Victoria 1a

evangelism and

transformation

in a secular
society

A bit about
my story...
between two
worlds
(and a request)

In your hearts, set apart
Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to
give the reason for the hope
that you have. But do this
with gentleness and respect,
keeping a clear conscience, so
that those who speak
maliciously against your good
1 Peter behavior in Christ may be
3:15-17 ashamed of their slander.

A story about a
book-release
party…

Hi Brian (do you prefer to be
called brian?) this is april, the
harpist from your book signing
party. i read your book this
morning. it caused me to think
a lot about a lot of things. i
actually would like to tell you
about it, but im afraid this e
mail will be very lengthy...

i don't want to burden you (i
understand you listen to a lot of
people every day!) so im not
sure... but i really need to talk
to someone and i dont know, I
just felt good about reading
your book and about talking to
you... and I cant think of anyone
else i can talk to about religion..

i know this probably sounds
psychotic considering i just met you
last night, and under what
circumstances i met you... i dont
know. im nervous to say anything at
all, really... well, ill try to make it
quick and you dont have to respond,
probably more im just writing for
myself... or not... i don't know. in any
case, please dont feel any pressure
to respond. to respond.

Q: What do you see going on - on a
deeper level - in these words from
April?

you dont have to respond, probably
more im just writing for myself... or
not... i don't know. in any case,
please dont feel any pressure to
respond. to respond.

like i said to you last night,
recently i have been feeling like
I want to become a christian,
and maybe even start going to
church and stuff. but there have
been two problems:

1)whenever i go to any church,
or read any church literature I
change my mind

2)my boyfriend is a christian. he
belongs to a non-denomenational
church in the area, and its very
liberal, and hes very liberal, but even
despite this, whenever we talk about
religion, i feel nauseated. i get so
angry (and i dont know why, because
i havent had any overly negative
experiences with the church) and i
get these horrible visions of
brainwashing and the like.

the bad thing is, his church IS
NOT LIKE THAT. i KNOW im
completely unjustified in what i
feel. but i cant help it. and
every time i talk with him about
it (which is usually when im
feeling closer to some kind of
conversion) i leave feeling
worse.

this is sort of what happened last
night. while i was waiting for him
to get back from mass with his
parents, i read a couple chapters
of your book. ...we were talking
about it and i told him about
reading the book and everything. i
really opened up about all that i
had been feeling and he was really
wonderful with it...

he didnt act super happy and
didnt ask too many questions...


Q: Why was it important that
he not “act super happy” and
not ask “too many questions?”

he knows how to handle me
(the same way i meant how
you "handle" your readers...
which im still not sure on, by
the way), but inevitably,
eventually, we got into an
argument about it.

its so frustrating for me, because i see so
much of what i say is... blown out of
proportion, or something. but then i also
feel like i dont owe christianity any
breaks and that it deserves the tough
microscope i put it under. and i dont
know if i really believe that. i also know
a lot of what i say to him (my boyfriend)
is rooted in pride (perhaps my biggest
downfall as a human being)- meaning that
i dont want to let him "win" the
christianity argument, or whatever.

that is so messed up because
our relationship isnt like that,
and i dont think im really like
that about anything else…

when i was reading your book today
at certain parts i felt so good, and
at certain times i actually felt like i
was about to cry, because it felt
like something was really getting
through to me. but i feel like theres
something holding me back, theres
some sort of defense mechanism in
me that tells me not to believe any
of it.

i guess thats probably why i
asked you what i did last night.
i need to make sure that im not
being "lured in", just to find out
once i go ahead and believe
that a whole bunch of other
stuff comes along with it that i
cant feel comfortable with,

and then my whole person
will change and ill become
closed minded and bigoted
and brainwashed and
everything bad... i just cant
feel that i can trust it. i dont
know what to do.

oh well. at the very least, i
really enjoyed reading your
book. i thought it was really
funny (in a good way) and
really insightful, and it was
clear you really understood
how a persons mind in that
situation works.

it met me at every corner.
that was frustrating, in a
way, but in a healthy way,
like eating veggies or
soemthing. ill try to write a
review of it online when i
get a chance. hope you had
a good easter. - april

Several months passed with
questions about
… the Bible …
Genocide in the Bible …
How Christians treat certain types
of people …

And then this …

…Also, (on a completely different
note) I remember … someone talked
to me about some kind of service on
Wednesday nights that they thought
harp music would be really good for
(continuous, contemplative music, I
think she said ). I know it's far in
advance, but I just wanted to offer
to play for that whenever, once I get
back to Maryland in September.

I don't want to push myself on the
church, but more and more the idea
of playing for and through God has
sounded appealing, and I remember
how nice that service sounded. So if
that sounds like something you all
might be interested in, I'd love to
volunteer to do it. Take care- april

Then …
Her ﬁrst visit to the prayer service …

An invitation to her senior recital …

An invitation to play at church on a
Sunday …

hi brian,

I just got up from a _three and a half_
hour nap (taken immediately after i
returned home from church). i was
thinking about emailing you before i fell
asleep because i wanted to tell you how
much i enjoyed your message today. you
are such a wonderful speaker, but on top
of that, WHATYOU SAY is just so
incredible- and im not just talking about
this sunday.

ill never forget the things you
said at the first [prayer
service] i attended. You were
speaking about how
everything in life has meaning.
it was incredible. im sure you
know this already, but you
have such a wonderful gift.

i had a dream during my nap that i
wanted to tell you about. Im not one
to get really excited by dreams or
anything like that, and i feel sort of
weird telling you, but i just have to.
im not really sure of all the
circumstances surrounding the
dream, like why exactly you and i
were talking about god and music,
but we were. so for a long time,
thats all the dream was.

my parents walked in and you
met my parents, and my
grandfather (who is dead, has
been for awhile) walked
through as well.

for some reason, out of the blue
(though in the dream,it didnt feel like it
was out of the blue) you poured
FREEZING cold water on my head and
said the baptism thing ("in the name of
the father, the son," etc, etc). it was
dripping all down my face,
everywhere... so much water, and it
felt so good, and i just started to cry
and saying over again "thank you.
thank you so much."

i said to you "i have been
thinking about this for awhile,
but wasn't sure i was ready",
and you said "youve been
ready for a long time" and gave
me a hug.

then i guess there was sort of
a dream segue type thing, and
i was sitting with my friend
kate, who at the last minute
cancelled out of going to my
recital. i was sitting with her
giving her the cold shoulder
because she had missed it
and it hurt my feelings.

then i remembered: wait a
second, theres no turning back
now, jesus wouldnt have done
this, and you have no right to.
and i just apologized to kate and
siad "its okay... it went well and i
understand why you couldnt
make it, and of course our
friendship is just as strong as
always."

then i woke up. i dont know...
it just really affected me, ive
felt like ive been on the verge
of tears (happy tears) since i
woke up. thank you for helping
me bring about such a change
in my life.

april

How can we be there for
people like April?

With Kindness
From “Songs For a Revolution of Hope, Vol. 1: everything must change.”
Words and music by Brian McLaren.
2007, Brian McLaren. Publishing, Revolution of Hope Music Group SESAC 2007.
All rights reserved. Registered with CCLI.

Christ has no body here but ours.
No hands, no feet, here on earth
but ours.
Ours are the eyes though which
he looks
On this world
With Kindness

Ours are the hands through which
he works.
Ours are the feet on which he
moves.
Ours are the voices through
which he speaks
To this world
With Kindness.

Through our touch, our
smile, our listening ear,
Embodied in us, Jesus is
living here.
Let us go now
Filled with the Spirit
Into this world
With Kindness

I stand by the door.

I neither go too far in, nor
stay too far out,

The door is the most
important door in the world
--

It is the door through which
men walk when they find
God.

They creep along like blind
men,

With outstretched, groping
hands.

Feeling for a door, knowing
there must be a door,

Yet they never find it…

So I stand by the door.

The most tremendous thing
in the world

Is for men to find that door -
the door to God.

The most important thing
any man can do

Is to take hold of one of
those blind, groping hands,

And put it on the latch -

The latch that only clicks

And opens to the man’s own
touch.

Men die outside that door

As starving beggars die,

On cold nights in cruel cities
in the dead of winter -

Die for want of what is
within their grasp.

They live, on the other side
of it - live because they have
not found it.

Nothing else matters
compared to helping them
find it,

And open it, and walk in, and
find Him…


There’s no use my going way inside,
and staying there,

When so many are still outside and
they, as much as I,

Crave to know where the door is.

And all that so many ever find

Is only the wall where a door ought
to be.

Go in, great saints, go all the
way in -

Go way down into the
cavernous cellars,

And way up into the
spacious attics -

It is a vast, roomy house,
this house where God is.

Go into the deepest of hidden
casements,

Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.

Some must inhabit those inner rooms,

And know the depths and heights of
God.

And call outside to the rest of us how
wonderful it is.

Sometimes I take a deeper
look in,

Sometimes venture in a little
farther;

But my place seems closer
to the opening…


There is another reason why I stand
there.

Some people get part way in and
become afraid

Lest God and the zeal of His house
devour them.

For God is so very great, and asks all
of us.

And these people feel a cosmic
claustrophobia

And want to get out. “Let me out!”
they cry.

And the people way inside terrify them
more.

Somebody must be by the door to tell
them that they are spoiled

For the old life, they have seen too
much:

Once taste God, and nothing but God
will do any more.

Somebody must be watching for the
frightened

Who seek to sneak out just where they
came in,

To tell them how much better it is
inside.

The people too far in do not see how
near these are

To leaving - preoccupied with the
wonder of it all.

Somebody must watch for those who
have entered the door,But would like to
run away. So for them, too,

I stand by the door.

I admire the people who go way in.

But I wish they would not forget how it
was

Before they got in. Then they would be
able to help

The people who have not yet even
found the door,

Or the people who want to run away
again from God.

You can go in too deeply, and stay in
too long,

And forget the people outside the
door.

As for me, I shall take my old accustomed
place,

Near enough to God to hear Him, and
know He is there,

But not so far from men as not to hear
them,

And remember they are there,
too.Where? Outside the door --

Thousands of them, millions of them.

But - more important for me -

One of them, two of them, ten of
them.

Whose hands I am intended to put
on the latch.

So I shall stand by the door and wait

For those who seek it.

“I had rather be a door-keeper…”


(Samuel Moor Shoemaker, 1893 -
1963)

1. The relational factor:
Count conversations, not just conversions.

See evangelism as a relational dance, not a
win/lose conquest.

In many places today, people will not become
Christians unless they meet and get to know a
Christian and Christian community which
inspires them with curiosity and hope.

This is similar to the first and second
centuries …
Many misconceptions must be overcome -
and that can only be done by authentic,
living examples of Christian discipleship and
community.

2. The narrative factor:
It’s about their story, your story, and God’s
story.

When Christian faith presents itself as a
system of belief, postmodern people are often
skeptical.

But when it presents itself as a redemptive
story and a chosen way of life within that
story, they see something unique and
hopeful.

3. The communal factor:

The greatest hermeneutic of the gospel is a
community that lives by it. (Newbigin)

Our churches must be converted into missional
communities of disciple-making.

Belonging often precedes believing and
becoming.

How can we create safe places?

What makes our churches unsafe?

4. The process or journey factor:

Instead of “evangelism/follow-up” or
“decision/discipleship,” think disciple-
making -- a holistic process, not an isolated
conversion event.

The process can include events or milestones
… such as baptism, commissioning for
ministry, etc.

How do we integrate processes with
milestones …

Patience with urgency …

Exploration with decision and more
exploration …

5. The Holy Spirit factor

Believe that God is already “out there” and at
work with everyone (either trying to get in,
or to get out!) … not just “in here” in the
church.

Helping people interpret their spiritual
experiences … as “spiritual consultants.”

Helping people have spiritual experiences …
charismatic and contemplative and activist
pathways.

6. The learning factor

See evangelism as part of your discipleship,
not just the other person’s.

Remember Cornelius (Acts 10-11).

How can we experience conversion through
evangelism?

7. The service factor:

The words of the gospel must be
accompanied by the deeds and spirit of the
gospel … deeds of service and a servant’s
heart.

How might our people serve their neighbors?

8. The missional factor:

See evangelism as recruiting people for
God’s mission on earth, not just souls for
heaven.

Might we rediscover the power and scope of
the gospel?

Our contemporary gospel is primarily

INFORMATION ON
HOW TO GO TO HEAVEN
AFTER YOU DIE
with a large footnote about increasing your personal happiness and
success through God.

with a small footnote about character development

with a smaller footnote about spiritual experience

with a smaller footnote about social/global transformation.

Nation?
Religion?
Ethnic group?

church

self

A dangerous diversion

World vision =
The Gospel of the
Kingdom of God

church

self

Victoria 1a

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Victoria 1a