wfn.org | UCC General Synod: Speech by John H. Thomas

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UCC General Synod 24: Evangelism speech by UCC Gen. Min. and Pres.
UCC Newsroom
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
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<http://www.ucc.org>

The Rev. John H. Thomas
General Minister and President
United Church of Christ

President Thomas addressed the Evangelism Event ("E,vent") in Minneapolis
sponsored by the Evangelism Ministry Team, Local Church Ministries, United
Church of Christ

Good morning. I'm honored to be with you today, and pleased to have this
opportunity to express the gratitude of the national leaders to each of you
who are truly at the growing edge of our life together. We are deeply
grateful to you for taking on the challenge of growing new congregations,
of renewing congregations, and of guiding existing congregations into the
life of our United Church of Christ.

Yours is not an easy vocation. David Schoen likes words that begins with
the letter "e." Here's another one: Edge. You live at the edge. The growing
edge where the church meets a culture at once indifferent, resistant, and
curious. The cutting edge where theology and worship are shaped in new and
daring ways for engaging persons who have never met Jesus or who have only
known a version of the Gospel that has been damaging. But also at times on
the edge, institutionally, financially, personally. The edge is exciting,
but it is also a place of deep vulnerability, and many of you know this
intimately.

A year and a half ago I had the privilege of spending an evening with a
remarkable group of church developers?pastors of emerging congregations in
the rural areas of Colombia in South America. These are pastors and lay
preachers serving vibrant, pentecostal congregations in the midst of
profound violence. They had been gathered by our partner the Mennonite
Church in Colombia, and I and two Disciple of Christ colleagues were
invited to join them for an evening of dialogue with colleagues in the
city. The edge these pastors live on is honed with danger. They have had
parishioners killed, colleagues kidnaped. Yet they remain committed,
energetic, hopeful.

My visit to Colombia had begun with a Bible study led by one of the
Mennonite pastors. His text was 2 Corinthians 4 -- the Gospel as treasure
in earthen vessels, clay jars.

We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this
extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are
afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus
may also be made visible in our bodies. . . .  So we do not lose heart.

This text spoke to those vulnerable pastors on the edge that night in
Colombia, pastors who were living both the death and the life of Jesus in
powerful ways. I think this text speaks to you as well as you dance along
the exciting edges of our life and the risky edges of your fragile new and
emerging congregations. Clay jars, to be sure. But what an extraordinary
power, what a treasure contained in them. God is still speaking, whether it
be to the violence ridden communities of Colombia, or to the places where
you serve, each seeking to know Jesus, and to experience the signs of his
reign of justice and peace in the world. Thank you for being there on the
edge, sometimes for us, but also with us, giving voice to this still
speaking God. Thank you for reminding us why it is that we do not lose
heart.