Easter Evangelism

Back to the thoughts on sharing the good news of the gospel. Cough, cough, ahem....

Great sermon here by Brian Blount, president of Union Presbyterian Seminary. One of his points is that the players in the Revelation text had seen "the end." They knew our hope. They refused to live in the lie that evil is in charge, that bad people will win in the end. Because of that, their "witness" to the reality makes a difference in their here and now.

Evangelism is not about going to heaven after this life. It is about living this life in a way that brings heaven to our here and now. That means living in community that puts the other's good ahead of our own, that works for shalom, the health and wholeness of all people.

I hear so many say "it's not about church." And it's not. I hear "Don't go to church, be the church." and we should. My question is, "How do I do that without community, without people who explore with me what "being the church" means, without people to hold me accountable? This definition of Christian community is a far cry from show up at church to be "filled" for the next week or comforted or to pretend everything is fine and then return home to our broken lives and struggle for another week.

The understanding of "church" that we have is far from the understanding of community that Jesus had. It is far from "early church." In some ways, it should be. We are different people than first century Christians. We live differently, we face different "evils."

So why "church?" One reason (and there are more than one) is we can't do this alone. God works. We work with God. But how do we live differently if we simply live solitary, "private" lives? How do we live as disciples, stay on track, stay focused on God if we are trying to do everything ourselves?

It's called the "body" for a reason. We don't function well alone.

We won't function well if we are not living in community with Jesus as the head of our body, if we are simply meeting our own needs of the needs of the institution, if we are not living in a way that shows the world that we have seen a different way, a better way.

We won't be sharing the "good news" if we are simply living the same way the culture does inside a place called "church."

We have work to do...