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#Post#: 21494--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 4, 2020, 9:49 pm
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The Calling of the Evangelist
How do we differentiate the calling of an evangelist from other
leadership roles?
Evangelists are rare people and sometimes odd. OK, let’s be
honest, they are mostly odd people! The unique gifts and
expressions of evangelists typically cause them to stand out for
better and worse. Because of their conviction around the
centrality of the Gospel, evangelists are often bold, visionary,
and confident women and men so when they shine, they really
shine.
Because of the conviction, passion, and charisma of many
evangelists, they are frequently recruited for leadership roles.
When the Church sees a true evangelist, they have no category to
put him or her in so they try to squeeze him into one of the
many flavors of pastor. This has been true for my life. I’ve had
dozens of job offers— some pretty alluring, in fact. Each and
every job offer in a church that has come my way has been
categorized as ‘pastor.’ You need only to browse the thousands
of job openings on executive and ministry job sites to realize
there is only one single option for leadership in the church—
the pastor. A person can either be a senior pastor, an executive
pastor, a youth pastor, or a worship pastor but you’ll be hard
pressed to find any organization hiring an evangelist. The
category just does not exist.
There is nothing wrong with being a pastor. Who knows, God may
call me to be one someday, but my initial calling was to the
office of evangelist. I do believe a person can certainly be an
evangelist while wearing other hats. In most parts of the world,
women and men walk in the office of evangelist while working
other jobs. In many cases this is preferable because it gets the
evangelist into social and professional circles which full-time
ministers may have difficulty getting into.
However, the calling of the evangelist is sacred—it must be
protected. I believe every evangelist’s calling looks different.
I’m certain there are evangelists who regularly face the
temptation to ditch their calling and office for one of the many
opportunities in front of them—as a pastor, political leader,
CEO, salesperson, recruiter, agent, or consultant. There is a
never-ending stream of opportunities in front of the evangelist.
More traditional roles pay more than the average evangelist can
scrape together through their ministry, which makes the grass
seem a lot greener on the other side of our calling. I want to
be careful to point out that there is nothing wrong with being a
pastor, political leader, CEO, salesperson, or anything else. In
fact, some of the very best evangelists I know are working their
ministry and calling through these jobs and careers. But I want
to be very clear to mention that if God has called you to be a
full-time evangelist, do not forfeit your calling and office for
greater job security, visibility in the Church, influence,
power, or any other reason.
Over the years one temptation to leave my calling as an
evangelist was the profound loneliness I’ve experienced. I
desire being on a team or an enterprise with like-minded people
working hard at a single mission. For me, the Church was not
that team. I am often trying to convince churches that
evangelism is good for them and something they ought to do,
which for me, has been a lonely place. If it isn’t loneliness or
finances, fill in the blank for yourself. You are likely reading
this because you are an evangelist, or you are working at an
evangelistic enterprise. What is tempting you to pack it in?
Have your relatives asked the question like mine have, “When are
you going to move on and plant your own church or become a
pastor?” Do you lay awake at night wondering how you’ll be able
to send your kids college one day? Do you wish people understood
you or that you could fit in the larger Church world? Do you
wish you had more of a voice and power in your social circles,
organization, or local church?
The calling and office of the evangelist is rare. While all
Christians are called to share Christ and live as a witness to
the power and love of God, evangelists are God’s gift to the
Church and the world. We hold the Gospel up when others have
forgotten its power. We dare to dream of gathering the masses to
preach the Good News when the church is preoccupied with
internal affairs. We empower lay leaders, ministry
professionals, and everyday Christians to effectively do the
work of an evangelist. We hold forth the dread of the wrath of
God that is coming upon the world because of sin, pointing
people to repent and submit their lives to God. There is nothing
wrong with marriage seminars, spiritual life retreats, church
picnics and the like but the evangelist keeps the Gospel at the
center of the Church’s mission and if we fail to walk in our
office, who will lead the Church into its purpose? We must stay
true to being odd and rare – stay true to your calling for the
sake of the Church and the sake of the world.
Whatever tempts you to pack it in, I urge you to remember your
calling.
The Global Network of Evangelists exists to identify, affirm,
equip and mobilize evangelists worldwide. You should consider
applying for membership and joining a global community of
evangelists who have a passion to proclaim the Gospel to
everyone, everywhere.
Moore is an author and serves as National Evangelist and
National Director for Catalytic Partnerships for InterVarsity
USA. York is a convener of leaders for evangelism and missions
in America, and a founder of the Every Campus initiative.
#Post#: 21572--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 6, 2020, 2:40 pm
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You Can't Reach the World When All You Have is a Hammer
We need multiple tools to lead a thriving church—including an
evangelist.
In 1962, at a banquet for educators at UCLA, celebrated
philosopher, Abraham Kaplan, explained his now famous ‘Law of
the Instrument’ principle, “Give a small boy a hammer, and he
will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.”[1]
In the Church today, we have one single instrument for
leadership—the pastor. Search church positions on any of the
many job search forums and recruitment sites and you’ll find
there is only one tool churches are searching for—pastor. Senior
pastors, teaching pastors, executive pastors, worship pastors,
children’s, teens, collegiate, campus, in-take, discipleship and
volunteers pastors. We seem to think the only kind of leadership
we need can only come in one form—pastor.
To be fair, pastors are important and should be instrumental in
leading the Church but it was not God’s design for the Church to
have but one instrument. Because we only have one tool, every
task, goal, obstacle, vision statement, purpose statement, and
organizational strategy typically has just one leadership
perspective–a pastor’s perspective. When it comes to leadership,
the Church in North America is like a small boy with a hammer
and because of that, everything looks like it needs pounding. We
cannot reach the world with just a hammer, no matter how great
that hammer is.
Ephesians 4:11-13 tell us, however, “So Christ himself gave the
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and
teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (NIV).
Leadership in the Church is five-fold and incorporates an array
of tools to achieve missional maturity. Missional maturity is
the goal—a maturity that has breadth and depth, that is
centripetal and centrifugal. Missional maturity achieves
evangelism and discipleship, community engagement and spiritual
formation. Missional maturity can only be achieved when we have
more tools in our toolbox than just a hammer–as great as hammers
are.
What the church needs are apostles, prophets, evangelists,
teachers and pastors. Even when a church looks for a senior
leader who will operate as an apostle (typically a church
planter/multiplier) or as an evangelist, they smack the word
‘pastor’ on top of their role and superimpose the additional
character/gift traits of pastor onto their expectations. In
other words, even when churches are open to a screwdriver, we
want that screwdriver to also double as a hammer.
Evangelists in particular are important for missional maturity
but they often aren’t great doubling as a pastor. To be sure,
many evangelists have secondary gifting in pastoral ministry—I’m
not one of them. I’ve met these people, I envy them, but as much
as I’ve tried, I’ll never be like them. Most evangelists are
extremely externally facing, super-passionate about making
spaces and experiences open to non-churched people. They think
primarily of the ‘milk of the word,’ or the simple gospel
message and how to color everything the Church does with that
message.
Evangelists are angular in the best sense of the word. I
remember showing up to a leadership gathering with some fellow
evangelists some years back and having one of the organizers
bemoan our entrance. With a long, annoyed slur, he said, “Oh
great! The evangelists, the angular people!” What was then a
slight that hurt my feelings has now become a badge of honor.
I’m not like the pastor, I’m not the one ‘go-to’ tool in the
toolbox but my leadership is important, even necessary, for
missional maturity in the body!
While teachers and pastors are celebrated, rewarded and
empowered in the Church, the angular leaders—apostles, prophets,
and evangelists—are encouraged to look and act more like a
hammer if we want to get by. This is to our shame and part of
the reason why so often our churches lack missional maturity.
Here are five ways having an evangelist on staff as a senior
leader will change the way you think about missional maturity:
1. Evangelists will lead teams differently.
Healthy evangelists in positions of leadership almost always
lead Spirit-filled, impassioned teams who are thinking fervently
about lost people. They instill in their teams and the general
body a sense of urgency and primacy in engaging lost people that
often pastors do not. They impart the spiritual gift of
evangelism to others they lead.
2. Evangelists will create altogether new metrics.
We value what we count. What we measure dictates what we value,
and evangelists are great ‘counters’ of things related to the
mission of leading people to Jesus. Having said this, however,
evangelists are often innovators who create new metrics of
missional maturity like the number of congregants trained in
evangelism, the number of evangelistic events, the number of
non-Christian hearers at services….Evangelists are known for
counting and counting new and different things relative to
mission.
3. Evangelists will press the boundaries.
Reaching lost people requires risk and sacrifice, it requires
innovating and a willingness to fail. Evangelists will routinely
push the boundaries of normal in ways pastors will not. They
will risk things and lead congregations to fail but also
succeed! Congregations that are ‘fail avoidant’ often resist
evangelism leadership but having an evangelist as a senior
leader will help instill the value for risk and an appetite for
trial and error that can lead to breakthrough and true missional
maturity.
4. Evangelists create healthy tension.
One of the major reasons why leadership teams don’t hunt for and
place evangelists on their senior teams is that we can, after
all, be angular at times. We insist on things that often slip
through the cracks. The missional drift around evangelism is
strong but evangelists have a way of pressing church communities
and teams back to a commitment to evangelism. This can
frequently be seen as unrelenting or not being a team player but
evangelists know that the goal is worth the tension.
5. Evangelists will replicate the gift of evangelism.
Many people misunderstand evangelists. They assume evangelists
simply lead many to Jesus. Church leaders grossly mistake their
responsibility to evangelists, believing that involving them in
leadership will diminish their work of winning the lost. We
think it is a punishment to tether evangelists to leadership
responsibilities. Mature evangelists, however, long to work with
other leaders in equipping the Church. While that is true, the
true mark of an evangelists is that they replicate the gift of
evangelism in others. According to Ephesians 4:11, they, “…equip
his people for works of service.”
It isn’t good enough to have an ‘evangelism pastor’ if our
default assumption is that she or he ‘shade’ their pastoral
performance with evangelism. Evangelists, regardless of what
title they end up with from HR, should be empowered to be a part
of the senior leadership ethos of a church because of what the
pastor can’t bring. They are a different tool in the toolbox of
the Church by design. Jesus gave them to us to lead us into
missional maturity and without them, we’ll continue to see every
problem, challenge and opportunity simply as a pastoral one.
Pastors are great but pastors without evangelists are just not
enough to see the body of Christ built up to maturity,
effectively reaching our world for Jesus!
The Global Network of Evangelists exists to identify, affirm,
equip and mobilize evangelists worldwide. You should consider
applying for membership and joining a global community of
evangelists who have a passion to proclaim the Gospel to
everyone, everywhere.
[1] Kaplan, A. 1973. The conduct of inquiry: Bucks,
International textbook Comp.
Moore is an author and serves as National Evangelist and
National Director for Catalytic Partnerships for InterVarsity
USA. York is a convener of leaders for evangelism and missions
in America, and a founder of the Every Campus initiative.
#Post#: 21707--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 8, 2020, 8:23 am
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Why I Claim the ‘Global Evangelical’ Label
My church identity is tied to the body of Christ abroad.
The bishop who ordained me was ordained by African bishops. My
priesthood is a gift granted by the global body of Christ. As a
result, the rise of the church in the Global South has never
felt like a distant sociological fact. It is personal and vital
to my work. I identify more with believers who speak other
languages, have different skin colors, and live on the other
side of the planet than with fellow white Americans who live on
my block.
This is a miracle—an ongoing act of grace that would have been
unthinkable before the coming of Christ. Jesus made a new family
whose kinship trumps cultural, national, and biological ties.
But though miraculous, this extended family affects my ordinary
day—the way I pray, worship, vote, and think about my neighbors,
my church, myself, and the world.
At the beginning of the 20th century, 80 percent of Christians
lived in Europe and North America, with only 20 percent in the
non-Western world. Now it’s almost the reverse. Two-thirds of
the world’s Christians live in the Global South. This reversal
is due not so much to the decline of faith in the West but to
the explosive growth of the church in the rest of the world. I
see this in my own Anglican Communion, which wanes in wealthy
Western nations and blossoms in the Global South.
This reality offers me hope. The vanguard of the Christian
movement is not on American shores. North American culture,
then, does not determine the future of the church. Western
secularization, or even the marginalization of Christianity in
the West, has about as much power to limit the flourishing of
the church as it has to stop a hurrican or change the seasons.
The indigenous growth and revival in global Christianity—which
would have been unimaginable merely 100 years ago—reminds us
that we need not be afraid. God is relentlessly at work in the
world.
This global growth also shapes my perspective on how we talk
about the church. When my community of primarily educated
urbanites criticizes “the church,” we most often mean the
American church or even merely the white American church. Given
our context, this oversimplification makes sense, but it also
subtly centers white American voices and experiences.
Similarly, when younger evangelicals leave “the church” because
they are frustrated with certain Western iterations of it, they
simultaneously leave behind a global body of largely black and
brown people. These global evangelicals often hold together what
many white American evangelicals too easily pry apart: a shared
commitment to orthodox doctrine and care for the poor and
oppressed.
When I think of evangelicals, I think of Singaporeans planting
churches in Thailand, or Rwandan families serving refugees in
Uganda, or Nigerian seminarians, or the evangélicos of South
America—a label widely used by Protestant Latinos. We need to
keep these voices front and center in any discussion of the
church. They are our future and also our present—the ones who
make up the majority of evangelicals on earth.
These global believers also remind me not to give up on the
American church. A few years ago, I caught myself thinking, “The
American church is dying and probably deserves it, so let’s
focus exclusively on what’s happening elsewhere.” I gave us up
for lost. But then I was reminded by my brothers and sisters
overseas that many of these now-blossoming movements abroad
began small. Men and women suffered joyfully for the gospel.
They continue to do so. Amid suffering and even persecution,
their impulse is to take up the mission of Jesus and love their
neighbors. We are called to do the same wherever we are.
During the season of Epiphany, many Anglican churches use the
Kenyan liturgy, and each year it reminds me that the church—and
even evangelicalism alone—is bigger and more complex than my
limited context. Right before we take the Eucharist, the
celebrant says, “Christ is alive forever.” The congregation
responds, “We are because he is.” Because Christ is alive, we
the global church can flourish together as a new family. I am a
disciple of Jesus, an evangelical Anglican, and a priest in
Christ’s church because we are a global body. And we are because
he is.
Tish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North
America and the author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in
the Night (IVP, 2021).
#Post#: 22067--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 11, 2020, 10:13 am
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I Grew Up a Fervent Evangelist for Islam. Now I’m Living Out the
Book of Acts.
How an encounter with Christian missionaries made me into a
missionary myself.
I grew up in a Muslim family on the coast of Kenya. My father
served as an Imam, and I was one of the muezzins (Muslims who
call others to pray five times a day) at a local mosque.
The only school I ever attended existed to educate young men in
the ways of Islam and to help them grow as Muslims. I was being
trained to defend the Muslim faith and to share it with others.
As a young man, I became one of the best and most well-known
evangelists for Islam in my region.
Early in life, my father had taught me to hate Christians and
even to beat them if necessary. I was trained to believe that
Christians were on the same level as animals. We were not
allowed to associate with them in any way.
A Miraculous Transformation
In 2009, my life was forever changed. The day started out just
like any other: I woke up and went to the local mosque to start
calling people to pray. I was set to recite the adhan (Muslim
call to prayer) into the microphone so that my call could be
heard throughout the city. But when I tried to speak, nothing
came out. Leaving the mosque, I saw my friend Ali in the street
and I tried to explain what had happened, but he wouldn’t
believe me.
We went back to the mosque, where I stepped up to the microphone
and attempted to call the adhan once more, but again my voice
would not come out. Ali was as surprised as I was. We both were
nervous, but he took over my duties so that I could go home for
the day.
When I got home, I tried to relax and calm my mind. My heart was
heavy, and I felt troubled. I went to my kitchen, grabbed a
thermos, and started to make hot tea. I poured the tea into a
mug and was about to start drinking when I saw that the tea had
turned red, a dark red that looked like blood. I left the tea on
the counter and took a walk, hoping to clear my mind after a day
full of seemingly crazy events.
During my walk, I came to a marketplace where a large crowd had
gathered around the back of a pickup truck. Getting close enough
to hear and see what was going on, I listened as a Christian
missionary was preaching. He was clearly a Kenyan, just like me,
and not someone who had come here from the Western world. I was
skeptical and kept my distance, but I listened to what he was
saying.
After the man had finished preaching, I felt compelled to
approach him. Because I was known very well in that area, the
pastors who were with him (they were also Kenyan) initially
blocked me from coming forward, but the missionary allowed me to
talk with him. He shared the gospel with me, and right then and
there everything felt different. I saw everything that had
happened during that day in a new light. I knew that God was the
one who wouldn’t let my voice come out; he was the one who
turned my tea blood red, as a symbol of Christ’s blood spilled
on the cross for me.
The Holy Spirit changed my heart, and I gave my life to Jesus.
The missionary told me to go tell my family what had happened,
and I did as he requested, even though I knew my father would
not like it. Sure enough, he saw my conversion as an abandonment
of Islam and an act of personal betrayal. He called my uncle, a
well-respected leader in the Muslim community, to ask for advice
on how to handle this crisis. My uncle recommended having me
excommunicated. But my father was in no mood for half-measures:
He wanted me dead. He ordered me to get out of the house right
away, and I wasn’t even allowed a moment to gather my
belongings.
After my father had left the house, I returned and saw my
sister. She told me that my father had burned all of my
belongings behind our house. She had been washing clothes at the
time, and she gave me one set to take with me.
That night I ran away, staying outside on a park bench. It was a
cold night, and I considered returning to my father and
apologizing. But as I prayed, I found new strength in Jesus
Christ. The next day, I went out and started sharing my
testimony, explaining what Jesus had done for me and how others
could receive him as well.
I found the missionary who had shared the gospel with me,
figuring I would stay the night with him and his fellow pastors
before leaving the next morning. But soon we heard that my
father had sent people out looking for me, people who would kill
me if they found me. So that night, around 3 a.m., the group of
missionaries escorted me out of my hometown.
They brought me to a city eight hours away. A longtime member of
a local church took an interest in me and started to disciple
me. Another member even allowed me to stay in his home since I
had no place to live.
The more I got settled in this strange new place, the more I
felt a call to ministry. I started sharing the gospel to lost
people in the area, gathering a group of about 10 people in the
area to disciple as I had been discipled.
I hoped to attend a Bible school, so that I could become a
better preacher and teacher of the gospel, but I did not have
the money to pay for it. So I started traveling around and
visiting different churches and congregations, where I had the
opportunity to preach, teach, and share the story of my
conversion.
Yet danger kept stalking me. After visiting one church in the
region for five days, preaching and sharing the gospel, I
learned that some men had come there looking for me. They had
been sent by my parents. In the mosque where I grew up, an
announcement had gone out that I was wanted, dead or alive.
Counting the Cost
Over the years, I’ve continued to travel and visit different
churches under the support of the national missionary
organization that aided me at the time of my conversion. In
April of 2017, I took a new step of boldness. Alongside one of
my own disciples, I journeyed to a city close to the border of
Somalia, where the population consists mostly of Somalis who
were members of my own ethnic group. I had ventured there to do
what God had put in my heart so many years ago: sharing Christ
with Muslims in my homeland.
We had planned out a four-day trip. On the first day, as I
started to preach and share the gospel, a crowd gathered. As I
continued evangelizing, the crowd became angry, and a few people
complained to the police that I was causing trouble.
The police arrested me and took me to jail. I was punched and
kicked by other cellmates and by the corrupt police officers. I
learned that the man I had been discipling had left to return
home. But I continued to share Christ, and 10 Somalis came to
know Jesus as Lord in jail. On the fourth day, I was released,
and I walked straight from the jail to the market where I had
preached the gospel. Seven Muslims prayed to receive Christ that
day.
In the Gospels, Jesus tells the crowds that anyone who would
follow him must be prepared to leave everything behind for the
sake of carrying a cross (Luke 14:26–27). Since becoming a
Christian, I’ve had many occasions to count the cost of
discipleship. On top of having to flee from my home and family,
I was forced to part ways with the Muslim woman I was set to
marry (though God later saw fit to provide me a wife at one of
the churches I visited). On several occasions, people from the
cities I’ve evangelized have shown up at my home in the middle
of the night to threaten me and my family. I have been beaten by
crowds five different times.
And yet, when I think of even the worst suffering—of all the
slaps, punches, and kicks I’ve endured—I still “count it all
joy” (James 1:2, ESV). I’ll gladly surrender everything for the
cause of Christ and to reach my Muslim brothers who are blind.
Aaban Usman (a pseudonym) works as a national missionary through
Reaching Souls International, an organization based in Oklahoma
City. Koal Manis is a freelance writer and a student at Oklahoma
Baptist University.
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Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 15, 2020, 11:01 am
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China’s Greatest Evangelist Was Expelled from a Liberal Seminary
in America
How John Song sought new beginnings—for himself and his
homeland—after a period of disgrace.
The story of John Song is fairly well-known within the history
of Chinese Christianity. In 1920, he left China to study
chemistry in the United States, completing a bachelor’s degree
in three years and a master’s degree and a doctorate in another
three years. He then turned to theology and enrolled in
America’s leading institution of liberal Christianity, Union
Theological Seminary in New York City. He had an evangelical
conversion experience—but seminary authorities thought he was
mad and sent him to an asylum. After his release in 1927, Song
boarded a ship headed back to China and committed his life to
preaching the gospel message.
But there is another side to the story, one fleshed out in a new
biography from Boston University global Christianity scholar
Daryl R. Ireland. John Song: Modern Chinese Christianity and the
Making of a New Man presents a brilliant student living with
schizophrenia—one who saw visions, spoke as a prophet of a new
age, and decoded divine messages in New York Times crossword
puzzles and through “radio schematics” in the four Gospels. At
one point, he supposedly fell in love with a supernatural being
and married her in the presence of 7,000 honorary queens.
Ireland’s access to previously un-available materials—Song’s
student files at Union and some 6,000 pages of personal
diaries—enables him to paint a very complex picture. From this
basis, Ireland argues that the seemingly divergent accounts of
Song’s American background converge into one: the making of
China’s greatest evangelist. They are the origin stories of a
new man.
When Song returned to China, he was disgraced by his expulsion
from Union and his hospitalization for mental instability.
Things changed when he met the fundamentalist Methodist
Episcopal missionary W. B. Cole. According to Ireland,
Cole saw in Song an opportunity to condemn Union for its
modernist theology, while Song saw in Cole an opportunity to
reinvent himself. Together, they crafted a new account of Song’s
troubled past: As Ireland sums it up, “Song had encountered the
God made known in Jesus Christ at Union Theological Seminary,
and he was rejected because of it.”
This new beginning was key to Song’s revivalist message going
forward, just as new beginnings were key for China in the
1920s–1940s, when reformers hoped to escape the country’s feudal
past in pursuit of new culture, new life, and a new China.
Song was now a new man—in terms of evangelicalism and
modernizing China. For instance, the Nationalist government
tried to purify religion by launching the Smashing Superstition
Movement in 1928. That same year, Song began his career as a
traveling evangelist for the Methodist Episcopal Church, in
which he preached a message that Ireland describes as being
“tested by spiritual life and science.” With a PhD in chemistry,
he had the credentials to defend faith as something more than a
superstition that science was smashing.
Song renewed himself time and time again. Initially, when he
preached in rural villages, his sermons focused on how the
supernatural world penetrated the natural world. After 1931,
when Song joined the Bethel Worldwide Evangelistic Band to tour
around China’s urban centers, his preaching transformed into a
new expression of Holiness revivalism. When his relationship
with Bethel ended in 1933, Song again rewrote his sermons to
address sectors of society that he had not previously
encountered.
Two of Ireland’s final chapters address important themes of
early-20th-century China. The first highlights how Song’s
preaching was particularly appealing to women. Men and women
needed more than just to be saved—Song called them to organize
their own evangelistic teams. Vast numbers of women took up this
call. Song was offering an alternative to Confucian gender roles
and to the secular-feminist vision developing in China at the
time.
Likewise, the final chapter covers Song’s divine healing
ministry, which offered an alternative to both traditional
Chinese medicine and Western biomedicine. In the end, Song’s
healing hands were unable to heal himself, and he died in 1944
after years of dealing with an anal fistula.
Ireland advances a theory about Song’s reinvention as part of a
larger story of Chinese Christianity’s 20th-century development.
Even more, he teases out how Song and Chinese Christianity
offered an alternative to the path of exchanging a feudal past
for a modern future. This new man and this new religion
profoundly influenced the making of a new China.
Alexander Chow is senior lecturer in theology and world
Christianity in the School of Divinity at the University of
Edinburgh. He is author of two books, most recently Chinese
Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian Imagination
in Chinese Christianity.
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Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 17, 2020, 11:31 am
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A Welcomed Example of Pushback
Vietnamese Evangelicals provide a story of hope even in a deeply
divided country.
One indisputable feature of Evangelicals is that we don’t always
get along. All sorts of factors play into our lives; our
hometowns, family history and schooling influence how we think,
feel and vote. In our human brokenness, disunity is often a
factor that plays into all we are and what we do.
So, how then do we live as Jesus prayed to the Father in John
17, “May they be one even as we are one”? We know that believing
in and following Jesus does not create sameness. For example, in
Canada I have Evangelical friends who favour a wide range of
political ideals: separatism, socialism, conservatism,
liberalism, environmentalism.
In today’s world where conflicting views are the chatter of
newscasts, let me point you to a country and its people who,
though living in division, chose recently to come together.
A great example from an unlikely place
Vietnam is a classic example of a divided country. It has
endured civil and national wars, been fragmented by tribalism,
dealt with conflicting economic theories, and juggled a
multiplicity of languages. Even its history defines the country
as politically split between the north and the south. Some
months ago, when I traveled from the northern part of Vietnam to
the southern end and back again, I was reminded of its pockets
of resistance, its variety of tribes and local ethnic
animosities. These demographics don’t cease to exist just
because faith is introduced.
Yet here in Vietnam, Evangelicals, though facing headwinds of
opposition within their own communities, chose a few weeks ago
to buck the trend of division. Instead, they committed to
praying and working towards a more unified Christian voice, so
as to establish a stronger public presence in the country.
Wars with France and the United States marked this land in our
memories. Though Vietnam is currently ruled by a Communist
party, more than half of its 90 million people are Buddhist and
10% are Christian (mostly Roman Catholic). Evangelicals, who
represent 2% of the population, have been active here for a
century. At times they have struggled or even faced persecution,
but the church has thrived. In the early 1900s, the Christian
and Missionary Alliance started Bible translation work and
planted churches. Since then, the small band of Christians has
grown despite the wars of the 20th century and the advent of
communism.
On November 28–29, 2020, at a meeting in Cam Ranh Bay, the
Vietnam Evangelical Alliance (VEA) was formally launched, with
Rev. Ho Tan Khoa appointed president. (He serves as general
secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Vietnam.)
National alliances like the VEA, members of the World
Evangelical Alliance, are part of the worldwide phenomenon that
started when the WEA was formed in 1846. The main motivation for
creating the WEA was a desire for unity and fellowship. In those
post–William Wilberforce days of the early 19th century, issues
of slavery, child labour and religious freedom were matters of
great concern. Even so, the core attraction for Protestant
leaders to join together was a passion for unity. In a world of
numerous denominations and the hostilities such barriers can
produce, those who met chose to resist the status quo of
division and create a means by which Evangelicals could meet in
fellowship and harmony. Today there are 9 Regional and 135
National Evangelical Alliances, all born out of a similar desire
for unity—evidence, we believe, that Jesus’ impulse in John 17
still reverberates among his people today.
It takes determination
Making the VEA a reality hasn’t been a task for the faint of
heart. Those who helped to make it happen know how deeply the
spirit of division pervades Vietnam. Too much of its history was
characterized by internal strife and external invasion.
Overcoming disunity required boldness, humility and collegial
strength.
For years, Vietnamese church leaders prayed and worked together.
But even while they were working to make fuller unity possible,
during this past year the historic Evangelical church in Hanoi
was torn by unimaginable internal disputes. Furthermore, the
largest Evangelical denomination in Vietnam, the Evangelical
Church of Vietnam–South (ECVN-South), has chosen to stay out of
the VEA. The ECVN-South has declined to acknowledge the
legitimacy of many house churches born in Vietnam’s 1988
revival, and those deeply held feelings about the house churches
still stand in the way of cooperation.
Even though Vietnam’s largest denomination decided not to join,
the current VEA leadership was not deterred from moving forward.
In all, 33 denominations and two ministries felt it was the
right time to declare their unity and fellowship in Christ. (See
the list below.)
In the past 60 years, the global Evangelical community has
exploded, from about 90 million people in 1960 to over 650
million today. Evangelism is rooted in our very name. We love to
tell the good news of the Evangel: God has come, and he lives
among us.
Now it’s time that we visibly make him king among us by setting
aside those differences that should not divide us. Our brothers
and sisters in Vietnam are telling us that it matters. They are
also pointing the way.
Members of the newly formed Vietnam Evangelical Alliance
Churches: United Presbyterian Church, Christian Fellowship
Church, Methodist Church, Agape Church, Pentecostal Church,
United Gospel Outreach Church, United Baptist Church,
Evangelical Church (North), Baptist Convention, Assemblies of
God, Word of Life Christian Church, Christian Mission, Baptist
Convention, Presbyterian Church, Baptist Evangelistic League,
Full Gospel Church, Inter Evangelistic Movement, Foursquare Full
Gospel Church, Evangelical Mennonite Church, Christian Life
Churches, Church of the Nazarene, Evangelical Holiness Church,
Missionary Church of Christ, Evangelical Canaan Church, Lutheran
Church, Full Gospel Church, Mennonite Church, Missionary Baptist
Church, Gospel of Peace Church, Pentecostal Assemblies, Church
of God, United Methodist Church, Christ’s Commission Church.
Parachurch ministries: Campus Crusade for Christ, Full Gospel
Businessmen’s Fellowship International. (Note: most churches
include “Vietnam” in their name.)
Brian Stiller is global ambassador of the World Evangelical
Alliance, the largest network of Evangelicals worldwide. Prior
to this appointment he served as president of Tyndale University
(Toronto).
#Post#: 22475--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: December 19, 2020, 7:24 am
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Compassionate Evangelism: Being A Daily Witness for Christ
As Christians, we are called to testify with compassion every
day.
As followers of Jesus, we come together in His name and worship
Him because He alone is worthy of worship. We believe God has
rescued us from darkness and brought us in to the marvelous
light of His love. He is worthy of worship because of what He
has done for us.
His message is simple, by surrendering to Jesus, (not a
religion) confessing and repenting of our sin, accepting His
sacrifice of shed blood on the cross, and trusting in Him alone
for salvation, we become a Child of God and are given eternal
life. We should then want to become more like Him and seek a
life of holiness and obedience that is pleasing to Him. He is
worthy of worship and we should long for others to know Him. He
suffered and shed His blood on a cross to take on the sin of the
world and the punishment we deserved. This great news is worthy
of sharing with every person on earth, and is what God intends
for us:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
We are Ambassadors and Witnesses
I remember being in the Ivory Coast and preaching on 2
Corinthians 5. In verse 20 it says … “Therefore, we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal
through us;”
My interpreter, a young 20-year-old, fluent in French and
English was so excited as I finished and said to me “I just
realized that I am an Ambassador for Jesus! Wow, I am so
excited.” Since that day he has not stopped sharing about how
Jesus rescued him and gave him a new life.
We are all ambassadors for the Lord, and it is His plan for
completing the work on earth so all may hear and know of God’s
love. Why do we find it so hard to be a witness for Jesus with
our words?
In Acts 1:8 “witness” in Greek is “martyr”— one who saw
something and told others about it. The meaning of the word
changed over time from someone who saw and told, to someone who
gave his life for the cause he believed in. This happened
because so many of the disciples lost their lives when telling
what they saw when Jesus was with them.
What is a witness?
If you were called as a witness in a courtroom, they would
expect 3 things of you.
You would need to be of good character.
You need to have seen or experienced something.
You must speak of what you have seen and heard.
As believers we have another characteristic.
We are filled with the Holy Spirit and are given power to speak
the word boldly! Acts 4:31
God has called us to be witnesses. God has not called us to be
lawyers, prosecuting attorneys, or judges. A witness tells the
truth about what he knows, and what he’s seen. God has not
called us to persuade, force, coerce, or manipulate anybody into
the Kingdom of God. He called us to witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ and His saving power and to leave the results to Him.
The problem:
97% of Christians will never share the plan of salvation with
one unbeliever.
90% of unbelievers will NEVER come to church.
75% are willing to LISTEN to a Christian talk about their faith.
Reasons we don’t talk to the lost:
We don’t know what to say – It’s hard to start conversations
with unbelievers, whether they are strangers or friends.
Fear of rejection – No one wants to be rejected or have a
confrontation, so our fear paralyzes us.
Lack of Christ’s compassion – we don’t truly care enough.
Satan doesn’t want the good news spread.
“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom
and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the
crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his
disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out
laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38 (emphasis added)
If our fears are greater than our compassion, our fears win!
But if our compassion is greater than our fears, compassion
wins!
Which is greater in your life… fear or compassion?
Being a witness involves seeking opportunities to share your
story and ask questions of others so you can share who Jesus is.
Have gospel tracts or short booklets on the gospel available.
Learn how to share your brief one-minute faith story, your
testimony.
Make it your mission to pray for lost people and as the Lord
opens doors of opportunities.
There are many ways to witness about Christ. The important thing
is to do it in all situations.
There is a story about the famous preacher DL Moody. (February
5, 1837 - December 22, 1899) Founder of Moody Church and Moody
Bible Institute. A woman confronted him after a message and
said, “I don’t like how you share the gospel” to which Dr. Moody
replied, ”Well, sometimes I am uncomfortable with it as well,
how do you share it?” to which she replied, “I don’t.” Moody
then said, “Well Ma’am, I like how I share the gospel better
than how you don’t share it!”
How can you share the gospel story?
Alan Greene is an evangelist, author, and Director of
Collaborative Events for Global Network of Evangelists (GNE)—A
ministry of Luis Palau Evangelistic Association.
#Post#: 23982--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: January 20, 2021, 8:42 am
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Redeeming the Godly Work of Proselytization
Evangelism is a moral good and a key expression of our faith.
Before all-things streaming, when television was simpler and
there were only 3 options at a time (at best), one of my
favorite shows was the original ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ with Monty
Hall. The game show concept is simple: offer audience members
prizes over and over again to entice them to keep choosing to
risk what they have in hopes of something even better. The catch
is that at any moment, the prize that they’ve already won can be
lost to something with little to laughable value, like a goat or
a bag of rocks. The game show has also spawned a philosophic and
mathematical problem known as the ‘Monty Hall Paradox.’ The
Paradox has to do with how to pick the one of three doors most
likely to have, say, a car instead of the goat.
The host of the show has the knowledge that the contestant does
not. There are no probabilities to calculate for him. He alone
knows where the car, the blender, and the goat are always. I’ve
watched the show enough to know that the host also WANTS the
contestant to get the good prize, the car and not the goat.
Regardless, the contestant must choose, and they must choose
blindly, regardless of what statistical methods we could
possibly employ through the Monty Hall Paradox.
In a few ways, there are some striking similarities to this
scenario when it comes to God’s plans and desires for us. If we
can liken God to the host of the show, He wants us to have the
very best prize. He knows what is behind each door or path.
Unlike this scenario, however, God is not tempting us to gamble
our good things with worthless things. He is not taking away our
prizes with laughable alternatives. Most importantly, He is not
withholding his knowledge when it comes to what’s behind door
#1, #2, or #3-that knowledge is made available to us all. So why
do so many people still choose the goat over the car?
Let’s make a deal is not just a clever title for an
award-winning game show, it is also God’s invitation to us. God
offers us the deal of peace, hope, and love through
‘togethering,’ or the deep companionship that comes from knowing
Him personally. All the deals God gives are good and the only
bad deal is to not take any of His good gifts at all-to reject
Him and all He offers.
When we think of examples of moral good, we think of things like
physicians doing all they can to heal children from cancer, law
enforcement arresting human traffickers, or local non-profits
providing food and shelter for the homeless. These are, in fact,
deep and abiding expressions of moral goodness.
Philosopher, Immanuel Kant, gives us several contours of ‘moral
goodness’ in his seminal work, Critique of Pure Reason. He says
moral goodness is objectively good, not based on opinion, that
is to say it is not contingent but is intrinsically good by
itself; moral goodness expresses higher ideals of values that
are transcendent, ideals that are not contained by this world,
and; moral goodness is by itself good, meaning that it is not
some means to an end. Kant says lots of things, but the point
here is that moral goodness expresses the very highest ideals
that cannot be contained by opinion or the changing winds of the
world around us.
While the word ‘proselytization’ is seen is as the exact
opposite of moral goodness, I believe it is itself one of the
very best expressions of moral goodness. Historically,
proselytization, in its worst expressions, has entailed
coercion, manipulation, and trickery. As an expression of moral
goodness, however, proselytization invites discussion and
engagement, is expressed out of a motivation of love and
concern, and has as its aim deep attitudinal, emotional and
volitional change.
We refer to this change as conversion. Words like conversion and
proselytization are not merely antiquated, but they are seen as
expressions of power, of colonization, and control. This is to
be expected when much of religious evangelism has been done
through a proselytization that is not a moral good. If, however,
there really are ontologically fixed realities behind the doors
of life and we don’t have to guess what they are, then there
seems to be a moral obligation to help others make the right and
good decisions about life.
For Christians, we call this ‘help’ evangelism. Evangelism is
the Christian expression of proselytization. Christian
evangelism is core to what it means to be a faithful adherent to
the faith. So important is evangelism to the Christian that one
could argue that a Christian who does not evangelize is not
living out a full or authentic Christian faith. The primary
reason for this goes back to the concept of moral goodness.
If the Christian truly believes that she has real knowledge
about what is behind the three conceptual doors and does not
help others to know that same knowledge, she has not merely
failed to express moral goodness but rather is complicit in the
demise that comes from choosing in ignorance things that have
grave consequences for life and the afterlife. Evangelism for
the Christian is both a moral duty and an expression of devotion
born out of a relationship of love with God and, by extension,
love of others whom God also loves.
Evangelism is the highest expression of moral goodness. That is
not to say that there aren’t other moral goods. Remember a moral
good stands on its own as ontologically good. We do not serve
the homeless in order to proselytize. This practice is exactly
what has desecrated Christian evangelism. No, we serve the
homeless because it is an end in itself, a moral good that
cannot be diminished by doing it by itself and for itself.
Having said this, however, evangelism is simply the very highest
expression of moral goodness because it deals with consummate or
eschatological realities bearing upon the eternal soul of all.
One can cloth the naked, feed the hungry, free the slave but
eventually, these same people who are made in the image of God,
without being converted will all suffer a much worse fate than
cold, hunger, enslavement and the like-they will suffer eternal
separation from God in a place of suffering. This is at least
the conviction of Bible-believing Christians, so we evangelize,
in part, because it is an expression of moral goodness based on
the concern for the eternal state of people.
Unfortunately, even among Christians, eschatological categories
like wrath, hell, damnation, and eternal separation from God are
rarely talked about-even from our best platforms and pulpits.
This reality does not negate their ontological standing-these
categories are real and the real consequences behind door #3.
Again, the great news is what’s behind these doors is not
unknown to the host, God Himself. They are also not unknown to
the Christian who is tasked with the moral good of proselytizing
or evangelism.
We are tasked with this out of the love of God who wants to give
all people all of the blessings behind all of the doors of life
and also to save us from each and every pain, heartache, and
ultimately, eternal hell and damnation. It is a moral good and
requisite expression of faith to help those around us make the
right and good decisions about God, life and the afterlife. As
we help them, we are asking them to risk what they have in hopes
of something even better, to make a deal, knowing what they will
win in exchange is eternally better than what they now possess.
York Moore is an author and serves as National Evangelist and
National Director for Catalytic Partnerships for InterVarsity
USA. Moore is a convener of leaders for evangelism and missions
in America, and a founder of the Every Campus initiative.
#Post#: 23988--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: January 20, 2021, 11:10 am
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Failed Trump Prophecies Offer a Lesson in Humility
Instead of persecuting prophets who have apologized, we might do
better to join them.
The failed prophecies of Donald Trump’s reelection may have
damaged the credibility of the US independent Charismatic wing
of evangelicalism more than any event since the televangelist
scandals of the 1980s. They have led some outsiders to criticize
Christianity itself and rightly call us to introspection.
Don’t misunderstand me: I’m Charismatic myself, and the majority
of Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors I know were not paying
attention to such prophecies. Millions of online views and
shares, though, show that many people were.
The first step toward correcting mistakes is admitting that we
have made them. As we approach the inauguration of President Joe
Biden, some who prophesied Trump’s reelection remain adamant
that they were correct. Perhaps the election was stolen or will
be overturned, or in some mystical realm Trump is actually
spiritually president. Some just change the subject.
Unfortunately, their hardcore followers may settle for that.
Others acknowledge that prophecy must be tested and, by
affirming Biden’s win, now tacitly concede that they were wrong.
Yet certain prophets have drawn the attention of Charismatics
and non-Charismatics alike by publicly confessing that their
prophecies were indeed mistaken and extending their apologies.
R. Loren Sandford, Jeremiah Johnson, and Kris Vallotton have
recently expressed contrition and even repentance for
incorrectly prophesying that Trump would win again in 2020. All
three urge us to pray for and work respectfully with the new
administration.
Their explanations for how they may have initially misheard
God’s voice may help in guarding against similar errors in the
future. Meanwhile, those of us who might be tempted to tell
them, “I told you so” ought to remember that God requires the
same humility from us (Gal. 6:1; 1 Thess. 5:19–20).
Their confessions, along the examples of prophets throughout
Scripture, offer some useful cautions about the influence of
peer pressure, pride, and presumption—and the need for
Christians to remain cautious about predictions and open to
correction when their interpretations prove false.
Prophets and Peer Pressure
Sandford, who has an MDiv from Fuller, is the only one of the
prophetic voices circulating today of whom I knew several years
ago. He has a pretty good track record. I am a witness that, by
the beginning of President Trump’s first term, he predicted that
an economic crisis caused by circumstances outside the US would
shake Trump’s fourth year and that subsequent events depended
partly on Trump learning to control his divisive rhetoric.
Yet Sandford eventually fell in line with the prophetic chorus
announcing the president’s reelection. He now confesses that he
allowed the consensus of other prophets to sway his own heart.
“Up until now, I have always sought the Lord on my own, gotten
the word first from him and then, and only then, have I compared
it with what others were saying,” he wrote in a public apology
last week. “My first confession is therefore that I departed
from that discipline. I allowed myself to be caught up in a
prevailing stream and to be carried along by it. In doing that,
I actually compromised what the Lord had already told me years
before.”
Peer pressure can be considerable; a messenger urged Micaiah,
“the other prophets without exception are predicting success for
the king. Let your words agree with theirs, and speak favorably”
(1 Kings 22:13). Micaiah stood alone in proclaiming the truth
and was jailed for it. (In the US today he would simply lose his
market share of social media attention.) Jeremiah was confused
because his message contradicted that of all the other prophets
(Jer. 14:13).
Peer review has its place; in the church in Corinth, where few
converts had been believers more than a couple years, those who
prophesied needed to evaluate one another’s words (1 Cor.
14:29); the Spirit enables evaluation (1 Cor. 2:13–16). But it
is possible to depend too much on a peer-review safety net:
“‘Therefore,’ declares the Lord, ‘I am against the prophets who
steal from one another words supposedly from me’” (Jer. 23:30).
Prophets and Pride
All believers hear from God: At the very least, his Spirit
testifies to our spirits that we are God’s children (Rom. 8:16).
Some are gifted to hear God in clearer ways than others; God has
measured out faith for different gifts, and some thus
prophesy—hear from and speak for God—more fully (Rom. 12:3, 6).
Unfortunately, if we grow overconfident in our gift, we may
speak beyond the measure granted to us. (That is a temptation to
which we who have the gift of teaching also may succumb;
certainly those with the “gift” of commenting online often do.)
Pride can mislead us: We humans have a temptation to take credit
for God’s work or gift and make it about us. A gift—whether
prophecy, teaching, giving, or the like—does not make us better
than anyone else; by definition, it’s something we receive, not
based on our merit (1 Cor. 4:7).
Not everyone who hears from God does so on the same level:
Visions and dreams are often like riddles that require
interpretation, as opposed to God speaking in person as he did
with Moses (Num. 12:6–8). Most of us will experience that
face-to-face knowing only when we see Jesus at his return (1
Cor. 13:8–12). Impressions and even fairly fluent prophecy still
flow through frail vessels. The Lord’s assurance that everything
will be all right does not always mean that the outcome will be
the only scenario that we suppose “all right” must mean.
The humblest prophets who were wrong have apologized. Even when
we speak initially, we must remain humble and frame our opinions
carefully where we lack certainty.
Prophets and Presumption
Sometimes we may want to hear one thing from the Lord when he
has something different to tell us. Sandford laments that he
fell prey partly to “the tendency we have to hear what we want
to hear.”
Sometimes we can be tempted to speak simply because people
expect our voice, but that can risk drawing on the vaguest of
impressions or inclinations, thus filling in with “visions from
their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer. 23:16).
“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to
them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they
would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of
their doings” (Jer. 23:21-22, NRSV).
Julian Adams, who prophesied specifically and accurately to my
wife and me, also told me that people were expecting him to
prophesy about certain coming events. He says that he resisted
because the Lord simply hadn’t told him anything about them. He
did not prophesy the election outcome. No surprise: The Lord did
not show everything supernaturally even to Elisha (2 Kings
4:27).
Although overlap is possible, futurists aren’t prophets.
Biblical prophecy is about declaring the word of the Lord, which
is more a matter of revealing God’s heart (forthtelling) than
about prediction (foretelling). Being a competent
futurist—someone who predicts trends based on current events and
significant information—has value for planning, but it is not
identical with the biblical gift of prophecy. And even futurists
are liable to give lopsided predictions when they get their news
from only one source, whether on the Right or on the Left.
We also need to be flexible in applying what we believe we have
heard. Jeremiah Johnson offered many accurate predictions,
including Trump’s 2016 election even when he was a longshot
candidate early in the Republican primaries. In his apology,
however, he confesses that he read too much into some of what he
heard earlier. Because God shows us a purpose for a season does
not mean that this will remain his purpose.
Jonah was angry when God withdrew his promised judgment against
the Ninevites (Jonah 3:4–4:3), but the Lord reminded Jeremiah
that repentance or apostasy would affect outcomes (Jer.
18:6–11). God had his purpose in having Samuel anoint Saul as
king over Israel. But Samuel didn’t assume that his earlier
instruction meant that God planned for Saul to serve another
term if Saul did not mature in his calling.
Elijah prophesied the obliteration of Ahab’s dynasty, but God
told him afterward that because of Ahab’s repentance the
judgment would be delayed (1 Kings 21:28–29). My theologian
friends hold a range of views on how to explain this; my
personal understanding is that though God foreknows the
outcomes, he often speaks to us just what we need for the
moment. We need to be ready to change course as needed.
Prophets and Public Platforms
Wicked kings tended to give platforms to false prophets or to
corrupt them through political favor (1 Kings 18:22; 22:6–7; 2
Kings 3:13; 2 Pet. 2:15). But who gives platforms to prophets,
true or false, today?
Local accountability has warded off some errors and facilitated
the process of introspection for those who have publicly
repented of public errors. Acts 13 shows us prophets and
teachers leading the church community in Antioch. Even when the
visiting prophet Agabus predicted a global famine (which
apparently hit different parts of the eastern Roman Empire at
different times), believers in Antioch had to decide how to
respond (Acts 11:27–30). Those listening for God’s voice should
be tested and get their practice in small groups (analogous to
ancient house churches) and other less potentially harmful local
levels before obtaining the national stage.
Unfortunately, social media makes it next to impossible to
control the national stage, and consumeristic North American
Christians tend to gravitate toward what they’re inclined to
hear (2 Tim. 4:3–4). It’s not the fault of true prophets and
teachers if false ones often get higher view counts. Times when
the prophetic voice is silent in the land are desperate times or
even times of judgment (1 Sam. 3:1; Ps. 74:9; Isa. 29:10–12),
but times when false prophecy dominates are worse (Jer. 37:19;
Zech. 13:1–6).
This means that the law of supply and demand can affect
religious media: When people do not want true prophecy, they
will get what is false. People say “to the prophets, ‘Give us no
more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy
illusions” (Isa. 30:10). “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it
so, but what will you do when the end comes?” (Jer. 5:31 NRSV).
If consumers of a particular political or other bent want to
hear prophecies that support their desires, prophets who meet
those felt needs will become most popular. Recent history
suggests that some of them will maintain most of their audiences
even when their prophecies fail.
Especially in difficult times, most prophets tell people what
they want to hear (Jer. 6:14; 8:11; 14:13), making things all
the harder for true prophets (15:10, 15–18; 20:7–18). But God
reveals the burden of proof: “From early times the prophets who
preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague
against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who
prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the
Lord only if his prediction comes true” (Jer. 28:8–9).
Pouring Out the Bath Water?
At the other extreme from inflexible defenders of prophecies are
those who are tempted to throw out prophecy altogether,
neglecting the baby in that bath water. When Paul urges us to
examine everything, he also warns us not to despise prophecy (1
Thess. 5:19–22). When he exhorts us to evaluate prophecies (1
Cor. 14:29), he also urges us to pursue the gift (1 Cor. 14:1,
39).
What may be the Bible’s most sustained denunciation of false
prophets (Jer. 23) is delivered through a true prophet,
Jeremiah. “‘Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream,
but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what
has straw to do with grain?’ declares the Lord” (Jer. 23:28).
Three obscure persons, who did not know each other or me,
independently prophesied to Médine Moussounga in Congo that
someday she would marry a white man with an important ministry.
There aren’t many white men in Congo. Yet Médine and I have been
married now for about 19 years.
I am a Bible professor who gets to spend most of my time
learning more about Scripture. Those we call prophets and
teachers have much to learn from each other; prophets may offer
insight in how Scripture applies to our generation (note Huldah
in 2 Kings 22:11–20). But neither prophets nor teachers are
writing Scripture today.
Whereas prophecies and spiritual intuitions must be tested,
Scripture comes to us already having passed the test; there are
good reasons why Jeremiah’s words are in our canon whereas those
of the failed prophets of his day aren’t. Scripture offers a
secure foundation.
Still, even Scripture must be interpreted, and diverse
interpretations (and political biases) surface in teaching also.
Those of us who exercise the gift of teaching deal with God’s
Word in a far more explicit form, yet even we often differ on
our interpretations. When we teachers say, “The Bible says,” but
we are wrong, our interpretation is false. Teachers will be
judged strictly (James 3:1), so we too must be humble and open
to correction.
If we judged teachers as harshly as some judge prophets—one
wrong interpretation and you’re out—we probably would not have
any teachers today. (Based on the context, I do differ from the
one-strike-out interpretation from Deuteronomy that many give
prophecy today, but that is another subject.) But Scripture
usually reserves titles of false prophecy and false teaching for
the most serious of errors. If that means that our commentaries
or classes must correctly explain every verse we engage, most of
us would file for early retirement right now!
Persecution or Purification?
We have a mess to clean up on our US Christian landscape today.
After Congress certified President Biden’s win, Johnson publicly
repented for prophesying Trump’s reelection. To his
astonishment, some professed Christians denounced him, cursed
him, and even threatened his life. While we should avoid
conspiracy theories, priests and prophets devised real
conspiracies to kill the biblical Jeremiah for his unpatriotic
prophecies (Jer. 11:21; 26:11). Diehard defenders of falsehoods
can prove inflexible.
Instead of persecuting the repentant, we might do better to join
them. While still believing that Trump would have been the
better choice, Johnson lamented that many Christians put their
hope in him. No president and no political party, right or left,
can take the place of Jesus. It is not just the prophets who
need repentance.
Christians may disagree among ourselves, but where we have
divided from one another by putting politics over the one body
that Christ died for, repentance is in order. The repentant
prophets show us a way forward. If we seek revival, then
repentance and humility are a good place to start.
If the Lord has humbled us, he has also given us an opportunity
to learn. May we embrace this opportunity and take the steps
necessary, bringing together different gifts in the body of
Christ and—above all—humility.
Craig Keener is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical
Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is the author of
Christobiography: Memories, History, and the Reliability of the
Gospels, which won a 2020 CT Book Award.
#Post#: 24461--------------------------------------------------
Re: The fearless evangelist
By: patrick jane Date: February 1, 2021, 8:41 pm
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HTML https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/february-web-only/evangelical-alliance-uk-trump-british-church-brexit-covid.html
How American Politics Complicates Evangelicalism in the UK
Facing Brexit fallout and another COVID lockdown, the head of
the country’s Evangelical Alliance is eager to shift attention
away from Trump and back to their mission.
For the past four years, the leader of the United Kingdom’s
Evangelical Alliance faced several major national challenges:
Brexit divides, religious liberty concerns, dramatic demographic
shifts, a pandemic, and political baggage that made its way
across the pond.
Since white American evangelicals became known as some of former
US President Donald Trump’s biggest supporters, Gavin Calver saw
media in his own country conflate them with the Christians his
organization represents. Calver had to work even harder to
educate others about the broad array of evangelicals in the UK,
who don’t fully align with any single party or politician.
“I can find myself tweeting about a food bank serving in
Bradford, only for someone on the other side of the world to
lambast me for being a Trump supporter,” Calver wrote in a
reflection that ran on Inauguration Day in The Times of London.
“How did it come to this? How has the word evangelical been so
politicised?”
The end of Trump’s presidency last month means Calver’s job can
again focus on the mission of evangelicals in the UK—currently
under its third coronavirus lockdown—without having to untangle
their message from American political associations.
“I can’t pretend it’s not easier now to say ‘I’m Gavin, I’m an
evangelical Christian,’ and for that to not immediately link me
to politics of a nation I’ve never lived in, I’ve never voted
in, and I have no plans to move to,” the Evangelical Alliance
CEO said in a recent interview with Christianity Today. “People
were desperate to get back to an evangelicalism that is
liberated from bondage to other things, and actually focuses on
the main thing, which is making Jesus known together.”
Calver has close ties to the United States. Until recently, his
parents were pastors there, and his father, Clive Calver, once
led World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the US National
Association of Evangelicals. But he has seen how the political
approaches by evangelicals in the two countries have clashed for
decades; while the Religious Right made way for American
evangelicals’ steady Republican support, British evangelicals
have more representation across the three major parties and
focus on issues over affiliation, according to Calver.
Misunderstandings over the evangelical term got exaggerated as
UK media attention turned to the American president, but some of
the confusion has been there all along; the faith is not as
“mainstream” as in the US, he said.
Last week, Gavin Calver spoke with CT about the shared history
between the evangelical communities in the UK and the US, how
Trump has affected their close relationship, promising
opportunities amid another COVID-19 lockdown, and what Brexit
means for the unity of the British church.
How would you describe the historical relationship between US
and UK evangelicals?
Our two nations have a special relationship on so many levels,
and the church shares that too. Personally, the one that most
comes to mind was when the late great Billy Graham came over for
a couple of tours. My grandpa at the time was the chairman of a
couple of his European tours. I remember as a little boy being
at Crystal Palace or Wembley Stadium and seeing loads of people
come to the front to give their lives to Jesus.
The ministries of Rick Warren or Tim Keller have had profound
impacts in this nation, and the ministry of someone like the
great late John Stott would have had a huge impact in the US.
Ministries like Alpha that have worked really well in the UK
worked well in the US, and the Purpose Driven Life stuff that
came out of Saddleback a while ago worked well in the UK as
well.
How did American evangelical support of Trump affect
evangelicals’ reputation in the UK?
The problem was this word evangelical was connected to something
that we had very little influence over and no control upon. In
the media, they would talk about evangelical Christians doing X,
Y, and Z as in the US. That by association made it look like we
were the same people with the same ideology and the same
everything.
Now, don’t get me wrong. We’re brothers and sisters. That’s
important that we hold to that, but we’re a million miles away
politically at times. It was a struggle to lead something here
in the UK that was seen in the light of Trump. What Trump stood
for by association the media caricatured us as standing for and,
with the greatest respect, that often was not the case.
Would you say Trump’s presence and the American evangelical
support for Trump tested this historically strong relationship
between the two communities?
It created that awkward moment at a family dinner party where
there’s something you can’t talk about because it’s just going
to lead to a complete disagreement. I know that from my own
experiences of visiting the US and having family there that it
causes a tension in families that we don’t really understand
here. Politics are important, but they’re not at any point some
kind of demigods in our society here in the United Kingdom. The
absolute wedding of politics and faith was not helpful when
trying to have rational conversations.
Back in 2019, Franklin Graham planned a number of crusades in
the UK. Multiple entertainment arenas canceled them after LGBT
activists organized against his coming. How have you made sense
of this situation?
The issue for us in the United Kingdom is the religious liberty
issue of the “cancel culture,” that you’re not allowed to hold
that kind of event in a venue. But the church was very much
divided as to whether it supported or didn’t support Franklin
coming. The pandemic led to an outcome in which he couldn’t
come. But now it will be interesting to see what happens in some
of the legal cases around freedom of religion that are going to
be taking place with those venues that wouldn’t have them.
Franklin Graham’s relentless support of Trump certainly didn’t
help in the UK lens. But once the venues were canceled and COVID
stopped it from happening, the issue now is: What are the
religious liberty consequences, if any, going forward here?
That’s significant to every evangelist that wants to speak about
Jesus in any public setting in the UK.
How has the UK church responded to the pandemic?
We’ve got a change in spiritual temperature. For years the
church has been answering questions the world wasn’t asking, but
since the pandemic, 25 percent of the population of the UK has
to been to church online at least once. Normally only 5 percent
of the population goes to church. We’re calling it mortality
salience, which is an awareness of your own fragility. You might
die one day, so you start asking the big questions.
There’s been a change in style. We’ve gone from not thinking we
could do online church to doing it amazingly. There’s been a
changing cultural narrative. In my role at the EA before the
pandemic, I’d be asked my views on abortion or same-sex marriage
or something else to try to caricature you as what the media
wanted to see you as. Since the start of the pandemic we’re
asked, “How are you going to help rebuild the society socially
and spiritually?”
Have any churches been able to meet in person in the UK during
the pandemic?
On and off. We’re in our third lockdown now. In the first
lockdown churches couldn’t meet. In the second some could. In
this one, you can within certain limitations, so some are. We’ve
got a different situation here too than in much of the US. It’s
much stricter here. We’re very much obeying the rules we’re
given, and masks are not controversial here. You wear a mask
because you love your neighbor and you want your neighbor to
live for longer.
I’ve preached more times than ever before in my life, but I’ve
seen less of people. When I have preached in a building, it’s
been slightly odd; you have to wear a mask; you can’t sing in
church. The church has never closed; we’ve just changed our
style.
How has Brexit already begun to change how evangelicals do
ministry, both domestically and in Europe overall?
It’s too early to talk about how it’s particularly changed,
seeing as Brexit only fully happened about four weeks ago. The
challenge for the UK evangelicals is not to become an island.
You could ask, how could we evangelicals vote on Brexit?
Probably as the nation voted, which is 52 percent in favor and
48 percent against.
Nationalism doesn’t really have a place in evangelicalism for
me. We’re citizens of the kingdom of heaven; therefore, we need
to make sure we look outwards to Europe and also look inwards to
make sure that we’re being open. The church is the only
organization in the United Kingdom and in Europe and in the USA
that can potentially get everyone in the same place on the same
team, loving one another and reaching out.
My church did men’s curry nights. We had 15 men at the curry
nights, 14 nationalities. The guy who runs the curry house
system said, “What on earth are you?” I said, “What you think we
are?” He says, “I think you’re the church. No other group in
this community can get this diverse group of people around the
same table, eating together, laughing together, and being
together.” The church can do something the world can’t do.”
In this season, when Britain and the United Kingdom could become
like a little UK again, looking inwards, let’s look outwards.
There’s no British people in heaven, just brothers and sisters
celebrating for eternity.
Last year, Northern Ireland legalized abortion and same-sex
marriage. Was this something that you anticipated?
We knew these challenges were coming. Obviously, we disagree
with both of those decisions by the government there. We put up
a good fight, but, in the end, the secular tsunami won out.
However, it doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to advocate for
what Scripture says and don’t continue to work with the powers
that be on issues that are important like this.
The United Kingdom is a challenging landscape. It is an
increasingly secular one. Whatever happens that’s really
wonderful between now and the end of time, whatever happens
that’s really horrible and difficult between now and the end of
time, we know, at the end of the story, Jesus wins. Therefore,
in the middle, we hold firm. We stand firmly on his word, and we
do what we can to make him known.
What type of impact are African and West Indian believers having
on the UK church in recent decades?
Absolutely huge. A quarter of UK evangelicals are not white. If
you go into London, which is the place in the United Kingdom
where the church has been growing by far the fastest, half of
those who go to church in London aren’t white. For many years,
United Kingdom sent missionaries all over the world. I’m just so
grateful that many have been sent back in reverse mission.
We are grateful for it. One of the perhaps potential differences
in the UK is the way that ethnicities and nationalities and
different groupings of people all live together in such harmony
and togetherness and unity.
Can you elaborate?
One of the most important works of the Evangelical Alliance is
our One People commission led by my friend and brother Yemi
Adedeji. The One People commission exists to celebrate our unity
across ethnic diversity. We are used to, in this nation, very
much living together. Churches are often multicultural and we
are doing fairly well in that space, but there’s still a lot
more work to be done. At the Evangelical Alliance, one of our
main things to make sure is that we’re calling for unity, we are
working our relationships together, and that brother- and
sisterhood goes beyond human divides.
Certainly, in the light of the murder of George Floyd and the
Black Lives Matter marches in the US, the reaction in the UK was
significant and necessary, but it did feel like we were starting
from a different place as well. Let’s not be naïve or foolish
enough to think that the UK church in the UK itself don’t have
problems with racism. They do. But it feels like on this issue
that we are further down the track towards working out what it
really means to be a united society that’s fair for all. But we
still have a long way to go.
What are the types of issues that pose a challenge to church
unity in the UK?
Brexit’s been an issue. if you said to me, 10 years ago, “Is the
UK’s involvement in Europe a potentially divisive issue for the
church?” I would have said, “That’s so silly. How could it be?”
Then suddenly you’ve got a referendum, and you realize the
church is as split as the nation. We’ve got our own wounds to
recover from, and we’re trying to do that and we’re trying to
say that what unites us in Christ is so much more important than
what divides us.
At the Evangelical Alliance, we're saying this is our family,
and it's important we bring them together.
We also want to be involved in wider acts of Christian unity as
well, but the tribe that I’m part of is the evangelical one.
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