Bishops at Lambeth engage questions of evangelism
Episcopal News Service, Canterbury. July 22, 2008 [072208-04]
Solange De Santis and Mary Frances Schjonberg
Anglican bishops meeting at the 2008 Lambeth Conference on July 22 shared views on Christian evangelism, in terms of its essential nature for the church and its sometimes-difficult global context.
The focus for the day was set the previous evening, when author and pastor Brian McLaren spoke about evangelism in the "modern, post modern, colonial and post colonial" worlds.
At a news conference the next morning, McLaren was asked about his concept that the "rules" of denominations often make religion unattractive, especially to young people. "Certain boundaries are necessary but sometimes boundaries are harmful to the community," he said. Referring to the Anglican Communion's current disagreements over Scripture and homosexuality, he said "there are two options -- kick out everybody or create space for respectful dialogue."
When asked about the challenge to the communion's structure posed by conservatives who attended the July 22-29 Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem, he proposed that the issues not be viewed in terms of "good guys or bad guys." Instead, "we have Christians in a complex situation struggling to be faithful to God. One group says we are not faithful to God if we turn gay people away; one group says there is Scripture to which we are deeply faithful and if we turn away from that we are not faithful to God. Perhaps we can seek a narrative that is the most charitable possible."
Anglicans are awkward about evangelism, acknowledged Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina. "The challenge McLaren holds out to us is an entirely new approach to evangelism given the radical changes in our culture, from the worlds of religion, science, technology, transportation. He calls on us to engage the culture."
In his Bible study group, bishops talked about the day's Gospel reading from the book of John, where Jesus says "I am the bread of life." Bishops "discussed whether it means 'bread for life' or 'bread of life.' It calls us to make Jesus the food of life," said Henderson.
In a discussion group, he said, the bishops talked about how the church engages in evangelism with displaced persons such as migrants and refugees, from "providing for physical needs and proclaiming the Gospel" to "advocating for them."
Bishop Michael Curry of the Diocese of North Carolina said evangelism is about changing the world and begins for those of us "who are followers of Jesus with the Word, the call and the summons of Jesus. It's all over the Gospel.
"There is this imperative to go and tell somebody -- show somebody -- something about this life of Jesus of Nazareth, the way he lived, the life he calls us into, the way he loved, the way he did justice. There is something compelling about that, about sharing that life of Jesus that matters to individuals, that matters to the life of the world," he said.
Bishops' spouses said questions of evangelism are important in their work, also. "For me, it is about talking to people, sharing your own personal experience with Christ," said Josie Tengatenga, who is married to Bishop James Tengatenga of the Diocese of Southern Malawi in the Anglican province of Central Africa. "In Malawi, it is reaching out to the community, providing relief and social services. Forty percent of the health services are provided by churches together, not just the Anglican Church. It is mainly Christians caring for people with HIV/AIDS."
For Lynne Samways-Hiltz, wife of Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of Canada, evangelism meant narrating recently the story of the hymn "Amazing Grace" for a Canadian church video project. "The song doesn't just have religious connotations. That hymn is sung in secular society. People who don't go to church on a regular basis know 'Amazing Grace,'" she said.
Ecumenical participant Bishop Geevarghese Mar Theodosius of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar in India said evangelism means to him "communicating the good news in Jesus Christ to the people who haven't known Jesus," but the reality of that plays out differently in countries where the majority of people are another religion.
"In my discussion group, there were [bishops] from Africa, the Philippines, Japan and myself from India. We [talked about] the major religions like Islam in Africa, Hinduism and Islam in India and Buddhism in the Far East," he said.
"Delegates from Africa said evangelism is befriending the people in Africa," he added. "When they open up, you speak about the good news. The two from a Buddhist background said they only communicate the good news to those who are not already members of a Buddhist community. In the Indian context, you may profess your religion. India is a secular country, respecting all religions. Lots of people, because of the liberative spirit of Christianity, embrace Christianity. They get freedom, status and fellowship, rooted in the love of Christ."