Living to tell the story: Rethinking Evangelism

In general, mainline church people shun evangelism. The reason is multi-faceted and complex. For some, it's because of the negative connotations that come with evangelism (think street preachers and tele-evangelists). For others, it's uncomfortable to share something so personal as one's faith. And then even for others, there's vulnerability and risk involved when we share our faith story. We might even add that some of us do not share because we are not even sure what we believe.

Certainly, there are obstacles to sharing our faith. It's increasingly difficult to share in the postmodern world that doesn't buy into any one truth. Yet, we sometimes forget that the Christian faith is about transformation. If our lives are being transformed, then often that is enough to tell the story. We can share about what we DO know. One parishioner recently sent me a note about why she tells people about her church (which she is clear to identify as the Metropolitan Memorial Cooperative Parish). It was a heartfelt, meaningful, and excellent description of evangelism. It was a combination of action and words. In that note, she said, "Talking about my church is something I can do. I talk about what I do for the church, and other things going on in the church. I talk about my pastors and other leaders who are willing to advocate for the marginalized at their own risk. I talk about leading students on a gleaning trip for Bread for the City. I talk about a hope that I have of hosting residents of the Methodist home for Thanksgiving dinner. I talk about my cool, fun pastors. So, maybe it isn't evangelism per se, but hopefully it will improve some people's views of "church" enough to get one of those "I have faith, but I don't like church" people back to church."

How do we tell our story? How do we rethink church and this thing called evangelism? I invite you into a dialogue rich with dramatic storytelling that weaves together our story of faith with the local church in hopes of changing the world.

The gospel story can and should shape our lives. In his book, Live to Tell, Brad Kallenberg writes, "I cannot judge or confess that a story that involves me is true unless the story shapes my life." Really, sharing our faith story is sharing how it has shaped our lives. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Below is a video created from the Rethink Church campaign from the United Methodist Church. It is a great way to get us thinking about rethinking evangelism. What if we could share what we are doing with others?

Jimmy

New Small Groups Forming

As we seek to learn and grown together, we are creating two new opportunities for us to gather in small groups to worship, pray, reflect, discuss and connect. Here are the opportunities:

Thursdays Together: This Thursday night October 28, we will kick off a small group bible study from 7 PM-8:30 in the St. Luke's Sanctuary (at least for the first week). This is a casual, drop-in study, but if you know you are coming, give us a heads up!

Sunday prayer group: A small group will meet for prayer on Sundays at 4:30 just prior to worship at 5 PM. We will meet in the Wesley Room at St. Lukes.

Find out more: www.metrocrossroads.org

Homeless Walk and Pumpkin Fair this Sunday!

Join us for the Walk for the Homeless to benefit the St. Luke's shelter housed in the mission center. We will have two walks: one at 1:30 and the other at 4 PM just prior to worship! Also, a pumpkin fair will be going on beginning at noon! Come and join us -- 3655 Calvert St. NW. More info at www.metrocrossroads.org.

Rethinking Church

So, last week we began our series on Rethinking Church. We talked about service as being the new entry point. Nowadays, it is not a given that everyone is going to come to worship. People long to serve, though. They long to give their time to something meaningful. Many times, serving others is a way to the church. We explored this idea in the context of rethinking church -- what if church was a verb. What if we didn't use it to speak of a building, or a denomination, or location. What if we used it to specify a body of people - a living organism -- moving together in diversity to transform the world. Do you think people would join that movement? I do. Check out this video that expresses some of what we are talking about.

Alternative Community

What's the point of the church? It's sentimental. It can be fake, right? Do you ever want to be saved from Christianity? Jesus called his disciples into something radically different than what was being taught or lived during the day. As a lead in to our five week series on Making Church a Verb, we'll explore the concept of church as truly an alternative community. What would that mean? What would that look like? I want to hear from you? Let's challenge one another to live into God's way of life! We'll begin exploring this on Sunday night at 5 PM at Crossroads. The five weeks after, we'll be exploring specifically how we live into this as a community of faith in the postmodern world. We'll break down one of the five pillars of our parish each week: serving, learning, sharing, caring, praising. All this leading up to our commitment celebration service on November 22.

What are your thoughts to the questions above. Comment here or on Facebook. Also, go to our website for more thoughts at www.metrocrossroads.org.

Peace!