A meditation to assist in right praying for and within evangelization
Evangelization is a certain duty, vocation and privilege of the local church and of each baptized member therein but it is not the first duty. Let us reflect upon this claim.
It is a sure fact that not a few Episcopal and Anglican Evangelical Ministers in the AMiA and The Network put great emphasis on “church growth.” Apparently, they see and feel the big emphasis in parts of American Protestant Evangelicalism on “growth” and this makes them feel and think that unless their churches are growing in numbers then they are not doing their job properly -- in fact they are not obeying the command of the resurrected Jesus (Matthew 28:18ff.). So the temptation is to do what is necessary in outreach to be successful – even involving dumbing-down of both the content of, and the demands of, the Gospel message (which is from the Father and concerns his only-begotten, Incarnate Son), in order to make it the more accessible, relevant and simple.
In fact, the emphasis on numerical growth is felt to be such a priority that the purpose of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of God on earth is often defined primarily in terms of its duty to evangelize, that is to make converts quickly and efficiently and to grow in numbers. If there is no rapid growth in numbers, then there is something wrong with the Minister, or the leadership, or both -- for that is what the “experts” and “text-books” from “the church growth movement” indicate and such is the ethos of much popular Evangelicalism.
Let us pause here and go to the last recorded word of the Lord Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel before his ascension into heaven, his being seated at the right hand of the Father, and his sending to his disciples the Paraclete to act in his name:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (28:18-20)
Jesus is the Lord, the Head of the Church, and the King of kings. To his Incarnate Son the Father has given all authority in heaven and earth.
Therefore, on the basis of this authority, the Lord Jesus issues his commands – to make disciples, to baptize them in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and to teach them to live according to the commands and teaching of the same Lord Jesus. All three parts are of divine origin and thus most important.
If we now ask, “What did the same Lord Jesus teach his apostles and disciples during (a) the 40 days of his resurrection appearances, and (b) the evening in the upper room, before his arrest (John 14-17)?,” then we gain the wider and richer context in which this missionary mandate is set. It does not stand alone but it follows on from, and flows out of, the relation of grace and spiritual intimacy which the apostles and disciples [are to] have with the Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit who will indwell, lead and empower them. In other words, the missionary outreach is a privilege and duty to be performed by a leadership and a people who are united to the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit in faith, faithfulness, obedience, holiness and spiritual communion and who worship the Father through the same Incarnate Son.
Before the missionary mandate was uttered by the resurrected Jesus, we read that “when they saw him, they worshipped him…” Before there is any duty to evangelize there is the duty to worship the LORD God for man is made (see Genesis 1-3 & John 1) in the image and after the likeness of God to be in constant communion with him. He is to enjoy and glorify God for ever. So when the people of God meet in the local congregation as Christ’s flock their first duty and privilege is to enter into the presence of the Father through and with the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit. (For Anglicans the classic BCP exists to assist and guide in this holy vocation.)
The high-priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus (John 17) makes abundantly clear that union with the Father and intimate knowledge of him in prayer and worship is the first and clear duty of the baptized, believing Christian. In the Upper Room Jesus taught that the relation of the disciple/believer to himself and to the Father in the Spirit (Paraclete) is the very foundation and reality of being a Christian disciple. Here there is growth, growth into the intimacy of knowing experientially the Father and the Son in the Spirit, and this growth is absolutely fundamental. “I am the Vine and you are the branches” said Jesus and we all know that the branches rely upon the trunk for existence and nourishment and purpose. In such spiritual growth another commandment of Jesus comes alive, “love one another as I have loved you” (5:12).
There is no need to press this point further for a reading of John 14 – 17 will illustrate quickly and fully what is the background to, and the basis of, the command of Matthew 28, the missionary mandate.
So the first priority of the disciple, the first priority of the local church, and the first priority of the Christian family, is to believe, know, worship and be in intimate, spiritual communion with the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit. The people of God exist as the Body of Christ and Household of God the Father and Temple of the Holy Spirit, to offer to the Holy Trinity as the redeemed people of God, the worship and spiritual service appropriate for sinful creatures, made clean by the blood of the Lord Jesus, and on their way to the heavenly Jerusalem which is above and free.
And in such a relation to the Father through the Son and with the Holy Spirit, the people of God will hear with attentive ears ands obey with ready wills the command of the Incarnate Son to proclaim the Gospel of the Father concerning the Son, to make disciples, to baptize and io teach them.
So growth in numbers is inextricably tied in biblical doctrine to growth up into Christ the Head of the Church (as St Paul expresses it – see e.g., Ephesians 4 & Colossians 3). If evangelism is conducted in ways which do not flow from and back into this basic necessary and required growth into ever deeper communion with Christ the Head and the members of his Body, then it will be certainly either dumbed-down or not truly genuine Gospel work at all. Let us be not deceived and let us not deceive ourselves. Making “converts” in America is relatively easy, let us be earnestly pray that we ourselves are truly converted and that the converts we make are also genuine. Let us look for real conversions, quality rather than quantity.
A final word. The road that we as sinners are called to walk into and upon is a hard way entered by a narrow gate and this is especially so in the USA where counterfeits are all too common. Let us hear Jesus talking to people in a religious, church-going country:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:13-14).
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father by grace, give us the desire to read, meditate upon and take to heart what the same Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples in the Upper Room and before his Ascension into heaven; and taking it to heart grant us the will, strength and joy to act according to it for the true growth of the Church and for the sake and glory of the same Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Do visit www.anglicansatprayer.org and for the latest issue of The Mandate visit
www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 (this issue has much on Cranmer from the present Archbishop of Canterbury, from the recent Oxford commemoration of his martyrdom and from myself on Scripture’s purpose as seen by Cranmer.
The Rev’d Dr Peter Toon April 19, 2006 drpetertoon@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment