Ch'o'pter Ei'ght

The African American preacher and teacher samuel D. Proctor, pas tor of Abyssinian Baptist church in New York city and my colleague :rt Duke Diviniry school, wrore a book in which he joined with the grcît bettt'r Gardner c. Täylor ro give advice ro fellow Pastors on how to be teachers: (ìhapter Nine Theology never comes alive in abstract debate. It is best understood when it is lived. A good pastor will take the time to show the people THE PASToRAS how life should be lived' given such â great God as we are privileged to knoq and given how marvelously we âre made' From this wonderful our gifts Ev¡.NGELIST: CHRTST knowledge comes an awereness that our PurPose is to cultivate obe- in God's honor and to God's glory, and to live all our days in loving find MTnNs CHANGE dience to God. It means Ênding joy in pausing to praise God and to have fellowship with others. . . . lifting up the life stories of others who music done so well in walking with the Lord, learning and hearing the our and the poetry that edify our lives in obedience and joy' ' ' ' finding Nout øs he was going ølong highest fultllment in following Christ in service to others. Celebrating ønd approaching Dømascas, suddznþ a light heaaen øround him. He to the ground uoice, the lives of victorious Christians is a great opening for good teaching'24 fiom flashed fell ønd heørd a 9:3-4 I predict that we shall rediscover the role of the Pastor as the chit'f -Acts christian educator within the congregation, the one who fosters allrl âstors are not only caregivers but also truth tellers. Our name for peculiarly critiques the practices of the church in order for the church to be tlr" Christian truth is Jesus Christ, the truth about where we lr¡rve come from, why we âre here, where church.25 the world is headed, who is in , lrarge. It is of the nature of this rrurh, enacred in word and deed by the , hurch, to disrupt.r Luke begins his Gospel (Luke I:I-4) assuring Theophilus that he irrtends to present him with an "orderly account" of the Christian move- rnent. Yet when we get to Luket second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, wc soon realize that this faith is anyrhing but orderly. A mob of scoffers ¡s transformed into repentânr believers (Acts 2:14-41), a person from tlrt: remote ends of the earth is üansmured into the baptized (8:26-40), ,r rnurderous enemy is transmogrited into "brother Saul" (9:1-31), and ,r despised Gentile soldier is adopted by the church (10:1-1 1:18). \íhat- cvcr the gospel is, it is about disruptive, major alteration.2 The crearor

274 215 Clr,apter Nine r The Pastor as Euangelist: Chríst Means Change scripture keeps creating, wrenching life out of death. God delights in making ,r enlists a rich array of metaphors to speak of the discontin- family where once rhere had been none (1 Pet 2:10). rrous, discordant outbreak of new life named "conversion"; "born from Although this faith may nor come as dramatically to all as ir cam(. rrr ;¡llove" or "born anew"; and "new creation." Paul contrasts the old life "according Paul in Acts 9 (the New Testament has a wide anay of accounrs of c,,rr to the flesh" with life "according to the Spirit" (Rom 8: l-39). version), the Christian life comes neither naturally nor normally. LirrL. llaptism tries to tell us that the Christian life is at times discordant, dis- 's7hat '!7.hen 'W'omen within us preperes us for the shock of moral regenerarion. cìr,rl sonant, and disrupting. you join Rotary or the læague of tùØhen in christ wanrs to do in us is nothing less than radical new creari()r, Voters, they give you a membership card and lapel pin, you join death to life. This means that ministry among the baptized tends to lrr. r he body of Christ, we throw you under, half drown you, strip you naked more disruptive and antagonistic than we pasrors admit.'w'e are awfully ¡rtd wash you all over, pull you forth sricþ and fresh like a newborn. accommodated, well situated, at ease in Zion-or at least disgustin¡ily One might think people would ger rhe message. Bur, as Luther said, content with present arrangements.'W'e reassure ourselves with the c

216 217 Chapter Níne t The Pastor as Euangelist: Chríst Means Change So if anyone is in Chrisr, there is a new crearion: everyrhing old has journey with christ. vatican II spoke of the worship passed away; see, everything has become new! AII of the church as this is from God, who "the reconciled glorification of God and the sanctification us to himself through christ, and has given us the ministry of the faithful."6 \X/hile of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:17-lg) we are praising God in worship, we are being changed; our lives are being transformed by the object of our affections. Among prot- verse 17, in the Greek, cstants' Luther tended lacks both subject and verb, so it is best rendcr<,

Conversion, regeneration, mystical union, metanoia are attemprs ro lrr¡t also wirnesses the dramatic rransformation worked by God in which speak of this turning of heart, bod¡ and mind toward God-a turrr ,,rdinary folk become disciples of Christ. ing that is occasioned by God's prior turning toward us in Christ. Johrr Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress depicts new life as a journe¡ a metaphor rhrrr was invented by Mark. The appearance of Jesus made necessary a n(.w CoTw¡RsIoN AS DESTRUCTIoN AND literary form, unknown before Mark, caIIed gospe,l which is a literary TUCONSTRUCTION OF WORLDS embodiment of the transformarion occasioned by Christ. Robert \Wutlr conversion is a radical assault upon the convenrional American faith now, after studying the dramatic upsurge of spiritualiry in America, s¡rys tlrat we are basically oK as v/e are and that this world, for any of its that we have moved from a stable "spiritualiry of dwelling," in whi.lr l;rults, is all there is. Conversion is a sraremenr of faith that God meâns folk sought a place ro srand, to dwell secure in their faith, towarcl ,r t,¡ have us-all of us. "By his great mercF he has given us a new birth "spirituality of journe¡" in which we celebrate a moving, fluid life of rlrr irrro a living hope" (l Pet 1:3b). Spirit.t2 If this is rrue, then the church may need to help people figrrr,. Faith is known by its subject.r. Faith, the christian faith, is more out whether or not the journey rhey are on is with Christ or wirh son¡,. tlrrrn the development of natural, universal human qualities. Human other god. ( ;rl)acities and human developmenr are also in the grip of sin, therefore Hans Mol has illuminated steps within rypical conversion accoturr\ rrruch of our "development" involves ever more sophisticated means of detachment from former parterns of identiry; a time of meaningles.srr"rt trrnring away from God toward our various gods. Little of what it takes and anomie; a dramatic transition from darkness to light, from char¡* r,, m be a christian is innate. Radical turning is required-turning that is meaning; and finall¡ the acceptance by rhe communiry of the iniri;rrr trrit iated external to the person being turned. Conversion occurs because into a new life together.r3 The initiate is now in a new exisrence, a nr.rr. ( ircl wants a famil¡ a holy narion of priests, nor because of what we world, having experienced a dramatic journey named "conversion." rlri'k we need to be happy. The christian faith is not a technique for Yet this journey metaphor has its limits. Karl Barth surveys thc lrir ¡1r'r ting what we wenr out of God; itì how God gets what God wanrs our tory of vain Protestant attempts to depict the Christian life as a serics ,,1 ,'l us. Therefore, we must change. ordered human developmental moves, onward and upward,ra fronr "r lr, A-lthough American evangelical christianiry has rendered conver- development of the natural man inro a christian, and the chrisriarr irrr,, rl¡rrr into a subjective change of heart, a purely personal evenr, sanc- an increasingly perfect Christian, in a way which can be masrerecl ,rr¡,1 rllirationists, at their best, stress conversion as both a spiritual and an recounted. . . . This whole attempt implies an attack on the substa¡lt r. 'I ¡'thical process. Justification and sanctificarion belong together. \ùØhat a genuine understanding of the process of vocation."r5 In the prcvi,rrr. rvc lcel in our hearrs musr be rooted in our heads and hands, embodied chapter we considered christian education as inculcation, indocrrirr,r ir¡ thc assumption of a set of practices, corporately tested and formed so tion, enculturation. Yet these metaphors imply that there is somcrlri'¡r tlr,rr conversion keeps on happening ro us. Richard Heitzenrater, in his gradual, developmental, and predictable about becoming a disr i¡,1, ll''rlry and the People called Methodist, showed how Methodism was an Now, in considering the role of pastor as evangelist, we must also b.. rr r, tr:rordinary 'x effort to preach to rhe underclasses of England in the eigh- to the jolts, bumps, fits, and wallops thet rnetanoia inevitably cnr,rilt tr'r'ttth century and to form them into small groups called "classes."r7 Ir The pastor not only orchesrrates the graduai formation of Chrisri,¡rr. \\',r\ suggested that everyone in the "sociery called Methodist" contribute 220 22t Chapter Nine The Pastor as Euangelist: Christ Means Change

a penny a v/eek (which was already cusromary in the firsr socieries t0 Thansformation in Christ was the clear goal of these groups, a goal that 'l7hen assist the poor). someone protested that not everyone in the soci, sets them at some distance from much of the small group movement in the ery could afford that much, captain Foy suggested that each Methodist contemporery church. Robert'Wuthnow found that more than 40 percent society be divided into groups of rwelve, each with a leader who woukl of Americans say that they are involved in some sort of small group, most be responsible for turning in rwelve pence a week, making up themselvr.s of which claim a 'tpiritual" basis. Yet he also found that many of these whatever they could not collect. He volunteered to take as his group th.' groups pride themselves on their respect for "diversity," which leads them to r8 eleven poorest members. a subtle but rigidly enforced ethos that all opinions held within the group So Methodism began as a disciplined body of people ro rransforrr are of equal value. Rather than risk confrontation, challenge, and growth, one anorher and the poor through the means of rather demandin¡i members simply "live and let live" in the group so that, in'Wuthnow's esti- face-to-face small groups. Its theology of sanctification and perfc.. mate, small group spirituality tends to be 'þersonal and subjective": tion found its soteriology in these classes, through which Methodi.srs made their lives vulnerable to one anorher so that they might "mov.' Small groups encourage many members to regard biblical wisdom as truth only if it somehow helps them to get along better in their daily on to perfecion," as the Methodists put their way of sancification. 's?'esle¡ lives. Groups generate a do-it-yourself religion, a God who makes life Methodists, and in particular always maintained that they wcr. easier, a programmed form of spiritualiry that robs the sacred of its awe- not saying anything different than classical christianity. Rather thcy inspiring mystery and depth. . . . In simplest terms, the sacred comes sought to discover common practices that would enable them to lrt. to be associated with small insights that seem intuitively correct in the christians. They covenanted to be disciplined through both their the

222 223 T Chapter Nine The Pastor as Euangelist: Christ Means Change

he loved us eyen when we were d.ead through our trespasses, made ¡.rs lnd sanctifying grace, the accomplishment by the gospel of something alive together with christ-by grace you have been saved-and raisql that rules alone can never do. us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in chrisr When the church fails to srress rhe grace and judgments of God Jesus" (2:4-6) and also the sanctificadonist senrimenr rhar we have bec' ls the source of all possibiliry of new life, the church degenerates into "creared in christJesus for good works, which God prepared beforehantl scntimental moralism in which the Christian life is depicted as simply to be our way of life" (2:10). lnother helpful means of making nice people even nicer. Discipleship is The church exisrs nor for itself but rather ro save the world by rìot a sanctimonious nvelve-step program. A holy person is a testimo- announcing "the mighry acts of him who called you our of darkness inr, nial, not to the innate, positive possibilities within people, but rather to his marvelous light" (1 Pet 2:9).Thatprocess can be insranraneous anrr rhe insistent, transforming love of God in Jesus Christ, despite our sin. dramatic as well as gradual and growing. christ is infinitely resourcefrrl l{ather than attempting to reduce our theology to the lowest common in accomplishing his will for our lives. ' The joy of being a disciple .f rlenominator or to render our life together into an inane civic club, we christ is the adventure of üansformation, of movement from death r,r l)astors must lead our churches in finding practical, institutional means life, light to darkness, all as a work of grace in our lives. The joy of being to reiterate among ourselves that the church has rather extravagant a pasror is to witness this transformation among our people. In or¡¡ notions of how hearts and lives can be radically regenerated through the preparation for baptism, in our preaching, and in our christian educ¡r. love of God in Christ. tion, images of conversion and detoxification, of relinquishment antl I heard the historian Gary \íills say that if you are a white male regenerarion, musr replace images of gradual deveropmenr and mcu Southerner over fifty (and I am), there is no way ro convince you that sured nurture. people cannot change. Having experienced radical rransformarions of Hans Küng gives us preachers a challenge to preach conversion: heart and mind within your o\Mn famil¡ deep within your own soul, you have an unshakable belief in the possibiliry of human alteration.2a \Øe are to preach metunoiø. rØe must entice people away from the world Anne Braden to God' gre\M up in Kentucþ, Alabama, and Mississippi, heir \Øe are not to shut ourselves off from the world in a spirit of asceticism, to the racial amitudes of the Old South. Her conversion into an eloquent bur ro live in the everyday world inspired by the radical obedience that and courageous spokesperson for racial justice occurred, not like Paul's, is demanded by the love of God. The church must be reformed "in any blinding flash light," rather a again and again, converted again and again each da¡ in order of but in gradual awakening that that it must fulfill its task.23 the preachments of her conservative Alabama Episcopal church were more radical than the church itself knew \Øhen, as a college srudenr, she sanctification is a work of God in us, a movement from heaven, ;r had dinner with a youngAfrican American woman, there at the rable she light that shines upon us. This insight saves us from speaking of sancti cxperienced a kind of eucharistic conversion. In language worthy ofActs 'sl'esley fication in a moralistic way. taught that even fo, thosã who havc she describes her change: yet to experience the full inbreaking of the love of christ, if they are ablc to live to some degree free It was a tremendous revelation . . . a turning point in my life. All the from the enslavement to sin, their freedom i.s due to cramping walls of a liferime seemed to come tumbling down in that mo- the work of christ in them, whether they yet know of that work ment. Some heavy shackles seemed to have fallen from my feet. For the or not. Full redemprion means holiness, the reception of both justi$rinli first time in my nineteen years on this earth, I felt I had room ro stretch 224 225 Chapter Nine T

my arms and legs and lift my head high toward the sþ. . . . Here, for a momenr' I glimpsed a vision of rhe world as it should be: where peoprc are people, and spirits have room to grow I never got over it.25 lrrterlude

An autobiography like Bradens holds out an invigorating promisc EvINGELISMAND, I can change. Your life lou as ir is, is not all there is. By th. gå.. of G,,,r, you can be bemer. Grant'wacker I RRESISTIBILITY shows that Bilry cr"h"rri,, focus u¡r,,rr OF IESUS the power of God to work second chances was a key to Graham,s suc(.(.\r as the nation's preacher.2ó And of course the great bibricar example of rrr,. power of the second paur chance is in Acts 9. The sudden, dis.iun.riu. qualiry of what happened to paul Batter my heart, three-personed God; for You makes his a paradigmatic srory of <:rrr version'27 The making of a murderer fu yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; into a missionary is testimoniar rrr the grace of God. saul's conversion That I may rise and srand, o'errhrow me, and bend was not the end of rhe story bur irr Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. beginning. As the voice speaks ro Ananias, explaining to him that sarrr\ I, transformation like an usurped rown, ro another due, is also his vocation, "He is an instrument [saul] wh'rr r Labor to admit You, but O, to no end; have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and beforc rrr,, Reason, Your viceroy in me, me should defend, people of Israel" (Acts 9:r5). The light, the voice fro- À."rr.r, is sig' .l But is captivated, and proves weak or untrue. a dramatic rransformarion, a journey that begins in having alife c<,rrr Yet dearly I love You and would be loved fain, mandeered, caught up in the But loving purposes of God, nothìrrg less rrr'rr I am betrothed unto Your enemy. new birth that leads to new lives in christ, the light of the *oit¿. Divorce me, unrie or break that knot again; Täke me to You, imprison me, for I, Except You enrhrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except You ravish me.r

avish, break, usurp, shine, overthrow, John Donnet words are in- tentionally ourrageous when applied to God. Too often the modern ,'hurch is content with an empathetic but mostly inactive deiry who cares lrut not enough to act, who invites but seldom ravishes, breaks, or usurps. on the face of it, when one considers the rather remarkable resource- lì¡lness, to say nothing of the relentlessness, of Donne's three-personed ( ìod, one wonders why faith in this God should be difficult for many. Yct then one recalls the remarkable ingenuiry of contemporary godless- rrcss, which made the modern world possible. Firsr, we kill the Father (with help from Freud), and then we are free to build rhe modern, dem- ,cratic, officially a-theistic state with its Promethean sense of control 226 227 Interlude T Euangelism and the lrresi,sti,bili,ty of Jesu,s

'\l'hen ând its propensiry for violence. one considers rhe extraordinary llethlehem!" This suggests thet if you desire to be close to God, you need encouragement to curl up in ourselves (Luther's definition of sin), it i.s,r to get yourself to places where God hangs out. credit to God that we are enabled to hear anything other than rhe sounrl of our own voices. TTTT CONVERSIoN THE I asked a student how he enjoyed majoring in history. "Ir's OK," lrr, oF CHURcH answered, "but also a challenge." One aspect of our pastoral care is the formation of people who delight "The heavy reading?" I asked. in, wait for, and relish the ubiquitous aciviry of a God named Tiiniry. '$?'e "No. To major in history first you must become ân atheist, thcrr I)astors must enjoy cleaning up after the intrusions of this God. do everything else is eas¡" he explained. "You quickly learn that rhe answcr not work alone. Pastoral fatigue results from disbelief in the relentless- to e question such as, '\Øhat was the cause of the French Revolution?' ir ness of Jesus. Atheism assumes that it is up to us to save the world or it never'God."' will not be saved. There can be no causes, no goals, and no sources of historical evcrrr\ A fundamental insight (derived from Karl Barth) was David Boscht other than us. In the contemporary universiry all knowledge conì(.\ contention that "mission is not primarily an acriviry of the church, but through personal discover¡ the application of essentially atheistic mcrlr ln attribute of God. God is a missionary God. . . . Mission is thereby seen odology. Nothing comes through revelation. Explanations orher thlrr ls a movement from God to the world; the church is . . . an instrument exclusively materialistic and naturalistic ones âre nor permitted into rlr¡. lìrr that mission. . . . There is a church because there is mission, not vice discussion.2 All insight must be selÊderived. Call it demystificatio¡r, ,r versa."3 Church is what we pastors mânâge after God ravishes the world. propensiry for thin explanation, reductionism, or simply a failure of tlr¡. It is the nature of this God to reach our. In the Tliniry God the tùØe imagination. have made it quite difficult for anyone, even the hcr¡¡ r l;rther sends the Son, and the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit, battering, three-personed God, ro get ro us. ¡rnd the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit send the church into the world. Yet, thank God, it is of the narure of the Tiinity to be loquaciorrr, (ìod creates, not in a display of divine pov/er but rather from a crearive invasive, and persistently gregarious with crearion. Luther, in explairr overflow. God is not simply one, a selÊcontained monad. God is rriune, ing how on earth Christ might become presenr in a loaf of eucharit one being in relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. tic bread, speaks of God's "ubiquity." Evangelism, mission, begins irr It is thus of the nature of a relational God ro reach our in love, ro the heart of this sort of God. Any God who would impregnate a poor, incarnate, to reveal. This God insists on having the last word: "Jesus unmarried virgin in an out-of-the-way place like \¿2¿¡s¡þ-\¡sll, rlrit came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, 'The sort of God will stoop to anything to ger ro us, including ravishmcnr, lime is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repenr, and breaking, usurping, and all the other divine resources that we nam(. .rr lrclieve in the good news"' (Mark l:14-I5). A chief defining conrenr of "evangelism." rhis good news of God (1 Thess 2:1,8,9; Rom 1:1) is relentless reach. 'lhis I once asked a pastot who had labored thirty years in an out-oÊtlr¡' God has a gregarious determination to draw all things unto God way Missouri crossroads, how he was able to do it. He replied, "(ì,,.1 (John 12:32). Think of your own ministry your pastoral vocarion, as loves these sorts of places. Read Luke2.lWe may be offthe beaten ¡rrrrlr, cvidence of God's loving compulsion to finish what was begun in cre- so far as the world is concerned, but by God we are not as remot(. .n irtion, to have what God wants.

228 229 Interlude r Euangeli,sm and the lrresistibility of Jesus

That includes rhe church. Evangelization is not only of rhe narur. The church is not the substance of our wirness, but its means.6 of the church evoked by the work of the Tlinity; the church is also rhc Even as Israel was called by its unique life together to be a light to fruit of this work. The New Tesramenr itself is addressed primarily r' the nations, so the church is called to be a light to the world. The church those who believe and hope to be helped in (Mark9:24), their nonbelief ,loesnt save the world, rather God's saving of the world graciously There must be, as Darrell Guder esserts, "continuing a conversion of rlrr, ircludes the church. Thus, evangelism and mission invite all to inclusion church."a saints we may be by the call of God but yet ambiguous orrcs. i.to the church. Evangelism is not the church going out ro recruir new God promises ro complete the good work 'rlrc begun in us (phil 1:6). rnembers; it is the church being God's appointed means of salvation-a church never becomes so adept at faithfulness, so sure of its vision .r rncans though nor an end. To proclaim christ is ro asserr his embodi- God, that it rises above the need to be born, reborn, called, recalled. Irr¡r nrent; to give one's life to christ is to be joined to his body. A christian tors sometimes wring our hands over the state contemporary of chris .utside the church is an incomprehensible anomaly. A church that is not tians, their biblical illiterary, their poor commirmenr, and so forth. lhrr t onstandy converting, calling, incorporating, growing, and evangelizing continuing conversion is at the center of the churcht agenda in any agt., is not Christ's church. Much of what we pastors call "christian education" "pastoral or carc,, ir In the Acts of the Apostles, the church is under consranr threat from best thought of as euøngelism, the continuing conversion of the churcl¡. f'es within and without, hanging on for its very life at the fringes of The church zi mission also in that the church exisrs nor for its<.ll t lassical culture. Yet the church in Acts keeps turning out'ward, insisrs on but rather to sign, signal, and embody God's intentions for the wh.r. irtruding into imperial arrangements, keeps conversing with whomever world' God's primary means of getting back what belongs to God is rlr" will talk, insists on baptizing anybody "whom the Lord our God calls to church. If we have, despite our ecclesial failings, no semblance of a si¡¡rr, lrim" (Acts 2:39). no visible foretaste of the kingdom of God in the church, rhen we h:rvr. Thus Gerhard Lohfink shows how the New Testamenr can be best nothing ro say. This means that the time spent by the pasror in churt h ,onstrued as training in how to be incorporated into the body of Christ. administration and other acts of congregational edification are es.sclr "God has seleced a single people out of all the narions of the world in tially acts of evangelism and mission. as -Ihechurch Just we spend hours of solir:rr¡, rrrder to make this people a sign of salvarion," says Lohfink.7 study and preparation so that we might publicly proclaim God,s w'r,l is thus an embodiment of the mystery of election. Just as one people, in a sermon, so also when we show pastorar concern for the building rr¡, lsrael, is elected by God ro serve as a light to the whole world, so the of the congregation, we are not turning inward; rather we are particip;rr church is elected by God ro sâve all the world, so one person, Jesus, can ing in the public ministry of the church. The mission of the churclr r,, hc given for the salvation of all. \üØhy does God save through election, embody the good news of christ to the world is 'sl'e not an activiry of rlrr. through designation of a few for the service to all? do not know why church but is the church. but we know wherefore. Election, the choice of God, is, in scriprure, As that grear missionary Lesslie Newbigin "The has said, comin¡¡ ,rr i'scrutable. Throughout Acts, one senses the church's wonderment that Jesus has introduced into history an evenr in which ( the reign of Gorl i. iod has chosen these "ignorant and unlearned people" to turn the world made under the form of weakness and foolishness ro rhose to whom ( ì,r,1 rrpside down. has chosen to make it known, and . . . it is made known to them s. ir Because of the corporare qualiry of salvation, evangelism is always may be proclaimed ro all."5 ,r "political" challenge. The call to follow Christ is a call to transfer

230 231 In,terlud.e T Euangelism and th,e lrresistibili,ty of Jesus

citizenship, to move from one poliry ro another. Jesus proclaims "tlr,. ¡reculiar qualiry of the God named Thiniry. Rather than change our wor- kingdom of God." A kingdom implies boundaries, a difference berwet.. ship to suit the limitations of contemporary secular people, we would the world and the church. Evangelism comes from euangel,which in tlrr. ,lo better to convert them, to fit them for the arduous yet usually quite classical world was a public announcemenr of some noreworrhy poliri ioyful task of worshipping the God of Israel. cal event, such as the winning of a battle or a visit of the emperor. Thrrs I heard a distinguished preacher complain rhat "when the average Allen verhey noted rhat when Mark opens "the his Gospel as beginni'¡i f oe hears us preach, he sits there thinking, 'None of this really relates to of the good news leaangel) of Jesus Chrisr" (Mark 1:1), he uses euan¡4rl rrry world."' But evangelism is an assault, a rearrangement, a reconfigura- as it was used to announce the birth or the ascension to the throne rl t ion, a recreation of a world that would not be there had not Jesus com- an emperor.s nranded us to join him in going into all the world and making disciples. Barth says that a christian is a person "whom Jesus christ has cal[.| I'll admit that some of the greatest theological mistakes of the church to attachment to Himself, to His discipleship and to living fellowship wir h l¡ave been made in the interest of evangelism. In so wanting to reach out Himself; and whom . . . He has bound and indeed conjoined with Hi¡' to speak to the world, we fall in, substituting worldly wisdom for gos- self."e The call to Christ is for attachmenr ro Christt bod¡ the church. pcl foolishness, offering the world, in the name of the gospel, what the 'We Thus a primary evangelistic evenr is the corporate worship of tlr,. world wants before it is told what's worth having. become a pale imi- church.r' Here, as the gospel is read and proclaimed, enacted in brc¡r,l t:rtion of the world, a mirror of a mode of life that is already available in and wine at a table full of ordinary people, we showwho we are and wlrr,, rhe world without bothering with the church. Therefore we must judge 's?'e by God's grace' we hope to be. pioneer new social arrangements thrrr our prayer and praise theologically so thâr we might be confident that the world can never know. The world is quite right in judging the g,,. rhe God to whom we testif is the Christ who has given us something to pel on the basis of the quality of life it is able to produce. Therefore, w, srry and to show to the world. pastors do well ro evaluare the worship of our congregations nor on tlrr. basis of the convenrional question, Is it boring? (Though boredom irr worship is an offense against the infinitely interesting "three-personc.l CH TST MnruNG APPEAT THRoUGH US God.") Rather, Are we praising the Triniry or some other god in or¡r Christ makes his appeal to the world through us. Our worship must worship? Does our praise proclaim the fullness of Christ, or have w. bc theologically substantive, yet hospitable. Darrell Guder uses rhe limited ourselves ro a more manageable deity? Are we escaping the rnrr lr <'xample of the burgeoning African churches where it is typical for a rather than being confronted with the truth? Does the composition ,l .'hurch to put up a framework with a rooe there to praise God and hear our congregation limit the boundaries of God's reign? r hc gospel. Those in the village who are not yer Christian are welcome Vhen contemporary Christian worship worries about communic¡rr to stand around the building. Because there are no walls, they see and ing with the secular, unformed, and uninformed seeker or the casrr,rl lrcar everything that Christians do, which enables wonderful evangelistic participant, the result is usually to adapt and to change the wor.shi¡r, nìoments when the observers move from observation to participation 'we blaming such adaptation on evangelism. would do better ro .o' \X/hile praising God as believers, we look for ways to be hospitable cern ourselves thar our worship focuses upon God; to worry rhar or¡r to nonbelievers. Each congregation must ask itself, "\Øhat do we need modes of praise and the composition of the congregârion arise our of tlr. to do to make our worship more enticing, inviting, and appealing to

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nonbelievers, andhow can we prepare them for full participarion in orrr them neighbors, to do something that this culture abhors, namel¡ to praise?" Thus our christian education becomes worship preparari.rr care enough to intrude into their lives by listening to them and telling and evangelism. As George Lindbeck has noted, peter did nor learn .r them the story ofJesus. christ through the socratic method of question and answer or by rel,l ing a book or by having a dramatic personar experience. peter becamr. ,r SEnvrcE To A UBrerrrous Goo christian by being incorporared, by gradually taking up the pracricc.s ,r â counterculture called the church.rr Frankl¡ one grear difficulry of being a pasror is working with a com- rnunity that is answerable to a God whose nature is to be the good shep- The failure of mainline Proresranr congregations ro reach out in tlu. herd out seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10).'W'e name of Jesus is based, I believe, upon a political misconception. w. pastors would 'we have it easier if ordained leadership were merely a call to manage, ro assumed that North American culture was "our world." had a vir keep house, to reassure, simply to be with and make comfortable the tual monopoly on American religious life. If people wanted to worshi¡, fiithful. Rather, we reside at the busy intersection between the world Jesus, they had to do it when, where, and how we dictated. \Øe need rr.r :¡nd a savior who is determined ro ravish, break, and usurp. This keeps trouble ourselves about the world because, after all, itwas "our', worlrl, us pastors on our toes, our tiptoes, eager for a glimpse of what God is content to be a humble, quier, "ministry of presence," we had nothirr¡1 to say or to show the up to in the world. Something is afoot and we get a front-row sear at rhe world, confident that to be Christian was ro br, ,r caring, inclusive American. spectacle. Odd people show up who have had their lives rearranged by the intrusions of a living, acrive, talkative God. Strange people whom we These constantinian notions of church and world are now urtlr.r scrutiny. congregations would not have of our own accord invited to Christ, are being sought our can joyfully join Jesus in speaking up urr.l speaking ,rnd saved by the incursions of the Holy Spirit, "cur ro rhe heart" and out the truth about God, or we shall be relics of an era in whi, lr rrsking, "\Øhat should we do?" (Acts 2:37).In Acts the church is always the church assumed that evangelism had been made irrelevant due ro'r¡r just a step behind the extravaganr ourreach of the gospel of God. cozy settlement with the world. Exile requires us intentionall¡ carefìrlly, In The Intrusiue Word,I introduced the world to Verleen: yet exuberantly to move in rhe name ofJesus, telling the world a trr¡rlr that it cannor know on its own, namel¡ that it is Godt world. Ve decided that we needed ro grow \Øe voted to launch a program of As Valter Brueggemann says, like Israel before us, our liturgy ir evangelism. Evangelism. You know what that means. It's the, "\Øe-had- subversive of the present order: "this distinctive communiry is invitcrl better-go-out-and-get-new-members-or-we'll-die" syndrome. . . . Sl'e to affirm that the aorld. constructed in liturglr is more reliable and m,,r,. studied a program from our denomination telling us how ro ger new members. . . . The church-growth credible than the world 'our rhere.'The purpose of such liturgy is ro .rr program advocated a sysrem of door- to-door visitation. So we organized ourselves into groups of rwo and, on ture imagination and to equip Israel with the nerve to a.t our of its rlir an appointed Sunday afrernoon, we ser our to visit, to invite people to tinctiveness in the face of formidable, hostile power."12 This commurriry is not formed our church. the way the world gathers people-on the basis of ¡.,r.,,, The teams wenr our, armed with packets of pamphlets describing class, or narural propagation. The church grows and gathers throrrlilr our congregation, pamphlets telling abour our denomination, fliers por- baptism, rhrough call and summons, incorporation and indoctrinari.rr traying me, the smiling, accessible pâsror, inviting people to our church. Here is a people who have been told to rove srrangers enough to t.ril Each team was given a map with their assigned street.

234 23s Interlud,e Euangeli,srn and the lrresistibility of Jesus

Helen and Gladys were given a map. They were clearly told to go 'At Êrst I thought," she confessed,'*hyshould I pay for it? But down Summit Drive and to turn right. That's what they were told. I then I thought, 'No, you are a Christian.' So I went back in the store heard the team leader tell them, "you go down summit Drive and turn and paid for that loaf of bread." right. . . . I made some approving comment. But Helen and Gladys, both approaching eighry after lifetimes of It was then that Verleen spoke. 'A couple of years ago, I was into co- teaching elementary school, were berter at giving than receiving direc- caine really big. You know what thatt like! Makes yoú crazy. \Øell, any- tions. They turned left, venturing down into the housing pro;ect-s to the way, my boyÊriend, not the one Iie got no% the one who was the daddy west of Summit Drive. Ve told them to turn right; they rurned lefr. of my first kid, well, we knocked over a gas station one night-got two \X/hich meant that Helen and Gladys proceeded to evangelize the hundred dollars out of it. It was as simple as taking candy from a baby. wrong neighborhood and thereby ran the risk of evangelizing the wrong \Øell, my boyfriend, he says to me, 'Lett knock off that Seven-eleven people. down on the corner.'And something in me says, 'No, Iie held up that Late that afrernoon, each team returned to the church to make their gas station with you, but I aint going to hold up no convenience store.' reporr. Helen and Gladys had only one interested person to reporr ro us, He beat the hell out of me, but I still said No. It felt great to say No, a woman named verleen. . . . she lived with her rwo children in a three- 'cause thatt the only time in my life I ever said No to anything. Made room aparrment in the projects, we were told. Although she had never me feel like I was somebody." been to a church in her life, Verleen wanted to visit ours. Through the stunned silence I managed to mutter, "\Øell, er, uh, That is what you get, I said to myself, when you dont follow direc- that's resisting temptation. And now it's time for our closing prayer." tions, when you wont do what the pastor tells you to do. . . . After I stumbled out of the church parlor and was standing out in The next Sunda¡ Helen and Gladys proudly presented Verleen at the parking lot, helping Helen into her Plymouth, she said to me, "You the eleven o'clock service, along with her rwo ferar chirdren. verleen know, I can't wait to get home and get on the phone and invite people liked the service so much she said thar she wanted to attend the rØom- to come next Thursday! Your Bible studies used to be dull. I think I can en's Thursday Morning Bible study. Helen and Gladys said they wourd get a crowd for this!"13 pick her up. On Thursda¡ Verleen appeared, proudly clutching her new Bible, And the ubiquitous, almost (but never quite) irresistible, three- a gifr of Helen's circle, the first Bible verleen had ever seen, much less God laughed with delight. owned. ¡rersoned

I was leading the study that morning, a study on the lecrion for the coming Sunda¡ Luke 4, the story of Jesus' temptation in the wil- derness. "Have any of you ever been faced with temptation and, with help, Jesus' resisted?" I aslced the group after presenting my materiar. "Have any of you refused some rempration because of your christian commitment?" One of the women told about ho*, ju.t the week before, there was confusion in the supermarket checkout line, and before she knew it, she was standing in the parking lot with a loaf of bread that she hadni paid for.

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