Tag Archives: Evangelism

Episcopal Church task force uncovers the true definition of “evangelism”

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Some years ago, the Diocese of Niagara had a Decade of Evangelism. Having a decade of something – it doesn’t really matter what – is something Anglican bishops do every so often to create the illusion that they are men of action not just men wearing tea cosies.

There was, indeed, frenzied activity in the diocese during those ten years. Clergy held meetings, led task-forces and gathered focus groups. To decide on how to define “evangelism”. Alas, after ten long arduous years, the worthy clerics still couldn’t agree, so the project was abandoned.

Not so in The Episcopal Church!

Canon Stephanie Spellers, the canon to the presiding bishop for evangelism, reconciliation and creation care has come up with this:

The definition of Episcopal evangelism—we submit it to anybody else who [needs] another way of understanding evangelism. We worked hard on this, too! There was a whole task force! What we came to was: “Evangelism is a spiritual practice where we seek, name and celebrate Jesus’s loving presence in the stories of all people, then invite everyone to more.”

This is so deep, I feel I must repeat it: “Evangelism is a spiritual practice where we seek, name and celebrate Jesus’s loving presence in the stories of all people, then invite everyone to more.” More what? Whose story? Richard Dawkins’ story? We should invite everyone to more atheism? You see the problem.

In case anyone is developing the impression that Spellers is just another crackpot canon, take a look at these profound pearls that dripped effortlessly from her lips:

But no, for certainly most Episcopalians, we can say “the ‘e’ word.” People are like, “Can’t you use a different word?” and we’re like, “No! Actually we can’t!”

[….]

For instance, a lot of people think, we don’t do that. You know, that Episcopalians don’t do that, that that’s what evangelical Christians do. And we’re like, how did you get here?

Anyone with that kind of teenage talent for using “like” as punctuation obviously has something so important percolating in her skull, that it bubbles out unfiltered by the narrow confines of grammar and basic vocabulary.

I’m not a canon, so I don’t have all the disadvantages of Anglican seminary training, but how about this:

Evangelism: the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ: that he, the sinless Son of God took our sin upon himself when he died on the cross, suffering the punishment we deserve. Through his atoning sacrifice and resurrection, we are offered the free gift of eternal life and reconciliation with God the Father. And that only took me ten seconds.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry does evangelism

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There are two ways to be incoherent: say something that means nothing; say something that can mean anything. The latter technique is preferred by Anglican clergy because it gives the illusion of Deep Thinking while providing an escape route when someone tries to pin them down.

Thus, when the Diocese of Niagara embarked upon the Decade of Evangelism many years ago, it spent nine and a half of those years attempting to define “evangelism” and six months producing reports that concluded “evangelism” was just another word for “inclusion” because, obviously, God would not exclude anyone or their behaviour, sexual proclivities or path to salvation no matter how perverse or arcane. Shortly after that most Christians left the diocese.

Now it’s Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s turn.

Curry, eager to be on the trailing edge of secular trends has been influenced by the twittering success of Donald Trump. He is tweeting his enthusiasm for evangelism; and making it mean anything – or nothing – at all:

I suspect the problem is that what motivates Curry et al is not saving souls from the fires of hell but filling emptying buildings and coffers. Such is his level of desperation, he is even willing to use the trappings of loathed fundamentalism to achieve his ends.

New Church of England plan to attract people: a Pagan Christian church

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From here:

As part of its drive to retain congregation numbers, the Church of England is training its clergy to create a “pagan church” where Christianity will be “very much in the center,” a British newspaper reports.

The mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion is seeking to create new forms of Anglicanism with which people of alternative beliefs should feel comfortable, according to The Telegraph.

“I would be looking to formulate an exploration of the Christian faith that would be at home in their culture,” the daily quotes the Rev. Steve Hollinghurst, who is advising the denomination in its new endeavor, as telling the BBC.

What the church is looking at is “almost to create a pagan church where Christianity was very much in the centre,” he adds.

I have bad news for Rev. Hollinghurst: the Anglican Church of Canada has been telling people they can believe whatever they like while concealing Christianity in a centre that no-one ever seems to find for decades. The result has been that potential congregants choose a belief that tells them that it is better to stay in bed late on Sunday morning than attend a church that can’t confidently convey a coherent Christian message.

Protecting our right not to be given a Bible

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The Waterloo Region District School Board voted to let Gideons International in Canada distribute Bibles to Grade 5 students.

Predictably, amongst the first to protest this distribution of Bibles in schools was Rev. Rick Pryce, a pastor for the uber-liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. As he points out:

“In this country we are supposed to protect the vulnerable and impressionable from abuse from pressure. And the Gideon’s Bible is clearly designed to turn the kids who read it into Christians.”

Obviously the last thing the pastor of an ersatz Christian church wants is to convince impressionable children to become Christians by encouraging them to read a Bible. That would be exploiting the vulnerable; perish the thought.

The “mission statement” of the particular parish that Pryce pastors carefully avoids anything crass like bringing people to Christ or making disciples; instead we have the insipid:

St Philip’s strives to be a caring and friendly church, for all people. Through our worshipping, learning and serving others, we believe that God will show his love to the world.

No doubt this is supposed to be a model of bland inoffensiveness: it is an offence to the Gospel, though.

Hookers for Jesus

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From here:

Meet Annie Lobert — a former prostitute with a singular mission: saving Las Vegas hookers.

Lobert, and her faith-based mission — which she calls “Hookers for Jesus” — are the focus of “Hookers: Saved on the Strip,” a three-part series premiering Dec. 8 on Investigation Discovery.

“When I used to get arrested and the vice [cops] called me a ‘hooker,’ it really offended me,” Lobert told The Post. “So one day I was thinking, if I was reaching out to women and starting to go into casinos and saying, ‘I can help you change your life,’ and calling myself Annie, it would be a weird thing — ‘Annie Lobert’s Reach Out.’

“So I figured Hookers for Jesus. I believe in God, for one, and I was a hooker and now I go and fish for people [to save].”

The evangelism potential of someone turning from a life that is less than entirely compatible with Christian principles is enormous: one day, perhaps we’ll see “Bishops for Jesus”.

The Diocese of New Westminster defines Mission

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And, naturally, they indaba it. You can watch the whole thing here, but this answer in particular is revealing in that it confirms that the fish does indeed rot from the head – the Ingham head – down: Why evangelise any more because there are many mansions of the Spirit:


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The 140 characters per chapter Bible

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From here:

It is a task of truly Biblical proportions.

But dedicated Christian, Chris Juby, has pledged to spread the word of the Lord –  tweet by tweet.

The 30-year-old plans to publish the entire Bible on social networking website Twitter by condensing one chapter a day into less than 140 characters – the maximum allowed for a single entry.

Mr Juby began with the first chapter of Genesis on Sunday and intends to work his way through all 1,189 chapters.

He estimates that it will take more than three years to complete, with the last entry due on November 8, 2013.

You can find it here, but is it a clever way to evangelise or an invitation to reap the rewards of Rev 22:18?

St. Hilda’s Garage Sale Giveaway 2009

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Every year St. Hilda’s Anglican Church, ANiC has a garage sale where all the items are free. It is an outreach to the community to illustrate the love, grace and salvation of God which is offered to us free through Jesus Christ. For all photos, go here: 

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