Private Evangelicalism

Ask any experienced church leader and they will tell you that the marks of a
good church member would include many of the following:

Regular attendance, consistent financial giving, worship participation,
practical service, regular daily devotions, and relational engagement.

But is it possible to have all the above and still be a private evangelical?

I know this phrase appears to be something of an oxymoron but it seems to
best describe a condition I have known all too well during the last thirty
years.

Let's take as our example an upwardly mobile, successfully thirty-something
man who has been raised within mainstream evangelicalism. We shall call him
Stephen.

Having all the above practices our hero seems to be an ideal member for any
forward thinking congregation.

Ask him for an opinion on any of the main theological and moral questions of
our time and he will offer you a suitably acceptable evangelical line.

Our subject is not play acting at his faith, neither is he insincere when it
comes to worship and moral choices.

He attends a lively and active church that does its best to draw people
together for worship and word each week. Yet Stephen never invites any of
his friends or family to attend. He is not unusual in this. The majority of
the congregation seem reluctant to bring others to the church that they
attend week after week.

The leaders might look for ways of encouraging a change in their behaviour
but much of it produces little fruit. So begins a series of teaching
sessions on personal evangelism. Surely this will have the desired results.

Perhaps it is at this point that, not without a little frustration, the
church leaders will start to question the commitment of the membership. Yet
commitment, or lack of it, is not the driver of this issue.

Have you ever been to a family party at which a favourite uncle has taken to
the dance floor after more than a few glasses of alcohol? The gathered
relatives watch on with a sense of slight embarrassment mixed with a good
helping of warm loyalty. 'It's only Uncle Ernie' they say 'he's a good old
sport really'.

Imagine, however, that the same scene happened in the presence of all your
work colleagues. Perhaps at this point you would be quick to disown your
uncle and look to make excuses for his behaviour.
 
You see, there is a difference between loving each other as family members
and wanting to introduce others to the group.
 
This is where church leaders have a responsibility to encourage our
congregations to make church a safe place be.

Our hero Stephen is, in many respects, deeply committed to the church
family, yet his actions show that he doesn't consider it a safe enough place
to bring others to. He is in many ways evangelical and yet his beliefs have
taken a very private place within his world. 

Here are a few challenges for church leaders aimed at helping to produce
this place of safety:

1) Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 14, about how an over personalised approach
to worship can lead the uninitiated to thinking that we are all mad. Teach
this idea to your congregation so that they will understand the connection
between their behaviour and the church experience of the newcomer.

Give clear instructions about the appropriate of certain behaviour to this
particular meeting. Ask Uncle Ernie to do his dancing at home.

2) Be consistent with the way that you deliver your main church service.
This doesn't mean that they all need to be the same but our congregations
need to know that every week is a good time to invite people.

If nine out of ten meetings are excellent I will still be influenced in my
willingness to invite others by the odd meeting that could go astray.

Think about the length of the meetings and keep them about them consistent.
Consider the opening welcome and make it inclusive.

3) Ensure that preachers are not wasteful with their words. My own rule is
that I never introduce an idea into a sermon that I don't have the time to
do justice to.

For example when teaching about forgiveness I wouldn't introduce a difficult
subject such as abortion without allowing myself time to give offer a deep
response to. 

Most preachers drop ideas and thoughts into their sermons that were not part
of their original notes. It is important, however, to be disciplined so that
we don't throw theological hand grenades into someone's world without
understanding the consequences of doing so.

4) Remember that our faith will always contain incomprehensible things but
we follow one that embodied the idea of communication.

This means that, whether at the communion table or the baptismal service, we
need to look for ways of engaging with the mystery whilst seeking to explain
the deep meaning.

5) Deal with money in a sensitive way. During our time in ministry we have
taken the decision not take up offerings as part of our regular weekly
worship. To some leaders this seems like a negative step and yet we found
that the giving of those who are committed has been as equally generous.

We take up offerings for missionaries and other good causes but simply have
a box on the wall for all regular giving.

This has kept us away from the temptation to add an emotional edge to the
offering when things are financially tough. This is a real issue for leaders
and tends to make us look desperate to our own congregations and it places a
question mark in the minds of visitor about the integrity of the church.

People like Stephen are in most ways completely engaged with our churches
and yet we have done them a disservice by not attending to the need to offer
them a safe place in which to bring their un-churched friends and families.

Church leaders need to stop asking our congregations to bring people to
church and start asking them why they are not inviting others to come. In
this way we might find more answers that will stop future generations from
becoming private evangelicals.