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Leading in the Wesleyan Way: Congress on Evangelism inspires laity, clergy Amy Forbus, Jan 23, 2009
UMNS PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE; OTHERS BY GAVIN RICHARDSON
Bishop Robert Schnase discusses his book, The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, during the Congress on Evangelism in Nashville, Tenn.
By Amy Forbus Staff Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—When the Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor of St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church in Dallas, received a complaint that the congregation didn’t get to vote on whether to add a second campus, he was taken aback.
“I did not think we had to vote on the Great Commission,” he replied to the sender of the e-mail.
“When we’re operating under our mission, we have all the permission we need,” he told the crowd at opening worship of Congress on Evangelism, an annual event co-sponsored by the Council on Evangelism and the denomination’s General Board of Discipleship.
“Leading in the Wesleyan Way” drew nearly 1,000 lay and clergy participants Jan. 6-9 in Nashville, Tenn. The event focused on concepts outlined in the 2007 book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (Abingdon Press) by Missouri Bishop Robert Schnase, one of the event’s featured speakers.
Fruitful ministry
Bishop Schnase told how churches can reach out and change lives through the practices he identifies in the book: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity.
He cautioned against studying the book without applying it to a church’s ministry—or even worse, simply re-naming committees to match the book’s topics but not making any real changes. If a church tags its annual canned food drive a “Risk-Taking” mission project, for instance, it’s missing the mark, Bishop Schnase said.
“Having everybody bring two cans of food for four weeks running is not Risk-Taking Mission and Service,” he said. “And a church that says, ‘That’s the best we can do,’ is a church that has written its own death warrant.”
Bishop Schnase highlighted the intentional use of the word “practices” in his book’s title, which has launched a denomination-wide movement. Practices help us improve over time, he said, noting that professional baseball players still practice the same routines they did back in Little League.
Workshop sessions were based on each of the practices. The Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey, executive pastor of Ginghamsburg UMC, a congregation of 4,000 weekly worshippers in Tipp City, Ohio, and author of Ultimately Responsible: When You’re in Charge of Igniting a Ministry (Abingdon Press, 2006), spoke on Radical Hospitality.
“Everything Jesus taught about hospitality is all about going,” she said. “It’s not primarily about getting people into church, it’s about getting the church into the world.”
Ms. Kibbey interviewed the Rev. Dave Hood, pastor of Fort McKinley UMC in Dayton, a congregation that became a satellite church of Ginghamsburg and regained vitality by connecting with its surrounding neighborhood.
Fort McKinley members rake leaves for their neighbors and serve Sunday breakfast, complete with omelet and pancake stations. “We wanted to make this breakfast seem like you were at the best hotel on the planet,” said Mr. Hood. Table hosts start conversations with guests and invite them to worship.
Hospitality has helped increase worship attendance from 40 to 250, and the welcome is backed by opportunities for spiritual enrichment. But growth in numbers, says Mr. Hood, is “not the purpose, but the by-product” of extending Radical Hospitality.
Worship, mission
The Rev. Mike Slaughter, Ginghamsburg’s lead pastor, identified five dimensions of Passionate Worship: Message, medium, mystery, music and mission. Effective worship experiences that touch people, he said, tend to address each of these dimensions in a way that makes sense for a congregation’s cultural context.
Mr. Slaughter also preached at an evening worship service built around The Sudan Project (www.thesudanproject.org), a ministry of Ginghamsburg UMC that has provided clean water, education and agricultural development in the refugee camps of Darfur.
During worship, a screen displayed a running tally of the children dying in Sudan. The total stood at 887 at the close of the service, a silent but powerful message that mission cannot be overlooked.
In his session on Risk-Taking Mission and Service, Bishop Schnase called Mr. Slaughter an example of the type of people the church needs to identify: those who “really get it and are willing to carry some of the weight of change.”
Like The Sudan Project, mission projects that are effective tend to “skip the hierarchy,” Bishop Schnase said. Congregations form partnerships directly with each other, and conferences work together without going through denominational boards and agencies.
Bishop Schnase cited the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign (www.nothingbutnets.net) as a prime example of successful grassroots mission: specific, concrete, image-driven and appealing to both mind and heart.
“There are lessons in that about how we’re going to have to do missions in the future,” he said.
Developing faith, generosity
“Ministry springs from faith formation itself,” said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, head of the denomination’s General Board of Discipleship, in her presentation on Intentional Faith Development. “Faith formation isn’t something we just hope for. It’s real; it’s something we work on.”
Ms. Greenwaldt said it makes a difference when we set time for God each day, and added that listening for God is crucial to ministry. “Leaders can’t ask people to go where they don’t go,” she said.
Explaining the concept of Extravagant Generosity, the Rev. Kent Millard, pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Ind., told the story of his congregation’s “Miracle Sunday,” when an offering large enough to pay off their debt of $200,000 was collected. They prepared for the offering throughout Lent, and held it on Palm Sunday.
“The biggest challenge was getting people to believe it was possible,” said Mr. Millard. “I wonder how many miracles are not happening in our congregations because of our unbelief, our cynicism, our resentment?”
Christians must decide whether the church of Jesus Christ is a missional entity or an organization with a mission statement, said the Rev. Paul Borden, executive minister of Growing Healthy Churches (previously, American Baptist Churches of the West).
The major difference between the two, he said, is that a missional entity does whatever it takes to make new disciples. “The true definition of Christian sacrifice is being willing to sing music you don’t like,” Mr. Borden said.
Churches that are healthy and mature are able to reproduce by making new disciples, said Mr. Borden. He encouraged clergy to think more like missionaries than pastors.
Latino track This year’s Congress included its first-ever Hispanic/Latino track of workshops, including simultaneous translation for the sessions.
Among the workshop topics were ministry in multicultural settings, planting new congregations and starting Hispanic/Latino congregations in partnership with Anglo churches.
The Rev. Nora Martinez, a district superintendent in the North Georgia Conference, outlined stages for launching such a partnership. “The ministry of Latinos is part of the ministry of the whole church,” she said. To become true ministry partners, she added, it is important for congregations to avoid a “landlord-tenant” model, and instead show the unity of God’s family in how the ministries work together.
Many participants said they also valued the networking opportunities the event provided.
“Right now I’m focused on the possible establishment of a national coalition of Latino ministers,” said the Rev. Edward García, a first-time attendee who serves El Divino Redentór UMC, a congregation in McAllen, Texas.
Denman lecturer
The Rev. William J. Abraham, Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, delivered this year’s Denman Lectures, named for Methodist layman and evangelist Harry Denman, a founder of the Foundation for Evangelism.
Dr. Abraham praised the work of Albert Outler and Chinese evangelist John Sung, both of whom cared passionately about evangelism, but approached it from different angles.
“The last thing we need to do is give our brain a holiday,” Dr. Abraham said, referring to Outler’s enthusiasm for the intellectual study of evangelism.
At the same time, he cautioned, we must trust in the power of the Holy Spirit: “There should never even be the distant appearance of wishing to avoid a belief in the supernatural.”
Dr. Abraham contended that Outler—who came up with the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” of Scripture, experience, tradition and reason—developed significant second thoughts about many of his own ideas toward the end of his life. The form of Methodism constructed under Outler’s influence “is the one that’s suffered drastic decline,” he added.
Dr. Abraham cited the denomination’s Four Areas of Focus—improving global health, developing and revitalizing congregations, developing new leadership and engaging in ministry with the poor—but questioned whether they would help make disciples.
“It is an injustice to our mission statement if those are our only priorities,” he said, adding that we need to share faith even more than John Wesley did in his day.
Power of prayer
The Rev. Maxie Dunnam, chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary, emphasized in a sermon message that evangelism is the duty of every Christian.
“We don’t care enough,” he said. “We don’t believe that it’s a life or death issue... [but] our ministry and our witness have life and death implications.”
Dr. Dunnam closed his sermon by asking worshippers to gather in small groups and pray for individuals who do not know Christ.
The Rev. Terry Teykl of Renewal Ministries continued the focus on prayer for the lost. “There are more lost people in your town than there are churches to put them in,” he said.
Mr. Teykl said he keeps a “Ten Most Wanted” prayer list, which contains the names of 10 people whose salvation he prays for daily. “The thing I want most in life is to take somebody to heaven with me,” he said. He challenged pastors to get out of the church world and talk with people who aren’t Christians.
The Rev. Bill Tate, an attendee from First UMC of Martin, Tenn., agreed that it’s far too easy for pastors to sit in their offices and never engage in relationship with non-churchgoers.
“We have to force ourselves to make opportunities to find people,” he said.
UMNS PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE; OTHERS BY GAVIN RICHARDSON
The Rev. Mike Slaughter, Ginghamsburg’s lead pastor, identified five dimensions of Passionate Worship: Message, medium, mystery, music and mission. Effective worship experiences that touch people, he said, tend to address each of these dimensions in a way that makes sense for a congregation’s cultural context.
The Rev. Maxie Dunnam, chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary, emphasized in a sermon message that evangelism is the duty of every Christian.
