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07157
March 19, 2007
GAC renews emphasis on traditional evangelism
Committee discusses how to overcome Presbyterians' reluctance to share the "Good News"
by Bill Lancaster
LOUISVILLE * The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s General Assembly Council (GAC) adopted a new emphasis on traditional evangelism at its meeting in Louisville March 14-16.
Led by newly-called Deputy Executive Director for Mission Tom Taylor, the Council's Evangelism and Witness Goal Area Committee adopted the following goal for 2007-2008: "We are called to invite all people to faith, repentance, and the abundant life of God in Jesus Christ, to encourage congregations in joyfully sharing the Gospel, and through the power of the Holy Spirit to grow in membership and discipleship."
One of its two objectives under the goal is to equip Presbyterians to reach out to "those with no active church affiliation."
Spearheading the new emphasis are two new leaders with strong evangelical credentials * Taylor, a graduate of Princeton and Fuller theological seminaries, has a strong track record of growing churches; and the Rev. Eric Hoey, who was recently named director of the GAC's new Evangelism and Church Growth Program Area. Hoey, who has pastured rapidly growing multi-cultural congregations in southern California, is a graduate of Talbot School of Theology, the non-denominational graduate school of evangelical Biola Universty in La Mirada, Calif.
The concept of highly personalized evangelism is familiar to most Presbyterians, but the committee wrestled with the fact that Presbyterians historically are not entirely comfortable practicing it.
Jacquelin Lyman, a GAC member from Hemet, Calif., in Riverside Presbytery, said, "We need to know how to do this, to share our faith, to gain confidence."
The Rev. Linda Knieriemen of Lake Huron Presbytery and the committee's chair, cautioned that given the pluralism of American culture "the words we use are terribly important."
Lyman agreed. "I think there is a fear factor. Our cultures and communities are interlaced with so many religious groups. Building relationships is key," she said. "There is a threat that I will have to defend my faith."
The Rev. Mike Castronis, a pastor from Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery, asked, "What does accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior mean? We need to distinguish between membership and discipleship, between joining a club and joining a church.
Castronis also agreed that personal evangelism training is key. "People need to know the right way to do it," he said. "It seems to me it is a matter of getting people to understand they are not inviting people to come to a building, but they are developing a relationship."
Castronis said his church * the 587-member James Island Presbyterian Church * uses the Alpha program developed by the Episcopal Church, a program he described as "a canned evangelism program that is very user friendly."
Castronis said James Island starts by advertising in restaurants, apartment bulletin boards and in other places around the community. "This seems to fit the Presbyterian personality," he said. "It is not knocking on doors, but inviting people to come to our house for dinner. It is not designed to have members join the church, but to help them come to know Jesus Christ. It is pretty labor intensive, but less threatening."
Charles Easley, GAC vice-moderator and an elder from Greater Atlanta Presbytery, said Presbyterian evangelism efforts need to emphasize the church's Reformed heritage "At our church we have been looking for a program that is Reformed. People don't understand what this Reformed is."
Castronis agreed, noting that the Reformed doctrines of God's grace and sovereignty "bring a significant piece to the [evangelism] conversation * and are healthy correctives to some of the things I see today."
Taylor said the GAC needs to recognize its own limitations and determine the best ways to advance the evangelism goal. "The GAC cannot go out into neighborhoods. We cannot go into every congregation and tell them how to do it. It becomes harder to measure from this end. What can the GAC do best to affect this goal of evangelism?"
Castronis acknowledged the difficulty of developing an effective churchwide plan. "We have a great diversity of contexts. How does a church develop any kind of effective plan? I don't think we can just say to all the churches, go out and do evangelism. There has to be a vision that comes from the PC(USA)."
The Rev. Bill Young, former director of international evangelism for the GAC and now executive director of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, said, "Do we believe that what we have in Jesus Christ is worth sharing? We need to get past talking about evangelism and talk about good news. What is good news to people at your work place? What is good news in regard to their families? What is good news in this context, in that context?"
Knieriemen agreed, "Maybe we need to adopt the term 'Good Newsing' rather than evangelism. And maybe we can 'good news' each other as well."
The Rev. Bill Lancaster is associate executive for mission for Foothills Presbytery and a frequent contributor to the Presbyterian News Service.
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