Missiology: Changing Metaphors of Mission (Gordon Cotterill)
Discussion Point #1
"In the post-Christian era, the medium is the message, and the medium of evangelism is regarded with extreme distaste by the surrounding culture...evangelism easily becomes the marketing ploy for Christianity akin to selling encyclopedias. Various techniques are used in a highly manipulative agenda designed to get prospective customers to sign up. This is about as far away from the story of Jesus of Nazareth as it is possible to get."Riddell, M. (1998) Threshold of the Future: Reforming the Church in the Post-Christian West. SPCK
Would you say this is a fair observation? What experiences have you had that would support your assesment of Riddell's statement? Does it say anything about how we as church should engage with our communities?
posted by ETLnetwork at 5:45 AM
13 Comments:
Yes, because it does not always meet peoples’ needs or engage with them where they are now, almost akin to the ‘bums on seats’ approach to FE & HE.
Penny PT
Discussion 1 Changing metaphors of mission
I have been very challenged by this lecture . I realise now that much of our mission is aimed at filling our pews on Sunday , to manipulate social interaction in our community for the purpose of evangelism . I have felt uncomfortable about this for years as a Christian , as I remember how I was before I was a Christian . Why can't Christians just be friends with those around them? Why not show them the difference in us and our Church in the way we live our lives . Jesus was a sociable Man . He enjoyed the company of people . He loved His friends . His friends saw in Him the Kingdom of God . It shone out like a Light . Myself and my wife Sandra have a number of non-Christian friends and friends outside of the SA . A soldier said to me recently that officers should have no time left to be any thing else other than officers . Another Soldier who works at DHQ said the opposite to me . He said he gets annoyed by officers who know nothing but the SA , Who's friends are fellow officers who are sheltered from the world in which our congregation inhabit. We are called to live in community to build relationships to be an influence by Grace . We are also of course called to proclaim the Gospel in a relevant and positive way in order that folk are saved.
Chris Hall
I think it is a fair observation and there is evidence of this in some churches. There are churches that simply provide for religious consumers e.g. they preach a feel good message- a type of religious therapy, a health, wealth- prosperity type gospel, they have programmes that entertain people, and filling pews and numbers are important to them.
In my view we as a church should not engage in this way with our communities because it is not authentic and as a result you will not see transformed lives. What you have in fact is a church that has absorbed the surrounding culture, the outcome of which is that you do not produce disciples of Jesus who will be witnesses and make other disciples. What you may end up with is stunted believers, fat spiritual babies who like to sit in the pews and be fed, or a people who are more than comfortable with and like being part of the world. Also, filling pews and numerical growth is not necessarily evidence of spirituality.
In my opinion we do not need to package the gospel, it is not a product to be marketed. It has an inherent power to touch and transform lives. An idealized version of the gospel is not the gospel and it may lead to problems such as people not counting the cost, becoming disillusioned, drifting away.
We need to be authentic in our engagement with our communities and we can do this by incarnational living in our corporate and individual lives. I also think many people in our society today are fed up being exploited and manipulated. Postmoderns expect honesty and authenticity.
Yvonne
Chris - it is good to process those feelings of discomfort. I have always felt something similar with friendship evangelism if it makes potential friends mere projects
"I also think many people in our society today are fed up being exploited and manipulated. Postmoderns expect honesty and authenticity."
Rooting out all that is inauthentic in our church expresions can be painful but I think you are right Yvonne
I remember being sent out 'door to door' in the name of evangelism and feeling totally uncomfortable with it yet, I was eager to see people being introduced to my Jesus and I believed because I was being told this was an effective mode to invite people into the church. Today, I cringe as I look back. I could not undertake any such projects again but this time I would have a far greater understanding of why not! This definitely was a marketing ploy.
Post-modernity does define people as being able to think for themselves and not wanting albeit truths being thrown at them without dialogue. We have to be mindful that people are wary of anything they are told, politicians who are famous for distorting the truth or even worse out rightly lying, leaves little hope for anyone else.
I do believe that living our lives authentically can evangelically make an impact. I am much more comfortable engaging with the community in a natural sense. Some years ago I decided to do an evening class, and through that I had many invitations to lead Carol Services, speak at Burns' Suppers and even conduct funerals for those I got to know. This definitely was not a marketing ploy but rather meeting people with mutual interests and being nothing more than myself.
I am so challenged by the beginnings of the Early Church and I am constantly seeing how much more effective we could be if we lived authentically. I do believe that some people have the gift of evangelism but we are all called to be witnesses and I do think the church has become lethargic in its witness.
I think this is an area where my thinking is definitely changing. The idea of being compared to a seller of encyclopedias isn't particularly comfortable, but I wonder if we're actually a bit more like Double Glazing salesmen or worse, trying to sell things that people aren't interested in buying and maybe don't feel they need, but still doing it because it makes us feel good.
Having said all that, back in 2000 I took part in the Jesus Video Millennium Adventure when we knocked on every door in the village and gave away about 400 videos of the life of Jesus. For us, that seemed to work and people were impressed that the church was giving something away, not something they were used to. In the end we met a good number of people in the village and a few who became involved in small groups, but interestingly no-one who actually came to the meetings.
I think I'm still working this out, but I think it's the hidden agenda thing which worries me.
I would agree that it is quite often the case that churches are guilty of wanting to just fill the pews on a Sunday and in the name of evangelism people have been shouting the Gospel message on the street corner. This may have worked in the past but todays postmodern people don't view themselves as 'sinners' and often don't see the need for God in their lives. They are happy and content as they are. The only effective way that we are going to engage with our communities is to live the Gospel message. Let us live the life so that other people will wonder what they are missing.
I think Riddell makes a fair observation. People 'read' the book of someone else's life, just by looking at this person. And ofcourse than people decide whether this person does what he says and says what he thinks.
I need to confess: I do it to! If someone yells the whole time to his kids, I wonder where this stands for and believes in.
Yes, I do believe just like Riddell that evangelism is regarded with distaste. I have a lot of non-christian friends and they all disagree with a forcing way of Christianity. Ofcourse, I may keep and show my own identity, as long as I do not expect them to do exactly the same, unless they choose themselves to do so. I think forcing someone is not Christ-like. I love the story about Jesus walking along with his disciples after his resurrection. Not pushing them, not forcing them. Just walking and talking. That is the way I want to be present: walking alongside, sharing and listening to the stories of our lifes. I am convinced that somehow in this story, the great story of God will show up. I am more and more convinced that evangelising is this kind of being: journeying together. I used to think a long time that I was the one who could convert someone else. Now I know that I may be used as an instrument, but it is the Holy Spirit that converts people.
Riddell makes a good point here. I believe it is spot on! Studying and doing evangelism made me realise that the way we do it is actually devangelism (Does that translate right?) I know it is not a word, but I think it should be, because it creates a clear picture of how the way we interact with 'others' actually works out.
I love bonnhoeffer's quote: "The Christian has neither right nor power to force salvation on people."
Evangelism is about 'the Good News' and maybe the best news that we can offer is our own changed life through Jesus Christ. And that is a gift without conditions. They can do with it what they want. It is our mission just to give it.
I agree with the previous comments that sme churches have been guilty of preaching the feel good message only, just so that they can fill the pews up. We cannot just carry on preaching feel good messages we need to also preach challenaging messages that make people think.
I also think the same as Marc that evangelism is all about the good news and the best way to get that across is the way we live our own lives and the change that following Jesus has made. People seem these days to follow examples rather than preaching.
"People seem these days to follow examples rather than preaching..." that is a good way of looking at discipleship if we taken disciple to mean apprenticeship. Do you think it takes the Great Commission to a different depth for missional reflection
Post a Comment
<< Home