Engaging Others

Written by Ed Kauffman

Engaging Others

February 13, 2011

Ed Kauffman

 In 1973, shortly after Gay and I were married, the congregation we were part of in Valparaiso, IN took part in a national evangelism campaign called Key ’73.  I don’t recall all the details, but I do remember that part of it was to place a copy of the Gospel of John in the hands of every household in the country.  We were given a section of the county, and as I recall it was a rural area that included a mobile home park, and we were to knock on doors and deliver a specially produced copy of John to the people.  We had no idea who these people were, and would have no relationship with them after our brief visit. But, our church and we were involved in evangelism. 

 Then during my last year of Seminary, we were faced with a decision.  Should I take a pastoral position, or accept a position offered to me by MCC and become a missionary in Indonesia?  ( I won’t enter into the argument about whether MCC workers are missionaries or not.)  I had been recommended by none other than C.J. Dyck for a teaching position in Church History at the Mennonite seminary in Indonesia.  It was very tempting, and we struggled long and hard with the decision, but finally decided to follow what I had prepared for and take a pastoral position, although we did move to a foreign country, Canada!

 Evangelism and mission were two distinct ideas that the church was seen as needing to be engaged in.  But they were carried out in different ways, by different people.  Mission was done by missionaries from Christian countries, who left their homes and travelled to a far off place, or at least a different place to spread the Gospel to people, usually seen as less fortunate than we.  Missionaries came back to tell their stories to the church at home, and we welcomed them and supported them.  That kind of mission activity is still happening.

 Evangelism, on the other hand, was what we at home did, or were supposed to be doing.  Classically it meant doing the kinds of things we did- handing out Scripture passages or tracts, holding special evangelistic meetings, and so forth.  The focus was primarily on “winning souls for Christ” and often had little to do with the local church.  Granted, in the 70s there was the Church Growth movement led by Don McGavern and others, which focused a great deal on how to get your church to grow, but it focused primarily on new churches and techniques for getting people in the door.  Evangelism is also still happening in a variety of ways.

 In a new Herald Press book by Alan & Eleanor Kreider entitled Worship & Mission After Christendom, which I’ve just begun to read, the Kreiders point out that those old divisions between evangelism and mission no longer work.  The West, North America and Europe, can no longer be seen as Christian, if they ever were, and the global church is now sending missionaries here!  Moreover, we have come to recognize that mission is what God is about in the world, and the church has been called to join in that activity of God, often referred to as the Missio Dei.  That is, the church is not here to send out missionaries, the church is God’s missionary to the world.  The church is sent out, like Jesus’ disciples in Luke 10 to proclaim that God’s Kingdom has come near.

 The language that we use to talk about this way of looking at the church is missional.  To be missional is to be engaged in God’s missionary activity of reconciling the world and all things in it to Godself.  It is incarnational, that is just as Jesus became human to show us what God is like, so the church engages the world around it to show what God is about in the world.  Being missional also means that we believe God is already at work, and part of our task is to open our eyes to see where God is already at work, and then to join with God in that activity.

 Here is North America this has been a difficult concept for many of our churches to grasp, but if you travel to churches in South America, or Africa, they don’t need to be taught this concept, they are already living it out.  Several years ago Gay and I had the privilege of visiting churches in Quito, Ecuador and Bogota, Colombia.  The small Mennonite church in Quito was involved in a lot of missional activity. One of the concerns of the local neighborhood was the increasing presence of gangs.  So, in cooperation with the local school, the church began a weekly program with the neighborhood children to teach them about peace and about different ways of relating to each other.  We heard the stories of how this had transformed the neighborhood, reduced violence in the schools, and even had a profound effect on the parents of the children.

 Why am I telling you all this?  Well, next Sunday the discussion of the Future Looking Committee during Sunday School will focus on Engaging Others and as is noted on the page, engaging others means to participate in God’s mission in the world.  It’s about being missional.

 As you might imagine, focusing on this area also grows out of a concern, namely the decline in membership that most congregations have experienced over the past decade or so.  Everyone is looking for a fix, and many are looking for a quick fix.  Several years ago I visited 50 congregations in Central Plains Conference, and in almost every one they asked if we didn’t have some kind of program or plan that would help them grow. 

 Now, growing the church is a noble cause and I’m all for it.  However I would submit that if we engage with other people solely for the purpose of getting them to come to church and bolster our numbers, we will fail miserably.  An even worse motivation is one I have sometimes heard at church meetings where I have heard people say, “We need more people so that we can meet our budget.”  I cringe whenever I hear that line.  If those are our motivations for engaging others, people will see through them very quickly, and leave.

 So first of all, our motivation for engaging others must be that we understand that to be the mission of God’s people in all places and all times.  Put simply, the mission of the church is to be a blessing to others and to share the Good news of God’s Kingdom.  When Jesus sent out the 70 they were to declare “Peace” to the households they entered, and to proclaim “The Kingdom of God has come near.”  I truly believe that if we are faithful in engaging people as part of God’s mission to the world, then we will have fulfilled our calling as a church. 

 I am, quite frankly, less worried about the survival of any one institution.  While I truly believe First Mennonite will be around for a long time, and can indeed grow and prosper, that is not my primary concern or goal, nor, I believe, should it be yours.  I know that may sound shocking coming from your pastor, but I have come to recognize that institutional survival is not God’s primary mission in the world.  Engaging others may or may not grow the church, but it is part of what we are called to do, and if there is any hope for growing the church, it will come from that engagement.  So, engaging others may or may not grow the church.  Not engaging others will certainly mean the church will continue to decline.   The committee is making the assumption that we want to engage others.

 Having said all that, let me focus on some things to stimulate your thinking as we look forward to our discussion next week.  And for our visitors today, hopefully these will also stimulate your thinking for your own congregations, or motivate you to come and join us as we engage this topic further.

 Another way to talk about engaging others is to talk about hospitality, and missional church literature often talks about three kinds of hospitality.  The first kind of hospitality is the kind that we share among ourselves, in small groups, pot-lucks, etc.  Since we will focus more on that in several weeks, I’m not going to talk much about that today.

 The second kind of hospitality is that exemplified by Abram in Genesis 18, namely welcoming the stranger.  Hebrews 13: 2 recalls this incident and admonishes the church, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  There have been numerous programs over the years to help us as congregations be more welcoming, and congregations have become more aware of the importance of first impressions.  Greeting newcomers, having adequate signage so people know where to go, installing elevators, and so forth are all helpful ways of welcoming the stranger. 

 But we can always improve.  If you approach this building for the first time, which door should you go in?  Where are the washrooms?  That question could be especially daunting if you use the elevator.  Do we notice newcomers and talk with them?  I have been pleased to see that happening on numerous occasions, and encourage you to talk with those you don’t know.  What other events or programs could we hold to invite the neighbors to come in? In many communities people who live right around a church have never been inside it. ?  How could the wonderful kitchen we have be put to use? 

 There are many things we can do to welcome the stranger, but all of that assumes that the stranger will come to us, will walk in the front door.  But most people don’t just walk in.  In fact, in a survey by the American Growth Institute, only 3% of the people surveyed said they first came to church simply by walking in!  3%!  And if you include special needs or programs and evangelistic crusades, it’s still less than 10% of the people who come to church for the first time.

 The surveys all show that the primary reason people come in the door is because they already have a relationship with someone who has invited them.  In the same survey cited earlier, 79% said they came to church for the first time because a friend or relative invited them.  That presupposes that we have engaged those persons somewhere else other than church prior to their coming.  And that brings us to the third kind of hospitality, namely accepting the hospitality of others.

 A favorite passage of the Missional Church movement is the passage from Luke 10 which we read earlier.  Jesus sends out the disciples, two by two, to every town and village where he himself intended to go.  And he said to them, “Take all the provisions that you’ll need and when you get there, set up a tent and start holding meetings and invite all the people to come and listen.”  No, that’s not what he said.  They were instructed to take nothing with them, no provisions, not even a change of clothes.  Rather they were to rely on the hospitality of the people they were going to see.  Eat whatever is set before you (notice he says that twice!), stay with whoever accepts your peace. 

 And Jesus recognizes that this can be scary.  You are going out as sheep among wolves!  Who knows what you might be fed!  And not everyone will welcome you.  Some will not accept your peace, and Jesus has some rather harsh words for them.  But if we are going to engage others, and possibly have them come on to our turf, then we must first meet them on their turf, where they are. We do that at our work places, our social networks, schools, and yes, right here in this neighborhood.

 How might we engage the 3750 people who live in the 8 square block census tract that encompasses the church?  Do we know anything about them?  We might be surprised.  I could only find 2006 census data, so it’s 5 years old, but it was interesting.  Of the 930 families in these 8 square blocks, 150 are single parent families.  The area here has an average age about 10 years younger than Calgary as a whole and so there are lots of children, around 400.  In 2006, over 350 people in the area had lived in either a different province or different country a year earlier. And many of the immigrants to this area are from Asia – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and so forth. 

But those are just numbers.  How could we engage with the man who walks his white wolf past the church several times a day?  He’s friendly, I’ve talked with him on occasion.  Is there a way to engage the people who come by this building twice a day to drop off and pick up their kids from school?  People drive, walk, park, and in other ways pass this building.  

I don’t know what it might mean for us.  That’s where your ideas and discussion comes in next week.  I know some other congregations who have taken this engagement with their neighborhood seriously and done such things as hold their meetings in the local bar across the street from the church, or make meals and take them to a local park where anyone is welcome to join them.  Be creative!

Whether it’s here or in your own neighborhood, engaging people on their own turf is also part of God’s mission.  After all, God sent Jesus to meet us on our own turf, while we were still sinners. 

Engaging others isn’t just a side option, or a means to the end of growing our membership.  Engaging others is at the heart of what God is about in our world, and we are invited to join in that activity.  “The harvest is plentiful,” said Jesus, “but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.”  In the past we’ve often read that and immediately thought about Africa or Asia.  But Jesus’ next words are addressed to his disciples, “Go on your way!”  The mission field is across the road as well as around the world.  We are those laborers. 

Prayer:

Oh God, show us those places where you are intending to go, and where you are already at work around us.  And give us the courage to join in your work of reconciliation, bringing peace to the world.  Free our imaginations to engage others and offer them your peace.