
Methodist contribution; and he emphasised the importance of entrepreneurial, visionary leadership in evangelism, which led him to develop new evangelistic methods.
Contending that evangelism is intrinsically connected to renewal, he promoted church planting and the creation of new shapes of church, and called for an overhaul of the prevailing approach to training for ministry. In the final years of his ministry, he increasingly highlighted a new challenge to the church’s ministry of evangelism: the need to sustain Christian freedoms amidst the threats of aggressive secularism within wider culture.
In addition to the model of a ‘missional wheel’ outlined above, the concept of
‘evangelism in three dimensions’ has also been proposed. This offers a way of describing British Methodism’s distinctive contribution to the wider scholarly debates concerning evangelism. Whilst emphasising the local church’s ultimate responsibility for evangelism, this approach adds two additional dimensions to the practice of evangelism: the dimension of church-to-church cooperation and the further dimension of the ministry of evangelists, working beyond and ‘above’ the level of the local church as a permanent feature of the Christian church.
Two further themes have emerged from Frost’s own approach to evangelism, those of evangelism in the vernacular of the people and of rediscovering Pentecost. The former is key to effective evangelism and the latter to the church regaining confidence in evangelism. Both concepts continue to present vital challenges to the MCB in the form of theological implications. Before considering these theological implications in greater detail, however, it is important to note also a number of further practical implications which also arise from Frost’s legacy.
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Practical Implications
The practical implications concern the place of evangelists within the MCB and of responsibility for evangelism within its national structures. Firstly, having identified
Frost’s evangelistic ministry as an authentic expression of Methodist theology and practice, it seems possible also to conclude that he had rightly identified the needs of the denomination. Those needs remain in evidence today. In arguing for the reinstatement of the role of Connexional Evangelist and in his fulfilment of that ministry, he demonstrated the necessity of: the setting apart of those with evangelistic gifts to enable them to exercise that ministry free from other responsibilities; the offering of opportunities to gain experiences of evangelism within a declining denomination, inspiring and mobilising Christians in large numbers to join in evangelistic work; the production of up-to-date, relevant and useful resources; a local church focus for evangelistic ministry; large-scale events which are only possible when people work together; and of working towards encouraging renewal within the church. These needs continue to be as pressing today as they were when Frost identified them early in his ministry.
Secondly, a developed and compelling theology of mission and evangelism was able to emerge, and the Connexion was able to move towards forming a strategy for evangelism, only because the oversight of evangelism within the denomination was the responsibility of one of the Connexional divisions. In this role, the Division of Home
Mission kept the matter of evangelism continually on the agenda of the Conference through its annual reports. The divisions disappeared in the restructuring of 1996 and, since then, evangelism has not been the focussed responsibility of a national department in the same way, which has been greatly detrimental to the evangelistic ministry of the church.
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Thirdly, it was the MCB’s evangelistic theology and policies which enabled Rob
Frost’s evangelistic ministry to emerge into a Connexional role. It has been observed that other appointments to evangelistic roles within Districts have tended to emphasise the enabling of evangelism rather than the undertaking of evangelistic ministry itself.
Frost struck a different balance. He was first and foremost an evangelist who sought to bring others to faith, yet he also saw it as an intrinsic aspect of his ministry to enable others to discover, develop and exercise evangelistic gifts themselves. Frost demonstrates that the real need of the denomination is not necessarily for more evangelism enablers, but for evangelists with proven effectiveness who, in the exercise of their evangelistic ministry, will inspire and enable others to join them. In emphasising the need for proven effectiveness in making such appointments,
Methodism will be returning to the practice of John Wesley who asked, before appointing anyone to the office of itinerant preacher, ‘have any received remission of sins by their preaching?’1
Theological Implications
As important as these practical implications of Frost’s legacy are, the theological implications which emerge from this thesis would seem to be even more fundamental.
Indeed, it would seem that, without addressing these, it will be impossible to restore the
MCB’s confidence in evangelism and reverse the denomination’s decline. These theological implications are two-fold, emerging from two key themes of Frost’s legacy as a Methodist evangelist: those of evangelism in the vernacular of the people and of rediscovering Pentecost.
1 Wesley, ‘Minutes of the Third Annual Conference’, p. 161. 252
Evangelism in the Vernacular of the People: Cultural Relevance
Whilst developing the practical implications for British Methodism of Rob
Frost’s legacy, it is important to observe that simply imitating Frost’s practice of evangelism will not necessarily produce the same results that he achieved. At the heart of his own evangelistic ministry was his emphasis on evangelism in the vernacular of the people, an insistence that the evangelistic methods of one generation cannot simply be repeated by the next and remain equally effective. Instead, he argued that it is incumbent upon Christians to share the message of the gospel in the idioms of contemporary culture, in ways which are understandable and meaningful to those currently outside the life of the church. His own research enabled him to recognise that this vernacular had changed in the course of his ministry and this led him to change his own approach to evangelism. Thus, one of the theological principles that emerge from
Frost’s legacy is the conviction that methods of evangelism must continually change, keeping pace with the changes of the vernacular within contemporary culture.
Undertaking evangelism according to the principles of Frost’s approach will, therefore, sooner or later, mean rejecting the methods of his approach in favour of those which are more relevant to the new contemporary culture.
Indeed, a little over ten years following Frost’s death, there are indications that there have already been significant changes in the vernacular of contemporary culture.2
Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and a leading authority in the field, for example, has identified the emergence of a new generational
2 Whilst researchers disagree over the precise delineations, there is broad agreement that demographic cohorts, traced back to Frost’s own generation, can be divided between Baby Boomers (born mid 1940s – mid 1960s), Generation X (born mid 1960s – early 1980s), Millennials, or Generation Y (born early 1980s – mid 1990s) and Generation Z, which Jean Twenge terms the ‘iGen’ (born from the mid 1990s, with the end as yet undefined). See, for example, Mark McCrindle with Emily Wolfinger, The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations, (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2009), pp. 3-7, and Jean M. Twenge, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, and What That Means for the Rest of Us, (London: Atria Books, 2017), pp. 5-7. 253 group which she names the ‘iGen’ in recognition of its addiction to the iPhone, and is comprised roughly of those born between 1995 and 2012.3 At the time of writing, amongst the oldest of these who followed the path to university will have recently graduated and entered the world of work; their generation will shape the culture for years to come.4 Though Twenge’s research is particularly focussed on emerging trends within the USA, the indications are that, particularly owing to the growth in global communication, these trends are equally representative of Western culture more broadly.5 This is a generation that has never known life without the internet and barely known it without the ubiquitous smartphone.6 Without labelling such generational trends as either good or bad, Twenge’s research demonstrates that, as teenagers, fewer are drinking alcohol or engaging in sexual activity, and they take fewer risks than immediately preceding generations.7 Yet their addiction to smartphones has resulted in the collision of social media with early adolescent development, leaving in its wake higher levels of depression than ever before.8 They are, she observes, ‘the physically safest generation and the most mentally fragile’.9
It is a generation marked by commitment to tolerance and equality, though conversely by the large-scale rejection of religion,10 guided instead by the watchword,
‘believe in yourself’.11 Religion is seen as out-dated and negative, and is held to have lost the debate to science.12 Coming of age at a time when identifying as non-religious has become more socially acceptable than ever before, they are more likely than
3 Jean M. Twenge, iGen. I am grateful to David Murphy, Director of the Institute of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford for the commendation of Twenge’s work. 4 Twenge, iGen, p. 6. 5 Conversation with David Murphy, Thursday 15 February 2018, at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. 6 Twenge, iGen, p. 290. 7 Twnege, iGen, p. 291. 8 Twnege, iGen, p. 294. 9 Twnege, iGen, p. 312. 10 Twnege, iGen, p. 313. 11 Twnege, iGen, p. 138. 12 Twnege, iGen, p. 139. 254 previous generations to have been raised by non-religious parents and to have rejected religion themselves.
This thesis has placed an emphasis upon Frost’s discovery at the turn of the millennium that increasing numbers of people were open to spiritual experience though suspicious of organised religion. It is therefore of particular significance that Twenge has observed that ‘iGen’ers’ are not only more likely to have rejected organised religion, but are also less spiritual than previous generations.13 Though not writing from a confessional perspective, she does identify some implications for religious organisations. Those who do show any interest in religion, she suggests, look for expressions which are ‘more positive and less negative’.14 These organisations ‘should focus on active discussions,’ counteracting the short attention spans caused by smartphone addiction, focussing on ‘the “big questions” they have about life, love, God and meaning’.15 However, despite the difficulties of reaching a generation disinterested in religion, she concludes that the situation is not entirely negative. The scepticism of this new generation ‘can be a strength, because if they come to beliefs themselves, they might be more likely to keep them’.16
Whilst detailed analysis of generational shifts, and the subsequent missional implications, is beyond the realms of this thesis, Twenge’s work does demonstrate that, if the church today is to engage in evangelism in the vernacular of the people, it may well involve learning to speak a new language, just as Frost did at the turn of the millennium. The response at the time to Frost’s work in this regard might suggest that many other churches and evangelistic ministries struggled to observe the changes in the vernacular which he had identified. At a time when reliance on traditional approaches was rendering the church’s ministry as outdated, Frost continually developed his own
13 Twnege, iGen, pp. 130-131. 14 Twnege, iGen, p. 140. 15 Twnege, iGen, p. 141. 16 Twnege, iGen, p. 141. 255 approach to evangelistic ministry which enabled him to maintain pace with cultural change. Those who seek to follow the principles of Frost’s legacy as a Methodist evangelist will not follow his methods, for new methods of evangelism will be required for a new generation if ‘iGen’ers’ are going to be able to hear and to understand the message of the gospel in their own native language.
Rediscovering Pentecost: Confidence in the Gospel
Given the evident authenticity of Frost’s evangelistic ministry in terms of
Methodist theology and practice, the question remains as to why it was necessary for his work to move outside denominational structures. If the reasons given at the time were genuine, that Frost was a visionary leader who needed to be released to serve a wider, interdenominational constituency, the decision does not seem to have served Methodism well. Decline has continued, as has the pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism.
Perhaps it would have been possible to enable Frost’s visionary leadership without neglecting the conspicuous needs of the denomination.
Perhaps the most obvious answer is that, despite all the theological work, denominational policies and best efforts of a number of people, the reticence towards evangelism pervaded even the highest levels of decision making within the denomination, resulting in the manifestation of other priorities in spending and restructuring. Clearly the unease regarding evangelism which had surfaced in ecumenical debates of the early-twentieth century, leading to proposals of a moratorium on such work overseas, had pervaded approaches to evangelistic work also within
Britain and remained in evidence at national level within British Methodism at the close of the century.
‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Evangelism’ traces the lack of confidence in evangelism within Methodism to a lack of confidence in the gospel, and indicates that
256 there were signs that this lack of confidence was being reversed.17 However, the research culminating in this thesis suggests that a lack of confidence in the gospel remains. Indeed, this research also suggests that the pervasive lack of confidence in evangelism results from a lack of confidence in the church, which is itself a consequence of the lack of confidence in the gospel. – A lack of confidence in the gospel leads to a lack of confidence in the church, which in turn leads to a lack of confidence in evangelism. From such a contention arises a vitally important question: what is the cause of this lack of confidence and why is it so pervasive and unrelenting?
Could it be that the culture of the contemporary MCB, its policy and its praxis, rather than promoting, actually undermines its members’ and ministers’ confidence in the gospel?
It has been established within this thesis that there have been points at which the theology of evangelism within Methodism has reached particular clarity and conviction, establishing its roots within inaugurated eschatology. This has occurred both in British
Methodist policy through the ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ reports, largely the work of
Donald English, and in the scholarly debate through the work of William (Billy)
Abraham. However, it is possible also to discern a movement away from these foundations. The reports which followed ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ have tended towards diversifying the unity of the New Testament’s witness to the message and ministry of the early church, and scholars who followed Abraham emphasised the general concept of the missio Dei over its particular focus in inaugurated eschatology.
The effect of this loss of focus on inaugurated eschatology within the Methodist theology of evangelism has been two-fold. Firstly, it has resulted in a lack of clarity as to what the gospel is. Inaugurated eschatology makes it clear that, in his life, death and resurrection, Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God on earth. It is a kingdom that is
17 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission - Evangelism’, p. 433. 257 entered through repentance and faith. Jesus’ disciples, in him, experienced the presence of the dynamic rule of God on earth which was the substance of Jewish Messianic hope.
Leading scholars in the field identify an early verse in Mark’s Gospel as axiomatic of
Jesus’ gospel message: ‘Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news [gospel] of
God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe the good news”’ (Mark 1:15).18
The concrete events in history of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus as inaugurating the kingdom of God, into which people are invited to enter through repentance and faith, continued to form the substance of the evangelistic message of the
Apostles. As Michael Green observes in his seminal Evangelism in the Early Church, in the transition from the Gospels to the Acts of the Apostles, ‘the one who came preaching the good news has become the content of the good news’.19 The substance of the evangelistic message of the contemporary church must remain the same. However, this clarity has been lost in the departure from inaugurated eschatology; the resulting confusion can lead only to lack of confidence in evangelism.
The second effect of the loss of focus on inaugurated eschatology in the
Methodist theology of evangelism has been the subsequent loss of confidence in the church. Perhaps even more remarkable than the disciples’ experience of the presence of the dynamic reign of God on earth in the person and ministry of Jesus was their continued experience of the presence of that dynamic rule of God within the new,
Spirit-filled community of the kingdom, the church, following the Day of Pentecost. As
‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ observes, they discovered ‘they were able to do in the name
18 See, for example, Ladd, Jesus and the Kingdom, p. 41; Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re- Examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today (London: SCM Press, 1970), p. 26, and Dunn, The Christ and The Spirit: Christology, (Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1998), p. 245. 19 Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, (Guildford: Eagle, 1995; first edition London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1970), p. 59. 258 of Jesus what Jesus himself had done’.20 Through their communal life and ministry, empowered by the Holy Spirit, God was continuing his mission of extending his kingdom on earth. When the human weaknesses of the church are emphasised over its divine origins and purpose, as is the case in ‘Called to Love and Praise’, confidence is lost in the church, which can only lead subsequently to loss of confidence in evangelism. Healthy self-awareness seems to have given way to a crippling inferiority complex which hinders the church in its mission, particularly evangelism.
Related to the essential role of the church within the missio Dei, ‘Sharing in
God’s Mission’ identifies the challenge to the contemporary church posed by the experience of the immediacy of God’s presence within the early church: ‘the challenge for us today is to reflect that same sense of the immediacy of God’s presence by his
Spirit’.21 It is a challenge which Methodism is not alone in facing amongst Western denominations, raising the question of what the church is to do if that sense of the immediacy of God’s presence has been lost. The answers are far from clear. ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’ itself suggests that clues may be found within charismatic renewal.22
This was something that Frost sought to promote within the church, and he emphasised the need for all Christians to seek it. He recognised the reservations many Christians faced towards such renewal having encountered the over-zealous approaches of some, and suggested that it is about authentic Christian experience rather than particular styles of worship.
This seems broadly to be the consensus also of the scholarly considerations of the dilemma. All agree that ultimately such dynamic experiences of the Holy Spirit rest in the hands of the sovereign God.23 However, there may also be lessons which can be learned about the ways in which God invites human beings to enter into partnership
20 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. 21 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. 22 MCB, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, p. 490. 23 See, for example, Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, p. 191. 259 with him that will make such experiences more likely. Gordon Fee, though not uncritical of the tradition, writes from within Pentecostalism, and suggests that answers may lie in leadership, biblical teaching and fresh approaches to worship.24 Church of
Scotland minister and Methodist Local Preacher, James Dunn has suggested, in his brief scholarly consideration of the question, that some essential answers may indeed be discovered within Pentecostalism.25 Though the issue is enigmatic, it is clear that such a sense of the immediacy of the Spirit’s presence is essential to enthusiastic and effective evangelism and that, without it, there will continue to be a lack of confidence.
From this thesis has therefore arisen the contention that Frost was right in his quest to promote distinctively Methodist approaches to evangelism: a rediscovery of
Pentecost is indeed essential if the MCB is to recover confidence and competence in evangelism. It is Pentecost that forms the linchpin between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the church. There needs to be a rediscovery of confidence in the gospel, the good news that the kingdom of God has been inaugurated on earth in the concrete events in history of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. Furthermore, there needs to be a rediscovery of confidence in the church as the community of the kingdom, in which the presence of the dynamic rule of God continues to be experienced on earth, and through which primarily God continues his mission of extending his kingdom on earth. It is into this kingdom, not least through the church’s ministry of evangelism, that people are invited to enter by repentance and faith, initiated through evangelism as the church anticipates the full, future, final consummation of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
24 Fee, Paul, the Spirit, pp. 189-190. 25 James D.G. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, p. 229. 260
‘Go out in God’s Name’
The implications outlined above cut to the heart of the very purpose and existence of the church. If confidence in evangelism is to be restored and its institutional life is to be sustainable, it is vital that these implications are addressed at every level within the denomination including, as Frost argued, within ministerial training and formation. Acting on the practical implications will enable theological developments to be embedded throughout the denomination. However, the answer does not lie in abandoning all attempts to engage in evangelism until fluency has been achieved in the new vernacular of contemporary culture, and confidence in gospel and church has been rightly restored through a rediscovery of Pentecost. Frost’s ministry demonstrated that one of the ways in which Christians can learn the vernacular of contemporary culture, and experience the dynamic presence of the Holy Spirit, restoring confidence in gospel, church and evangelism, is to engage in the practice of evangelism in ways that are appropriately supported and resourced.
John Wesley himself predicted that enthusiasm for evangelism within the
Methodist movement would cool with the passing of the years, believing that there was a certain inevitability about it.26 He warned enthusiastic preachers of the gospel that they should expect to be hindered by ‘rich, cowardly, or lazy Methodists’. His advice to them in the face of such opposition: ‘regard them not … go out in God’s name into the most public places, and call all to repent and believe in the Gospel’.27 It was in these most public places, he had discovered, that the vernacular of his day was most fluently spoken.
26 See, for example, John Wesley, ‘Thoughts Upon Methodism’ in The Arminian Magazine (March 1787), p. 156. 27 John Wesley, ‘The Large Minutes’, in Henry D. Rack (ed.), The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley, vol. 10, The Methodist Societies: The Methodist Conference (Nashville, TN: Abingdon), pp. 451-453. 261
Rather than putting all evangelistic activity on hold until Methodism’s potentially catastrophic problems are solved, surely the authentic Methodist approach would be to ‘regard them not’ and to ‘go out in God’s name’ anyway. Throughout his ministry, Frost demonstrated that, even in unpromising denominational circumstances, it was possible to exercise an enthusiastic and effective, authentically Methodist, evangelistic ministry which engendered confidence within others. As Frost himself observed, new life lies latent within the seed of the gospel. As the seed is scattered in evangelism, that new life is released, not only for those thus brought to faith, but also, it seems, for those who sow the seed.28 Perhaps therein lies the secret of rediscovering
Pentecost, which is at the heart of the legacy of the evangelistic ministry of the Revd Dr Rob Frost.
28 Frost, Pilgrims, pp. 45-57. 262
Bibliography
The bibliography is divided into four sections: General Works,
Publications of the British Methodist Church, The Published Work of Rob Frost,
and Items Cited from the Rob Frost Archives, currently in the possession of the author.
General Works
All biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
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Bird, Matt, ‘Rob as a Preacher’, in Andy Frost (ed.), Rob Frost: Reflections on a Life Well Lived, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 50-57.
Brown, C. and G. Lynch, ‘Cultural Perspectives’, in L. Woodhead and R. Catto, Religion and Change in Modern Britain, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012), pp. 329-351.
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Dunn, James D.G. Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-Examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today, (London: SCM Press, 1970).
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Yrigoyen, C. Jr (ed.), T&T Clark Companion to Methodism, (London: T&T Clark, 2010).
Publications of the Methodist Church in Britain
Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1966, 1968, 1971-1974, 1976-1978, 1980-1984, 1986).
Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, 2 vols., (London: The Methodist Church, 1992-1995, 1997, 2002, 2005).
Methodist Church, Daily Record of the Methodist Conference, (London, The Methodist Church), 1966 – 2007.
Methodist Church, ‘Home Mission Report’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1966-1996).
Methodist Church, ‘Relationships with People of Other Faiths’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1983) pp. 57-58.
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Methodist Church, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1985), pp. 486-509.
Methodist Church, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission - Evangelism’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1986), pp. 431-445.
Methodist Church, ‘Sharing in God’s Mission – Social Caring and the Struggle for Justice’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1988), pp. 428-453.
Methodist Church, ‘Making New Christians’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1990), pp. 434-439.
Methodist Church, ‘Evangelism and People of Other Faiths’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1994), pp. 589-596.
Methodist Church, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: The Methodist Church, 1995), pp. 292-300.
Methodist Church, ‘The Ministry of the People of God in the World’, in Methodist Church, Statements and Reports of the Methodist Church on Faith and Order, vol. 2, part 1, (London: The Methodist Church, 2000).
Methodist Church, ‘Review of Church Life’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: The Methodist Church, 1993), pp. 457-469.
Methodist Church, Evangelism and People of Other Faiths’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, (London: The Methodist Church, 1994), pp. 589-596.
Methodist Church, ‘District Evangelism Enablers’, in Methodist Church, Agenda: Annual Conference, vol. 1, (London: The Methodist Church, 1995), pp. 293-300.
Methodist Church, ‘Called to Love and Praise’, (1999), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/down loads/conf-called-to-love-and-praise-1999.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Obituaries: Donald English’ in Methodist Church, Minutes of Conference and Directory, (London: The Methodist Church, 1999), pp. 32-33.
Methodist Church, ‘Our Calling’, (2000), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-our-calling-2000.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘The Role and Recognition of Evangelists in the Methodist Church’, (2000), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-role-of-evangelists- 2000.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Evangelism and Evangelists in the Methodist Church’, (2002), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-evangelism-and-evangelists- 2002.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
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Methodist Church, ‘Leadership in the Methodist Church’, (2002), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-leadership-in-the-MC-2002.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Leadership in the Methodist Church’, (2003), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-leadership-in-the-MC-2003.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘An Anglican Methodist Covenant’, (2003), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-anglican-methodist-joint-liason-group-2003.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Where are we heading?’, (2003) available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-where-are-we-heading-2003.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Priorities for the Methodist Church’, (2004), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-priorities-for-the-MC-2004.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘The Nature of Oversight: Leadership, Management and Governance in the Methodist Church of Great Britain’, (2005), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/co_05_natureofoversight_0805.doc (accessed 21 December 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Time to Talk of God’, (2005), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/co_02_timetotalkofgod_0505.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘General Secretary’s Report’, (2006), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/Conf06_Gen_Secretary's_Report.doc (accessed 21 December 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Mapping A Way Forward: Regrouping for Mission’, Note from the General Secretary to the Methodist Council, (2006), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/coun_mapping_a_way_forward_1006.doc (accessed 21 December 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Fresh Expressions’, (2007), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf07_19_Fresh_Expressions_pc.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘General Secretary’s Report’ (2007), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf07_02_General_Secs_Report_pc.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Obituaries: Robert William Frost’ in Methodist Church, Minutes of the Annual Conference and Directory, (London: The Methodist Church, 2008), pp. 42- 43.
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Methodist Church, ‘Team Focus’, (2008), available at URL www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf08_37_Team_Focus_report210808.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘The Missional Nature of the Church’, (2008), available at URL: http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf08_17_1_FO_report210808.doc (accessed 21 December 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Fresh Ways Working Group’, (2009), available at URL: http://www.methodist.org. uk/downloads/conf09-16-fwow-gp-2009-201109.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018)
Methodist Church, ‘Contemporary Methodism: a discipleship movement shaped for mission’, (2011), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf2011-pc-2- gen-sec-conference-report-0812.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, Connexional Team Guidelines for the Circuit Local Preachers’ Meeting, (2011), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/lp-connexional- team-guidelines130711.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Future Mission Together’ (2012), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf2012-pc-25-future-mission-together.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Methodist Council Report’, (2012), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf2012-pc-37-methodist-council-report.doc (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Methodist Council Report’, (2014), available at URL: www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/conf-2014-32-methodist-council.pdf (accessed 2 April 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘A Methodist resourcing of the mission of the Church’, report to the Methodist Council, (2016), available at URL www.methodist.org.uk/.../counc-mc16- dp1-intro-for-the-council-october-2016.pdf (accessed 29 March 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Deed of Union’, in The Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church, Vol. 2 (London: Methodist Publishing, 1951, sixth edition 1988, revised 2017), pp. 205-240.
Methodist Church, Minutes of Conference and Directory 2017, (London: The Methodist Church, 2017).
Methodist Church, The Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church, vol. 2, (London: Methodist Publishing, 1951, sixth edition 1988, revised 2017).
Methodist Church, ‘The Impact of Regrouping for Mission on the Life of the Methodist Church: A Report on Research’, (2017), available at URL www.methodist.org.uk/media/4893/rfm_full_report.pdf (accessed 29 March 2018).
Methodist Church, ‘Reaffirming Our Calling: Strategic Developments’, Report to the Methodist Council, (January 2018), URL: 274 www.methodist.org.uk/media/5888/counc_mc18-1_reaffirming_our_- calling_jan_2018.pdf (accessed 28 June 2018).
Methodist Church, God for All: An Emerging Connexional Strategy for Evangelism and Growth – Draft Strategic Foundations Paper, (July 2019), URL: www.methodist.org.uk/media/12498/god-for-all-connexional-eg.pdf (accessed 25 November 2019).
The Methodist Conference Office, The Methodist Service Book, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1975).
The Published Work of Rob Frost
Frost, Rob, ‘Evangelism in a Pop Culture’ in Brian R. Hoare (ed) Methods of Mission, (London: Methodist Publishing House, 1979), pp. 26-33.
Frost, Rob, Beginnings: Conversation Starters, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1983).
Frost, Rob, Beginnings: Big Questions, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1983).
Frost, Rob, Beginnings: Go for Growth, (Swindon: Bible Society, 1986).
Frost, Rob, Break me, Shape me: Working out Commitment in the real world, (London: Marshall Pickering, 1986).
Frost, Rob and Paul Field, Visions, (Ilkeston: Moorley’s, 1986).
Frost, Rob, Breaking Bread: Worship and Renewal in your church, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1988).
Frost, Rob and Paul Field, Breaking Bread, (Peterborough: Foundery Press, 1988).
Frost, Rob, People at Work: Thinking about Social and Moral Issues, (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1988).
Frost, Rob, Pilgrims: Making a Pilgrimage on Your Own or in a Group, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1990).
Frost, Rob, Gospel End, (Eastbourne: Minstrel, 1991).
Frost, Rob, Broken Cross, (Tunbridge Wells: Monarch Publications, 1992).
Frost, Rob and Stephen Deal, Gospel End, (Sutton: Rob Frost Organisation, 1992).
Frost, Rob, Paul Field and Stephen Deal, Burning Questions, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1993).
Frost, Rob, Burning Questions, (Crowborough: Mitre, 1994).
Frost, Robert William, The response of the Methodist Church Home Mission Division to the British New Town Movement from 1960 to 1980 with special reference to its 275 attempts to plant new churches in Skelmersdale and Milton Keynes, (PhD dissertation, King’s College, London, 1995).
Frost, Rob, When I Can’t Pray, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1995).
Frost, Rob and Steve Chalke, ‘Evangelism Tomorrow’ in S Brady and H Rowdon (eds), For such a time as this: Perspectives on evangelicalism, past, present and future, (Milton Keynes: Scripture Union, 1996), pp. 216-218.
Frost, Rob and David Wilkinson, Thinking Clearly About God and Science, (Crowborough: Monarch, 1996).
Frost, Rob Which Way for the Church? (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1997).
Frost, Rob and David Wilkinson, A New Start? – Hopes and Dreams for the new Millennium, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1999).
Frost, Rob, Paul Field, Stephen and Polly Deal & Jacqui Frost, Hopes and Dreams, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 1999).
Frost, Rob, Hopes and Dreams, (Crowborough: Monarch, 1999).
Frost, Rob, Paul Field, Susie Pottinger and Jacqui Frost, Dangerous Journey, (Raynes Park: Rob Frost Team, 2000).
Frost, Rob, Jesus in the Third Millennium: Advent Reflections on Jesus the Son of God, (Oxford: Bible Reading Fellowship, 2000).
Frost, Rob, Sharing Jesus in a New Millennium, (Bletchley: Scripture Union, 2000).
Frost, Rob, A Closer Look at New Age Spirituality, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2001).
Frost, Rob, Essence, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2002).
Frost, Rob, Paul Field, Stephen Deal, Susie Pottinger and Jacqui Frost, Here & Now, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2002).
Frost, Rob, Here and Now: Living the Beatitudes in Today’s World, (Farnham: CWR, 2002).
Frost, Rob, A Journey Through Advent, (Farnham: CWR, 2004).
Frost, Rob, Ronald Frost, Andy Frost and Chris Frost, Destiny: A Journey Across the Generations, (Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2004).
Frost, Rob, Kids@Essence, (Eastbourne: Kingsway, 2004).
Frost, Rob, ‘Evangelism Beyond the Fringes’ in S. Croft, R. Frost, M. Ireland, A. Richards, Y. Richmond, and N. Spencer, Evangelism in a Spiritual Age: Communicating faith in a changing culture, (London: Church House Publishing, 2005).
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Frost, Rob (ed.), Freedom Fighters: Defending Christian Freedoms in a Politically Correct Age, (Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2005).
Frost, Rob, The Way of the Cross, (Farnham: CWR, 2005).
Frost, Rob, Five Things I Wish They’d Told Me When I Became a Christian, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2006).
Frost, Rob, The Prodigal Son: Amazing Grace, (Farnham: CWR, 2006).
Frost, Rob, ‘The Preacher as Communicator’ in Geoffrey Stevenson (ed.), Pulpit Journeys, (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2006, pp. 111-121.
Frost, Rob, ‘The Future of Evangelism: A Personal Perspective’ in Epworth Review, vol. 34, no 2, (April 2007), pp. 48-56.
Frost, Rob, Doing the Right Thing: 10 issues on which Christians have to take a stand, (Oxford: Monarch, 2008).
Frost, Rob, Andy Frost and Mark Williamson (ed), Pentecost: The Church has Left the Building, (Milton Keynes: Authentic Media, 2008).
Frost, Rob, ‘Sleepless Nights’, in Rob Frost and Andy Frost, Pentecost: The Church has Left the Building, (Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2008), pp. 9-17.
Frost, Rob, David Wilkinson and Joanne Cox, The Call and the Commission: The challenge of how the Church equips a new generation of leaders for a different world, (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2009).
Frost, Rob, ‘The Great Disconnection’, in Rob Frost, David Wilkinson and Joanne Cox, The Call and the Commission: The challenge of how the Church equips a new generation of leaders for a different world, (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2009), pp. 1- 19.
Items Cited from the Rob Frost Archives
Coverdale, B. Letter to Rob Frost, (6 October 1993).
Easter People, Programme: Global Vision, (2002).
Frost, Rob W. ‘Do the work of an evangelist’: A consideration of the role of Connexional Evangelists within the Methodist Church, (1977), unpublished.
Frost, Rob W. Prayer Letter, (published three times a year, September 1990 – September 2007).
Frost, Rob W. Overseas Prayer Letter, (September 1996).
Frost, Rob W. Letter to Supporters, (8 August 2000).
Frost, Rob W. Letter to Board Members, (29 June 2001). 277
Kirkpatrick, H. Brian, Letter to Rob Frost, (18 September 1990).
Richardson, Kathleen, Letter to David Deeks, (1998)
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People Executive, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Children’s Work, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Evening Celebrations, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Fringe Activities, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Ministerial Leaders, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Pastors, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Prayer and Counselling, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: Speakers, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Possible Alterations for 1989: The Leadership Team, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Reasons for Continuing with Easter People, (1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Rob Frost Support Group Meeting, (1 November 1988).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People 1990 Publicity Leaflet, (1989).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Mission: East Midlands publicity leaflet, (1989),
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People 1991, (1990).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People publicity leaflet, (1990).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 October 1990).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Rob Frost 1990 Prayer Diary, (1990).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Gospel End: Tour Itinerary 1992 – Provisional Bookings To Date, (1991).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Team 1992 - 1993 publicity material, (1991).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Team Syllabus, (1991).
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The Rob Frost Steering Group, Share Jesus Mission: September 5th – 12th 1992 publicity leaflet, (1991).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Easter People 1992 Torquay Exec, (1992),
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Initial Kingdom Missions publicity material, (1992).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Estonia – Seed Team Programme – Evangelism Eastern Europe, (1993).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (7 May 1993).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (5 November 1993).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (March 7 1994).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (June 14 1994).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 4 1994).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (3 February 1995).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Notes of the Rob Frost Support Group, (14 June 1995).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (1 November 1995).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Team Update, (1995).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Share Jesus Mission: Prospectus 1996, (1995).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, List of Seed Team Sector Leaders 1996/1997 (as at 2 October 1996), (1996).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Team Bases 1996/1997 as at 11 March 1996, (1996).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Seed Teams: Will you take the challenge?, (1996).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Programme Director: Evangelistic Projects, (1996).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Share Jesus Missions: Feedback from Hosts, (1996).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Draft Future Concepts, (1998).
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The Rob Frost Steering Group, Memorandum of a Meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (November 1998)
The Rob Frost Steering Group, New Board of the Rob Frost Team, (16 February 2000).
The Rob Frost Steering Group, Rob Frost Support Group, (3 October 2000).
Share Jesus International, Memorandum and Articles of Association of Share Jesus, (2001).
Share Jesus International, Notes of Share Jesus Board jointly with the final meeting of the Rob Frost Steering Group, (12 February 2001).
Share Jesus International, Agenda: Share Jesus International Residential Board Meeting, (10 July 2001).
Share Jesus International, Dawn Patrol 2003: Pushing the boundaries of innovative mission, publicity leaflet (2003).
Share Jesus International, Carnival Leeds, publicity leaflet (2004).
Share Jesus International, Easter People Leadership Team Meeting Papers, (26 May 2005).
Share Jesus International, History Makers, (2006)
Share Jesus International, International Leadership Institute, (2006).
Share Jesus International, Share Jesus International: Future Proposal 2007 – 2015 (2006).
Share Jesus International, Concept for a National Motivational Tour on the Global Warming Theme, (2007).
Share Jesus International, God TV Series – ‘The Frost Debate’, (2007).
Share Jesus International, History Makers, (2007).
Share Jesus International, ILI Board Reports, (February 2007).
Share Jesus International, Share Jesus International Trustees’ Meeting, (4 June 2007).
Share Jesus International, A Celebration of the life of Rob Frost: Westminster Central Hall, Saturday 12 January 2008, [PAL]. Lancaster: Reelife.
Smith, P. Letter to Rob Frost, (27 April 1993).
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